Samsung B-2100
The Samsung B-2100 is by far the ultimate and most accomplished all-season phone. It is a sturdy and robust piece with basic features. Going by its design, feel and body, it is easy to understand that the makers have created it solely emphasizing on its “durability” factor. The entire outer-body of the phone is made from a special urethane material which is IP54 certified (a messaging protocol standard widely used for government and military communication) where IP stands for International Protection. As for the number 54, the number 5 denotes that the phone is resistant to dust, but isn’t entirely protected from it while the number 4 means that the device is partially waterproof.
Its sturdy and tough outer body makes the B-2100 shock and water proof, the reason for naming it the Samsung B-2100 “Marine”. It is also dust-proof. The device is tailor-made for people and professionals who work in extreme conditions like a civil engineer, a sportsman, riders, travelers, adventure-enthusiast etc. It can even work well for people who have a rough-handling tendency or who tend to drop or break their mobile handsets quite often with its shock-proof and drop resistant material body.
The Samsung B2100 Marine with the help pf its sturdy and tough body, can withstand extreme weather conditions like solar radiation, high-temperature, water immersion, salt-fog, and dust. It is also rated to endure vibration and shock as well. As a matter of fact, the company even claims that the handset is submersible up to 1 m for 30 min. Its water-resistant body makes this hard-core phone ideal for water-sports professionals and other outdoor sports like rafting and climbing.
The phone sports a tough rugged look. It is regarded as one of the slimmest submersible phones. Designed for out-door and extreme conditions, the device offers a very convenient and comfortable grip as a result of its portable size. Because of its image of an ideal durable traveler-friendly phone, it can even be a style statement .
Features:-
Being a no-nonsense handset designed for durability and toughness, the phone doesn’t really include any latest high-end features but surely comes with all the basic features that any mobile user, expects from a handset in the same price category.
Some of the basic features of the Samsung B-2100 include:-
- It is quad-band GPRS/EDGE compatible (850/900/1800/1900MHz)
- supports Bluetooth v2.0
- comes with A2DP technology for streaming tunes to a wireless headset.
- doesn’t include GPS or Wi-Fi
- come with an in-built memory of 7MB internal memory and includes a MicroSD card slot that supports an expandable memory up to 8GB
For a basic robust phone, the Samsung B2100 comes with some great multimedia features at par with any other multimedia in its league, like a media and video player (MP3/e-AAC+/WMA/AMR/SMAF and MPEG4/3GP), stereo FM radio and a voice recorder.
“Noise Cancellation” feature ensures enhanced voice clarity:-
The handset also has one-of-a-kind “Noise cancellation” features which keeps any ambient background sound at bay and thus ensures a much more clarity in any of your conversations for you as well a the recipient/ caller. Though the resolution of the screen is dull and sometimes blurred, it still felicitates clear and easy navigation.
Super-Loud Speakers:-
One of the biggest highlights of the Samsung 2100 is its music player. The music quality of the phone is just perfect for anyone who prefers an enhanced and loud music reception. The volume level, both on the headphone as well as the speaker, is as loud as you may have ever heard or experienced on a mobile device, somewhat like those cheap Chinese handsets in the markets. As a matter of fact, the decibel level on the headphones can really get on your nerves at top volume. If the phone is on the ringer mode, at top volume, there’s no way that you can ever miss hearing it, even if you are at the noisiest places around. Even while answering the calls, ensure that you keep a check even on your whispers as any and every minute background noise from your surrounding along with your own voice would be audible to the recipient. The radio further completes the music experience of the handset.
LED flashlight:- Your savior and guide in darkness
The picture resolution and the photo quality of the images is just above average considering its reasonable 1.3 MP camera. Touted as a traveler’s fancy, the makers have also included a small LED, right at the top of the handset. This LED can also be used as a flashlight and can be very useful, especially while clicking pictures in darkness or using it as a make-shift flashlight while traveling at night.
Average Picture Clarity:-
The video recording is decent enough, though sometimes the images appear blurred. The video-call camera is the most basic camera you can ever have, and seems to be installed just because the makers wanted to complete the formality of having a secondary video-call camera on the phone.
The handset’s 1.7-inch TFT display that comes with a low resolution of just 120 x 160 pixels and 256K colors can be a let down for people who are looking for a handset with some high-end features. But then, as mentioned earlier, the Samsung B-2100 is strictly restricted as a solid phone designed for extreme conditions, and a 1.7- inch display is perfectly fair enough for such a basic robust device.
Battery without a life:-
The biggest drawback with the handset though, is its disappointing battery life, especially considering the fact that it is touted as a traveler-friendly phone. At least going by the reviews and report, the battery-life of the phone is nowhere close to the promised talk-time of five hours and up to standby of 350 hours as promised by the makers.
Conclusion:-
The Samsung B-2100 Marine is ideal for anybody who is looking for a solid-extreme and an all-weather handset over everything else. The handset being shock proof, is also perfect for the people who have the tendency to break or drop things, especially their mobile phones. Its submersible nature and water-resistant body makes it the most ultimate mobile device, for any water-sports lover and other aqua professionals. It also comprises all the features that are expected from any basic all-weather phone. However, its highlight features are its handy built-in torch and super-loud music speakers. Though it comes partially unlocked (via AT & T in US), this traveler’s fancy is surely worth its super-cheap price of just around USD56.
