Why You Can Trust CNET Samsung Wafer SCH-R510 (Alltel) review: Samsung Wafer SCH-R510 (Alltel)
Samsung Wafer SCH-R510 (Alltel)
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Samsung's penchant for thin cell phones is showing no signs of abating, but we're beginning to think the company is running out of ideas. Over the past year it has shown a particular fondness for one slim model that we're now seeing in its third incarnation. Offered by Alltel, the Samsung SCH-R510's trim candy-bar profile closely resembles both the Samsung SGH-X820 and the Samsung SGH-T519 Trace save for a color change and some redesigned controls. The feature set also shows some changes--this time we get 3G support--but by and large the SCH-R510, or the Wafer, as Alltel calls it, is nothing really new. Call quality was uneven, but if you're into fashion phones, it's a good buy at a $49 price tag with service.
Design
Samsung must have decided it was onto something when it first introduced the Wafer's design. Though it's not the thinnest cell phone around (that's not an easy record to keep), the Wafer does beat the trendsetting Motorola Razr in that department. At 4.5 inches tall by 2 inches wide by 0.3 inch deep and 2.5 ounces, the Wafer shares the same dimensions as the SGH-T519, which makes it slightly bigger than the SGH-X820. But turn it on its side and you'd barely know the difference, as all three handsets have the same bump at the top of the rear face that holds the camera lens.
The Wafer does break ground with a new color scheme. While the SGH-X820 is basic black and the Trace was simple silver, the Wafer features a deep blue skin. It's such a dark shade it looks almost black, but a discerning eye will see the difference. There are also some changes to the navigation controls and keypad. The Wafer has a more defined four-way toggle with larger soft keys and Talk and End/power buttons. We liked this arrangement better, as the toggle has a more tactile surface. Also, while the toggle itself is slightly recessed, the OK button in its center is raised above the surface of the phone. The other navigation controls are flush with the Wafer's front face and are a tad slick but their large size makes them easy to use. Our only real complaint is the Clear key is a tad small.
The keypad buttons are also a tad different. Though they're also completely flat, they have less definition between the individual buttons than on the SGH-X820 or the Trace. It didn't make a huge difference in usability, as dialing by feel is still difficult. The numbers on the keys may be too small for some users, but the backlighting is bright. Completing the outside of the wafer are a volume rocker and a headset/charger jack on the left spine and a camera shutter on the right spine. Unfortunately, Samsung moved the microSD card slot from its easy-to-use place on the right spine to a more inconvenient location behind the battery.
On the other hand, the wafer's display is unchanged from the previous models. The 1.8-inch (220x176 pixels) screen supports 262,000 colors and is great for browsing through the simple menus and viewing photos and graphics. Colors look sharp and the resolution is bright. You can change the backlighting time and the font size and style.
Features
The SCH-R510 Wafer comes with a 500-contact phone book. Each entry holds four phone numbers, two e-mail addresses, and notes. You can organize callers into groups and pair them with a photo and one of 25 polyphonic ringtones. Essential features include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a memo pad, a world clock, a calculator, a currency and unit converter, a tip calculator, a stopwatch, an alarm clock, and a calendar. Higher-end offerings include voice commands and dialing, a speakerphone, a voice recorder, and Bluetooth. Alltel's innovative Celltop user interface is also on board but you aren't forced to activate it if you prefer not to do so. For an analysis of Celltop, please see our review of Alltel's Samsung SCH-u520.
The Wafer's 1.3-megapixel camera takes pictures in four resolutions (1,280x960, 640x480, 320x240, and 176x144) and three quality settings. Other features include a night mode, brightness and white balance controls, multishot and divided shot modes, a self-timer, four color effects, and 10 fun frames. There's an 8x digital zoom as well but it's unusable at the highest photo resolution. Unfortunately, there's no flash or self-portrait mirror. The camcorder takes clips with sound and offers a similar set of editing options. Clips meant for multimedia messages are capped at 15 seconds; otherwise you can shoot for up to 10 minutes. The Wafer has about 20MB of shared memory so we suggest investing in a microSD card for maximum storage space. Sadly, photo quality was poor. Images were much too blurry for a megapixel camera and colors were washed out.
You can personalize the Wafer with a variety of wallpaper, color themes, clock styles, banners, and alert tones. If you want more options or more ringtones, you can download them through the Web browser. The phone also supports MP3 tones, and it comes with a generic digital music player. Gamers are out of luck, as the Wafer comes with no included titles.
Performance
We tested the dual-band, dualmode (CDMA 850/1900; EV-DO) SCH-R510 Wafer in San Francisco using Alltel's roaming network. Call quality was rather inconsistent, as the audio on our end sounded a bit harsh at times. It wasn't a huge problem but voices almost sounded robotic and had an echoed effect. On their end, callers reported no significant problems though they could tell we were using a cell phone. They said the phone picked up a lot of wind noise, but they could hear us plainly most of the time. We had no trouble with voice-automated calling systems, either. Speakerphone calls were fine, but you have to go through far too many clicks to turn it on once you've placed a call. Also, the volume could be a bit higher. Bluetooth calls were satisfactory with no real issues.
The Samsung SCH-R510 Wafer has a rated battery life of 3.3 hours talk time and 8.3 days standby time. It has a tested talk time of 2 hours and 51 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the Wafer has a digital SAR rating of 1.28 watts per kilogram.