Samsung Genio Slide - Review

“Genio Slide’s pre-installed BBC iPlayer app and slide-out keyboard definitely count the in the phone’s favour, but the small touchscreen makes some features difficult to enjoy”

Samsung Genio Slide - Review

Genio Slide runs BBC iPlayer

Samsung’s Genio Slide mobile phone sits somewhere between a smartphone (such as HTC’s Desire – read our Desire review) and a Qwerty keypad phone (like the BlackBerry – read our BlackBerry Bold 9700 review) because it has both a touchscreen and slide-out physical keypad.

The phone’s touchscreen was often slow to respond or didn’t always acknowledge my fingertips. But thankfully the well proportioned keypad which slides out from beside the screen makes writing long emails or text messages a breeze.

Genio Slide would make a great phone for children because its integrated wi-fi connectivity meant I could use the phone’s on-board social networking applications for hours without running up any 3G bills.

The phone’s battery life held up pretty well, too. For example, I had enough power left to make several calls after an entire day of Facebook, playing games, instant messaging – for which there’s a dedicated app – and surfing the web.

But Genio Slide has some drawbacks.

Although the phone’s non-branded web browser makes surfing the internet possible, the surfing experience is akin to WAP – an early form of internet on mobile phones. Surfing on Genio left me frustrated because pages don’t appear as they would on your PC.

The Genio Slide’s lack of a flash to support its rear-mounted camera meant my pictures were often too dark. This was a shame because, at 3Mp, the camera’s capable of snapping decent images.

One saving grace for Genio Slide’s photographic capabilities is Panorama mode, which stitches six images together into a single picture.

BBC iPlayer support

The keypad is useful for typing emails

This feature is usually reserved for high-end smartphones, such as Sony Ericsson’s Satio (read our Satio review), and comes in handy when photographing wide landscapes or large groups of people.

Samsung clearly designed Genio Slide with customisation in mind because it comes with three coloured back covers that snap on and off within seconds, letting you can match the phone to your mood or clothing.

App icons can be rearranged across Genio Slide’s three virtual screens. I found this especially handy for relegating rarely used apps – like World Clock – to the last screen and for giving my favourite apps – like BBC iPlayer – front panel prominence.

BBC iPlayer was by far my favourite thing about Samsung’s Genio Slide. Not even the mighty Apple iPhone 4 (read our iPhone 4 review) comes with a pre-installed iPlayer app.

The iPlayer app transforms Genio Slide into a solid entertainment device that’s able to access the last seven days of BBC TV shows and then display them on screen.

Trying to watch BBC shows over a 3G connection was a little taxing for Genio Slide, however, so I’d recommend reserving the app for those times when you have a faster wi-fi connection available.