Quick review: Samsung sports phone
Has anyone else used the Samsung sport’s phone yet? It’s called the F110 (or Adidas) and I’ve been testing it to see if it holds its own against the iPod Nike+, Nokia N82 and a Polar heart rate monitor when using it for sports training.
Similar to the Nike+ iPod, the device promises to play inspirational tracks when you begin to flag during a run. Whilst I’ve not had one of my songs kick in yet for either device it is a great concept.
Ultimately, the device is really quite good. Yes, it’s a Samsung so texting isn’t as natural as a Sony Ericsson. And yes it has its little foibles that should have been given more thought when designing but overall not too shabby.
I’m not going to go into too much detail about spec – as that would just be a little bit dry – but the audio quality is good. It’s intitive to use for nearly everything and (yes I’m shallow) it’s blackso quite sexy.
For me, the Adidas phone wins the fight with the Nike+ iPod. It’s foot sensor, which is designed to fit under the laces, doesn’t tie you into buying Adidas. The Nike device, however, is designed to fit into a specially created hole in the Nike shoe so either flies off if you tuck it under the laces or feels like a stone if you stuff it down your sock.
That said, if a Samsung designer is reading. For the next generation can I recommend the following:
1) Think about the sports display next time. To read the display you have to run with the phone in your hand, which is awkward. Could Adidas give you a watch that displays the information?
2) The armband holder is fine but you still need to be able to read it or to more easily trigger the audio announcement, a button on the headphones (next to the volume switch) would work so much better than having to open and shut the phone.
3) Could you make the phone a little bit heavier. I know it’s a sports phone and therefore should be light but it feels slightly too plasticky.
4) Could you make the distance counter much more intuitive next time. For the first few sessions the phone registered zero metres run.
