Samsung SGH-X430

Unlike the sparkling red of the T500 or the classy blue of the E700, Samsung's new SGH-X430 comes encased in a modest silver-and-gray coat. As it turns out, its features match the exterior perfectly; this average Joe showcases Samsung's trademark competencies, but it certainly won't raise too many eyebrows.

Design And Interface
The Samsung weighs just 83g and measures a slim 20mm in thickness when folded. The build quality is customarily good, as is the finish.

However, the phone is plain-looking, almost to the point of being boring. There is no external display, so the only thing that embellishes the design is the service light on the outside of the top flip. You can choose between seven different colors, but I found the ceaseless blinking distracting, particularly at night, and turned it right off.

Samsung also makes a curious decision to drop the external display, making it harder for users to figure out who's calling.

The handset offers a scroll-based interface which proves to be quite intuitive. However, the SMS function seems to have taken a step backwards from the E700. Although you can receive Chinese text messages, you can't compose them. Other basic features, such as automatically capitalizing the first letter of a sentence, aren't implemented.

That said, the phone's general responsiveness extends to its texting, which makes writing messages easier.

Features
The X430 comes with a 65,000-color screen using Samsung's UFB (Ultra Fine and Bright) technology. Although falling short of TFT displays, the results here are credible, with nice bright colors and a solid collection of animated wallpapers. However, the phone is fussy about vertical viewing angles, and the screen may appear dark if you hold the clamshell at the wrong angle.

As expected, Samsung's polyphony is loud and melodious. Ringtones come with pyrotechnic effects, thanks to the twinkling service lights and occasional vibration.

The GPRS-enabled X430 sports a good connectivity suite--by Samsung's standards, that is. MMS is available, although the phone is missing stock images that you can share with friends. Java also makes its appearance, along with four preinstalled games.

What the phone lacks are an infrared port, Bluetooth and data cable, so it's harder for users to transfer ringing tones and wallpapers to the handset.

One other omission is an integrated camera, which may be good news for people working at places that have banned camera-phones.

SAR Rating, Reception And Battery Life
The SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) value, as indicated in the manual, is 0.711W/kg. Based on the recommendations of the Council of the European Union, this is well below the limit of 2.0W/kg.

During the course of our testing, we experienced no problems with the reception and voice quality of the X430. The 770mAh Lithium-polymer battery provided a decent three days of usage.

Conclusion
At S$398 with a two-year contract and S$598 without line, the X430 commands an adequate price for a camera-less mobile phone. After recent eye-catching efforts by Samsung, the X430 comes across as a tad mundane. It's a fair recommendation, though, thanks to its quality display and sound, but the lack of an external display and the flawed implementation of SMS will discourage some buyers.

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