5 Jun 2008
Samsung officially introduced the F480, also called Samsung SGH-480, in February 2008. In various parts of the world, the Samsung F480 is also called Samsung TouchWiz. In an effort to consciously adapt to differing regions, the Samsung F480 will be sporting differing names as it is marketed and sold throughout the world. In the UK, for example, the Samsung F480 will be known more popularly as the Samsung Tocco. Aptly named, Tocco is the Italian translation for the word Touch. The Samsung F480 reportedly kicked off in the UK in May 2008.

Visually, the Samsung Tocco is a touchscreen phone in a subtly chrome-trimmed, aluminum candybar design integrated with a black silk finish. Because of its sleek external features, the Tocco is said to be at par with the Samsung Armani and the LG Prada phones. Users can opt to doll up the Samsung Tocco with leather cover to make it look like a fashionable accessory besides being a utilitarian device.

A bigger part of the Samsung Tocco's front part takes up the 71.12-millimeter QVGA 262,000-colour screen that is engineered with the sensing technology called TouchWiz on its user interface. The handset's touch-sensitive feature is driven by its reception of the user's finger rather than of mere touch. In this regard, the Samsung Tocco's screen cannot be possibly activated by other objects besides the finger. In this light, closest comparisons have been between Apple's touchscreen iPhone and the Samsung F700. The Tocco belongs to the same mobile phone model or line as Samsung F490, sold as F490 Nerva in the UK.

Samsung Tocco's touchscreen displays 240 x 320 pixels that ensure high resolution. It is a lightweight at a fixed 100.6 grams, which is considerably slim for a 3G-enabled mobile phone. The handset's dimensions at 11.8mm x 55mm x 95.9mm also make the Samsung Tocco an ultra slim fashion phone. Expectedly, the Samsung Tocco is easy to carry because it is essentially a pocket-friendly mobile phone. Moreover, its clutter-free design fits the user's hand just right. Its touch buttons are large enough for users to type, hence, the touchscreen feature is a breeze to use.

Appearance aside, the Samsung Tocco also boasts of other key features. It is 3G-enabled, with a downloading rate that reaches a maximum of 7.2 Megabytes per second, thanks to the HSDPA technology. It is also a triband mobile phone driven by Edge, GSM and GPRS technologies. The Samsung Tocco runs on a 1000 mAh battery that offers a standby duration of 300 hours and talk time of roughly 3 hours. The Samsung Tocco can store an enormous number of files with a 240-Megabyte internal memory. This built-in memory can be expanded by adding a microSD memory of up to 8 Gigabytes.

The Samsung Tocco also houses a 5-Megapixel digital camera complete with LED flash, face-detection capability and autofocus. The built-in camera has a stabiliser which ensures steady photo shots that prevent hand movements from affecting the clarity and overall quality of the shots.

Also, the Samsung Tocco flaunts its video features that allow playback and recording of video footages. In addition, Samsung included in its Tocco easy-to-navigate and user-friendly video editing applications for enhancing purposes of videos recorded. The Samsung Tocco allows streaming of videos in MPEG4, H263 and H264 formats.

The Samsung Tocco also has a music player for user entertainment, which supports MP3, AAC and AAC audio formats. It also carries an RDS-enabled FM radio to boot. It introduces a certain feature it coins as Shazam, which resembles the TrackID system of Sony Ericsson handsets. The Shazam service identifies the track that the user is listening to. The Samsung Tocco's phone-to-compatible-device connectivity is possible with its Bluetooth 2.0-supporting feature that comes with the A2DP technology.

Additionally, the Samsung Tocco supports a haptic feedback for purposes of data input, which application is commonly designed for mobile phones with touchscreen LCDs. The Tocco achieves this feature through its on-screen alphanumeric keypad version.

With its winning features that users expect of modern handsets, the Samsung Tocco has not escaped criticisms, although not too many. According to a user, it may be a deal-breaker that the Samsung Tocco is missing Wi-Fi connectivity. Others have said the phone would have better chances of emerging as a stronger product in the market if it functioned on quadband for better world roaming functionality.

Reviewer: nabeel - al zagzuoog
Reviewed on: 26th September, 2008
Rating: 6/10
ok

Reviewer: mark - ireland
Reviewed on: 28th August, 2008
Rating: 10/10
i think the fone fone is great.

Reviewer: Alex - kent
Reviewed on: 18th July, 2008
Rating: 10/10
The samsung Tocco is easy to use very fast, texting from the touch screen keyboard is simple to use and a breeze to write with. everything is easy to find from the settings i can't normally find to phonebook. its nice and slim easy to hold and has a battery cover with a procter for the phone. the whole context is big enough to see rather then all this small icons and letter so anybody who has trouble seeing things on the phone because there to small this would be great. Highly recommend to everyone that would like a touch screen or has never tried one. Great picture quality boosting a 5mp and great smiling captions that the camra detects when someone smiles and takes the pic, good for the little ones when it takes ages to get one with them smiling.

Great phone best out there by far

Reviewer: WAYNE - uk
Reviewed on: 17th July, 2008
Rating: 8/10
I like this phone. It's easy to use. Is is also elegant and small. Only gripe is lack of wi-fi. Only a problem if you need it though.

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