Samsung's touchscreen mobile phone onslaught shows no sign on stopping, with the Monte arriving on the heels of the Samsung Genio Touch, Genio Slide and Galaxy Portal.
Built around a 3-inch 240 x 400 (WQVGA) touchscreen, the Monte uses Samsung's TouchWiz interface, and that means it has a focus on widgets.
The Monte is pre-loaded with widgets for several social networks, YouTube and BBC iPlayer access, and shortcuts to phone functions and apps.
A physical keyboard is completely eschewed here, in favour of a soft keyboard on the touchscreen. It has haptic feedback, giving a small vibration when you press certain buttons.
For mobile internet lovers, there's speedy 3G mobile broadband for browsing when out and about, and Wi-Fi connectivity means you can get even faster connections from hotspots.
A-GPS location finding is present, along with Google Maps to make use of it.
A built-in accelerometer enables switching to landscape mode automatically when browsing the web and viewing media.
The 3.2-megapixel camera on the Samsung Monte's rear is without a flash, but does feature video recording and numerous shooting modes. There's also a front-facing camera for video calling.
The microSD card slot supports up to 16GB, while charging and PC connectivity is handled via a micro USB port. There's a 3.5mm audio jack for connecting any standard set of headphones to, although the supplied pair come with a microphone for hands-free chatting.
The Samsung Monte is available for around £120 on pay as you go, or free on contract.
Your comments (11) Click to add a new comment
gtargui
February 27th 2011
11. The only reason i got this phone was fot the price i got it for. it was only 75gbp after 2 years with unlimited internet and i want to get rid of it after 5 months! It takes 10 minuets to connect to facebook and most of the time the signal is never over 3 bars. 2 people have used the same simcard in different phones in the same location and they got full bars! If anybody knows how i can get rid of it without it hurting my pocket tell me now!!!
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catkin777
February 20th 2011
10. This is one of THE worst phones in the world!!! It freezes in cold weather and cuts you off when people phone you!!! I'm heading back to Nokia for my up grade. Samsung - you have lost my loyality forever. However designed and okay'ed this mobile should be sacked!!!
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saxoric
February 16th 2011
9. There is plenty I hate about this phone. I've owned mine for a few months and it the experience has not been good. The resolution is poor on the screen so websites are difficult to read- you have to constantly keep zooming in to read things. It fails to load some webpages i.e the full Facebook page (memory full). Sending Text messages is tiresome as T9 predictive text is useless and unresponsive, the onscreen keypad isn't QWERTY either so it makes it even worse, The camera is always out of focus and the photos are poor - no flash either, the reception is quite poor (the same sim card in a different phone has far better reception). It's slow to delete text messages, it's frustrating showing people photos as it constantly scrolls through them if it detects that you've moved the screen (accelerometer), the case feels very cheap/flimsy and is mostly plastic. Samsung 'widgets' are non-existant. There's about 4 of them in TOTAL- compare that to the Android, or Iphone market! Plus it's not compatible with Android either, the keypad is unresponsive and sometimes you think it hasn't registered your input but suddenly everything opens! Also, the Alarm function is buggy and sometimes doesn't go off so I've been late for work for the first time in years!
I bought this phone on Pay and Go and wish I didn't, however, recently I dropped it on the street and the screen cracked into several pieces. I decided this was the perfect excuse to get a good phone this time (bought an HTC Desire HD).
On a positive note, there are a couple of things that WERE good although not much; The battery life is pretty good, the phone is slim and fits in your pocket easily and the lock button on the side of it is useful. Other than that I can only say bad things about it
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santoshbattula
December 9th 2010
8. if possible any one give the link for downloading mediaplayer suitable for playin videos other than 3gp format.
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santoshbattula
December 9th 2010
7. can anyone specify any media player for playing videos in monte?
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tobstera
October 28th 2010
6. I wish I'd read your review before I got this phone. I like how it looks and how good the signal is (much much better at getting 3G or Wi-fi than even my friend's iPhone 4) but I'm a texter and I was really disappointed by the t9 experience, would have much preferred a qwerty or even a compact qwerty. I'm also dissapointed by the browser, which even occasionally says that the vodafone startpage is too big to render. It's difficult and slow to exit the browser. The facebook app needs a lot of refreshing before it's up to date and so i use the browser to go on facebook now.
The only reason i like my monte is that its partly orange, which is my favourite colour. I dislike it THAT much. And i don't get an upgrade until 2012. :(
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turboturtle
August 31st 2010
5. The samsung monte is much better imo than this review says. The last picture in this gallery http://www.nyemobiltelefoner.dk/ny-samsung/samsung-monte.html shows the whats inside the package - is that really all?
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gab4wigan
July 2nd 2010
4. Nice phone but would be better with a flash or light as all my pictures came out very dark
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steffy.grey
July 1st 2010
3. Well I really loved this mobile.But I do not know it's shape is not that cool.However it's preloaded apps are quite good.It's a complete package when we see it's price.It's touch is also very good.But do you think that it could have been better?
Waiting for your response!!!!!!!!
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kusharora
May 21st 2010
2. @keepsimple dude i need your help.
i tried installing opera mini with the steps u gave....but all in vain. can help where m i doin it wrong??
i downloaded a opera mini.jar and .jad for samsung preston. edited the .jad by adding the line
MIDlet-Touch-Support: TRUE
saved it, and then created the mini.html file removin angular brackets and loaded the files to my memory card.
opened them through my phone and clicked on mini.html from my native browser.
it leads me to a page written
install mini.jad
as i click on it, its asks me to save the file but when download starts it fails. using a gprs connection
also do i have to keep the opera s .jar file in the memory slot too??
plzzzzzzz help
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keepsimple
May 13th 2010
1. s5620 is a lot better than the review suggests.
I guess better familiarity with the handset helps. touchscreen is bright and responsive. installing opera mini adds a qwerty keyboard for internet. most widgets work as expected.
installing java apps via sideloading takes some effort. here is howto:
Installing opera mini fullscreen on s5620 via memory card.
step 1: open jad file with notepad. Add the following at end of the file MIDlet-Touch-Support: TRUE
save file as mini.jad
step 2: open a new file in notepad and type in:
[html] [body]
[a href="mini.jad"]
install mini.jad
[/a] [/body] [/html]
replace square brackets [] with
angular brackets <> so that output is a html file which reads as :
<html><body><a href="mini.jad">install mini.jad</a></body></html>
step 2a:
save file as mini.html
step 3: copy both files to s5620 monte - other files - sideloading via microsd card.
step 4: keep internet connection on via wifi or gprs or 3g on the s5620.
step 5: open folder - other files - using file browser in the s5620. click on mini.html to install the updated mini.jad file using the native browser of the s5620. follow the onscreen instructions.
step 6: opera mini and other java apps load in the games folder. check it and lock it.
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