Due to the great competition, phones are slowly but steadily getting cheaper. What was previously inaccessible even to the average buyer can now be bought even by a poor student. Phones with a built-in analog TV receiver, such as this one - Samsung Star TV, will be no exception. At the moment, its price fluctuates around 1000 hryvnia. Agree, this is a very good price for a sensor with a large screen and built-in TV. Try to find something similar to this.
Star TV is another member of the Star line. In general, it is similar to Star WiFi, only the WiFi module has been replaced with a TV module. Will this phone be useful to you? May be. Depends on how often you watch TV and how often you are away from home. I would like to warn you right away that the quality of reception in Ukraine is normal only in cities or near repeaters. But in these cases the device picks up the signal well and it is quite possible to watch your favorite TV show on your favorite channel.
Equipment
The kit lacks only a cover, but in general it is a standard kit for inexpensive phones. In a nice box you will find a phone, a lithium-ion battery, an AC charger, a headset with a USB cable, a CD with programs and instructions.
Appearance
Star TV is completely plastic, which is not surprising. To reduce the cost, you have to sacrifice quality materials. The back of the phone seems to be glossy, but with a dotted, rough texture. This adds convenience in use, the device does not slip in the hand. For normal operation of the built-in TV, there is a telescopic antenna here. It is not very large even when unfolded and, in principle, it will be possible to watch TV programs even on the train, without interfering with neighboring passengers.
With the antenna folded down, the phone measures 53x104x12 mm, which are quite tolerable for carrying the device in a shirt or trouser pocket. The weight of the device also contributes to this - only 92 g.
To summarize, this is the same Samsung Star, but only with an antenna.
- External controls
The left end is occupied by the microUSB interface connector. It is closed with a plug, so you can not be afraid that litter will get inside it. There is also a paired volume button. On the right side, too, there are not a lot of buttons. Only the camera key and the screen sensor lock button. On the back, in addition to the company logo, there is a 3.2-megapixel camera lens.
- Display
Star TV has a 3-inch screen, which is not often seen on low-cost mobile phones. It's stretched out a bit, sort of like a widescreen TV. The aspect ratio (16: 9) and the resolution (240x400) correspond to this. The picture did not lose quality from this. The image is clear, the color rendition is good. And this despite only 262 thousand possible colors in the picture. Brightness is normal. You can read in the sun.
Speaking of reading. The phone has a wide range of text scaling from small letters to huge letters. This is a positive point, especially if you have vision problems. Changing the font size is easy: just press the volume key. By setting the smallest font, the display can fit 16 lines of text. This is another plus, because you can more or less conveniently read a book on your phone.
The display has a resistive sensor. It has a good response, but no multitouch. But when you press the buttons on the screen, the phone vibrates a little, confirming the pressing of the key. With the help of the G-sensor, the screen can automatically change its orientation, or you can flip through the lists on the screen by simply tilting the device in the desired direction. And thanks to SmartUnlock, by drawing a letter (up to nine letters) in the background on the screen, you will launch the function attached to it. A handy thing.
Specifications
- Memory
There is a hot-swappable slot for microSD cards.Due to a bad habit of the developers, it is located inside the phone, under the battery cover. This is annoying, because it will obviously be more convenient if you access the card from the end of the phone. Of course, the card will not fall out from under the cover, but the plug covered with a plug will also prevent the memory from being lost. True, these are all thoughts aloud. The slot is where it is, and you have to get used to it. The maximum for a card is 8 GB. Native memory in the device is 50 MB.
- Communication means
Gsm
Star TV operates exclusively in the GSM band. There is no 3G module. Therefore, the phone can only connect to the Internet via WAP or GPRS / EDGE. The speed will be small, but for infrequent logins to your favorite social network or checking your mailbox, it will be enough.
USB
There are traditionally three connection modes for Samsung. MassStorage mode allows you to use Star TV as an ordinary flash drive. In this case, data exchange occurs at a speed of up to 2 Mb / s. Very good. The main thing is not to forget to turn off Bluetooth before connecting to a PC, otherwise the connection will not be established.
