Fearnot, you haven't stepped into a time warp and emerged back in 2005. The E1360may look like a chubby reincarnation of the D600, but it's actually one ofSamsung's latest budget blowers, and comes with a few surprises under the bonnet -- including Bluetooth data transfer. Unfortunately, it's also saddled with theusual litany of shortcomings, which is to be expected when you consider theastonishingly low asking price.
Samsung E1360
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
You can buy the E1360 handset SIM-free for £70, or nab one on Orange pay as you go for around£20.
Slip-slideaway
Samsung's budget offerings have already covered the candybar (E1170) and flip (E1150) formats, so it shouldn't come as a massiveshock to discover the Korean manufacturer is putting out a cut-price slidervariant, too. The E1360 shares many similarities with the aforementioned pairof cheap and cheerful handsets, but also comes with a handful of its owntricks.
In purely cosmetic terms, the E1360 calls to mind thecompany's creative ethos from about half a decade ago. It bears more than apassing resemblance to the popular D600 and D900 slider phones, from 2005 and2006 respectively. This observation certainly isn't intended as a criticism --both of these devices are iconic design classics -- but it does makethe E1360 seem a little out of touch when placed alongside Samsung's morerecent releases, such as the Galaxy S and Monte.
With a thickness of 18mm, the E1360 isn't exactly whatyou'd call svelte, but it feels incredibly robust and sturdy nonetheless. Thisimpression of strength carries through to the slider mechanism, which displaysthe bare minimum of wobble and is accompanied by an appealing 'click' soundwhen you open and close it.
Plentyof grip
Like the E1150, the E1360's battery compartment iscovered with tiny raised dots, which enhance grip when the device is cradled inyour sweaty palm. Combined with the rounded corners and aforementioned girth,these intriguing little pimples mean the E1360 is unlikely to slip fromyour hand during use -- not that an impact with terra firma would have much of adetrimental effect on the phone's burly exterior.
Unsurprisingly with a sub-£30 phone, there are caveats toconsider when approaching the E1360. Like its stablemates, it has adisappointing screen, with a resolution of just 128x160 pixels.The usual ghosting issues remain, with swift movement between menus causing anunsightly blurring effect. Although the display is capable of creating somepleasingly bold colours, when placed alongside the latest AMOLED screens, itlooks tremendously washed-out.
The E1360's connectivity options are somewhat stymied. There's no 3G on board, but you can, at least, access the Web via GPRS.Multimedia messaging is supported, although in the interests of keepingproduction costs down, you won't find a camera anywhere on the E1360's casing.
Entertainmentexchange
Surprisingly, the E1360 boasts Bluetooth, something whichwas completely missing from the E1150 and E1170. It's an addition that's warmly welcomed,but the pitiful 2MB internal storage will put the dampeners on any dreams youmay have of gleefully exchanging MP3s and photos with friends. There's noexpansion slot, either, so you can't augment that minuscule amount of memorywith a microSD card.
A common trait of budget phones we've seen so faris muscular battery life, due largely to the lack of power-intensive technology,such as 3G and Wi-Fi. Curiously, the E1360 is unable to compete with itslow-cost rivals in this regard. While the phone will comfortably outlast youraverage smart phone, it runs dry disappointingly fast.
Samsung's low-cost handsets come with a fairlystandard-issue suite of applications these days. There's the surprisingly handy 'fake call' feature -- this allows you to stage a mock telephonecall in order to escape sticky social situations. The 'mobile tracker' security measure is also in place, which alerts a contact number of your choosingshould anyone try to insert another SIM card into your (presumably stolen orlost) device.
For finger bandits, the E1360 is equipped with A+Sudoku,a passable replication of everyone's favourite brain-buster. The highlyresponsive direction pad and alphanumeric keyboard provide the perfect interface for sucha title, but, unfortunately, the E1360's gaming aspirations end there. Theredoesn't seem to be any way of installing alternative games, despite the presenceof GPRS connectivity.
Conclusion
Samsung has certainly covered all of the bases when itcomes to budget phone styles. Between the E1360, the E1150 and the E1170, fansof all physical phone formats are catered for. The Samsung E1360 scores over itssiblings thanks to the inclusion of Bluetooth support, but the averagebattery life and low amount of memory sadly count against it. There really isvery little difference between Samsung's trio of pocket-money mobiles, but theE1360's ability to access the net via GPRS should make it slightly moreattractive to tech-savvy budget shoppers.
Edited by Emma Bayly