Ok, folks, here’s a phone I’ve not really given any coverage to on the blog, other than talking about its launch at the Mobile World Congress, the reason being that I’ve got a memory like a sieve, and when there’s so many big, exciting super-smartphones to talk about, little niche phones tend to fall by the wayside.
That’ll be rectified today, as GSMArena have done a full review of the Samsung Beat DJ, and I thought I’d talk a bit about the phone destined to be loved by anyone who can say wicki wah with a straight face.
Samsung have been chucking out touchscreen phones like there’s no tomorrow, and there seems to be one for every market you can think of. Fashionistas, smartphone-lovers, people on a budget… you name it, Sammy have probably made a phone for that niche. The Samsung Beat DJ, though, is something new, ‘cos it’s aimed at teens. And budding DJs. The front-end interface, though, is out and out TouchWiz, so it should be familiar territory for anyone who’s ever used a Samsung touchscreen, although the review does say that it lags a lot, which is in no way a good thing.
The big draw, though, has got to be the Beat DJ app, that lets you do mixin’ and scratchin’ on the phone itself. You can record samples, add effects to them, and scratch up yer tunes using the virtual deck onscreen (look, I’ll say right now that I in no way understand DJ-speak, being a metalhead through and through. So if anything I say about DJ-ing is wrong, just shake your head in despair and look the other way. It’s for the best). A neat little feature, but in practice, it’s apparently not as fluid and nice as it should’ve been, with the whole experience being a bit choppy. Still, as GSMArena points out, for a first go, it ain’t bad.
As for hardware specs, you’ve got a 3MP camera, and HSDPA, but expect messaging to be made harder due to the fact that it’s got neither a hardware or virtual QWERTY keyboard. You’re stuck with an onscreen alphanumeric keyboard.
All in all, then, a cool little niche phone (and I actually really dig the shape), but in conclusion, this ain’t no Samsung i8910 HD…
Have you got the Beat DJ? Have you mixed up some bangin’ licks on it? Leave us a comment and have your say!