The right touch

MANILA, Philippines - One of the first things that we do when we want to show people we like them or perhaps that we empathize with them is give them a nudge.

OK, fine, there are other people who give a hug or a warm pat on the arm.

As for me, I am the type of person who would likely give a person a small slap on the arm or a friendly tap on the shoulder to show them that I understand what they are going through. That is, of course, if I really do understand what it is they are going through.

If I don’t really understand, but I do empathize with them, I give them a warm pat on the back — and more often than not, that gesture of being present to them works.

I am not one of those really touchy-feely sorts of people, but sometimes we can’t help but make a physical gesture that we feel.

The same goes for cellphones. Yes, I really do equate life to cellphones; after all, we couldn’t live life in this day and age if we didn’t have a cellphone, right?

Right, of course.

Samsung is one company that has been able to perfect touch-screen cellphones. If you haven’t been looking, well, lately the Korean telecom company has been introducing touch-screen cellphones left and right — for as many age brackets and varied users that there are.

Go ahead, touch

In the earlier part of the second quarter this year, Samsung introduced the Samsung Star (S5233), a 2G feature-packed, full-touch phone that was easy on the budget. I was told that the Samsung Star was a big hit among Pinoys, so much so that the Korean company opted to introduce another touch-screen phone, which as far as I am concerned, is bound to be another winner.

The newest baby from Samsung is the S5600 or Preston, as we prefer to call it.

How do we love it

The first thing that I liked about the Samsung Preston is its slim and compact feel. Oh, yes, I might add that I really loved that it came in a deep purple hue. Cool.

As I am wont to do when setting up a cellphone, I played around with its interface, which is quite standard and easy to use when it comes to Samsung cellphones.

I fixed up the widgets I love to use by pulling them to the side bar of the screen so that they are always within easy reach.

I loaded my fave MP3 ringtones and fave photos, too, which was just a Bluetooth connection away from my other phone.

What makes the Preston even more fun for me is that it is easy to set up, fast on the draw when connecting and transferring a phonebook is a synch since the contact automatically enter the phonebook of the Preston — which for those of us who transfer phonebooks very often is a feature we can’t live without.

The Preston was all set for me — and all that within 10 to 15 minutes of turning the cellphone on. Perfect.

I am the type of user who can’t wait to get my cellphone all set up before using it. And because of the fast-paced life I live, and also because I can be quite impatient (ask the people who know me) I have to make sure that everything is set up perfectly before I can even get to the hard core functions of any device I get my hands on.

Browse away

After the setup was complete. I did some serious Internet browsing.

Yes, the 3G connection was great, and yes, and a double yes, that I was able to check out my fave sites within a few seconds.

After all, Samsung Preston’s 3G capabilities and its HSDPA speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps are just fantastic.

Let me say a few words about the accelerometer, the nifty technology that allows for portrait or landscape view when the phone is rotated.

Did I already say how much I love the Samsung Preston’s widgets, which allow for both local and online applications to be easily displayed and accessed.

The Samsung Preston boasts an excellent full-touch user interface with its 2.8-inch LCD providing crystal-clear QVGA resolution that allows users to be informed of every action done on the touch screen.

And the Samsung Preston is great for entertainment with its three-megapixel camera and smile shot feature, video recording and playback as well as listening to MP3s and the FM radio.

It’s like magic. I really love this little phone, which is small but loaded with all the features that make owning a cellphone wonderful.

Let’s get techie

And for the techie nuts hereabouts, let me give you the tech specs for your enjoyment.

The Preston is loaded with a 2.8-inch QVGA TFT capacitive touch screen, with 16M colors, 240 x 320 pixels. It has the now standard TouchWiz user interface and an accelerometer sensor for auto-rotation.

I love the Gesture Lock, which features mobile widgets. Of course, I have already mentioned the full Internet browsing support GSM 850/900/1800/1900.

Again, I must say that we can’t underestimate the HSDPA at 7.2 Mbps, which is probably the main attraction of this phone. This means that Internet browsing, downloading and other connectivity tasks are going to be taking place at blazing fast speeds.

Speed — that is the name of the connecting game.

Designed for me

The Preston is light, small and wide. It fits perfectly into my smallish hands. The front part has the 2.8-inch capacitive touch screen. On top of it are the earpiece and the front camera lens for video calls. At the bottom are the three standard buttons: the dial key, the end call/exit/power key, and the back key at the middle.

The mouthpiece is located at the bottom side of the phone. On the left side of the phone are lanyard eyelet hole and the volume buttons which double as the scroll keys; on the right are the hold key and the dedicated camera key. The buttons on the sides are too noticeable because of the curved design of the phone’s body. At the back is the 3.2-MP camera with LED flash on the upper left, and the speaker near the lower. The port of the headphone, the USB connectivity, and the battery charger are on top of the phone.

I really have started to simplify my life — and the basic feel and touch of the Samsung Preston is perfect. Simple to look at — great to use.

What better kind of cellphone is there?

Last word

The Samsung Preston is one cellphone that I would recommend to users who want a phone that does all the basic stuff (texting, loading fave tones, shooting photos, making calls) quickly and accurately. It is for the folks who need to get to the Internet in a hurry and want to make sure that they get good downloads when they need it. Or even for those who want to rifle off a photo — to Facebook or whatever other social networking site — ASAP.

It is a phone that in a sense speaks softly (because of its simple yet cool looks) but carries a big stick (because of all the cool stuff it can do as a cellphone) and more so because of the way it allows me to personalize my life — on it.

Hello, Preston!