In-depth Review: Helio Fin
On August 15th, Helio released their first clamshell device, the Fin. Chances are, you already know the gist of things: Slimmest clamshell in the US, 3 MP Camera, GPS - On paper, it’s one hell of a device. But how is it in the real world?
We’ve spent a full 24 hours with the device, getting to know it from front to back. We’re going to throw more information about the Fin at you than you could ever want.
Just pick the topic you’re interested in from the list below. Want the quick summary? Check out the conclusion.
- Outside the Device
- Inside the Device
- Settings
- Surf (Browser)
- Camera
- Video and Music Players
- Games and Applications
- Plan (Tools)
- PCLink Pro
- Voice Functions
- Bluetooth
- Ultimate Inbox
- Signal Strength, Speaker, and Microphone
- Battery
- Conclusion
Damn, this device is slim. Yeah, yeah - You’ve heard how slim it is. (1.14 cm). But really - this thing makes most flip phones look like they’re having some sort of allergic reaction. Having grown accustomed to bulk after years of PDAs and other thick devices, I keep managing to forget I have this thing in my pocket.
The front of the device features a small OLED screen which displays the current time, battery status, signal, and message alerts. It also serves as a Caller ID, and marquees information about any song that might be playing. Fun trick: Set all your friend’s names to “Ghetto Superstar”. Play “Ghetto Superstar” on repeat. Hurray! It’s a non-stop ghetto superstar extravaganzaaaa!
I was initially a bit surprised by the size of the front display; that is, I expected it to be bigger. However, they managed to be pack more readability into this moderately sized screen than most manufacturers pack into screens 2-3x the size. Often, text on external screens is too small or too blurry to read. The Fin pulls it off - you can easily read song titles as they scroll by, no magnifying glass required.
The section on the front of the device below the OLED display is just begging for customization. Anybody know where to get something laser etched? There is a major lack of epic Pirate Vs Ninja battle scenes on all of today’s devices, something which could be solved with just 5 minutes on a 20,000 dollar etching machine. Lemme know in the comments if you know of a place to get it done.
The Fin is blue. Dark blue, even. Helio calls it “Blue-Black”, and that’s pretty fitting. I actually thought the device was black when I first opened up the box, only later noticing the deep shade of blue once I brought it into better light. (Now that I thought about whether it was black, I can’t stop seeing it as being black. Gah.)
I’m a big fan of the metal body. Cheap feeling plastic casings are one of the main reasons I tend to avoid clamshells, so I’m glad they worked something out with Samsung to score the exclusive magnesium casing. It allows the device to be impressively light without ever feeling like it’s about to break. You could also probably smack the magnesium with a rock to spark a fire. Bonus wilderness survival feature!
One aspect of the device’s design in specific really, really impressed me. The handset’s speaker lines up with a set of holes near the microphone. These holes tunnel a few mm through the base of the device, where it appears at least one other speaker is located. If the device is closed while playing an mp3, the main speaker lines up with these holes and the sound is piped through them, allowing the main speaker to continue functioning without muffling the sound. Genius.
Overall, the device is pretty damn good looking.
Note: The small cover on the back of the fin (below the battery cover) does not contain secret surprises or candy. Just an external antenna plug.
The display (2.3 inches, 240 x 320) is great. Blindingly bright at its highest settings.
I have a terrible habit of dialing under various situations where I can’t look down at a phone, such as while wrestling bears or escaping from the secret labs of my arch enemies. As such, I get a bit annoyed when keypads are made up of one flush panel rather than independent buttons. Fortunately, Samsung managed to find some middle ground. While the keypad is one flush panel, each button depresses at its core independently. It takes a while to train your hand the locations of the buttons, but it’s surprisingly hard to hit the wrong button. While I got used to it within the day, a bit more tactility on the keys would make things easier.
In all of the photos I’ve seen so far, the microphone area near the bottom of the device looks far deeper than it actually is. In photos, it looks like some crazy valley of death. In reality, its far more subtle.
The Fin supports custom MMF ringtones right out of the box, but like the other Samsungs devices, only MA4 MMFs rather than their high fidelity big brother, MA-7. Compatible MMFs can be pushed to the device via PCLink Pro, or received via e-mail attachment via the Ultimate Inbox. Unlike the Ocean, MP3s renamed to MMF do not work.
The default tones on the device are surprisingly varied, genre-wise. There are 2 that sound like analog telephone rings, 7 techno, 1 rock, 7 rap, 4 pop, 4 videogame-esque, 1 Doo-Wop, and Samsung’s standard tone. Rounds out to 27 tones total.
The best tone has to be “I Need Juice”. It’s a techno beat, with a british-sounding girl talking about her desires for juice. Awesome.
Ringtones are plenty loud. I had no trouble hearing the device ring from another room.
Custom screens are super simple. You can grab them from any site via the browser, download them from e-mail, or pull them from memory.
