Review: Samsung E870

The Samsung E870 is big on looks. Which it needs to be, because it’s fairly small on everything else. Strictly speaking, it probably falls into the catergory of ‘lady phone’, the type of which Samsung churn out at an alarming rate.

Looks-wise, it sports white paint on the inside, and a kind of brushed-silver on the outside. Whilst the silver looks classy, and stays scratch-free despite the paint job, the inner white is supremely plasticky and looking at it makes you think of white the way you would have done pre-iPod times.  Picking it up, you’ll notice that it’s pretty damn light – about 80 grams they reckon. It’s been a big point of debate here, split into those that like the Japanese-esque disposability feel, and those that are afraid their Sasquach-sized hands might accidentally break it.

As far as the functions available to you are concerned, it’s fairly minimal.  In fact, the main menu has only 9 options in it, and one of those is the calendar.

It does come equipped with an MP3 player, accessible from a shortcut key from the main screen. The internal memory can be increased via a micro-SD slot, the cards for which currently go up to 1GB.

The camera is 1.3 megapixels for still pictures and MP4 clips, and the pictures show up well on the bright and decent-sized screen on the phone. There’s also an LCD flash you can use (I’m seeing dots in front of my eyes as we speak).

In a nod towards the more businesslike consumers, it is equipped to deliver and receive email, and also includes a document viewer. This is slightly bizarre, bearing in mind how low spec it is in other areas – will anyone actually use this?

Apart from this, there really isn’t a lot more you could say about the phone. It’s definitely a case of style over substance, but what it does do, is done simply and without a fuss.

It’s available free on contract with O2 now.