Introduction

Reproducing the same or more fame and success of ancestor is constantly a tough job. That’s precisely what Samsung S5260 Star II is committed and intends to become a pointing star in the galaxy of mobile phones. The Star II has got an identical name to its predecessor but with different looks that has to compete against its antecedent which sold over 10 million units and not only that the previous Samsung Star was one of the most admired mobile phone in the early days of reasonably priced touch phones. Whereas this touchscreen mobile phone has got out of the seal after quite a long time in view of the fact that Samsung Star made its entrance and recurring the wonderful achievement of Samsung Star is a dispute which Samsung S5260 Star II has to go through it.

The Star II has been on the loose at a peak when the market of touchscreen operated phones is though departing high sales of smartphones and returning huge revenue for the companies. Have a mobile review of the Samsung S5260 Star II to come across its different characteristics and viewpoints:

Selling points

• Micro SD card slot can support upto 16 GB (Hot-Swappable) with 30 MB internal memory
• WI-FI connectivity support, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP and Micro USB V2.0
• Traditional TouchWiz 3.0 User Interface
• Capacitive TFT touchscreen is measured at 3 inch based on a  WQVGA resolution of 240x400 pixels
• Equips a 3 MP snapper (fixed-focus) with smile detection feature
• A 3.5mm audio jack and FM radio with RDS for getting an emphasize on music
• Operating frequency bands on 2G networks: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz and GPRS/EDGE (class 12)
• Document viewer for office applications is packed in
• Smart unlock and Smart Dialing with Accelerometer sensor
• DNSe and SNS integration
• Features Find Music recognition service
• Enhanced battery life
• Spam filtering for SMS
• Complying audio quality

Major Drawbacks

• Besides 2G networks there is no 3G support
• Display has a low resolution
• Basic fixed-focus camera with absence of flash
• Poor video recording which is QVGA@15fps
• Poor web browser
• User Interface has some glitches

The tweaks in Star II when comparing with its ancestor counts not quite a lot but they must be considerable as much as necessary for an entry-level mobile phone.

Looks & Design

Nowadays design of any phone plays a vital role and with the flow in smartphones design has turn out to be an essential ingredient for feature mobile phones. Samsung S5260 Star II is a packed in phone based on a dimension of 107.5 x 54 x 12.4 mm which also weighs quite light at just 95 grams (estimated) which would fit comfortably in one’s hand and pocket. Though this mobile phone won’t give you a solid impression when holding in your hands, however the curved rear of the phone makes it pretty contented to grasp the phone.

When considering its design the Star II measures not much of difference when standing against its ancestor but the glossy exterior endows it a greatly finer furnished look. The construction of the Star II is overall impressive where there are 3 hardware keys situated right below the display screen from which the middle one if for Menu, the left for accepting call and the right one for disconnecting/canceling the call or even going back to the home screen from menu

Display

It features a TFT capacitive touch screen measured at 3 inch with accelerometer sensor based on a resolution of 240x400 pixels which is quite low. The sunlight legibility isn’t quite impressive because the performance of the display in sunlight weakens and looses its charm due to the extremely reflective outside layer.

Camera

The Star II boasts of a 3.15 MegaPixel snapper capable of taking shots on a resolution of 2048×1536 pixels and is also capable of recording videos QVGA@15fps but that’s not that countable though the quality isn’t quite impressive. The downside to the camera is that it has no flash, auto-focus, lens protection nor a dedicated key. Whereas it is capable of taking shots with preset scenes and features which counts in smile shots and so on. The image quality is appreciable when considering 3 MP snapper.

Connectivity Options

It features a full set of connectivity options and will be enough for you which includes internet connectivity through quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE whereas the GPRS is Class 12 and WI-FI 802.11 b/g/n is supported. For sharing data there is Bluetooth 3.0 with support for A2DP profile and Micro USB port is also there. But the lack of 3G connectivity is quite a disappointment.

Messaging and Browsing

Samsung S5260 Star II endows with basic messaging such as SMS, MMS, E-mail and support for a variety of IM’s with facebook and twitter. The browser of the mobile phone is per standard which supports WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML and also supports one-finger zoom and kinetic scrolling. Java MIDP 2.0 is also there.

Multi-media Features

Multimedia features of the Star II are quite enthusiastic with the phone packing down a music player and are capable of supporting formats such as MP3/WAV/WMA/AAC+ player and H.263/H.264/MP4 player. The phone offers a typical equalizer preset whereas the complying audio quality will keep you rocking and fantasized.

Battery

The battery working inside is Li-Ion 1000 mAh as per standard which provides an upright good talk time and stand-by time.

Conclusion

The Samsung S5260 Star II delivers decent telephony, sleek design, long-lasting battery which would be an ideal pick for affordable touchscreen mobile with a price tag of Rs.12,500 (approx) featuring a color range of White and Black.