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Last year, Samsung unleashed several handsets under the Corby label for the Indian market. These devices were mainly targeted at youth with trendy looks, modish features and varyingly affordable price tags. One such Corby device is the B3310 or Corby Mate. Keeping up with its name, Samsung probably puts forth the ‘Mate’ as a perfect companion or buddy to hang out with. A glance at its price tag and the handset looks truly acquirable. The appealing price tags along a full QWERTY side-slide keypad for easier typing and easy access to social networks. Yes! It’s all about enhanced communication. This uber-chic yet simple handset wooing the youth has now been reviewed and here’s presenting a detailed review to check if Samsung Corby Mate B3310 is pocketable.

We received the unit sporting in green with chic, trendy looks. The device looked as though it has just popped out of a funky collegian’s backpack or pocket. Apart from the attractive and distinguishable green, the device can be picked in hues of Pink, Black and Blue. Moreover, the appealing slider QWERTY smoothly emerges out sidewards, giving a super-cool look and feel. Well, one can also access the keyboard without the QWERTY. This has been made possible with the alpha numeric keys that align on its left corner for easier accessibility.

Besides, the spec-sheet of the device includes youth-loved, basic features we see in most of the devices such as 2-inch QVGA display, voice recorder, FM radio, Bluetooth, 40MB internal memory, expandable memory with microSD card slot, 2MP camera, and more. The Quad-band GSM device runs on Samsung’s proprietary OS.

Design-wise, the Samsung Corby Mate B3310 is almost sized as a soap bar with an oval form (not exactly). The device is super-compact with a 2-inch display that exhibits sharp images while below the display is the navigational key flanked by shortcuts to the Phonebook, Menu, Call answer and Call end buttons. Turning it on the left side, one can look at the neatly queued alpha numeric keys on the ridge. Prolonged pressing of the “ * ” button enables locking and unlocking the keypad.

The compact device with a side-slide QWERTY reveals a keypad that’s quite smooth to use. Typing in the landscape mode was pretty convenient and we could hold it almost like a handheld gaming device. Moreover, navigating in the landscape mode using the QWERTY is made easier with L, B, N and M keys printed with arrows. Yes, these keys can be conveniently used to navigate directly from the QWERTY. We did take some time to get used to the keys that come with minor variations. However, then on typing experience was smooth. The backlit keys enable easier typing even in low light conditions.

One can control volume with the button integrated on the left edge while the right edge consists of a mini USB port and a dedicated camera button. Inspite of the company’s efforts of offering kind-of metallic finishing touches, the brightly lit device fails to bring in the effect and looks plasticky.

Inappropriate location of the SD card slot isn’t anything new. Surprisingly, we wonder after several phones improving on this aspect due to the criticism received, Samsung has managed to place the slot under the battery. This means each time one needs to access the memory card they’d have to switch off the phone. Learn from the past is what we’d like to tell Samsung. However, the card slot is capable of holding up to 8GB of storage space (much needed with its mere 40MB internal memory).

The Mate runs on Samsung’s proprietary OS which is found on its other low-end phones. The user interface is quite simple and truly stands by ease-of-use. The menu shows 12 icons, Call Log, Phonebook, Music, Internet, Messages, My files, Organizer, Camera, Radio, Applications, Alarms and Settings.

Interestingly, we could choose the font, small, medium and large, alongside three theme options. Overall, the phone’s simple to use and users won’t have to knock off their heads for accessing any functionality. The phone let us access the various applications directly through the homescreen by enabling the shortcut toolbar that places a row of icons on the screen. The homescreen comes with a Calendar option to display the current month on the homescreen. However, one cannot enable Calendar and Shortcut toolbar concurrently.

Applications option includes Communities offering access to social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa and Friendster. The Voice Recorder function is mediocre. The Internet experience was average. Those planning to access huge websites could face problem. Furthermore, forget about using the landscape mode with Java enabled applications. It supports Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and USB 2.0 connectivity. The major glitch is that it comes minus the support for 3.5mm jack so one cannot use headphones of their choice. The unit that we received came without the headphones. But the audio quality was good.

We didn’t face any problem due to the phone’s network reception. The call quality was decent even while on the go. Neither we nor the caller faced any problem with being heard. The speakerphone quality is also decent. The 2MP camera minus flash is mediocre. The phone is capable of taking decent images. However at various instances we missed the flash support. Besides, it records videos in QVGA resolution at 15 fps which is again mediocre. With average usage, the device’s 800mAh Li-Ion battery could stretch a little over a day. Overall, the battery life was good.

In a nutshell, the Samsung Corby Mate B3310 is trendy and compact device sporting bold colors. It could make a great choice for those looking for a stylish yet affordable phone for basic communication, be it calls, SMS or updating social networks while on the go. The side-slide QWERTY, social networking capabilities and a few other attributes make it worth Rs. 6000, of course ignoring the few glitches like the location of the memory card slot and other functions that offer mediocre usage. We give this phone a rating of 7 out of 10.