Learning the Lindy Hop

By Seow Tein Hee

Convergence might be the true nature of a mobile phone, but one mustn't forget that everyone uses their phones differently. The Samsung Lindy takes the cue from its name, positioned as a music-centric device for mobile entertainment.

Dancing to the Tune

The Lindy definitely makes a good first impression with its compact nature, though avoiding fingerprints on its glossy surface will be a tall order. As an affirmation of its multimedia focus, the phone comes with Forward, Play/Pause and Back buttons at the bottom. Just above it are the usual Call/End buttons, flanking another Back button. The Volume and microUSB ports are situated on the left, with the Lock and Camera buttons on the opposite side.

Sporting a modest 2.8-inch screen, the Lindy relies on capacitive touch to navigate across the interface. Unfortunately, small screens and touch don't go together too well and those with larger thumbs like ours will experience some difficulties with the interface. Often, larger widgets on its TouchWiz 2.0 home screen were hard to control and had slow response times.

There is a plethora of widgets on the Lindy, some of which hail from previous Samsung phones. What got us excited is the addition of Twitter and Facebook widgets. And yes, they are full fledged widgets, not simply an icon that links to a bookmarked web page. Useful as it may be, the inadequate screen size makes it hard to sift through your news feed.

Making full use of its touchscreen capabilities, the Lindy also includes a Smart Unlock feature that relies on gestures. The concept lies in assigning specific alphabets to either unlock the phone, or launch an app. For example, assign the letter "K" to unlock the phone, and all you need to do is write the same letter on the locked screen.

Two Left Feet

The biggest downside with the Lindy is its performance speed. While it has some impressive features for a phone of its caliber, the experience is marred by how sluggish it felt. This is especially pronounced with multiple widgets loaded onto the home screen. A 960mAh battery might be able to power the Lindy for around a day if you utilize its Wi-Fi and HSDPA connectivity options sparingly.

If one were to look past the obvious performance slow-downs and poor usability, the Samsung Lindy's specifications and features are definitely not to be scoffed at. This is even more so with the S$358 pricing that lets you connect to the internet at will and access your social networking sites.

Product Specifications

Network: GSM 1900 / 1800 / 900 / 850, HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100
Display: 2.8-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen, 240 x 320 pixels
Camera: 3.2-megapixel

Video support: H.263 / H.264 / MP4 / WMV
Audio support: MP3 / WMA / eAAC+ / 3.5mm audio output jack / Stereo FM Radio
Connectivity: Built-in GPS and Google Maps / Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support / Mini-USB 2.0 / WLAN 802.11b/g / HSDPA 7.2Mbps

Storage type: microSD expandability up to 8GB
Battery: 960mAh
Standby / Talk time: Up to 300 hours / Up to 180 minutes
Dimensions: 106 x 57 x 12mm
Weight: 98g
Price: S$358