Samsung Shark Range (S3550, S5350, S5550)

The Samsung Shark Range is this Korean manufacturer's attempt to make a big splash at the beginning of 2010 - unfortunately, it looks like these three phones might be more of a wet thud instead. We understand that all three handsets should be available this month.

Samsung Shark (Samsung S5350)

The Samsung Shark S5350 can best be described as a standard candy bar phone with social networking capabilities thrown in, with everything wrapped up in a pretty user interface. Other than that, we have to say that the Shark is a pretty dull mobile phone, sporting a basic 3.2 megapixel camera, a 2.2" 240 x 320 pixel display, Bluetooth, microSD expandable memory and an FM radio. This is a 3G device with unconfirmed reports that it supports HSDPA. The Samsung Shark S5350 does not support WiFi or GPS. Despite the impressive-sounding name, the Samsung Shark is only a run-of-the-mill midrange handset when you look at it closely.

Samsung Shark 2 (Samsung S5550)

Marginally more exciting than the S5350, the Samsung Shark 2 S5550 packs a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus, 3.5G support plus the social networking features of its sibling.

Despite Samsung's boast that the "Shark 2's well-crafted mix of extrusion, Kevlar, and metallic surface creates a strong, chiseled look that dictates the form factor" it actually looks rather retro and not a million miles away from the D500 and many other Samsung phones.

Samsung say that the S5550 can record video at up to 320 x 240 pixels at 30 frames per second, which is hardly great but should be just about passable for YouTube.. and it's certainly better than the awful video recording on some other Samsungs.

Samsung Shark 3 (Samsung S3550)

Confusingly, the Samsung Shrek 3.. sorry, the Samsung Shark 3 (or the S3550) is the bottom of the range. A GSM-only device with a 2" 240 x 320 pixel display and a 2 megapixel camera, the Shark 3 apparently also supports "some" social networking sites. Unfortunately this is a handset of few interesting features, other than we assume it will be very cheap and at just 79 grams it is reasonably lightweight.