If the numbers are correct, there are a rather large number of the youth segment viz. college kids, teens, pre teens and even the slightly older youth who are avid mobile users. They don’t have too much of their own money to spend so of course mummy and daddy will have to. The Corby is the latest handset from Samsung for this crowd and tries to embody all that the younger generation would look for in a mobile handset. Does it meet the demands of today’s youth? That’s what I wanted to know as well, so here’s my opinion.

Form Factor
The are quite a few new brands that haven’t established themselves in the market that offer touchscreen technology to the average mobile users on a low budget. Samsung’s Corby is going to give them a very serious run for their money with its big brand image and funky styling coupled with a host of very relevant features. Its 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen features a 240 x 320 pixel resolution which may seem a little low considering the display size but you can’t expect more considering the price and it works out just fine.


On one side are the volume keys that are placed just above the proprietary universal docking port for charging, USB connectivity and the handsfree. Here’s where I believe Samsung’s thinking was just a little bit skewed. Although the bundled handsfree is quite good and very comfy on the eras in placement and tone, it negates the option of using your own earphones for better audio since it doesn’t even come with a 3.5mm adapter. A dedicated camera key is placed on the other side with a screen lock button.


The tapering design is brilliant. It gives the handset a very sleek look from all angles and yet there’s a sincere simplicity in it. What I personally didn’t like are the rather gaudy colored interchangeable rear panels. The colors are way too bright for my taste. Nevertheless the idea of customizing the handset to a certain extent is still a really good idea and Samsung has also provided a couple of panels with each package.

Features and Performance
Interface
The Corby’s version of Samsung’s TouchWiz UI comes with all the features you’d expect in any other handset including the higher ended models. From the multiple desktops with active widgets and multiple menu pages to Gesture control for Samsung’s Smart Unlock feature, it’s all there. The pre-loaded themes are designed for the younger audience with funky colors and cartoon-y icons and backgrounds. The UI itself is extremely finger friendly and very responsive and even supports flick control for viewing images.


Samsung has also compensated for the lack of an accelerometer with quick access keys for switching specific features to landscape and vice versa. The on-screen keypad is large and easy to use but you’ll have to get used to the ridiculous placement of the space bar.


Media
The Corby’s music player is great. Although the higher frequencies tend to be a just a little (and I mean very little) shrill, the handset still packs quite a punch in terms of a bass line and decibel level. I recommend getting a set of earphone sponges if they aren’t included. They’ll help secure them in your ears and also muffle the higher tone a little bit. An array of EQ presets including Surround, Wide and Dynamic options are easily available. The player itself, like all other TouchWiz players is finger friendly.
The FM radio also worked out really well. It took under 15 seconds to find all the stations and preset them. Reception was quite good even while on my commute and that says a lot. The range on the Corby’s voice recorder isn’t too great but that’s not really a big deal. How many college kids do you know who leave voice memos really.


The large display makes it quite conducive to watching videos. Acceptable formats are 3GP and MPEG4. The only problem is that it doesn’t support too high a frame rate so most converted files tend to be a little too pixilated but not difficult to watch so it’s not really a problem.


With support for up to 8GB of external memory you’ll have plenty of space for plenty of music and video.