Samsung S5230 Star review: Hot starlet

Samsung are going to great lengths to pile pressure on the LG Cookie. While the Samsung S5600 Preston aims to outdo it, the 5230 Star is set for a head-on collision course. This starlet's middle name is Tocco Lite and that's plenty to live up to.

The name itself is no shortcut to stardom but the Tocco pedigree certainly brings with it certain expectations of quality. So will this little Star still be going strong a year from launch? The S5230 certainly has all the ingredients, now all we need to do is see if Samsung has got the mix right.

Add a dash of touchscreen and nifty unlock, a pinch of smart looks and document viewer, DNSe and smile shutter to taste. Samsung's widget-wielding TouchWiz makes reading the recipe a cinch.

It's a dish that's already proving popular - the Star is already shifting over a million units per month and Samsung expect to total 10 million sold by the end of the year. Certainly an ambitious plan, but they just might pull it off - the Star is set to become one of Samsung's bestsellers.

Samsung S5230 official photos

Samsung S5230 main features:

• GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, GPRS/EDGE class 12
• Dimensions: 104.0 x 53.0 x 11.9 mm, 93.5 g
• 3" resistive TFT touchscreen, WQVGA resolution (240 x 400 pixels)
• 50MB onboard storage, microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
• 3 megapixel fixed focus camera with smile detection
• Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, USB v.2.0
• Document viewer
• Smart unlock
• Accelerometer sensor
• FM radio with RDS
• DNSe
• Find Music recognition service
• 1000 mAh battery, up to 800 h of standby

Main disadvantages

• No 3G
• Proprietary connectivity port
• Slightly more expensive than the LG KP500 Cookie
• No way to directly switch between running apps
• The camera is quite basic - uninspiring picture quality, no autofocus or flash
• Non-hot-swappable microSD slot

Samsung S5230 live shots

The Star offers a basic touchscreen package with little to no access to top-of-the-line technology. It still knows a trick or two though and is keen to treat the masses to Smart Unlock. It was initially dubbed Gesture lock but in the end Samsung went for Smart instead. This feature lets users unlock the S5230 Star and even launch apps by drawing a letter on the screen. It can be any letter: U to unlock the device, B to launch the browser, J to run your favorite Java app. It's a nifty trick that adds a little speed and spice when working with the device.

Jump to the next page for a guided tour of the Star exterior. We'll look closer at the few things that have changed since our early-bird preview.