Review of Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition
Here at Mobiles.co.uk we have been given a hands on play test with the, as yet, unreleased Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition ahead of its UK launch later this month. Having used the phone for the past week, here are our thoughts on the next big phone of 2009.
First things first, the Samsung Tocco Ultra derives its name and design from two of Samsung's finest; the touchscreen inspired by the excellent Tocco and Ultra coming from the keypad, reminiscent of the Ultra range made most famous by the Samsung U600. The combination of touchscreen and slide out keypad works well. When closed the Tocco Ultra is dominated by the touchscreen. Surrounding the display, the Ultra edition is finished in brushed metal to give it a classy look and feel. Below the screen we find 3 physical buttons in the shape of the answer and end keys and a back button. Sliding down reveals the red metallic keypad and on the reverse, the black back is contrasted by bright red surrounding the camera which remains concealed when the phone is closed. The black and red colour scheme works well; the phone looks smart and sophisticated but still has a flash of flair. At just 12.7mm thick, the Tocco Ultra is also incredibly compact and light.
The Samsung Tocco Ultra, formerly known as the S8300, features a 2.8 inch AMOLED touchscreen display. AMOLED technology ensures the display on the Tocco Ultra is one of the brightest, sharpest and clearest ever found on a mobile phone. Colours are portrayed vividly and images capture incredible texture and detail. In terms of operating the touchscreen, the Tocco Ultra is Samsungs finest offering to date. Utilising an updated version of the TouchWiz interface, navigating through menus is seamless, vibrating feedback acts as confirmation for your actions and dragging and dropping shortcuts on to the homes screen is a doddle. The Tocco Ultra is forgiving in that you don't have to be too accurate with your touch; the best example of this is found when viewing images in the photo gallery which lets you swipe across the screen to browse through images.
Sporting an 8.0 Megapixel camera, the Tocco Ultra was never going to be a one trick pony but the image quality surpasses even my expectations. The huge Megapixel count is accompanied by an assortment of high end features. Face detection works well in both close up and longer range shots and follows a face round with ease as you move the viewfinder to get the perfect shot and smile detection is a welcome addition. Elsewhere, Macro mode, used for extreme close ups, is one of the best yet seen on a mobile phone. Featuring a dual LED flash, the phone is also well equipped for low light conditions offering ample illumination for up to 3 metres. All this help to create excellent photos with great levels of detail. Colours are sharp and crisp and manage to accurately represent your subject. Operating the camera is also a joy; the large screen makes for an excellent viewfinder and on screen icons open up further menus (such as shooting mode or image quality) with a simple touch. A camera button on the side takes care of capture while zoom keys let you take advantage of the digital zoom. The Tocco Ultra is far and away the best 8.0 Megapixel to come from Samsung and easily a contender for best camera phone.
The Tocco Ultra takes video capture just as seriously. The Tocco Ultra serves up ultra smooth high quality video capture at 30 frames per second. The increased frame rate means that choppy, rough video recordings will become a thing of the past. The inclusion of a dual LED flash (over a Xenon flash) means that it can be used as a video light as well meaning your video capture doesn't have to stop when the sun goes down. There are also some nifty editing features to be found such as video trimming and audio dubbing so you can get your clips just how you want them. If this is your first foray into high resolution video recording on a mobile phone, you'll simply be blown away by the results.
HSDPA connectivity serves up connection speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps which makes for a blistering web browsing experience. The web browser included on the phone is user friendly and works well with the touchscreen. The built in accelerometer allows the phone to be held in landscape which gives a much clearer view of web pages whilst drawing your finger across the scroll bar lets you scroll down and along pages. Tapping on links is responsive and opens up new pages with little on the way of delay. Whilst in the browser, a tool bar sits on the right hand of the display giving you a list of options where you can, among other things, zoom, bookmark pages and enter a new URL. This is where the combination of touchscreen and keypad really starts to make sense as typing in a web address with the keypad and then navigating with the Touchscreen is flawless and offers painless web access.
Any self respecting manufacturer knows the importance of multimedia and Samsung are no different. The Tocco Ultra includes a music player that will handle, among other, MP3, AAC and WMA for rich audio playback. The music play featured is easy to use letting you sort by artist, album and genre and flick through tracks effortlessly with the touchscreen. Video playback is just as important with the Tocco Ultra supporting DivX and XviD file formats. DivX compresses video files while still maintaining excellent quality. This gives you high resolution videos without clogging up your memory or slowing down the phone. In terms of memory, the Tocco Ultra includes 80MB on board and is expandable up to 16GB with a MicroSD card.
From my time with the Samsung Tocco Ultra, it's clear to see that combining a touchscreen with a traditional slide phone was a master stroke. The touchscreen and TouchWiz interface make for fast and intuitive navigation whilst the keypad offers textaholics an outlet for their fingers. Away from the design, the Tocco Ultra packs in high end features to create a well rounded and impressive phone that challenges the best in the business.
Dan, Mobiles.co.uk
Pricing
See the best deals on the Samsung Tocco Ultra on our product page.
Your Comments
If you have an opinion on the Ultra Edition phone then please do let us know. Or leave your own mobile phone review if you've been lucky enough to try this phone.