Samsung and Armani have teamed up once before and the early experience was good enough to warrant a second stab in the shape of the Samsung Armani Night Effect M7500.
The black version Vodafone has for free on £20 contracts handles well. Its somewhat tall, thin, narrow candybar design is neat and the 90g of weight is no bother. The flat number pad is comfortable, the OLED display is sharp and clear.
We aren’t so happy about the Giorgio Armani branding and flashing lights. There is a huge silver Armani logo on the back of the casing, another big one between screen and keyboard on the front and a third sizeable one on the left edge. Even the signal strength indicator is an Armani logo.
The side mounted Armani branding lights up and often pulses, as do linear edge-mounted strips and the right-side mounted music playback controls. Red, Green or Blue as you choose. It is all a bit too much, and we turned it off.
Music is a delight, though. Nice sound quality, those side controls for easy access to tunes when you are in another app, and a two-piece headset that uses a proprietary connector at the phone end, 3.5mm just past the mike. There’s a 3.5mm headset jack on the phone too so you could share music with a friend or bypass the Samsung two piece cans and use your own.
The 3-megapixel flashless camera is middle of the road. Shots are OK for using the built in ShoZu client to upload to the Web, though.
There is 120MB of internal memory and you get a 1GB miniSD card. The phone supports 3.6Mbps HDSPA and has a front camera for two way video calling.
Verdict
Not a bad mid range handset but you will either love or loathe the Armani branding overkill and flashing sidelights.
Best features
Good music playback
Dual headset connectors
Super screen
Not so good
Flashing sidelights a-go-go
Lacklustre camera
Screen is small
Closest rivals
Samsung J700
If you’re after a prepay phone with sophisticated style, then Samsung’s dapper slider has oodles of class to spare plus a 1.3-megapixel snapper and snappy EDGE download speeds.
Sony Ericsson T303
This dinky silver slider is great for those looking for cute style on a tight budget. Clocking in under £40 the T303 also offers cool features like a 1.3 megapixel snapper and FM radio.
Vodafone VF725
This smart looking network-branded candybar offers incredible value for money, delivering a two-megapixel snapper, QVGA-quality display and 3G for under 50 quid on prepay.
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