SAMSUNG DIVA S7070 & S5150 REVIEW: IN-DEPTH

Overview
It takes a very brave (or stupid?) manufacturer to release a device that is only intended for women. Make no mistake about it, that is what it is, right down to the name: Samsung Diva. This would be difficult enough to comprehend if Nokia were to release it with their massive marketshare lead, but for a relatively minor name in the mobile market it is truly boggling. Sure, there will be a market for it and women will no doubt love the attention, but it simply isn’t a good idea to cut off half your potential customers right from the start. Then again, this isn’t the first woman-only device from Samsung, with the E500 back in 2006 which was designed to match handbags, so presumably this gave them suitable success to release another.

There are two Diva models, a full-touchscreen with the S7070, while the S5150 is a standard flip-to-open phone (the S7070 is looked at first here, the S5150 gets its review after). To clear this up at the outset, in case any of you blokes are wondering if you could get away using this 'female branded' phone, the answer is a resounding ‘no’. The design is very pretty (full-credit to Samsung on the looks side of things) but you don’t want to put this down on the bar with your mates, not while the back is a very feminine quilted diamond pattern and the desktop theme is pink diamonds. Even the navigation button on the S7070 is diamond-shaped. Yes, really. But hey, there is probably a degree of praise to be mentioned here, because if Samsung have dedicated this to woman then it’s nice to see them put that extra effort in; perhaps Ericsson could give men a revolver-shaped navigation button on the next model? As a side-note, the quilted texture actually provides extra comfort and makes it less likely to slip out of your hand, which is a very good thing. Style and substance, well done Samsung!

SAMSUNG DIVA S7070

The S7070 features a 2.8” capacitive display which means very easy and responsive input. The Diva has a 3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, FM radio and MicroSd slot which can support up to a huge 32GB and, of course, in-built social networking to make updating your status and comments a breeze. The Samsung Diva also contains a microUSB charger port making it possible to charge your phone via your computer, but sadly is missing a 3.5mm jack – so no headphones = no Cheryl Cole tunes. This omission is actually quite puzzling, given that Samsung ditched the male market you’d expect them make the Diva all singing and all dancing to compensate the deficit. Which brings me nicely onto my next point: no mirror. Various models of phones have had little mirrors on them for years, for taking accurate self-portraits. Is it too sexist to say I would have thought that a woman-only device would be the perfect phone to sport a mirror?

QUICK-FIRE FEATURES
Display: 2.8” capacitive touchscreen
Weight: 93g
Dimensions: 101 x 54.8 x 13.4 mm

Camera: 3 megapixel camera
Video: Supported
Music player: MP3/AAC/WMA

Operating system:
Memory: 40MB, expandable to 32GB
Connectivity: Bluetooth, microUSB
Internet: GPRS, EDGE

SAMSUNG DIVA S5150
The S5150 is essentially the clamshell equivalent of the S7070 for those who don’t want a touchscreen. Aesthetically, there are a couple of main differences, notably the quilting here is squares rather than diamonds, and the desktop theme is a single diamond as opposed to tiling as on the S7070. The navigation button is also a standard square shape. One nice feature the ladies will love is the “wish list”, so you can take notes of what handbag to buy next. There is quite impressive attention to detail apparent, from the special fonts to the “etiquette mode” to silencing the phone, there is much in place to increase the overall femininity of the handset. For the budding photographers, there is a “Lomo effect” to make your snaps more arty. There is also a “beauty effect” on the camera. An interesting feature is the “fake call”, designed to help the user out of difficult or dangerous situations by sending a phony call (though, presumably not many would-be attackers would allow you to stop their proceedings to tinker on your phone).

QUICK-FIRE FEATURES
Display: LED
Weight: 82g
Dimensions: 47mm x 94mm x 17mm
Camera: 3.2MP
Video: mPEG4, H.263
Music player: MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA/MIDI
Operating system:
Memory: 40MB, expandable to 32GB
Connectivity: Bluetooth, microUSB
Internet: GPRS, EDGE, WAP 2.0

by Rich White