Posted by Mia in 
Release of a mobile phone, like any other mass product, is a very fascinating process. At the beginning of induction the manufacturer defines the framework of engineers and designers who will work on the novelty. A number of factors play a significant role in its final appearance like a platform, price category, design and much more.
At each stage of development we must try to cope with the flight of fantasies and eventually land on the desired results.
In the industrial design people are servants of the convention. There are rare cases of cooperation of companies with well-known designers, as a rule, they create interesting, but uncomfortable phones.
Nevertheless, there is an interesting question – what would happen if you take the gurus of design and place it in a golden cage, entitled “Express Yourself”. The answer to this question in the literal sense of the word “lies” on the surface. Moreover, it has a name – Samsung E590.
In creation Samsung E590 was actively involved by an English designer Jasper Morrison. Morrison design is called an “honest simplicity,” and his work in the media is defined as “no-design”.
That’s why he is so loved in Asia: for those people he is a kind of an English Zen. He has a philosophy of silence, modesty and diligence. The “Jasper Morrison Ltd.” company is engaged in the development of furniture, appliances and everything that surrounds a human in everyday and working life.
Now you know who has worked on innovation from Samsung under the number E590, and nothing prevents us to start our review with the traditional section, which, due to circumstances, acquires a deeper meaning.
Design
If nobody knew who has participated in the development of Samsung E590, the novelty would be considered as a regular, albeit high-quality creation of designers from Seoul. It should be noted that when testing we had black version of E590, but in its white incarnation phone looks rather interesting. Moreover, there is information that Morrison has created just the white version, and the black analog is already a conditional mass product.
Nevertheless, Samsung E590 is a monoblock with medium by today’s standards size (94×42x14 mm) and fairly solid weight – 95 grams.
There are no interesting discoveries and solutions in the form E590 seemingly unable to grasp – minimalism is everywhere. Another amusing fact is that the designer worked on the characteristics, positioning, as well as telephone. We are used to design devices of thousands of dollars and above. Now we obviously have to get used to the idea that there are phones from the world of avant-garde design and they cost four times less than usual.
Display
The screen is the face of each phone. In the case of Samsung E590 there is no need to worry – excellent TFT-LCD with decent for modern phone features – 260 thousand colors with 220×220 pixels resolution.
Static and dynamic image is flooded with paint.
It has many drawbacks. First, it has almost catastrophic vertical viewing angles. The slightest deviation from the straight line fades the whole picture.
Secondly, under the sun it’s impossible to identify the image. It is not comfortable to work with the phone on the street.
Keyboard
All the buttons on the phone are made in one style – in oval shape. System and digital buttons have the same size, thus they are perceived as a single array.
There are two soft control buttons, “the tube” and “C” key. All symbols of white (pale gray) color, however, we have already met in the phones of Samsung. Bright lights and milky-white fine finishes E590.
With regard to navigation and work, the first is implemented by using a small joystick, and the second is quite nice and comfortable.
Additional buttons are extensively represented at the right end of the phone and all are designed to work with the camera. “Mode” button will quickly adjust the camera, two-position button starts the camera in a small size, but the usability is not affected. For the “Zoom” function there is also a separate button.
On the left side there is a rocker-volume control as well as headphone input, battery and memory card slot. It’s simple, familiar and comfortable.
Menu and Functions
Samsung E590 is built on the platform of Suwon and it can be considered the ancestor of D900. The main menu consists of nine icons and moving between them is pleasantly animated.
The user is allowed to choose from two color schemes – white and black.
Using the menu is intuitive, logically laid out all the possibile sections. The effect of “memory” (if the “Organizer” you came to the position of “Calculator”, you will go ibid.) should come to taste of many users. It has a navigation with the support of a digital keyboard, pop-ups and cross-cutting scrolling easier access to desired functions.
Functions and features are not presented absolutely without surprises. Everything is done in the style of Samsung. If you have ever worked with the devices of this brand, you will find familiar and very comfortable for daily use the organizer, alarm clock function (3 pieces), a decent MP3-player, voice recorder, photo editor, FM-radio, Bluetooth 2.0 and Java-based applications.
Samsung continues the practice of trial applications, so all the most interesting games are available in trial mode, but for a fee. As for the execution of all the above and many unmentioned ones, believe me on the floor during the test there was only one trouble. We had to quickly write down the address and the arm came across the field “e-mail” editor contacts. It’s bad when the mobile phone considers itself smarter than the owner. Fortunately, such things are extremely rare.
Camera
In many respects the uniqueness of E590 is not only a secondary phone price level, in the work on which are engaged world famous designers, but also in the fact that it is an affordable camera phone.
The matrix has 3-megapixel resolution and autofocus. Again, we can not say one hundred percent (adjusted for a test instance), but the iron is clearly not coping with the appetite of three megapixels. The quality of the pictures is sometimes higher than the Chinese machines’.
Camera settings are enough to really affect the results. ISO settings are from 100 to 400 (auto is available), white balance, effects, frames, macro, timer, multi-shooting and panoramic shots.
With regard to the quality of the images, they are of about the same level with D900, which means that the quality is at a decent level, but not excellent. Was Samsung, positioning the model as a camera phone? Perhaps they know this better.
Photos and video files can be saved in 85 MB of phone memory and on a standard microSD card.
Outcome
Model E590 turned out to be well enough, though there are also controversies. The main advantages, which Samsung emphasizes, are decent design and camera.
I was pleasantly surprised by the battery life. On Li-Ion Battery with capacity of 800 mAh, telephone worked 5 days (up to 20 minutes of conversation and an hour of other functions). Rather high results for such a phone.
We started with an honest expression, it would be logical to finish in the same way. Model E590 is a great phone with a couple of reservations.
