Samsung B5310 Review

Some kids can send out over 5000 text messages in a month. That’s a lot of abuse for a phone to endure, but the Samsung B5310 is able to stand up to even the heaviest texters with ease. The design of the phone itself is perfect for those who tend to email frequently, update their social statuses a lot, or stay connected with family and friends through text. The primary design feature is a keyboard that slides away from the main body of the phone.

Will the Samsung B5310 have the ability to meet your specific needs? Here are some of the specific features and advantages that this particular Samsung phone can bring.

The Slide Out Keyboard Is Excellent

There are a lot of keyboards on a lot of phone today that just don’t measure up. They are either too small to be properly functional, don’t offer the punctuation features that some people need, or are just too stiff to be usable. The full QWERTY keyboard on the Samsung B5310 isn’t any of that. The keys are nicely sized so that most people will be able to punt and not have to worry about hitting three or four other ones at the same time. All of your primary punctuation is also accessible without any combination keystrokes so emails and texts are quickly compose.

The only real fault with the QWERTY keyboard on the Samsung phone is the fact that there isn’t a shift key. This is been replaced by the caps lock key and it normally isn’t that big of a deal, especially with the predictive text input, but some users may find it to be problematic.

What About the Functionality of the Samsung B5310?

Like many of the Samsung phones from this era, users are able to access a number of widgets that come from a widescreen off of the home page. These are widgets, not apps, and the distinction must be made very clearly. You are not going to be able to access all networking pages through an app. You will be accessing them through the mobile web on the Internet. This tends to slow the process down a little bit, but not so much that it becomes a problematic issue.

It’s got the standard widgets that you’d expect, like Google and Facebook, but interestingly enough there’s a iPlayer widget installed as well. It’s a nice little widget to have because it allows you to access a 3G network or a connected Wi-Fi and download them directly to the phone so you don’t have the buffering that typically come with modern videos.

The one area of concern for those who want multimedia video is that the resolution of the screen on the Samsung B5310 is just 176p. Some videos are going to be quite watchable, but many of them are going to be pretty rough to see more than just once. Many users are going to decide to use this phone for data input purposes alone.

Some Multimedia Functions Are Nice To Have

Although the audio output of the Samsung B5310 could use a little help, there are a number of multimedia options from an audio standpoint that are quite nice. The music player has a pretty basic interface, but designing your own playlist is easy thanks to the information being split into album, artist, track, and genre categories. There’s also an FM tuner included in the phone so that you can pick up a broadcast as you’re working through the day.

The camera on the B5310 is just three megapixels in resolution, but that’s suitable enough for some outdoor pictures that you might want to take. Indoor images struggled to show up with any clarity unless there are large amounts of light present within room. There’s no flash included on this Samsung phone, so natural lighting is going to have to do for every image. Many images turn out vibrant, but it takes some practice to get there.

With this being a budget friendly phone, it’s a little surprising to see that there are GPS functions included with it. There’s also Bluetooth support and HSDPA is supported as well. Although there isn’t any natural navigation widget installed on the B5310, it does interact pretty well with the Google maps that comes with the phone in Java.

Many phones from this price point tend to struggle when GPS functions are enabled, at least from a battery standpoint. That’s not the case with this Samsung phone. Even with heavy use of 3G downloads and GPS data, most users are going to be able to make it through the day without needing to charge the battery. In regular use, the average person will find that they can get two or three days out of a single charge.

What’s the Verdict on the Samsung B5310?

If you are looking for an affordable phone that offers a modern features and you’re willing to live with it being not as smart as other mobile devices, then the Samsung B5310 has a lot to offer. It’s perfect for those who have heavy mobile data input needs so that users can stay connected in a way that best suits them. Although the quality of the camera and the lack of apps support might drive certain users away from this phone, the widgets are a good second option and don’t actually limit the overall use of the device.

The smaller screen is a bit of an issue, as well as the lower-end resolution that is available, so those who are looking for video playback functionality are going to want to look at other phones. If emailing, texting, or even MMS are your primary needs for a mobile phone, however, the Samsung B5310 has the goods to deliver some amazing results. The QWERTY keyboard is outstanding and useful, keeping users connected in their preferred method. If that’s what you need, then this phone is perfect for you.

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