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Review: Samsung Sunburst

Form Basics Extras Video Tour Wrap-Up Comments 5

Music Camera Image Quality Browse / Customize Extras

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The Access Netfront browser on the Samsung Sunburst gave me some serious trouble. Though I set the browser to identify as a PC Desktop client, I still got mobile pages wherever I tried. On a few pages, including our own PhoneScoop homepage, the browser would open the page, then quickly change to display only our ad banner. Luckily, you can turn off Flash Lite support, which is a good idea, since this phone is far too underpowered to be running any sort of Flash. Unfortunately, this didn't solve my problem, and I was never able to peruse the full HTML version of our site on the phone. For me, that's obviously a dealbreaker.

Navigating other Web pages was also an annoying task, thanks to the unresponsive screen. Pages do not glide by when you flick, they come to a halt. So, large pages require a ton of finger flicking, which inevitably means you'll tap on a link when you meant to simply swipe by. The browser does offer a mini map, instead of a real zoom option, but this lacked any real detail and was not helpful.

Customize

The TouchWIZ homescreen may be problematic, but it does offer plenty of options for customization. There are more than a couple dozen widgets, including multiple clocks and note pads. You can fill three homescreen panels to the brim with widgets, even overlapping them if you need the space. You can also change the wallpaper on these screens, or set up fancy gestures for the lock screen, instead of the standard "Hold to Unlock" button.

Beyond that, though, there are few custom options. You can't change the menu or the menu themes. You can tweak the font, but two of the three font options are juvenile in a Comics Sans sort of way. The phone then uses these fonts in the Web browser, which makes pages even more difficult to read.

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Samsung Sunburst A697

3" display 240 x 400 pixels
1,000 mAh battery
Memory Card Slot

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