Review: Samsung E590

Samsung E590 Review

Phone rating:

In a nutshell: This funky little phone has been designed by Jasper Morrison, and is not only a great looker, but is very well equipped with a 3 megapixel camera, MP3 player, FM radio, Bluetooth, tons of onboard memory and a memory card too. It offers fantastic value for money, and the only things we dislike are the joystick control and the below-average battery life.

Review: February 2008.

The Samsung E590 is an unusual, funky little phone. Designed by Jasper Morrison, the British furniture designer, it has a distinctive look with offset buttons on the keypad and a square LCD display. Available in a choice of black and silver, it's an attractive phone for someone who wants to look a little different to the masses. It's also extraordinarily lightweight, weighing just 66g, and is slim with a thickness of 13.5mm.

But the E590 isn't just about looks. Despite its light weight and low cost, it packs in an amazing array of multimedia features. First up is the 3 megapixel camera with autofocus - definitely one of the best cameras in this price range, although missing a flash for some strange reason. The E590 is strong on music, with both a music player and an FM radio. The music player supports most popular formats (MP3, ACC, ACC+, WMA formats & OMA Digital Rights Management) and has a music library tool. It's compatible with Bluetooth wireless headsets too.

Another impressive feature of the E590 is the amount of memory included: a whopping 90 Mbytes of internal memory (enough for 20- 25 songs) and the ability to expand this to 2 Gbytes (enough for 500 songs) with a microSD memory card. This is easily the largest memory of any phone in the budget price range.

The phone also comes with a voice recorder, embedded games and wallpaper, good connectivity options (Bluetooth & USB), and is triband.

Why then, do we only give the phone 4 stars? There are two things that we dislike about the E590: the fiddly joystick and the poor battery life. It's not surprising to find that a phone this compact and lightweight with so many features isn't going to have the longest battery life, and it doesn't. But if you can live with these two faults, you'll find the Samsung E590 to be one of the cutest and best-featured phones in the sub-£100 price bracket. And at this price, you really can't complain!

Features of the Samsung E590 include:

• 3 megapixel camera with autofocus, digital zoom, flash and photo effects
• Video camera
• Display: TFT LCD, 220 x 220 pixels (1.8 inches), 262,144 colours
• MP3 player (MP3, ACC, ACC+, WMA formats & OMA Digital Rights Management), FM radio
• 64-voice polyphonic ringtones
• Speakerphone
• Voice memo recorder
• Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS, E-Mail (POP3, IMAP4, SMTP), vCard / vCalendar
• Document viewer
• Embedded & downloadable Java games
• Embedded wallpaper
• Personal organiser functions: Calendar, Scheduler, To-Do List, World Clock, Alarm, Stopwatch, Calculator
• Memory: 90 Mbytes plus microSD memory card (up to 2 GBytes)
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB 2.0, SyncML(DS)
• WAP 2.0, GPRS Class 10, EDGE
• Triband
• Offline mode
• Size: 94 x 42 x 13.5 mm
• Weight: 66g
• Talktime: up to 4 hours
• Battery standby: 200 hours

Samsung E590 Consumer Reviews

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Average rating from 35 reviews:

Reviewed by erick from united kingdom on 24th May 2009
This device is remarkable value and provides a great amount of features including a very good camera particularly with daylight shots a video recording function ideal for online video sharing and software to allow it to be a good personal organiser. Not to mention that it comes with a radio and a good music player. And all housed in a practically built design. I have owned this device for seven months now and can strongly recommend it.
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Reviewed by Sophie from UK on 26th Apr 2009
This phone does look really nice. I don't have problem with battery at all, I have it on through the night and it lasts 4 days plus. I don't use the MP3 player on it because I have an IPod for that. It has an auto keypad lock option which is good. The sound quality is good, and the camera is fine, although I was a bit bummed about not having a flash, but I don't think it makes any difference on a mobile. Downside was that you can't customise the text tone, and in the messages section there is an outbox AND a sentbox, and no messages save in either of them?!? I like the joystick and the menu's were nicely layed out. Really good phone for the price, and I would defo reccomend.
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Reviewed by winstonbadoy@yahoo.com from philippines on 1st Apr 2009
fantastic! i like it! im gonna buy it! simply unbelievable! got to go!
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Reviewed by Matthew French from England on 19th Mar 2009
Its ok, just boring...
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Reviewed by Arbgun from Philippines on 15th Mar 2009
An excellent phone for its price. No problem with the joystick yet but the battery life is wee bit low. Software aint bad but i like Sony Ericson better. Other than that, its ok
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Reviewed by Aj from England/UK on 26th Jan 2009
Ive had this little cutey for about 5-6 months now, and i have to say it looks lyk a toy but its packed with features, so i have to say OUTSTANDING! I dont know y ppl complain abt the camera, its 3 mp and has great video camera and photos! The only problem i have is battery life!Well thats my fault rely, it lasts about 5 hrs with music on full blast, well its not a music phone is it! also the music player has 4 albums(playlists) which only hold 30 tracks in each playlist, i have 400 songs but i cant put em all in the playlist, other than that id say its a tuff, packed but still compact and well worth the money!!
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Reviewed by Good Phone from UK on 18th Jan 2009
I have had this phone for one and a half years now and love it! The only fault I can think of is due to the design of the 'joy-stick' type centre button- it has started to go and this would be the only reason to replace it- and why it hasn't lasted as long as my previous samsung. However it has withstood MANY drops and survived. The style is unique and great!
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Reviewed by Bima otong from Indonesia on 21st Dec 2008
Cool! The features hardly incomplete. Only I can't costumize the message tone and the Java can only be installed thru' WAP. Anyway, it's worth the price!
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Reviewed by David Hutton from UK on 14th Dec 2008
Great phone. BTW - their is NO KEY LOCK issue. You just hold down the bottom left button for around 3 seconds (has a lock symbol on it). The phone will then give you a choice to lock by pressing the top left button, and underneath it prompts yes. Hope this helps.
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Reviewed by Matt from England on 27th Nov 2008
Great phone worth buying value fr money better than any sony ericcson. Never crashes, brilliant features for as little as £60 from orange but is unlocked so it can be on any network. Tough as well I have dropped it so many times and it is only slightly brusied if it was revamed it could of been a bestseller. Never understood why it never was originaly. Definatly choose Samsung E590
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Reviewed by not-telling-you from uk on 19th Nov 2008
Best phone I ever had. Lost it recently and having looked around at what else is out there have just ordered another one. Does the job (phoning people), and you don't need a team of sherpa's to carry it around with you. To address some complaints listed below: If you want something to take excellent pictures buy a camera. I didn't honestly find the battery life that bad in my first one, but I did plug it in every other night as a matter of course. Keypad is quite compact but the raised keys were easy enough to use, even without looking. Substantially better than a lot of phones out there (some of the Sony ones must be for under 5's or something). BUT: The joystick is a little bit on the... little side. ot the end of the word, but got to be said. Finally, my only real complaint with this phone is that the keypad doesn't seem to have a manual lock - you've just got to wait for it to lock itself. This means that if you stick it in your pocket you'll often have a string of meaningless numbers on the screen that you need to clear. Even more annoying is when you've accidentally activated the WAP in your pocket untold hours ago! Seems a bit of a shame. All said though, 'tis the bee's knees. I'd take a half star off for the key lock issue, but it won't let me so it gets the 5.
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Reviewed by Aaaaaaaaargh! from UK on 14th Nov 2008
The worst phone I have ever owned. OK, the good news, it's very small. The bad news - where to start? Incomplete texts, low battery life, incredibly fiddly menu navigation, doesn't save sent texts by default, unable to customise text tones, and so on. First and last Samsung I bought, will stick to Sony Ericsson in future.
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Reviewed by teenfoneaddict from lesta on 8th Nov 2008
cute little phone perfect for music and camera with the 3 megapixels and memory, although joystick can be very annoying and a problem after a while. texting keypad is quite small so watch out if your fingers begin 2 ache. alos, the photos dnt come out in full size and dial display is rubbish! although cute memory!:)
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Reviewed by D3NINA from INDONESIA on 6th Nov 2008
BEST HANDPHONE I'VE EVER HAD
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Reviewed by manny from philippines on 27th Oct 2008
Wanted a tiny, 3 mp, music fone and this one's perfect. This is the first fone I've had that I totally forget is in my pocket, that I panic and grab my pants pocket thinking I forgot it somewhere.
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Reviewed by creativology@yahoo.com from indonesia on 18th Oct 2008