Bluetooth + EDR
Version 2.0 module supports wireless headsets (A2DP profile). Plus, other profiles are available that are required to connect other devices.
- Camera
Standard 3.2 MP module. The focus is fixed, which already guarantees mediocre photos. Decreases the quality of pictures and lack of flash. Nevertheless, it is quite possible to shoot some moments with the help of it. The largest image size is 2048x1536pix.
The camera interface is intuitive, all the buttons on the screen are large and comfortable. There are traditional shooting modes and standard effects and options.
With the quality of her video and her settings, everything is the same. Mpeg4 videos with a maximum size of 320x240 and 15 frames per second.
Interface
The Star TV interface is similar to that of Samsung touchphones. The emphasis is on widgets, because this is most likely the most convenient thing that has been invented for touchscreen phones. About twenty of these widgets were installed on our hero. And with the help of a dedicated manager, you can download even more.
The idle screen displays one of three desktops, each with its own widget bar on the left and three common buttons at the bottom (menu, keyboard, directory book). You can set a different background for each table.
- Phone book
The book contains 2000 numbers. Traditionally, it is implemented as a list, but in our case it is just a list of names without a phone number. To see the number and any other information recorded in the name, you need to go to this subscriber. Here you can both enter and edit any of the five available numbers, first name, last name and other information about the subscriber. You can also associate a photo and a melody with a name.
It is possible to create an unlimited number of subscriber groups with the installation for each of your calls and pictures. Up to twenty names can be combined into a group.
Speed dial consists of twelve numbers. You can even enter different numbers of the same subscriber here. The list buttons are displayed as a photo of the subscriber, or signed with his name.
- Call lists
The developers have made a common list for all events: calls, short messages and E-Mail. Moreover, this list is limited to only 90 entries. Calls, SMS are flowers. You "rake" them quickly. But if they often write to you by mail, then the list becomes stupidly crammed with entries about the arrival of the letter. Messages and calls are simply lost. I can say that the general list is inconvenient and completely useless.
But individual lists are implemented as standard. This is the easiest and most convenient option. Three lists for three types of calls with thirty calls each. Each entry is a number with the date, duration of the call, and their number. With one touch, we switch to another type of calls.
Traditionally, you can create a black list.
By the way, I almost forgot about scrolling through any available lists. If you slide your finger along the left side of the screen, the list scrolls faster than if you slide along the right side. This improves ergonomics.
- Messages
Star TV supports SMS / MMS / EMS message types. All 500 maximum possible messages are saved in the corresponding folders of the phone memory, but they can be transferred to other directories, including the microSD card. You can select the message recipient's phone number from the directory book, any existing group, or from the last used ones.
The upper limit of 295 Kb is limited to an outgoing MMS message. Incoming volume is not limited. In the settings, you can set the type of reception for roaming / home network, disable the reception of advertising messages.
For SMS / MMS / EMS, the creation of a "black list" is available.
Sending an SOS message like “I am in emergency. Please help me ”(cannot be changed) to five preset numbers is performed after pressing the volume button four times. After that, calls from these numbers are accepted automatically.
There is a special wizard for setting up mail on the phone. From it you can connect up to five of your accounts, each of which has up to a hundred messages available. To send / receive a letter, it must be no more than 1 megabyte. Letters are readable on the built-in browser, but since html does not work in them, the messages sometimes "lose their shape", or rather their formatting.
By the way, in order to type any of the described types of messages or enter the necessary text information into the phone, a virtual QWERTY keyboard is provided. The screen size allows. There is also a substitute for the digital telephone keypad with T9. However, it makes no sense to use it for text input when there is QWERTY.
- Organizer
The calendar fits up to three hundred events of the only type - "meeting". For an event, the time of its start / end, the sound of the signal are traditionally set, the event is repeated with its own interval. In addition to the calendar, the device has other, already standard, organizer elements.
