Samsung Tocco or Samsung Tocco Ultra - which one is better?

Is the Samsung S8300 (aka the Samsung Tocco Ultra) just an upgraded version of the Samsung F480 (aka the Samsung Tocco) or is there more to it than that?

Released just about a year apart (the Tocco in May 2008, the Tocoo Ultra in March 2009), both devices are HSDPA and 3G capable smartphones on AT&T's EDGE network with 7.2 Mbps network connectivity.

The Tocco is squatter (shorter and wider) than the taller and thinner Tocco Ultra, at 98.4 mm x 55 mm x 11.6 mm versus 110 mm x 51.5 mm x 12.7 mm. The weight difference between the two is a negligible 4.4 grams, with the Tocco weighing 100.6 g and the Tocco Ultra weighing 105 g.

The Samsung F480 (the Tocco) sports a TFT resistive touchscreen with 240 x 320 pixel resolution and is capable of 256,000 colors while the Samsung S8300 (the Tocco Ultra) has an AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 240 x 400 pixel resolution and is capable of 16 million colors. Both devices' display screens are 2.8 inches.

The Tocco Ultra display screen also boasts some features its predecessor does not have - namely a scratch-resistant surface, an accelerometer sensor that changes views from portrait to landscape depending on which way you have the phone rotated, and a proximity sensor controlling automated turn-off.

The Tocco's phonebook can store up to 1,000 entries while its successor's can store up to 2,000. And while the Tocco has photo call, the Tocco Ultra has that and photo contact.

Surprisingly, the internal memory capacity of the original Tocco (at 232 MB) is significantly greater than that of the "upgraded" model, which only holds 80 MB. The microSD card slot on the Tocco, however, can only expand the device's memory up to 8 GB whereas the Tocco Ultra's memory card slot can increase its memory to 16 GB.

The battery life on the Tocco Ultra is also superior to that of the Tocco - by 1 hour of talk time (4 versus 3) and 100 hours of standby time (350 versus 250).

The digital camera on the Samsung Tocco is fantastic - a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, LED flash, wide dynamic range, image stabilization, and face detection capabilities. The digital camera on the Samsung Tocco Ultra, however, is even better - an 8 megapixel camera with all the same feature's as its predecessor's camera, plus geotagging of photos. Also both devices have video recording capabilities and include a secondary camera for video calling, although the Tocco records QVGA video as compared with the Tocco Ultra which records WVGA video.

In terms of other general features, the Tocco has no GPS, while the Tocco Ultra has a GPS with A-GPS support. Neither device has Wi-Fi, but both have Bluetooth with A2DP - the Tocco having v2.0 and the Tocco Ultra having v2.1. Both devices also have a USB v2.0 port, though the Tocco Ultra also has microUSB. And both devices have an FM radio tuner with RDS, although the Tocco Ultra also has FM recording capabilities. Neither device has an infrared port.

The Tocco comes in black, brown, gold, pink, and silver. The Tocco Ultra comes in either red or blue. But color ought not be your final deciding factor between these two devices. The simple fact is the Samsung Tocco is great, but the Samsung Tocco Ultra is even greater. They might not look like different makes of the same model phone, but when it comes right down to it, the S8300 is very much an upgraded F480.

About the Author:

DialToSave provides handset reviews and price comparison of mobile phone deals. They compare every single mobile phone available in the UK including the Samsung Tocco.