I will now basically Cut and Paste some of the press pack for you to read along with some of the images you have no doubt already seen to brighten up the text a little..

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Inspired by nature – driven by technology

State-of-the-art music phone from Bang & Olufsen and Samsung inspired by beach stones.

Serenata is a brand new music mobile phone from Bang & Olufsen and
Samsung with an organic rounded design. For all its high-end technology, the
inspiration for Serenata came from something as simple as a stone:
"I often go for long walks by the sea where I live," explains designer David
Lewis, "and the shape of the rounded stones that are washed ashore has
always fascinated me. These beach stones have been carefully shaped and
rounded by rolling around in the water for millions of years, and they are so
wonderful to hold in your hand. This was what I was looking for when we
made Serenata."

Precision tools

Serenata rests comfortably in the palm of your hand as the outer surfaces are
made of Polycarbonate painted with a robust soft-touch lacquer. The
beautifully turned aluminium wheel is surrounded by an aluminium arc, and
placed in the centre above the LCD screen, where it is completely natural to
place your thumb. The contrast between the cool aluminium and the warm
soft-touch lacquer leaves an impression of organic smoothness much like the
beach stones that served as the source of inspiration.

The "stone" is divided into two pieces - the rear side can be pushed up
revealing the integrated loudspeakers that are covered by a black stainless
steel grid with very small, almost invisible holes. The loudspeaker is unfolded
with a friction glider; so no jolts here, only a very controlled, sliding
movement, inspired by precision tools such as a sliding gauge.

On the back, the aluminium continues into an integrated, foldable stand that
lets Serenata stand upright on the table when playing music or serving as a
speaker phone. The stand leaves Serenata resting in a 60 degree angle to ensure
the best possible picture quality and high quality sound when the
loudspeaker is unfolded. When placed on the integrated foot with the
loudspeaker unfolded, Serenata offers you a portable and top-performing
micro music system that you can take everywhere and place anywhere.

The LCD window is made of chemically hardened glass. It is a colour display
that lets you get full screen display of all your album covers. Basically, the
discrete, almost minimalist typography and graphic style used for Serenata is
almost the same as that used for the critically acclaimed Serene mobile phone.

Knock on wood

Also the ring tones are based on the same principles as those selected for the
Serene mobile phone. Normally, mobile phones force you to choose the lesser
evil from a long list of almost equally annoying ring tones.

For Serenata, however, our acoustic engineers have taken it upon themselves
to try and design ring tones to match any situation and environment. They call
them Steel, Aluminium, Glass, Porcelain, Bamboo, Oak and Ebony, and the
intensity and rhythm of all these organic ring tones can be varied to match
different environments and needs, also depending on whether the music
phone is folded or unfolded.

While all ring tones are perfectly natural, each one has its own distinct
identity: Steel was made using wind chimes whereas Aluminium is based on
the triangle. Glass and Porcelain were made by striking these materials, and
Bamboo and Oak were both made by hitting different types of hollow wood
together, and recording the authentic sound. Ebony is a thinner wooden
sound, achieved by hitting a hard piece of wood.

For wake-up calls, you have the additional option of choosing among a set of
wake-up alarms based on the pre-defined ring tones or the music you have in
your player. All the ring tones and alarm signals are acoustically designed by
Bang & Olufsen, recorded lossless and played back in MP3 quality.

Perfectly natural

Almost paradoxically, Serenata packs all of the latest acoustic and mobile
phone technologies, but at the same time both sounds and feels perfectly
natural. As such, it is another testament to the joint vision of Bang & Olufsen
and Samsung to constantly push the boundaries, and bring to customers
unique and exciting products.

 

Quality sound for your ears only, EarSet 3 from Bang & Olufsen

Bang & Olufsen is introducing a new wired, stereo headset with built-in
microphone, designed to fit any ear firmly and smoothly, and providing the
highest sound quality for the new Serenata music mobile.

Acoustic performance is one of Bang & Olufsen's core competences as is amply
demonstrated even by the tiny EarSet 3. Here, a high signal-to-noise ratio
means that the annoying noise known from many ear sets and earphones is
almost absent; instead every musical detail is audible.

The sound quality is also affected by the placement of the EarSet in the ear.
EarSet 3 has been specially developed to closely match the contours and curves
of the ear, permitting you to hear the sounds that would otherwise slip away.
We also enclose small covers made of foam rubber to make it more
comfortable, and to compensate for the leak that might occur if the ear is
bigger than the EarSet.