- Programs
Of the preinstalled programs, I have identified the following as the most useful and necessary.
Picsel Viewer. A program for viewing and only viewing MS Office files, PDFs, graphics and videos. Open documents can be flipped, changed display mode (landscape / portrait), scaled. It's a pity you can't edit. But even simple viewing of files without conversion is already good. And the speed of the program was simply surprising: open documents, and most importantly, PDF documents "fly" like on a desktop computer.
RSS Reader. This is a standalone program, as the browser does not provide RSS. To subscribe to news, in the application you need to register the address of a specific news channel or enter the address of the web page where the program will search for the channel. RSS Reader is good because it downloads not only text, but also sound and video. For uploaded files, you can set a size limit (5 MB by default). The disadvantage of the program is that there is no automatic download on a schedule. You have to download it manually. Although, given the current cost of GPRS / EDGE traffic and the lack of 3G and Wi-Fi in the phone, this disadvantage is likely to be an advantage.
Bluetooth. An analogue of Bluetooth device managers on stationary PCs. Nice interface, devices are displayed as a map or a list, all possible options are available.
- Browser
NetFront 3.5 is fine for surfing the Net. It loads pages faster, and the quality of their display has also improved. The program has a virtual "mouse" for easy navigation. Caching, scaling, smart fit and JavaScript are supported. Images on the page can be expanded to full screen mode.
- Mp3 player
Traditional player for Samsung touchphones. During playback, the current track number / total track number is displayed. The playlist displays tags and names in any language, including Cyrillic. For the playlist, you can turn on Shuffle and Repeat. You can open all tracks or filter available ones by artist, genre, album, and so on. Similar to WMPlayer, there is a five-star track rating system.
Developers from Samsung decided to keep up with their competitor SE with its TrackID product and implemented a similar FindMusic function in the player. It is even better than the first one, since there is more data about Russian performers in it.
The manufacturer pleased with his headset, which is included in the kit. It has a jack for ordinary headphones, so you can easily pick up a high-quality device so that you don't slander the phone's bad sound later. And, by the way, it is very good, like the sound of Walkman devices from SE.
- FM receiver
A simple FM radio with a frequency range of 87.5-108 MHz, memory for 99 radio stations and RDS.
- TV receiver
The main feature of the phone is the built-in TV receiver. To amplify the TV signal, the device has a telescopic antenna. In fact, TV does not work at all without an antenna. It's a pity. Probably, from the outside, I looked like a man from the past with a VEF radio, when I was sitting in the park, holding a phone with an extended antenna in my hands. Well, at least they paid attention to me all the time.
But back to TV. The program has autosearch and I recommend turning it on in places where the signal is picked up well, so that the application finds all possible stations. Reception is tolerable, but in some rooms it completely disappears. But on the street please! He catches and shows everything well.
The program has a funny option to turn off the image that only listen to TV shows. This is useful when the reception is uncertain and you want to watch the news, for example.
I liked the ability to record video in mpeg format from TV. Perhaps it will come in handy.
- Settings
There is nothing special here, except for the Mobile Tracker item. Here you can enter the phone number to which the message about the replacement of the SIM card will be sent. This SMS will contain the number of the newly inserted card. This slightly increases the chances of finding a stolen phone.
Battery life
The capacity of the Li-Ion type battery is only 1000 mAh. This is clearly not enough for a device with a large screen, and even built-in TV. The battery will provide up to two days of operation of the device. And this is at low loads. Getting the most out of Star TV, get ready to spend a couple of hours every day charging your battery.
Summary
In the age of the Internet, Star TV with its built-in TV does not look very useful. I just can't understand who needs a TV in their pocket, and even when it “picks up” the signal badly. This device is good even without a TV, considering its cost. This is the only reason why I can recommend this phone for purchase, and the TV receiver in it will be just a pleasant addition.
