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Video review
If we’re being honest, this touchscreen madness is getting a little out of hand. Suddenly, Nokia is the only company making phones with buttons, and we’re starting to miss them. But Samsung’s not feeling sentimental – its new Tocco features a revamped touchscreen interface, which is excitingly based on widgets.
We like widgets, much more so than the phone’s name, which is Italian for touch. But trust us, we got off lightly with Tocco – it was previously simply known by its code numbers, ‘F480’.
A widgety world
It’s a good job the interface has been revamped, because Samsung’s previous smartphone interface was tricky to handle.
The Tocco’s got a regular menu of icons, but at the tap of one virtual button you can switch to the widgets – a dock of options that can be dragged on to the main screen as you please. Best of all, the Tocco interface is very fast and responsive, making the phone a cinch to use in most respects.
It also makes the phone very customisable – you can hide or display everything from the clock and reminder icons to the network’s name-check. Other options include games, the phone’s music player and the FM radio.
The Tocco Widgets are cool enough, though it’s a matter of taste whether you’ll prefer this or the icons on the iPhone. And unlike Apple’s first dog-and-bone, this one’s 3G, with spanking 7.2Mbps speeds. This is lucky as, unlike the iPhone, there’s no Wi-Fi on board the Tocco – an oversight, surely?
Small and stylish
On the other hand, it keeps the size down – the Tocco sits much better in the hand than earlier Samsung efforts or the iPhone. The screen is a decent 2.8in number and, although it’s not as colour-rich or high-resolution as Apple’s, still looks great.
Texting, one of the iPhone’s achilles heels, is not perfect here either. The Tocco uses a virtual phone keypad with predictive text. A QWERTY keypad would have been too small to be comfortable, so this was the best choice, but it’s still hard to type at speed.
Class-leading camera
There is some redemption thanks to the excellent camera. Not only is it a 5MP model, it has grown-up features like face detection, image stabilisation and smile shutter, which sees the camera take a shot automatically when it sees a grinning mug.
Music lovers will enjoy the Samsung’s player, too. There’s only 230MB of memory here, but you can add more with microSD cards. And if you hear a track you don’t recognise, the Shazam program is on hand to send you a message with the track details and album art.
The customisation extends beyond the widgets – if you like haptic feedback, the Tocco has this too, letting you adjust the level of vibration from none at all to masochistic.
It’s not perfect, but the Samsung Tocco is one of the neatest touch-sensitive phones yet, matching excellent specs with an appealing UI.
Tech Specs
- Bluetooth
- Yes
- Dedicated MP3 player software
- Yes
- Dimensions
- 98.4x55x11.6mm
- FM radio
- Yes
- Memory card slots
- Yes
- Memory card type
- microSD
- Screen resolution
- 240x320
- Standby time
- 250 hours
- Storage
- 232MB
- Supported music formats
- MP3, AAC, AAC+
- Talktime
- 3 hours
- Triband
- Yes
- Video resolution
- 320x240
- Weight
- 100.6g
- Wi-Fi
- No
- Xenon flash
- No
Comments
kxfrog
3 years ago
I love this phone sooooo much that I got rid of it for an Iphone 3GS take my advice the touch screen is so poor and the whole thing feels so cheap. GET AN IPHONE 3GS
steange
4 years ago
I have just received my Samsung Tocco and after reading all your reviews I was a bit worried that I had ordered the wrong phone, but after using my phone for the last couple of weeks I disagree with a lot of what has been written about how bad the phone was. Hope I haven't offended anyone by disagreeing. Text messaging is very easy to use even though I agree with it having poor predictive text facility, the photo quality seems very good (took photo of a car and zoomed right into the number plate and could easily read it). The sound quality is ok, should NOT BE compared with a Nokia N95 8GB, which my wife has, because the N95 sound quality is the best by far of any phone and also is stereo. The touch screen took some getting used to but after half an hour of getting to know the phone I found it very easy to use. On the whole I found it a very nice phone.