excelent
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Reviewed by Shotta from Creppa on 6th Sep 2008
A LOVELY PHONE VERY NICE AND HAS A GREAT CAMERA
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Reviewed by Dani from Indonesia on 2nd Sep 2008
This is best buy phone,but u cant find the best picture,there is no fullscreen wallpaper,themes n u must download 4 game n aplication
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Reviewed by firma from indonesia on 13th Aug 2008
its very cheap with the best future..i cant find the way to change mesage ringtone..you have t0 d0wnl0ad if y0u want have game 0r aplicati0n
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Reviewed by Dukki from Serbia on 21st Jul 2008
Nice thin phone, for summer in the pocket. Good camera (better is digital Canon camera but..), good 4 music,... But to small font 4 sms!
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Reviewed by Luke from England on 12th Jul 2008
I bought the phone, and first impressions are that it is sexy. Looking into its features it is full of them. For the camera problem, change it to 1600x1200, macro on, and iso of 400
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Reviewed by Hussein from Australia on 27th Jun 2008
I came across this phone by accident (given to me by a family member). But I'm happy i found it I've had many phone before and i love the simplicity of the e590 and it also has a very good battery life compared to all the other phones Ive had holds a charge for 2-3 days playing a lot of music and games and standby gets me 3-4 days. If your after a phone that looks deceptively simple this the one for you.
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Reviewed by Gary from UK on 23rd May 2008
I have had this phone a few months now and it is pretty good. It does feel a tad small in my big hands and i hear what everone says about the joystick. No way can you play the games with it. The camera is pretty good and the music player is cool. The playlist limit of 30 songs in four playlists is a bit of a faff. I got it for £30 quid on orange so bit of a bargin. I would recommend this phone.
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Reviewed by Alinafe Sozela from Malawi on 30th Apr 2008
This is a nice phone{battery is the only problem i have with my phone but am still using it becouse it has all i wanted from it_MP3_RADIO_CAMERA and internet.etc. I would love to have a good battery so that i have nothing to worry about.
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Reviewed by Bobby from UK on 15th Apr 2008
Well had this phone for a while, really is a nice little phone. Bought it for £30 from the CPW and I must admit that the features it packs for it size are amazing. The screen is great, music player is good, even the camera isn't too bad. Small enough you even forget about it in your pocket. The speaker seems loud enough and the vibe alreat is quite strong. The only problem with it is the battery life, but even then I get about 3 days standby out of it, which to be fair isn't too bad because either way you'll most likely have a charger with you if you go away for more than 2 days.
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Reviewed by cow girl from usa on 13th Apr 2008
thiz is very poor style its not maching thiz life plz destroy it and do not make thiz types of mobiles again
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Reviewed by thp from England on 4th Apr 2008
Superb phone.. my wife loves it now though only bad sides are playlist can store only upto 30 songs.. and only 4 playlist.. else all is good in the phone..
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Reviewed by Andrew from England on 3rd Apr 2008
Damn good phone, almost all the features of a Sony-E K800i for less than half the price (carphone warehouse on orange, £30, though my shop had it listed at £50 until I asked, and it was indeed only £30). Compared to the £70 K800i it's a bargain, so you lose a flash, and a lens cover, but what you gain is a smaller, lighter, sexier phone. The Earphones are not bad, and the sound quality is okay for a phone, the camera is decent for a phone camera, 1600x1200 works best I've found. The lack of a flash is no big deal, as my experience is that flashes on phone camera's suck anyway (you need a decent strobe flash, timed with the picture as found on decent digital camera's for that to work). So yeah, a phone, a 2 gig memory card, and £10 credit, all for almost £20 cheaper than the k800i by itself.
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Reviewed by Jeremy from England on 1st Apr 2008
i have just bought this phone in silver from the carphone warehouse. I love it, so compact and with wicked features. Only 2 let downs, the camera despite being 3 mp is blurry, but not bad, and the box comes with no software.......... Otherwise really good even the battery life has been good so far
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Reviewed by Lucky from England on 23rd Mar 2008
Great phone especially for a low price at £29.99 from carphone warehouse. The camera is also very good and the phone is easy to use.
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Reviewed by Iain from England on 19th Mar 2008
This is a cracking phone for £29.99 from Carphone Warehouse. Compact and light so that it does not bulk up your pocket, good sound and camera and easy to follow menu and functions. Love the design it's just that little bit different and the joy stick is no way near as bad as I thought it would be. I looked at a lot more expensive phones than this one before I bought and have to say I feel I have fallen on a bargin. Throughly recommended.
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Reviewed by martyn from uk on 8th Mar 2008
Awesome phone for £29.99 from Carphone warehouse.Small,light and easy to use.Sound is great,camera brilliant.You really can't go wrong for the price. Excellent design too.I don't find the joystick fiddly :) Has everything you need on a phone..buy one,you really won't regret it.
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Reviewed by JB Cunningham from N Ireland on 5th Mar 2008
A great little phone - now at Carphone Warehouse at £29.99. As good if not better than Sony Erisson 800 which cost much more; and even has more features.
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Reviewed by ADE from ENGLAND on 3rd Mar 2008
its a good phone but hate the joystick
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Reviewed by Francesco Mastellone from Italy on 28th Feb 2008
The camera is rated at 3 megapixels, but the photos are so blurry it may very well be compared to a 1.3mp camera... As the reviewers said though, can't complain for the price!
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Samsung E590 links