Not everyone can afford to drop several hundreds of dollars on the latest smartphone plus a multi-gigabyte per month data plan, but they should still be able to enjoy the convenience of mobile connectivity. That’s why T-Mobile is offering two Android smartphones the Samsung Gravity SMART for budget conscious customers this month. As the first Android smartphone in the successful Gravity product line-up, running on Android 2.2 Froyo, the Samsung Gravity Smart phone is perfect for T-Mobile customers who are looking for an affordable, yet functional messaging device. Built to deliver a premium messaging experience, the Samsung Gravity Smart smartphone comes equipped with Group Text and combines a spacious, horizontal, four-row, slide-out, QWERTY keyboard with a 3.2-inch touch-screen display featuring Swype for easy text input, even with the keyboard closed. The Gravity Smart most resembles the Gravity T, although it’s a tad shorter and slimmer, and has some different design touches. More rounded at the base than at the top, the smartphone stands 4.5 inches tall by 2.3 inches wide and is .6 inch thick. Due in part to the built-in QWERTY keyboard, the Gravity Smart weighs 4.6 ounces. As phones go, it’s on the short, thick, dense side. Since the phone’s face is smaller, the Gravity Smart’s 3.2-inch touch-screen display fits right in. Its QVGA 420×380-pixel resolution is appropriate for the screen size, so icons and text look sharp and colors look pleasantly bright.
The main features include up to seven customizable home screens (pinch and zoom on any one of them to manage them all); easy access to Wi-Fi, GPS, and other controls from the pull-down notification menu; a task-switcher that appears when you press and hold the home button; and a certain visual aesthetic on the applications tray. Below the screen are three touch-sensitive buttons for the menu, the back key, and search. There’s also a black central button that takes you back home and helps wake up a sleeping phone. The power/lock button and USB charger port are on the right spine; the volume rocker is on the left. The lens for the 3-megapixel camera resides on the back, along with the flash. Behind the back cover is the phone’s microSD card slot. It takes up to 32GB external storage, but comes with a 2GB card to get you started.
Gravity SMART, on the other hand, is more geared for SMS-fanatics who want the convenience of a touchscreen as well as a slide-out, four-row QWERTY keyboard. It runs on Android Froyo (2.2) and features a 3-megapixel rear camera with LED flash that doubles as a camcorder, GPS, and is powered by a 800 MHz processor. The Gravity Smart has a rated battery life of 5.5 hours of talk time and up to 15 days of standby time on its 1500 mAh lithium ion battery.
Because these budget smartphones are only available at sub-$100 prices with a 2-year contract, I wonder if the minimal savings is really that valuable to customers in the long run. After all, 3.0 megapixel is quite out of date even by phone cameras’ standards , and for $100 more customers can opt for the latest phone, also with similar conditions (requiring a two-year contract). Now if these prices were available sans contract then these phones would be quite a steal.
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