Ajacker
4 years ago
its great really, the camera is ok and it seems to work well, but no WIFI, no-one really uses it anyway, great phone i would recommend it. :]
3GiPhoneFree
4 years ago
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User
4 years ago
I have just bought the Tocco and had it for 3 days. I must say that I am quite impressed with the phone. The sound is not as good as my old Nokia N95 but it is OK. For all intense and purposes this is a phone and not a digital camera. It's designed to take the odd photo now and again if you are having a laugh with friends. If you want to take great photos then buy a digital camera. Internet is OK and does the job. If you want to get quick information it's graet. If you want to browse the internet and look at pictures then use a PC. Sound on the music player is not bad but I have been listening to music on my ipod touch for a while and you will notice a difference. Most of these are extras on the phone to help pass the time. For the price it is well worth it. The touch screen is very good, graphics are not as good as the iphone when the screen changes from menu to widget but this is not an iphone. Apple spent loads of money developing their phone to get it up to the standards expected from Apple. Texting is not a problem for me as I am used to this kind of keyboard layout. I have not had any problems with the phone cutting out during calls or crashing. If you like gadgets like this then I would recommend it to anyone. Good design Easy to use. Works like a mobile phone. If you want to get great sound buy and Ipod or an MP3 player. If you want GPS get a GPS. It's a phone not a laptop. The only thing I do not like is not being able to change the screen saver when the phone is locked. 9/10
iPhone3G_Incentives
4 years ago
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Texx
4 years ago
Had a Tocco for 6 months. On balance it is an OK phone, but still has too many flaws. + Looks good + Slim + Screen is good size + Doesn't crash + Call quality is fair + Reception is fair + Durable (excepting screen scratches) + For the money (now) it is decent value + Can use an 8GB SD micro + Battery life is reasonable - Touch screen has lag, you have to adapt to it. - Camera is pretty poor, especially viewed on phone. - Flash is pitiful (and in my case not working now) - No WiFi - Memory card and charging ports fiddly - No car charging cradles available because of above I guess. - Music player interface poor - File navigation poor. - Predictive text programmed by person who has never spoken a whole sentence of English. - Web browser seems to lock up every 10 mins. - Web Browser can't render some text. - Screen quite soft plastic and scratches deeply easily, screen protectors don't stay on and look naff. Thick leathery thing thrown at bin on day one... I would like to think that it would be possible to get a phone that calls and texts as well as an old Nokia, takes photos like a Sony, has decent internet and isn't 2" thick. This is a nice try but really has too many bugs and failings.
kacey68
4 years ago
I just got the Tocco yesterday. I demo'd it first and loved it. Much cheaper than the iphone. I wanted an all in one touch phone but without paying £40-50 a month or a lump sum up front to get one. I got this free for £30 a month with T mobile includes 700 minutes and unlimited texts. The phone did need quite a bit of adjusting epecially the camera which is reasonable. I love the ability to customise it so much. I hate loads of crap on the screen so it was pleasanlty please when it relised i could remove almost everything. The one downside is that i couldnt add the text message button into the widget screen which hides conveintly in the side and texting is a bit fiddly but most tiuch screen phones are i hear. It stops me from being tempted to text when driving. Internet is great and very fast too. Musically its good but i will get better earphones as it comes with a 3.5 adapter. Despite reading the battery life is poor mine has not even budged yet since yesteday morning and i have made loads of calls and texts plus been downloading a few things too. It seems quite good... Overall 8.5 outta 10
kia kaha
4 years ago
awesome. recommend getting a screen cover and a card. Got it through carphone warehouse and the O2 sim didn't work, tried to get a new one, they tried to make me buy it, bought it again on a cheaper contract and took the first one back. LOVE IT, though.
lottied
4 years ago
I went on the Samsung Tocco in the shop, to test it out for texting and the touch facility. And ever since then I've wanted it. I found the widgets a bit annoying, but I suppose you can turn them off whenever you want. The camera seemed okay, but I don't really know what it's like to actually take a picture. I've been through several Samsungs and recently sold the Samsung G800 for being far too fat. I'm now on a simple nokia. That i've had NO problems with. After reading people's reviews I don't know what to expect. I guess if I have problems I can return it, or just simply go back to the trusty Nokia. I guess everyone's entitled to an opinion and you may find it bad.. but these reviews have given a mixture.
