Samsung ZV50 (SGH-ZV50)

Available now
6th July 2006

The Samsung ZV50 is an HSDPA (3.5G) clamshell phone, exclusively available to the Vodafone network. One of the first available HSDPA handsets on the market, the SGH-ZV50 is due to be released soon in Vodafone's German and Portuguese markets, presumably followed by other countries where Vodafone are rolling out 3.5G networks.

It's an utterly conventional handset to look at, almost identical in appearance to the  Samsung Z520 and echoing the classic -E700/E720 handsets rather than the current bland "flat black" clamshell range.

The technical specifications on the Samsung SGH-ZV50 are pretty good - there's a QVGA (240x320 pixel) display, 2 megapixel digital camera with secondary camera for video calling, Bluetooth, 64Mb of internal memory (30Mb free) with microSD expansion, plus all the usual things you'd expect like an MP3 player, web browser and email client. Overall, the Samsung ZV50 weighs 105 grams which is pretty good going for a handset in this class.

Of course, the main selling point of the Samsung ZV50 is the inclusion of HSDPA which gives the SGH-ZV50 a maximum download speed of 1.8 Mbps, which is around five to six times faster than standard 3G. Obviously, you'll need to be in an HSDPA coverage area, but the ZV50 can also use "standard" UMTS 2100 3G or GSM 900/1800/1900.

In Germany, Vodafone will be using the term "UMTS Broadband" to describe the HSDPA service, perhaps in other regions they will call it "3G Broadband" or some other name.

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