The dynamic full tone loudspeakers mounted on a telescopic bar are
constructed according to the open loudspeaker principle that lets through
some environmental sounds. So, you will not be entirely cut off from the world
when enjoying the pure sound of EarSet 3.

Perfect fit for any ear

To complement the focus on acoustics, we have also focused on the way all
mechanical parts work together. We have dedicated special attention to fine
mechanics as precision engineering and ergonomic design are crucial for a
small product that requires many movements when putting it on and taking it
off.

The experience has to be both smooth and precise, and EarSet 3 more than
fulfils this requirement as it adjusts easily to the contours and curves of the
individual ear. Whatever your level of activity, EarSet 3 sits firmly and smoothly,
ensuring that the sound experience is for your ears only.

Finally, the microphone is placed on the wire where it is conveniently
combined with the hook switch.

Okay - i've got another eight pages like that, but you can read all that elsewhere.  I can say there is a tan-coloured Louis Vuitton case for it, which actually looks nice, but probably costs a squillion pounds more than the phone anyway...

I'm sure you are all interested to know what i think of the phone - so here's the schedule!

A total of three people are going to do first-hand reviews on the phone.  I myself am going to do an 'everyday user' review now - taking the stance of a not-so-tech-savvy thirty something. The second reviewer will be Matt Russell, 22 years old and manager at LifeStyle AV - who will be allowed under close supervision to show it to the 'younger generation' (he he) for a frank and forthright review. He is what we call tech-savvy and is completely at ease with jargon and interfaces.

The third will be BeoWorlds very own Peter, who will assess the way the phone works for him, and more importantly the software functionality. This is Peters area, and if it's not easy to use he won't be scared of saying so!! Look out!

Between the three of us, we hope to give you all a balanced, frank and honest review of the Serenata - BeoWorld style!

For the record - if you click on any of the images, you should get an enlarged view in a seperate window.

The first thing i noticed when being handed the Serenata was the size of the box - you could get some small shoes in there!!  Packaging of the smaller 'gift' style items is becoming very important to Bang & Olufsen as presenting a premium product is becoming more and more important, especially in the asian markets.

Next up is the actual contents of the box, as outlined in the initial Tech-Specs list - but here they are anyway for you to see.

Okay - now to the phone itself..

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Handling the phone 

When you pick up the phone, it certainly has quite a heavy and chunky feel to it - but when your head gets around how comfortable it is to hold you seem to forget about this. If it was feather-light, it would feel cheap -  so heavy is good in my opinion. It was also slightly larger than i expected, and i have put the phone next to a regular CD to give you an idea of scale.

As i look at the front of the phone, it has the trademark brushed aluminium panels surrounding the scroll wheel and on the little 'plaque' at the bottom. I do wish it just had "BANG & OLUFSEN" written on it at the bottom and nothing else, but i think Samsung may have had something to say about that! 😂

The scroll wheel is finely turned aluminium and is indented so your fingertip sits comfortably in the middle of it. A beautiful design feature, with the eye to detail we love about B&O. In the centre is the button that takes you to the main menu with a simple, high quality feeling click. Very nice, and very B&O. Before you start about Apple and the scroll wheel, let's remember the BeoCom 6000 was devised in 1995 please..😕

Display 

What a beautifully sharp and clear screen. I may not have been a huge fan of the Serene personally, but i had never seen (and haven't since) such a fantastic image quality from a small LCD screen. The Serenata is the same - pin sharp, crystal clear and with vivid colours. So far so good!

Slider 

In order to access the speaker, you must effectively 'slide out' the speaker so it protrudes at the top of the phone. I got the hang of opening the Serene very casually with one hand and letting the motor take over, but i was all fingers and thumbs with this one!  It was like trying to knit a sweater one handed, and i ended up looking a complete plank struggling with it two-handed!!

However, i have now perfected the 'one-handed open' you will be pleased to know. You hold it in the middle of your hand and push the front of the phone downwards with your thumb. I knew i'd get the hang of it! 😂 Once you have one, you will know exactly what i mean and will find this funny - honest!

