Welcome to the summer of 2009, and Samsung has just released a phone that is trying to prove you don’t need a smartphone OS to have a smartphone experience. The S8000, better known as the ‘Jet,’ is a technical powerhouse that runs on a proprietary Samsung OS but features a processor faster than the iPhone 3GS. It is marketed in the UK with the tagline ‘Smarter than a smartphone,’ and while that might be a bit of marketing hyperbole, the hardware specs are genuinely staggering. It’s a slim, glossy black handset with a cubic ‘menu’ button that glows like a ruby, and at 110g, it’s one of the most pocketable high-spec phones on the market.
The technical headline is the 800 MHz processor, the fastest ever put in a mobile phone at the time of launch. This makes the ‘TouchWiz 2.0’ interface fly; there is zero lag, zero stutter, and the 3D ‘Cube’ menu rotates with a smoothness that makes the competition look like they’re running on steam. But the real star is the screen: a 3.1-inch WVGA (480 x 800) AMOLED display. This is a massive leap in technical quality. The black levels are absolute, the colours are incredibly punchy, and the resolution is double that of the iPhone. It is, quite simply, the most beautiful display you can buy in 2009, perfect for watching the high-res DivX videos that the Jet can handle natively.
On the imaging front, the Jet is a heavyweight. It features a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus, a dual-LED flash, and high-end features like ‘Smile Shot’ and ‘WDR’ (Wide Dynamic Range). It records 720 x 480 video at 30fps, which looks incredible on that AMOLED screen. Connectivity is equally impressive: 3.6 Mbps HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS with A-GPS, and a built-in FM radio. It also features a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSDHC slot supporting up to 16GB. The ‘Dolphin’ web browser is another technical highlight, allowing for multi-window browsing and surprisingly fast page rendering for a non-smartphone.
The user interface includes ‘Motion Gate’ controls, you can tap the side of the phone to launch apps or shake it to change tracks. It’s a bit of a gimmick, but it showcases the phone’s responsive accelerometer. Battery life is surprisingly decent; because it’s not running a heavy multitasking OS like Symbian or Android, the 1100 mAh battery can comfortably last two days of moderate use. The Samsung Jet is a technical marvel of ‘feature-phone’ engineering. It offers a premium screen, a top-tier camera, and incredible speed in a package that is simple to use. It’s the ultimate choice for the user who wants all the toys without the technical baggage of a full smartphone.