With a year left on my Verizon contract, I’m right at that sweet spot in the two-year-contract life cycle. I’m far enough from the decision on my current device that I’ve forgotten most of the research I did last November, and I’m far enough from my next purchase that it’s not nearly time to start pulling together information on new models. So, I had no real expectations when the Samsung Illusion arrived for review. Instead of having a device live up to expectations or corporate hype, this first time user experience could be pure.
First, let’s look at the hardware. The Illusion is lighter than I expected; quite a bit lighter, in fact. I’m one of those strange birds that actually prefers a little weight on a phone, but if you’re like most people, the 4.2 ounces feels good in your hand. It’s a bit squat compared to other Android handsets on the market; the dimensions are closer to an iPhone than an Android. At 4.51″ x 2.37″ x 0.47″, it’s considerably smaller than the recently released Samsung Captivate Glide, for example.
With that loss in height and width, I would have expected the screen to take up more of the phone’s face, but that too is smaller. At 320 x 480 pixels, Samsung not only shrunk the screen, they altered the aspect ratio from the standard Android 4:3 (480 x 800 pixels) to 3:2. Although, that happens to also be the aspect ratio of the iPhone 4S, though at half the resolution. Oh, I see what you’re doing, Samsung. You designed the Illusion as an iPhone alternative, didn’t you?
You even went with the iPhone’s LCD (Color TFT/TFD) display instead of your normal OLED screen. Well, you sly dog. That’s really interesting, especially considering your recent Galaxy S II commercials skewering iPhone devotees.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4VHzNEWIqA’]
So the Samsung Illusion seems to have been designed to look and feel familiar to iPhone users looking for a cheaper alternative. Physically, they’re nearly identical. But how does the software hold up?
The Illusion is an Android device, running on Gingerbread (2.3.5), and it’s surprisingly agile. The review unit came without most of the bloatware usually forced onto a locked phone, but even after I loaded up a few large apps from the Android Market and got them running, the 1 GHz processor had no problem keeping up with me. I was honestly surprised at the swift and sleek transitions.
Samsung has put some thought into their alterations to the Android user interface, and it shows. I especially like the ability to choose which of the five home screens serve as home base, as well as the welcome addition of moving screens around in the order. No more perfecting a screen only to realize it’s in the wrong place and have to do it all over again. (#firstworldproblems)
Call quality is fair, as is battery life (or it was after I remembered to turn off the mobile data connection when it wasn’t available). The Illusion comes with Swype installed, which is a good alternative to the stock Android keyboard. The 3 megapixel camera (no front-facing) is a bit behind the times, especially when compared to iPhone’s 8 megapixels. That goes double for video, which films at a maximum 720 x 480 pixels, but not in high definition.
All in all, the Samsung Illusion is a good choice for a first time smartphone buyer. Currently selling at $80 with a two-year contract through Verizon’s website (available at Verizon stores in early 2012), it’s a great introduction to the Android operating system and smart phones in general. This would be a fantastic choice for a teenager’s first big boy phone, for example.
But if you’re looking for a premium iPhone experience, you miss the all around high definition features of more expensive phones. At that level, any similarity is only an (yes, I’m going to say it) illusion.
Comments are closed.