The majority of the 13 included screens are great. Not sure why you’d want the “Incoming Call” animation as your screen, but hey - it’s your device. Pretend you’re endlessly taking incoming calls all you want. I totally dig the “Empire” screen, which I’ve been told was done by Aidan “Brute” Hughes (Artist for the Industrial band KMFDM)
You can also set your screen to other things through various menus. It can be set to run H.O.T in the background, or set to allow your MyPets pet to run around on the screen. You can also add a wide array of clocks/calendars, including just a basic date/time. I really like the ability to overlay your to-do list on top of your current screen. I can just open my phone, and never again forget that I need to complete my efforts toward becoming a rockstar after I drop off my dry cleaning.
I won’t run through every setting here (No reason to talk about airplane mode or call forwarding), but I’ll mention the stuff I’ve been asked about.
Sound: Good number of settings here. You can adjust most sounds independently, which means you can tell AIM/Text messages to STFU without muting ringtones.
Display: This is where you can add some additional function to the main screen and change various display settings. There are an awesome number of customizations for the main screen here. Bunch of calendar options, banners, clocks, etc. Havin’ trouble reading the text? You can adjust the font size and style. You can also change the visual animations that pop up while dialing a number, but I prefer the default.
Browsing on the Fin is most enjoyable, thanks to Helio’s ridiculously fast 3G EV-DO network. Pages (even those with a good number of images) take just a few seconds to load.
The browser has received a few updates since the Ocean. It’s still not perfect, but it’s quite a bit better.
Rather than automatically finishing all URLs with .com as the Ocean does, a drop down list appears when it thinks you’re finishing up a URL. By default, the options are .com, .net, .org, and .co.kr. You can change the options in the browser’s settings.
On any full HTML page, you can enable the “Virtual Mouse”. It’s exactly what it sounds like - a mouse controlled by the D-pad.
The browser has also become notably more stable since the Ocean.
This is one of the betters cameras I’ve seen on a mobile device. It’s outstanding in outdoors/bright light situations. As with most camera phones, the quality drops as the light decreases. I’d blame it on the lack of a flash, but I’ve never seen a camera phone flash actually do much besides make everyone look like spooky ghost people.
Fin vs Ocean comparison shots:
Fin Photo Sample
Ocean Photo Sample
Sample shots:
Night mode On vs. Night mode Off
Indoor Full Res shot, Medium lighting
Outdoors, Mid-Day shot
If you’re hiding nudie pics on your Fin, don’t worry - you can lock the albums. Unlike some of the other Samsung devices, album lock status isn’t ignored when sending picture messages.
Both the Video and the Music player boot up surprisingly quick, even with a 1 gig external card packed with goodies. Playlists are easy to make and use - just check a box, and hit “Add to playlist”.
Playback quality is great. MP3s play nice and loud. I watched the first 45 minutes of an animated flick this afternoon - The framerate stayed steady throughout.
They really like the “Memory Info” screen on this device - you can get to it from atleast 3 menus. I’m imagining a bunch of programmers, sitting around in a room, arguing about where to put the “Memory Info” screen. Eventually they break into a fight. Windows are broken, small children are frightened. Eventually, they just decide to put it in a bunch of different spots. Everyone is happy. They have cake.
Just like the Ocean, the lack of multi-tasking (notably, mp3 playback during other operations) is an unfortunate blow to the device. The MP3 player must stay on screen while playing - attempt to go to another screen, and the player asks if you want to stop music playback.
Reviewing the Games and Apps that come on the Fin one-by-one would be silly and fill up another 5 pages. One line summaries, activate!
Games:
MyPet: Well tied into the device - Nintendogs-esque.
Demos: Midnight Hold’em Poker, 3d Homerun Derby, SiL
Applications:
Google Maps: I use this constantly. It’s one of the best mobile apps I’ve used.
H.O.T: The newer, RSS feed version is much better. Full review coming soon.
Buddy Beacon: Neat, but as noted by most with the release of the Ocean, could use a refresher.
Calendar: Combined with PCLink Pro, the Calendar is outstanding.
To-Do List: Same as calendar - With PCLink Pro, this thing is great.
Wake Up Call: I’m actually not sure why both this and the Alarm tool are needed.
Alarm: All the features of Wake Up Call, and more.
Calculator: Great for figuring out tips/tax. You won’t be doing calculus with it, but it gets the job done.
World Time: I’ll never call my imaginary friends in Japan in the middle of the night again!
Unit Converter: Handy tool, I use it regularly. Easier to use than the one found on the Ocean.
Notepad: Take notes on pretty backgrounds!
Stopwatch: Records up to 20 times - Good for laps.
PCLink Pro is an application written by Samsung to allow you to transfer data from your PC to your device and back.
I’m in love with this application. It does a number of things, and it does them well. It can syncs contacts, Import/Export/Edit Calendar and Todo list, Import/Export photos, and upload MMF ringtones. It also lets me import my text messages, though I haven’t the slightest idea why I’d want to do that.
It’s too bad this is a Windows only application - It’s an awesome extension of the device, and provides a good amount of functionality.