Using the Serenata as a Mobile Phone

Bang & Olufsen are making great pains to point out that the Serenata was never designed as a phone - but a portable music device that just happens to have a phone inbuilt.  However, with a name so similar to Serene i wonder if people will just assume it's the next generation of Serene - which is a dedicated mobile phone. Not everyone knows what 'Serenata' translates as, so personally i fear they will think it's just an answer to the iPhone.

Getting to grips with the Menu

Well, i freely confess to being a Nokia-ite - and find their menus and navigation very instinctive and easy to pick up.  I do remember struggling with the Serene badly as i'm not used to Samsung mobiles, and eventually got the hang but was never quite comfortable with it.  Same goes with the Serenata, but it's even harder this time.

Most phones will 'light up' with a spin of the scroll wheel, or the tap of a screen - but once the Serenata goes into 'hibernate' with all the lights off - you have to push the button in the centre of the scroll wheel to wake it up and activate the display. Not something i'm used to - but you get used to it.

As mentioned, a push of the button in the centre of the scroll wheel takes you to the main menu where all the basic everyday features lay. As on the Serene, a scroll down to the highlighted choice and a click gets you to your chosen destination.

There are two more options written on the front of the phone too - Music, and More.  To activate these, you actually touch the glass screen below the word. I find that if you lightly jab the screen it doesn't respond as well as when you actually 'dab' your finger on it. Yes, it prevents 'hair trigger' activation - but it can be a bit frustrating if you're trying to do it quickly. It would also be frustrating if it activated the millisecond you accidentally brushed your finger against it - so it's catch 22 on that one!

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The 'More' section gives you the following functions

Lock Keys

Voicemail 

Silent Mode

Flight Mode

Bluetooth

Connect to PC

Dial Number

Shortcuts

Serenata Demo 

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On the other side, the 'Music' Menu gives you  the following options...

Artists

Albums

Tracks

Covers

Favourites

Playlists

Podcasts

Audiobooks

Genres

Recently added

Settings

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This is basically an overview of the Menus, and within these headings are obviously more options. Quite impressive to my non-tech mind!

The Sound

This is the question that everyone wants answering - what does it sound like?  Well, you flip down the little sprung rectangle of brushed Alu at the rear - and off you go!

Initially it's really a mixed reaction as my heart was saying 'it's Bang & Olufsen - it's going to be LOUD' - but my brain was saying 'there's no way you are going to get decent sound out of such a small space!'

When you turn the Serenata sideways - it's plain to see the engineers had a mammoth task - it really is thin, and the workings in there must be microscopic!  However, the first thing that hits you is the amazing clarity of the sound. The top end really is pin sharp, and the midrange is strong too. Any vocal or acoustic songs sound awesome, and the pre-loaded song list on the model given to me is obviously designed to bring out the best in the phone.  Hotel California by the Eagles is impressive, but the beginning of 'Here I am' by Jette Torp demonstrates the strengths of the speaker perfectly.

Bass is never going to be it's strong point - but it does pack a little punch! If you hold the phone in your hand when it's on loudspeaker you can certainly feel it, and what it does with the cabinet volume given is miraculous! 

Inbuilt is a 4-Channel Graphic Equaliser that adjusts to every song - a clever feature that reduces the chance of overload and distortion. This seems to do it's job perfectly well, and no matter how loud you turn it up - even on maximum, there is no distortion.

Can the sound fill a room?  Well, yes - it can!  Although it would be lost in a large room, and would be just background music even on full throttle - it gives a pleasant and audible account of itself in a medium sized room.  Think of it as a small transistor radio and you would be about there.  However, this is seriously selling it short again as we are talking about a speaker cabinet volume of five cubic centimetres! Poor old Bang & Olufsen can't win sometimes! 😂

In short - for what they have had to work with, it's gob-smackingly good.  Would i take it and play it in a Hotel Room or in the office? Yes, absolutely. I'm sat here typing with it playing next to me, and it's extremely relaxing. You don't have to just settle for hearing the melody and guessing the rest like on most phones, you can hear every word and every note perfectly and clearly - which makes it really easy to listen to.

Everyday use

Texting..

Texting on the Serenata is like trying to weave fog!!.  I found the Serene hard work, but they have gone one step further and actually made the predictive text accessible by scroll wheel!!  A downside of not having a keypad, and i'm sure this will drive some people mad.  However, if you're not a prolific texter - who cares! 

You can see on the image how this works, and yes - it's as difficult as it looks!