SAMSUNG: Samsung E590

Saturday 14 July 2012

Samsung E590

The most notable thing about the E590's design is its simplicity. There are no glossy surfaces. There are no touch-sensitive keys. There is no floral embossing. This lack of festive flair doesn't make for a boring phone though -- the phone has a clean, utilitarian design, but then so does a little player called the iPod.

The candy bar E590 comes in black or white, and at 66 grams almost floats on the palm. Grasping it in your hand, you feel like a giant meddling with the mobile of a standard human -- the footprint is about the same as a second-gen iPod nano.

A 220 x 220-pixel, 262k colour display sits atop a grid of refreshingly normal number keys and navigation buttons. All are the same shape -- think the cross-section of a Tic Tac. A stubby joystick handles the on-screen menu movement.On the back of the phone is a 3-megapixel camera in a solid cylindrical housing that protrudes from the main casing.