Review: Samsung Genio Qwerty

Samsung Genio Qwerty Review

Phone rating:

In a nutshell: The Samsung Genio Qwerty appears to be a low cost alternative to a BlackBerry, but the keyboard turns out to be a flop. Still, it does offer a choice of snap-on colour cases, text conversations with cool graphics, a good music player and FM radio, and decent battery life.
Best buy: *Free* with free line rental from Mobiles.co.uk (Black); or £49.95 on PAYG from the Carphone Warehouse (White) or £49.90 from Mobiles.co.uk (Black).

Review: February 2010.

You fancy a BlackBerry Curve, but don't want to pay the money? You want email on the go and a full QWERTY keyboard plus fun fashionable style? Can the Genio Qwerty really deliver all this, or is it too good to be true? Read on if you want to find out!

Well, the Genio Qwerty looks very much like a BlackBerry Curve. It's about the same size, and it shares the same style of QWERTY keyboard. The Samsung has more of a fun feel to it however, with changeable covers on the back, so you can swap from black to white to yellow. But note that only the back changes colour - the front stays black.

The display isn't up to much. At 2.2 inches, it's much smaller than the BlackBerry, and has a low resolution of 176 x 220 pixels. But it's the keyboard that turns out to be the biggest disappointment. It's just nasty. The keys are so small that you'll need tiny fingers to use it, but the real problem is that when you press one key, the whole keyboard flops up and down, making it very hard to press the right key and get positive feedback. The thing also feels like it won't last more than a few months.

The camera's sub-standard too, even for this low price point. There's no flash and you'll get grainy shots unless you shoot in absolutely perfect conditions.

The Genio Qwerty does come with a music player and FM radio, and has the bonus of a 3.5mm audio jack so you can plug in your own headphones. The onboard memory is pretty small at 41 MB, but you can add a microSD memory card up to 8GB if you want to store your music collection on the phone. But we wouldn't recommend replacing your iPod with this phone.

The Genio Qwerty has been designed with social networking in mind, and we like the way that it handles texts with its cool bubble-quote graphics. Email isn't as easy to handle as a BlackBerry though, and it's not great for web browsing or facebook with its tiny screen and lack of any kind of rapid data transfer.

Battery life is adequate, although not particularly strong, although it does recharge quickly. Connectivity is quadband GSM, with USB and Bluetooth.

We are struggling to find a niche for the Genio Qwerty. What are its real strengths? It's not the QWERTY keyboard, and its not text messaging or email. It's not music and its not taking photos. I think that you can see where we are going with this review. Stick with the Genio Touch for better texting, or upgrade to the Genio Slide if you can afford a little extra.

Features of the Samsung Genio Qwerty include:

• 2 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom
• Video camera
• Display: TFT, 220 x 176 pixels (2.2 inches)
• Music player
• FM radio RDS
• Ringtones: MP3 ringtones, 64 voice polyphonic ringtones
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, email, IM
• Voice memo & voice mail
• Speakerphone
• Java games
• Offline mode
• WAP 2.0, GPRS, web browser
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB 2.0, 3.5mm jack
• Memory: 41 Mbytes plus MicroSD memory card slot (up to 8GB supported)
• Personal organiser functions
• Quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• Size: 110 x 59 x 13 mm
• Weight: 94g
• Talktime: 450 minutes
• Battery standby: 390 hours

Samsung Genio Qwerty Consumer Reviews

Love your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!

Average rating from 25 reviews:

Reviewed by alisha from usa on 31st Aug 2010
i love this phone ,its great but i cant connect it to my pc. i rate this phone a 8 of 10 . everyone i no say this phone as small keys but i just think they have very big fingers :) :) :D :p
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Reviewed by secret from england on 21st Aug 2010
i love this phone, but i think it should come with more themes on the phone, as i get a bit bored with the phone's theme, the sony ericson has lots of themes on their phone, but apart from that i love this phone, and the people who say the keys are to small blatantly have big thumbs:):)
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Reviewed by Rachael from Wales on 9th Aug 2010
I brought my Samsung Genio QWERTY about 2weeks and so far its been a good phone. The only problem iv had with it is that some times when your texting it misses a key that i definitely pressed correctly im not sure if thats just my phone or if everyones is like it apart from that it is quite and easy phone to text on and easy to text quickly aswell. It also doesn't come with a USB connector which isnt really good as connecting to your laptop throught bluetooth takes ages. But over all its a good phone :)x
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Reviewed by hgkj from england on 8th Aug 2010
this review is bad but i really like this phone. the key board isnt a flop if u use it properly! clearly the person who wrote this review has no clue what their saying. [Editor's reply: Hi, hgkj. Unusual name you have. Rhymes with egkj. Thanks for your review, but no need to be rude. Different opinions make the world a better place to live.]
Rating:

Reviewed by shakira from uk on 8th Aug 2010
i got the samsung genio qwerty. I remember before i got it i was reading every review online. I would recromend this phone to everyone.I love it but it doesn't come with a USB cable and the QWERTY keybord is quite small. if you have a big tumb it might be hard to use. The internet is very bad on this phone
Rating:

Reviewed by heather from leicestershire on 28th Jul 2010
i have the samsung genio qwerty and ive only just realised that the phone didnt come with a connector from the phone to the laptop i dont know if this i for all of these phones or mine just didnt come with one but basiclly id check just in case
Rating:

