Samsung is wasting no time in filling in their “Beat Edition” product line, one of which landed on our laps in the form of the M3510 “Beatb” phone. Part of the “Live Loud” movement, the M3510 is being marketed as a music phone that will compete with other cellphone / music phone combination in the market, primarily the Nokia 5310, to which it bears a striking resemblance.

This is a good thing for Samsung, as the M3510 looks very good encased in  proportions of 9.9 mm at its thickest, and measuring only 109 mm long and 46 mm wide. A weight of only 68g makes this cell phone eminently pocketable. Continuing on with its design, the M3510’s slimness is only accentuated by the clean and simplistic look it sports on its façade – a 2 inch screen is underlined by the media controls and the directional pad over the number keypad. At the bottom resides a Ventu-like bumper. The whole phone is wrapped in my favourite material for this type of phone – a soft-to-the-touch and silky rubber material that does not smudge easily and is easy to wipe clean. The copper-coloured accents surrounding the screen and colouring the keypad symbols give off good contrast to the plain black used on the rest of the body.

                                             Media keys are placed somewhat awkwardly.

Although I am quite satisfied with the overall look of the phone, I cannot help but be bothered by the placement of the media keys – right on top of the main control buttons that are used to access menus and confirm selections when operating the phone. It takes some time to get used to this layout, and even then it was still common to press down on the media keys instead of the access buttons when I was not paying attention. And while I’m nitpicking, I wish the navigation pad was a bit bigger, as it is now one is almost required to have a long-ish thumbnail to properly actuate the direction keys. Fortunately, placement of the rest of the keys are good – volume buttons to the right-top portion, the 3.5mm input in the same place, and the keypad – one of the best small keypads I’ve ever used.

                                             Expandability in the form of a microSD slot.

The performance of the phone gives few surprises, which is both a good and a bad thing. Initial impressions on this phone tells a story of quiet competence – it does not disappoint. Music playback is good relative to other music phones, which is to say a bit better than adequate. Max volume is sub-par, and the software enhancements come off as sounding artificial, even to my untrained ears. Sounds are quite clear though, no awkward noise, full sound and a sweet mid-range. Treble and bass are merely adequate. This story is repeated in other aspects of this phone’s performance – texting benefits from the good action of the (slightly) hard keypad, while interface is snappy, as long as you don’t try to do two things at once – for example texting quickly while transferring a file through Bluetooth, or playing audio while accessing menus.

                                              Surprisingly good shots from the unassuming 2 MP camera.

The mediocrity is shattered by the modestly-endowed camera – 2 megapixels without auto focus or flash doesn’t sound all that impressive, but the resulting pictures taken in good light are surprisingly good, with clean and vibrant color, minimal noise even when taken with an unsteady hand, plus fast processing. Other details serve to elevate this phone’s desirability, starting from its tri-band capability, an embedded accelerometer, micro-SD expandability (up to 8GB), the dual connectivity for headsets or earphones (3.5 mm jack or the proprietary Samsung all-in-one jack) which even the Omnia lacks.

                                              A 3.5 mm out resides under the protective flap on top of the M3510.

Priced at around P8,700, the M3510 is set to woo many a cellphone buyer – with its great form factor that looks much more expensive than it actually is, a slim and portable design, features that satisfy at most levels and surprises in others, and an excellent showing in its two main purposes of music and cellphone functionality. Watch out for the magazine review this coming February.