Nota month seems to pass without Samsung pushing another cut-price phone onto themarket, and the E1080 is the latest addition to the rapidly overcrowding stable.Boasting a surprisingly sturdy exterior with very basic features, it's hardlygoing to steal any of Windows Phone 7's thunder, but it could be the idealsolution for adventurous outdoor types who want strong battery life, corefunctionality and brawny design.
Samsung E1080
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
The E1080 is available from around £10 on pay as you goand £20 SIM-free.
Bargain-basement blower
Few companies are as staunchly committed to the budgetmobile market as Samsung. While the Korean manufacturer is happy to support thecutting edge of the market with the likes of Android and Microsoft's recentlylaunched Windows Phone 7, it's just as keen to help out thosefinancially challenged consumers out there. Over the past few months, we've seen a handful of bargain-basement blowers from Samsung, such as the E1150 and E1170. Now, it's time for the E1080 -- also known as the Keystone -- to take centre stage.
The E1080 bears more than a passing resemblance to itscandybar cousin, the E1170. The button layout is nearly identical, although ithas to be said, the E1080 is less visually appealing. The direction key lacks the silver accent of the E1170, replaced by a less eye-catching shade of blue.
There's also a ring of blue plastic that runs around theedge of the handset, giving it a rather cheap and nasty appearance. To top itall off, the alphanumeric keypad is a one-piece rubberised mat and, although itwill undoubtedly withstand a good punishing, it's unpleasant to use.
Uglysister
The E1170 wasn't exactly the Rolls Royce of mobilephones, but it did, at least, give the impression it was punching aboveits weight in aesthetic terms. The E1080, on the other hand, boasts an overallappearance that is more in line with its incredibly modest price tag. This is aphone built to last, rather than to dazzle. Its functional design motives are reinforced by the presenceof a handy sliding cover to protect the phone's charging port, which preventsdust and fluff from getting inside the phone.
Internally, the E1080 is practically the same as itscheap and cheerful stablemates. The operating system is indistinguishable from that of the E1170, with the same menu layout, customisation options andpre-loaded applications. 'Mobile tracker' makes a welcome return, allowing you toretrieve your handset should it get lost or stolen. Once activated, it willsend a message to a pre-selected number should anyone try to insert adifferent SIM into your phone.
Can'tfake it
Curiously, 'fake call' -- an ever-present feature of many ofthe Samsung phones we've reviewed recently -- wasn't present on the handset wereviewed, despite being listed on the packaging and in the instruction manual.According to the instructions, the application is accessed by holding down thenavigation key when the phone is in idle mode, but as much as we tried, we wereunable to get it to work.
Elsewhere on the E1080, you'll find Super JewelQuest, another familiar friend from past Samsung ventures. When playingthis enjoyable puzzle game, you'll realise that the phone's spongy control pad actually makessense -- it's comfortable to use and incredibly responsive.
The rather pokey 128x128-pixel display is exactly what you'dexpect from a device in this class -- it's blurry, lacks contrast and has prettypoor colour balance. We've certainly seen worse in our time, but the E1080's outdatedscreen isn't going to dazzle many mobile phoners.
It would be remiss of us to not point out the lack of acamera on the E1080, but to be honest, this is a common characteristic with thevast majority of low-cost devices. There's also no 3G or GPRS data connectivityto speak of, so you can't surf the Internet or send MMS messages. As long asyou're not looking to do anything other than making calls and sending standard textmessages, this shouldn't present an issue.
The obvious upshot of this humble technologicalconfiguration is absurdly impressive battery life. This fits perfectly with the E1080's status as a rugged device that can be taken away on campingtrips, where the last thing you need to worry about is charging it up or being overlyconcerned should you happen to drop it.
Conclusion
The Samsung E1080 is essentially a more robust and less visuallyalluring partner to the surprisingly lush E1170. It has practically thesame internal specifications, but there are some rather unwelcome differencesin the software -- namely the omission of the 'fake call' facility, something weadmit we find more useful than expected.
Bearing this in mind, the E1080's natural competitors areits closest relations -- the E1170 (which has the same candybarform factor) and the E1150 (which is a flip phone). If you're shoppingon a budget, or crave a spare handset with more stamina and resilience than your beloved iPhone or HTC Desire HD, the E1080represents an inexpensive solution.
Edited by Emma Bayly