Reviewed by emma from west midlands on 19th Jul 2010
this phone is poor any bit of waters its no good my phone got a bit of water on it due to rain and it stoped working i got it repaired and now its stop working again no water got on it this time
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Reviewed by Tankz from England on 17th Jun 2010
I think the screen is very small so are the icons but overall its a good phone, as long as it luks like blackberry..lol
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Reviewed by leanne from manchester on 17th Jun 2010
i think this fone is absolutly rubbish its boring nothing to do on it onli the games are good texting is really hard ass the buttons are small and cramed together i onli got it ten days ago and now im buing a new one its absolutlii rubbish i cant tell u how gutted i am . im just so glad my mums buying me a new one tomorrow so looks like i have a samsung genio qwerty free to a good home sooner the better i say !
Rating:

Reviewed by marina from bkk on 30th May 2010
omg i fell in luv with this phone from the minuet i saw it!!!! i am getting it this weekend. btw: wat is ur problem its this thing its cold a camera go get one if u want a good on. oh and if u have fat fingers dont blame it on the phone!!!!
Rating:

Reviewed by Devan Hunt from South Wales on 29th May 2010
I recently got this phone & really like it, the only problem is when it loses signla it switches off or onto a standby screen until it gets signal again. Does this happen with anyone elses?
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Reviewed by AJ from England on 21st May 2010
This phone isnt and is good I loved it as i got it today it was easy to tec=xt on simple, good camera good music player, however wouldnt accept the images on my memory card so was gutted and had NO USB so I am now nearly in tears!! Because there is no way to transfer my pictures so i have none :'( And my mom ses I cant take it back and telling me im totally ungrateful but i use it for my USB and my sister will make fun of me! Cuz she is jealous so if there is something wrong she will use it against me so if you want a USB dont get it! Plus I cant buy one as I only have £10 money and that isnt enough so am HUGELY DISSAPOINTED :( XX
Rating:

Reviewed by Jimbob from brum on 16th May 2010
you can buy the wire from carphone warehouse for £13. However u also need a disk to download it. And you can get twitter u dooshebag!! LOL <3
Rating:

Reviewed by Maisie from UK on 11th May 2010
i have just bought this phone and relaly like it, i got a new sim with it with £10 credit already on and 300freetxts and unlimited internet monthly, i have cred on the phone and free internet but i cant get onto the internet when i go to connect is keeps saying service unavailable, can anyone help me?
Rating:

Reviewed by leah from ;0 on 8th May 2010
i think the phone is great and if you say its rubbish you are wron coz it is great i would so get it if i was you me and all my meats have got it well good mate YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT NAGG YOUR MUM 2 GET IT YOU YOU WONT BE GUTTED dont take any notis what all the outhers say
Rating:

Reviewed by Maria from UK on 8th May 2010
This is a great little phone...I disagree with the main review!..keypad is fine and precise but suggest it is better for people with smaller fingers!..overall is a great phone for the price...perfect for texting and calls...but if you want a good screen/camera etc there are better phones on the market
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Reviewed by Jordan from United Kingdom on 2nd May 2010
i think that this phone is great i think that the review is telling the reader lies.
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Reviewed by matt from england on 1st May 2010
im a bit diserpointed that there is no wire with it also that there is no twitter other wise great phone im hoping that i can get a usb wire
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Reviewed by Jessica from Wales on 22nd Apr 2010
I had this phone as a Christmas present i nagged by parents for it but didn't look into it properly I just wanted it because of the way it looked I wish now that I had looked closer into it I can only store 7 songs on it and it doesn't come with the wire that you plug into the computer to download your pics!!!! I wish I had a different phone !!! and let that be a lesson never ask for something or wish you had something until you've had a closer look at it and know all the facts about it I was really disappointed about this phone !!!
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Reviewed by manfred from alabama on 1st Apr 2010
worst phone everr?
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Reviewed by Reena Patel from UK on 24th Mar 2010
Love my phone cos' it plays War by Jay Sean perfectly. Thanks Jay Sean for the song and thanks Samsung for a nice phone! : P.s. I love the qwerty keypad and the price of this device. & Jay Sean I LOVE YOU
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Reviewed by amy from south wales on 23rd Mar 2010
im really fussy with phones and i LOVE this phone! people who cant use this keypad must have HUGE fingers because it works great! im 16 and i lovee it. great phone and alot of people agree the people who dont like it must be snobs who only want a phone with a big price label and ignore the quality.
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Reviewed by hamza from england on 8th Mar 2010
Brilliant phone for the teenagers...dont believe what these reviews say, they are just written by people with fat fingers LOL. anyway i dont care what these guys say, and get it if you can!
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Reviewed by mel from england on 4th Mar 2010
I was bought the samsung genio qwerty as a christmas gift and i am really disapointed if it wasn't a presant i would go out and buy a new phone. The problems I have experienced are texting the capitols get stuck on and i have trouble with the small buttons. Any brtowsing in the web is nearly impossible and facebook is very slow. I only text on my phone mostly so thats the real problem.
Rating:

Reviewed by bob from Englandoo on 28th Feb 2010
Amazing , best phone i ever had the cameras rubbish but thats what cameras are for !! Great for the internet :D Love this phone and would definatly recommend it for fast texters or facebookers and easily descised in lessons :L
Rating:

You can read more Samsung Genio Qwerty reviews at RecommendedBuys UK.

Samsung Genio Qwerty links

Best Deals

£0.00 Samsung Genio Qwerty with free price line rental       £0.00 Free Samsung Genio Qwerty       £49.90 Samsung Genio Qwerty PAYG       £49.95 Samsung Genio Qwerty White PAYG