Samsung Corby S3653: An entry-level touch-screen phone for tweens, teens and young-at-heart

MANILA, Philippines - The first thing I felt when I first laid eyes on the Corby S3653 test phone that Samsung lent me was that the device was most certainly not designed for me.

It had a screaming yellow-colored back cover, for Pete’s sake! My two tween-aged daughters loved it alright, but I wasn’t sure how people would react to seeing a 40-something IT/telecom journalist wielding a bright yellow cellphone.

I guess I could say that it goes well with my yellow Lamborghini Gallardo parked outside. But they’d never believe me. 

In any case, it’s my job to test all manner of high-tech devices and I just had to buckle down and see what makes this colorful Corby tick.

First of all, this touch-screen phone doesn’t just come in yellow. It has a replaceable back cover dubbed fashion jackets and you’ve got a choice of pink, orange, white, and - perhaps for men who just have to have one - black. 

A nice touch is that the back of the Corby bends in a wide, sweeping curve that makes it easy to grip.

 It also boasts Samsung’s TouchWiz interface. With its cool vibration feedback you can put your finger on the touch screen and feel the screen respond. Drag your finger across the screen and get a light click.

The Corby S3653 features 27 convenient widgets and 75 more available to download, so your favorite features are always at your fingertips.

Samsung fitted the Corby with a generously sized 2.8-inch TFT display and an equally generously sized on-screen keypad that will not alienate non-touch-screen users.

The fixed focus camera with 2x digital zoom is nothing extraordinary, but it’s decent enough for a 2MP snapper. I also like that it has a fun smile shot feature that instantly hits the shutter once your subject smiles. Don’t try taking pictures in poorly lit places, though, as there’s no flash. Video recording isn’t anything to tweet about, shooting QVGA-resolution clips at 15fps.

Just like with many Samsung handsets, the music player’s interface and audio quality are commendable. There’s also an FM radio on hand. Unfortunately, there is no 3.5-mm plug here so you can’t use your own pair of headsets.

There is 50MB of storage memory on board that can be expanded up to 8GB via microSD card.

For social butterflies, the quad-band Corby S3653 has been designed with easy connectivity to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Picasa, and Photobucket.

This phone is also equipped with a Smart Unlock feature so you can simultaneously unlock the phone and open an item on the menu, or an application, or even dial a contact simply by drawing a letter on the unlock screen.

It also features a One-Finger Zoom for conveniently zooming in and out of the screen. And speaking of conveniently zooming, navigating through the Corby’s apps and menus was an exercise in speed and efficiency. There is little or no lag even when you click from one app to another and back - something that confounds even the fastest processors.

Wish list? Maybe more masculine or gender-neutral colors for the fashion jackets - say silver or even chocolate brown or dark blue or green. Oh, and perhaps 3G and Wi-Fi while I’m at it.

Then again, that might get the P8,500 Corby knocking on the more upscale Omnia’s door.

All things considered, the very first Corby (it has since been joined by three other Corby models: the QWERTY keypad-equipped CorbyTXT B3210 and B3410, as well as the touch-screen CorbyPro B5310 with slide-out QWERTY thumb board) is a very recommendable entry-level touch-screen phone for Facebook-loving tweens, teens, and even the young-at-heart.