Review: Samsung Monte. The Mid-Range Business Phone

Overview:
The Samsung Monte is all about design, with its giant touchscreen in a orange and black retro-esque casing. But does the Monte have some substance under the style to back it up? Let's find out.

Review:
Samsung is a mid-market leader and the Monte only serves to strengthen its foothold in this area.

Featuring a capacitive LCD touchscreen, the Samsung Monte works wonders with typing accuracy. The 3 inch screen is also a good size for watching videos, though we wouldn't recommend you go any smaller than this.

The only touch feature lacking is the ability for multi-touch, which we're scratching our heads over a bit- Samsung has gone all out and included capacitive technology in this great screen- make use of it guys!

Monte has made the most of Samsung's TouchWiz 2.0 user interface though, which we loved using as soon as Samsung released it on the market.

TouchWiz 2.0 is much more intuitive than the standard face of WinMowith one-tap easy to access buttons on the homescreen to the features you use the most, such as email, messages and web browser.

For Facebook addicts, there is also quick access to social networking services, including Twitter and MySpace.

If you're looking to integrate business elements into your personal phone, the mid-range Monte also sports Microsoft Exchange Activesynch, so you won't miss that all important email from your boss.

The Monte also shines in the navigation field, with Google Latitude integrated into its GPS capabilities. This lets you keep your mates up to date on your location at all times.

The GPS features extend to your photos, with the Monte's Geo-Tagging capability.

Speaking of photos, you can take happy snaps of your next holiday on the Monte's 3.2 mega pixel camera. No it's not the best specs on the market, but does very well for capturing those moments that thrive on your Facebook wall.

Camera features include smile shot, panorama and face detection modes, making it easy for you to take the perfect snap shot.
To keep yourself entertained, the Monte comes with a music player and FM radio for ehwn your Beyonce collection just won't cut it anymore.

You can listen to your tunes on your own set of headphones thanks to a standard 3.5mm headphone jack positioned sensibly at the top of the phone. Samsung has thrown in a set of headphones in the box though, which deliver on sound quality and volume.

Overall, Samsung has done well with this mighty mid-range phone, and for a second opinion, a range of other mobile phone reviews agree.

We Say:
The little Monte punches above its weight and we were pleasantly surprised with all of the add-ons you get with this phone. A great user interface coupled with business capabilities makes the Monte one of the all-rounder handsets of the year so far.