starman
4 years ago
Ive owned many fones , this tocco was my first samsung my first impressions of the fone wer very very good the touch screen with the vibration feedback is great so is the interface,texting I found was fine to be honest , not a problem a couple of days later , is when it started to annoy me 1.no wifi – I use wifi on my n95 all the time so it was a big loss 2.the camera -it has a 5mp camera but compared to the others its a dissapointment 3.3.the music player – it is a nightmare ! No way to search tracks with the first letter , u have to go through all the tracks just to get to the last 1 finnaly : samsung have done great with this touch screen fone i'd even rate it better than the iphone in some areas , but one area it needs to improve , to even compete with the likes of the iphone 3g , n95 8gb is the music player interface 8.5/10 www.bebo.com/17-mufc
fourniernelly
4 years ago
i've got the phone for 48h only but i am a samsung addict for years (after leaving Nokia which i think is great as well). Inspite of being a samsung product, the navigation system changes with the tocco, it took me a bit more time to find all needed settings. But in 2 days, i think i've been through all config and i'm quite happy with the phone possibilities. as a woman, i may have small fingers, i don't know if it helps, but i have NO problem with the texting at all.the unsual thing is that i have to look at the phone when texting since i can't feel any key. as for the camera, i know some other phone have better camera that samsung, but pictures are ok.the quality of the image appearing on the phone is NOT the one of the definitive photo once downloaded to the pc. I guess it is some kind of battery saving or what.there are lots of setting possibilities, have a good look through to find what suits you best. ISO auto gives good quality pictures. What's annoy me a bit is that my phonebook is normally on my sim, but if i want more options/fields like caller picture or ringtone, my contacts have to be saved on th phone.i don't like this, since i broke a phone once and was quite happy to have saved al my contact on the sim and just had to swap the phone. i love the touchscreen, i'm definately not disapointed by samsung after all these years. Nice phone, nice gadgets.
jay benny
4 years ago
after battling with a bug ridden Sony p990i (via stuff review) until the end of my contract I knew 4 things I needed; 1 Touchscreen, a absolute must have 2 a really good 5mp snapper or better 3 easy to use OS and text 4 pair up with my excellent tom tom go 910 (NICE ONE STUFF)for text and hands-free RESULTS 1 The touchscreen is very hard to use with gentleman sized digits constantly hitting wrong symbols 2 The camera is absolutely abysmal in every sense played around with setting for hours and hours to no avail 3 the operating system seems okay at best but no killer apps for me and texting is horrendous for my fingers I operate tower cranes for a living very precise work but for my fingers its just too much of a fiddle 4 after much faffing about I got it to pair with the tom tom hands free is fine but it wont read out my texts while driving constantly shouts at me that the phone wont reply very annoying when doing 70 mph on the M6 MY VERDICT This phone is getting slam dunked into a parcel tomorrow morning and sent back to orange with a dog poop in it. It does nothing well and everything else terrible good concept, terrible phone. The darn thing has even given my tom tom PMT now I feel harassed in my own car now. And another thing (HAPPY PILLS TIME) AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH that's better. bye everyone
dundeedunc
4 years ago
I have just returned my Tocco - found the touchscreen very intuitive and the phone feels very substantial and slim, however a few things let the phone down 1 - sound quality from earpiece very tinny during calls to the extent I had to phone people back using my home phone. 2 - camera quality poor. I took photos at a wedding the other night and they were worse than the 2MP camera i use at work. Expected more from a 5MP 3 - Don't think there's any way to edit the added word list when texting - very annoying if you don't speak queen's English. Also, on predictive text when you hold down a key to type a number the '0' key disappears, so if you want to type a '0' then you have to change to numeric mode, then type the '0' then return to predictive - basic error. I took Tocco 1 back to the shop last week and got it replaced, the replacement was just as bad. Have now got a C902 which looks slightly more conventional but promising. I wish Sony had made the Tocco - would have been a winner.
s_gerrard06
4 years ago
This phone is good nothing more than that. The camera on it is really bad. So i dont know what the other comment above is on about. My girlfiend and i have got the same phone and the camera on both phones is really poor. When taking a photo the quality looks really good, until you actually press the button to capture the photo. It is so poor quality for a 5mega pixel camera its shocking. I am going back to phones for you tommorrow and asking for a refund or a swap for a different phone. If you dont use your phone for pictures, then its good.....but if you do use your phone for photos, then dont bother wasting your money. Trust me!
Arikara
4 years ago
I love this phone, i think its wonderful, the widgit is awesome, its so easy to use and very touch sensative, i have absolutely no problem texting, i find it easy and fast. the camera is great also. so all in all totally happy!