Samsung Punch, Price and Availability

Last week I saw an ad in the newspaper about the new dual-sim of Samsung, I thought it was cool and very simple; and yes for a cheap price of less than P6k only. The ad even says its available for only P5,199.00 – but wait, there’s more! The print ad says its only a suggested retail price (SRP) and true enough it was only a suggested price! 🙂

On Saturday, we had to attend an event in SM Megamall and since I went early, I had a chance to shop around and look for the Samsung Punch; I went to Cyberzone and found the Samsung Store there, there was an available demo unit and played around with it first.

Alright, the Samsung Punch Ch@t322 aka C3222 is a QUERTY basic dual-sim phone, with only bluetooth as your wireless communication, no Wi-fi, it has Social Networking apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instant Messenger, Bluetooth messenger – but you access this using your data plan. The dual-sim is both active – which means you can receive calls while your engage with your Sim1. You get one inbox for your two sim card. There is still a dedicated button in the side if you want to switch from Sim1 to Sim2.

The phone looks like a Blackberry to me, because of the optical trackpoint and its audio port is now 3.55mm audio port which makes it easier to use any available standard headphones. Calvin of PTB says this is the counterpart of Nokia C3 in the entry level category only that C3 has Wi-fi.

The phone will be available in four different colors but the current model that is available now is black.

Specs and Pricing:

• 2G: Dual – GSM 850/900/1800/1900
• 2.2” TFT display (220 x 176, 256k colors)
• QWERTY keypad
• 1.3 Mp camera
• 54 MB internal memory
• Expandable up to 8GB microSD
• Bluetooth 2.1
• FM Radio
• 1000 mAh battery
• SRP: Php5,199.00 but actual price is P5,390.00

[slideshow]

The published SRP of P5,199.00 is debatable; I called their Customer Service why Samsung store in Megamall sells it for P5,390.00 as opposed what was published. I even brought the newspaper ad; in the end I still paid P5,390.00. Anyway, my point is why advertise it at that price to end up higher?

Overall it is still cheap for a dual-sim phone and its branded. And it looks good!