The Samsung Finesse is a mid-range phone with a few good things going for it. Despite the touchscreen display and the sleek looks, though, it's not a smartphone, so keep your expectations modest. Released by MetroPCS, it's easily one of the better phones that the carrier has in its arsenal, which consists almost entirely of low-end devices.
A slim touchscreen device, the Finesse features measurements of 4.6 x 2.3 x 0.5 inches. Looks are very similar to another Samsung mobile phone, the Delve, with only the physical keys and the slightly bigger display allowing anyone to tell them apart. As with Samsung's latest touch-enabled models, it uses the TouchWiz interface and comes with all the goodness associated with it.
Users will appreciate the size of the virtual keys, which allow for easy dialing and texting on the handset. The touchscreen offers vibration feedback, which you can turn off or adjust in intensity, depending on your preferences. Like other TouchWiz devices, it offers an extendable tray of drag-and-drop widgets that can make phone use an extremely positive experience.
Device specs and performance are decent, though, nothing special. It's got 3G, stereo Bluetooth, a 2.0 megapixel camera, speakerphone, GPS and an onboard media player. You'll likely need a microSD card (up to 8GB supported) in order to enjoy it, since the built-in memory is a paltry 150MB.
The full HTML browser loads pages fast and is actually quite responsive. It does run into certain problems when panning, scrolling and zooming, though. There's also no Wi-Fi, which is pretty disappointing for a touchscreen phone. Overall, however, web browsing via MetroPCS' 3G network is very convenient, which is a huge positive for these types of devices.
The Samsung Finesse is priced at $350 without a contract. There may be better options out there, but you'll be locked in to pretty costly agreements. If you can live with the decidedly average features, it's a great choice for anyone who wants to enjoy web browsing on their handsets.
Photo Credit: Today Gadgets
