Hands-On: Helio's GPS Capable Drift by Samsung

Helio Drift by Samsung

Helio Drift by Samsung

Helio Drift by Samsung

Our friends at Helio hooked us up with a new Samsung Drift a short while ago to give us a chance to play with it and compare it with the Hero and Kickflip models that we've had for some time. As you can see, the Drift is a slider form handset somewhat like the Hero, but it is more compact and far less tough/rugged looking. Not to say that the Drift doesn't seem solid, though the cover does seem a bit more prone to scratching than I would have expected.

In terms of features and capabilities, the major new tricks that the Drift has that the prior two models lacked are Bluetooth support and GPS capability. The GPS system allows apps like Google maps to actually know where you are without you needing to know your address, and also gives the phone the ability to run other cool applications like the Buddy Beacon. The Buddy Beacon will let you see where your Drift carrying friends are located, and let them see where you are as well. Your friend not answering his phone? Just look for his Buddy Beacon to view a MapQuest map of his location so you can figure out what bar he is in and join him. It is a very cool application.

Like the other two Helio offerings, the Pantech Hero and the VK Mobile KickFlip, the Samsung Drift has a 2 megapixel camera. Sadly, the camera quality seems to be pretty poor. The overall focus is very soft, and the camera has no ability to photograph anything closer than a few feet away. On top of that, it has a very tough time dealing with high contrast situations and many situations that involve daylight. Occasionally you can get a nice photo out of it, but that is the exception rather than the rule. The camera's user interface is really quite nice, but that just can't save it.

All of the other functionality on the device seems spot on, though. Reception was pretty good, the Helio H.O.T. interactive standby screen worked well, and there were a wide variety of games available for the device. Games can generally be bought outright for US$5 to $7 or so, or can be rented for 7 days for $.99. A 7 day rental for a dollar seems like a pretty good deal to me.

So overall the Drift is a fun handset. The camera is weak, but it offers a lot of other functionality that you just won't find elsewhere. It's a cool phone.

We have more photos of the Drift on the following page, and also have a page full of sample photos shot with the Drift for you to look through after that.

Helio Drift by Samsung

Helio Drift by Samsung

Helio Drift by Samsung

 

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