Review: A blue mobile that goes green

Technology can really make our lives better. But the development of new technologies that make both our lives easier and have a positive, rather than negative impact, on the environment has become almost a sort of Holy Grail.

Samsung needs no introduction in terms of quality products but one if its latest products needs more than a simple introduction. The Samsung GT-s7550 mobile handset, known as Blue Earth, is set to become a pioneer in the field of mobile communication technology. That's because this is one of the first handsets to be manufactured with the environment in mind and yet sacrifices almost nothing of the functionality associated with a good mobile phone.

The Samsung Blue Earth goes green in several ways. The materials used are recycled and not harmful, it can be charged through a solar panel at the back, and battery power can be adjusted from the settings. It comes also with a pedometer, maybe to encourage you walk more rather than use more polluting means of transport.

The Blue Earth is nice to see and nice to hold, and it really does not come across as being made of recycled plastic water bottles! It's a functional touchscreen phone and the screen is a bright and nice WQVGA TFT. The touchscreen is okay, though we have experienced better ones in other smartphones. Maybe it is the not-so-large size of the screen, at 7cm, which is at fault. Scrolling through pages sometimes resulted in clicking on an icon and opening an application.

This model comes with the standard Samsung TouchWiz operating system for the manufacturer's phones also found on the Omnia range, so it is quite intuitive to use.

The 3.2 MP camera takes decent photos and the audio capabilities are good too. Though not intended as a primary music player, it supports MP3, AAC and WMA formats. However, it does not use a standard earphone plug but the proprietary cable.

It also supports the H.263, WMV, MPEG4 video formats. The video recorder shoots clips with sound with a maximum 320x240 pixels resolution.

Internal memory is just 130 MB but this can be expanded to 16 GB through a microSDHC memory card.

A function we liked is the FM radio. This, the MP3 player function and the pedometer put together are a good invitation to go for a walk in the nice spring weather and keep entertained with good music.

We did not have issues with voice calls or sending/receiving SMS.

There are pre-installed games and one of them, Tumble, is a simple virtual dice-throwing game that shows the motion sensitivity of the handset when shaking it.

Internet connectivity is good. We used it in both WiFi and 3G mode and in both cases the response for browsing was ok. Integration with the most popular services like Google, Gmail and social networking site comes standard and easy.

This is the first mobile handset tested by i-Tech which comes with a solar panel for charging. This is maybe the most prominent features in terms of eco-friendliness, but from our tests, it takes much much longer to charge by sunlight than from AC current. The idea here is to top-up from the solar panels and not charge it up from dead.

The battery's performance on standby is great, going into several days, but WiFi and 3G drain the battery fast. It's possible to get around eight hours of talk time with just one charge.

To sum up, the Samsung Blue Earth can very well be a trend-setter. It is proof that technology can be both functional and have no negative impact on the environment. The price to pay here is not in terms of technology but in hard cash. Being a pioneering phone, it's on the high side in terms of pricing compared to phones with similar functions. But this is bound to change as more phone manufacturers take up the same path and prices come down.

The Samsung Blue Earth is available from Vodafone Malta.