It’s been a while since I’ve had a device that makes an attempt at voice commands. Last I checked, those attempts failed miserably. They’ve apparently fixed things since then.
The Fin’s Voice command set up manages to offset the lack of tactility I noticed while driving. No training required - even for contacts. Hold the back button for 2 seconds, and it’ll ask you for a voice command.
It’d be nice to be able to skip the “Please say a command” prompt, and go straight to the “listening…” alert. After using it a few times, you start to understand when it’s time to speak - No need to tell me each time.
Example commands:
“Send text to Michael Jackson’s Mobile”
“Go to Surf”
“Check Voicemail”.
It’s impressively accurate, even over music and other people talking. It had a few issues with some of my contact’s with crazier names, but worked well for the most part. Menu navigation works really well.
If you hold the function button on a headset, it allows you to dial a contact by name.
I tried a few bluetooth headsets, all of which connected easily and functioned properly. The Ocean had issues with stereo headsets during mp3 playback, something which doesn’t seem to affect the Fin.
They’ve added more functionality since past models. You can now send your information, contacts, and pictures over bluetooth. This seemed to work well with another handset, but I couldn’t get it to pair up with my laptop.
The “Ultimate Inbox” made its debut on the Ocean, and I’m glad it’s been carried over. I find myself using it less with the absence of the Ocean’s QWERTY, but it’s still one of the best messaging setups I’ve seen.
All messaging is done through the Ultimate Inbox. This includes texting, e-mailing, and instant messaging. It currently supports Helio’s mail service, Yahoo!, AIM/AOL Mail, Gmail, Earthlink, Windows Live, and of course SMF/MMS. Exchange support, which just recently went live for the Ocean, is expected within a few weeks.
I primarily use AIM, which works well. It does have its flaws, though. There is an occasional lag when receiving IMs, and you’ll need to refresh your buddy list periodically to keep up with status. AIM could use a bit of polish overall, actually. On the upside, Being able to send/receive images (Direct connect style) is outstanding, and that works quite well.
The Ultimate Inbox is a great application. That said, it’s unfortunately where you’ll find one of the only crucial flaws I noticed in the device. Like the other Samsung devices, you must keep it open while a text message is sending. If you close it mid-send, the message disappears. This is a huge bummer, and something that definitely should have been noted and fixed from previous devices.
Signal Strength, and Speaker/Microphone Quality:
The signal strength on this device is outstanding - better than any Helio device I’ve had a shot at so far. I generally get at least one extra bar of service out of my Fin when compared to my Ocean.
The speaker quality is great - plenty loud for hand-to-ear use. I didn’t have any trouble understanding someone on speakerphone while on the freeway.
The microphone quality is also above expectations. A quick voice memo was crystal clear, and I’ve had a reassuring lack of people asking me to repeat myself.
I haven’t had the opportunity to run any formal tests yet - I’ve only had the device for about 30 hours at this point.
I charged the device for about an hour when I first got it, and it died around a day later. While I only did about 35 minutes of talking during that time, I did a whole lot of picture taking, text messaging, browsing, and movie watching. It definitely seems like the battery could take a full day of heavy usage without worry.
For the folks who don’t want to read 20 pages of review for a mobile device, here’s a quick summary:
Outside the Device: Really good looking device, especially in person
Inside the Device: Everything seems to be really well made. Great screen, microphone, and speakers.
Button layout: Additional tactility would have been nice, but the voice command set up makes up for it in situations where you might not be able to look at the keypad.
Rings/Screens: Custom tones/screens are easy. Included ones are good - lots of choices.
Settings: Good amount of options - More customizability is always welcome.
Browser: Nice updates, but still not Opera Mini.
Camera: Outstanding shots when well lit. Low light shots are about average for such a device.
Video/Music Player: Good playback quality - Still hoping for improved multitasking on future devices.
Games/Apps: 3 game demos, and Helio’s standard suite of superb apps.
Tools (Plan): Tons of useful things, here. Combined with PCLink Pro, Calendar and To-Do are great.
PCLink Pro: Super easy to use, makes the device a lot more useful. Really should be cross platform.
Voice Commands: Really accurate, really useful.
Ultimate Inbox: Misses the Ocean’s QWERTY, but otherwise good. Cancelling texts when the phone is closed mid-send sucks.
The Fin is one hell of a device. The hardware and the software are both completely top-notch. It easily outshines competing phones aesthetically, and the Helio user interface just seals the deal.
The only negative about the device that jumps the gap from “nit pick” to “flaw” is that text messages are cancelled if the phone is closed mid-send. Besides that, the good stuff outweighs the bad by a ridiculous margin.
I’ve come to love the version of the OS found on the Samsung devices over that on the Ocean, especially now that it too has the Ultimate Inbox app. It packs a lot of the functionality of the Ocean in a slimmer form factor. In fact, the only thing keeping this device from snagging the Ocean’s spot in my pocket is the lack of QWERTY.
If you’re in the market for a flip phone, I’d definitely recommend picking up a Fin.
