The Lowdown:
After the recent iPhone hype, it's now a little hard to get pumped for a meagre touch pad. Out of the box, the Samsung somehow appears slightly less exotic.
On looks alone, the gold and silver stainless steel is a modern design; a sleek and causal feel. It weighs just 112g, and is of similar size and stature to the newly released
Nokia 6220.
The U900s main asset lies in its
usability; the touch pad triggers a small, but responsive vibration when clicked. It's both a navigation menu and a music player in one.
In use, the pad tends to light up like a crystal ball, giving idle fingers a clever touch mechanism that did'nt feel gimmicky when we played around with it.
This shiny slider phone, attached to Telstra's NextG network by default, means you'll likely get excellent 3G coverage wherever you go. Promoted with the Beijing Olympics in mind, the integrated 7.2Mbps HSDPA receiver does a fair job of buffering video content, but as we explain below, the quality doesn't beat other mobiles with TV.
Foxtel mobile displayed adequately, but the resolution was still lacking in quality stakes, compared to the finesse of the
Imate 9502.
A
5.0MP camera works with an LED flash and performed decently in sunlight, but dark interior shots may still pose a challengey.
Hit: Excellent multimedia functionality (FM player, responsive voice player, image editor, video editor, RSS reader), quality music navigation menu (though the touch pad). A 2.2" screen can be viewed in either horizontal or vertical landscapes. Phone works well, keypad easy to dial.
Miss: Despite the fast 3G connectivity, we experienced clunky web browsing using the Samsung OS; we'd recommend a third party mobile browser for optimum performance. We're yet to see a phone get anywhere near the simple, clean web browsing that the iPhone currently offers.
The screen resolution also lacks quality and No 3.5mm headphone jack still gives us the old heebie jeebies (no adapter supplied either).
What we liked Best:
Ease of use. The U900 is one of those delightfully simple to use phones that makes you feel comfortable using it straight out of the box. It felt a lot better to use than the awkwardly annoying Windows Mobile offerings that some other handsets rely on.
Pricing and availability:
The U900 retails for $599*, and is in stores now. That price seems fair, when you compare it to some of the hotter smartphone competitors out on the market at the moment. *Cough*
Iphone*Cough*.A quick
web search could net you an even cheaper deal.
Overall Verdict:
The Samsung OS is suitable for beginners and pros alike. We always like it when a phone manufacturer designs a phone with a keen sense of intuitive functionality.
Samsung's responsive menu is at at the heart of the U900T and while it lacks the shinier gimmickry of the iPhone or HTC touch, the U900 still feels like a well designed handset, with or without the Olympics hype.
*We have updated the price to reflect the current RRP for this model.*
