Samsung Cellular Phone M620 Upstage - The Music Lovers Cell Phone

When I first saw the Samsung Cellular Phone M620 Upstage I was pretty excited. A double-sided cell phone, on one side the phone itself, including a 1.3 megapixel camera, and on the other a music player with its own screen display and controls! What more could a gadget-loving girl ask for?

The handset is black, slim and fits in your purse neatly. At just under half an inch in depth and four inches in height, space is not an issue and it only weighs 2.5 ounces.

On the phone side of the M620 I found your average Samsung style keypad and controls. There's a toggle control, OK button and separate camera button as well as the standard talk and end keys. The compromise, however, is the very small screen size. It's just big enough to display four icons side by side, and measures only 1.4 inches diagonally, as a result the message text and caller numbers show up very small. The 64k-color TFT screen is bright enough though, and the backlight on the keypad is a nice feature.

All the essentials are there - SMS, Multimedia Messaging, vibrating mode, caller ID - as well as added benefits such as MMS, Bluetooth access and voice commands. The camera is of decent quality for a phone, taking pictures is easy and it has a zoom option. It also acts as a camcorder so that you can record video clips with sound.

On the other side - the flip side - we have the music player. For me, this is the main attraction if you can get over the limitations of the phone set-up. Pressing the flip button on the side of the handset switches you over to the music player - or back again. It takes a bit of getting used to though, and can be cumbersome to keep flipping back and forth.

The best bit about the Samsung Cellular Phone Upstage M620 is most definitely the music player. I love the touchpad screen, and on the music side the screen is much bigger, with a bright TFT display. The interface takes a bit of practice to scroll through the icons, but after a couple of hours of tapping and sliding, I was getting the hang of it.

Adding MP3 tracks to the phone's media was fairly simple using a micro SD card, and you can use the Sprint Music Manager to sync your music from your PC. Listening to music through a Bluetooth stereo headset is essential if you want good sound quality, as the Upstage only has a single speaker - and it's on the phone side!

Another point I need to mention here is the battery situation. The internal battery is not removable, and only gives a couple of hours talk time. The good news is that you also get an external battery attached to the M620's trendy wallet. This doubles as a protective case for your phone whilst at the same time the external battery is plugged in. Ideal!

Verdict: Love the slim, lightweight design of this fab little handset, and the innovative feature of the two-sided interface set-up. The size of the phone side display is a let down, with only three lines of text at a time but I'll live with it. I am not so keen on all the flipping. Although it becomes less of a chore after a while, the dual function of this Samsung M620 could be improved. Whatever else, your friends will be impressed when you whip this little gadget out of your pocket!