Preview: New Samsung BeatDJ M7600: A Nightclub in your Pocket

Overview:
If there’s one market that’s currently flooded with products, it’s the world of mobile phones. This makes it a bit of a conundrum for manufacturers to come up with a product that stands apart from the crowd. In response to this dilemma, Samsung have really pushed the boundaries of innovative convergent technology with their latest handset, the BeatDJ M7600. Not only is it a phone, but it’s also a mobile DJ unit. Nice!

Preview:
The Samsung BeatDJ M7600 will not only let you keep in touch with mum on the weekends, it will also feed your alter-ego by allowing you to create your own music or remix existing tracks on your phone.

It does this thanks to its unique music playback software which allows you to add effects, mix your tracks together and is even genuine enough to give you the option to perform scratches through the DISC UI.

With all of these maestro features, you’re going to want to hear your creation on some decent speakers. Thankfully, Samsung have teamed up with Bang & Olufsen to create the ICEpower amplifier. The BeatDJ also has built-in stereo speakers and virtual surround sound.

It comes with a standard 3.5mm headphone jack as well, which is perfect for you to plug in your high-end earphones to really get the full effects of B&O technology.

This handset is yet another touchscreen on the market, but really there was no other option for a phone like this aimed at young budding DJs. The screen does stand out by being AMOLED which means the propensity for screen cracks is minimised and your images appear more sharp and vivid thanks to 16 million colours on offer. It also apparently uses less power, which is great so your battery life can be devoted solely to you being a rock god.

The BeatDJ comes with a 3 megapixel camera which isn’t exactly something to jump up and down over, but it does have GPS and the ability to geo-tag photos, so you can keep tabs of your clubbing nights in Spain versus nights out in Greece. The camera also features an autofocus and LED flash as well as smile detection.

Despite the average megapixels on offer, you can view your snaps on a very decent 2.8″ 240 x 400 pixel display. This screen is pretty good is also useful for playing back video clips, supporting DivX, XviD, H.263. H.264 and MPEG4 video types.

The phone also comes with a microSD memory card slot so you can expand the 16GB of internal memory to really have a DJ’s selection of songs stored away in your pants pocket.

Despite all of the technical aspects to the BeatDJ, what does catch your attention first and foremost is the design on the handset. Its unique ‘pill’ shape makes it look almost like a set of portable speakers, which is keeping in theme with the phone.

It’s extremely light at well, weighing in at 99 grams. Measuring 112x51x13.9mm, you can fit it nicely in the palm of your hand while you get your moves on.

The Samsung BeatDJ is available on the lowest price plan of £25 per month.

This handset isn’t going to appeal to the masses, but for the niche music-mixing market, Samsung have done a great job at creating a phone that stands apart from the crowd, just as its owner no doubt will!

The Gaj-It Verdict:
Design: 9/10
Usability: 8/10
Features: 8/10
Value: 8/10

We Say:
The BeatDJ is a phone aimed straight for the music lover, and in this respect, it is packed full of features to give your tunes the personalised touch. We love the concept, and think that overall, Samsung have done a pretty good job in creating a handset that looks like a work of art and sounds like one too.