Samsung F700

release date: December 2007
colours:
 
blue
Samsung F700

RATING

4 stars

Pros

  • 3.2-inch touch screen
  • Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
  • 3G and HSDPA

Cons

  • Tri-band only
  • No Wi-Fi

SUMMARY

3G HSDPA 3.2-inch touch-screen phone with slide-out QWERTY keyboard and 3 MP camera. Not as feature-packed as the iPhone version 1, but worth a look if you want a QWERTY keyboard and big touch-screen phone.

Review

The Samsung F700 (Ultra Smart) is a tri-band slider phone with slide-out hardware QWERTY keyboard, 3.2-inch touch screen, 3 MP camera, 3G and HSDPA. The F700 has the second largest screen - the Apple iPhone has a slightly larger 3.5-inch touch-screen with a better resolution - 320 x 480.

Samsung F700 vs Apple iPhone: The F700 has a better camera, 3G and HSDPA, and the slide-out QWERTY keyboard is pretty good too. Other than that, the Apple iPhone beats the Samsung F700 in most other departments - auto screen orientation, Wi-Fi, multi-tap touch screen, usability, music player, music and video player, and ease of use.

Exclusive to Vodafone: May 1st 2008 - You can still only buy the Samsung F700 on a Vodafone contract - buy direct from the Vodafone store.

Design

The Samsung F700 is 4g heavier than the Apple iPhone, 3 mm shorter, 4.3 mm thinner and 5 mm wider.

Front: Speaker (at bottom), shortcut key (beneath the screen), 3.2-inch VibeTonz (feel a slight vibration each time you touch the screen) drag 'n' drop touch-screen, and a VGA video call camera.

QWERTY keyboard: Slide out the QWERTY keyboard. The screen changes to landscape mode. The keyboard is very good. Big, well-separated keys. Top marks.

Samsung F700 QWERTY keypad

Top: Power key, multi-function jack, 3.5 mm headset jack - both jacks have plastic flaps.

Back: Battery cover, camera lens, LED flash.

Right: Hold key, volume key, camera / video call key.

microSD slot: Hot-swappable - remove the battery cover. A 1 GB memory card is included in the box. Supports up to 4 GB.

Croix interface: It's won awards, don't ya know? "Croix" means "cross" in French. This is one angry interface. You'll also find the Croix interface on the Samsung Armani and F490 Samsung phones, as well as other full touch-screen Samsung phones yet to be released.

You can move the interface vertically and horizontally - drag your finger up/down/left/right. Genius.

Croix interface

Features

3.2 MP Camera with auto-focus

Spot metering, auto-focus, shutter sound, digital zoom, picture quality, ISO, exposure, white balance, viewfinder mode (regular or wide-screen), shoot mode.

Video capture: 320 x 240 at 15 fps. Average.

3.2-inch Touch-screen

There's no accelerometer, so the screen won't change orientation when you tilt the phone. Slide out the keypad and the screen will change to landscape view. Use the keypad for emailing/texting and using the Web browser.

Haptic feedback: VibeTonz - uses the technology developed by Immersion. They have some interesting PDF files on their home page. The feedback is called vibrotactile feedback.

Full HTML Browser

NetFront Web browser. Get a miniMap view (red rectangle), and press the keys to zoom in. Slide open the keypad to change to landscape view. Drag your finger across the screen to pan/scroll.

3.2-inch screen: 2nd largest mobile phone screen, after the iPhone's (not including N-Gage and similar devices). Not bad for downloading stuff and navigating some Web sites.

An 8.9-inch mobile PC screen is much better. Mobile PCs are great for travelling and holidays - just watch those massive roaming charges. Look for Asus, Acer and Dell mini laptops.

Music Player

Standard stuff - last played, recently played, playlists, most played, artists, genres. Vodafone's service is installed. Get unlimited tracks for just £1.99 per week. It's free for the 1st week. The fee is charged to your pay-monthly or PAYG account.

Mobile Internet data charges apply - be careful downloading tons of tracks abroad. Your eyes will water when you look at the bill. Current Vodafone mobile Internet costs abroad are £5 for 15 MB, or £8 for 15 MB (in non-passport countries). A song file size varies, let's say 2 - 8 MB. Example - download five 3 MB songs per day for a week - that could cost £56. As Arthur Daley would say - That's a "nice little earner" for Vodafone.

Retention Strategy 101:

What's an easy way to keep you subscribed to MusicStation? Easy.

"Once your MusicStation membership is officially cancelled you will not be able to play the playlists, artists, albums and tracks on your phone or download new playlists, artists, albums and tracks."

Other features

Google Maps, no GPS, no Wi-Fi, no FM radio, PIM tools, document viewer, proprietary Samsung OS, voice recorder, mobileTV, Bluetooth, USB, 3 game demos, video player, mobile tracker, mobile printing and EDGE connectivity.

Summary

3G HSDPA 3.2-inch touch-screen phone with slide-out QWERTY keyboard and 3 MP camera. Not as feature-packed as the iPhone version 1, but worth a look if you want a QWERTY keyboard and big touch-screen phone.

The Apple iPhone beats the Samsung F700 in most areas. The only real benefits the Samsung F700 has over the iPhone is the cheaper price, 3G and HSDPA, haptic feedback screen, not being locked into Apple's services and erm... erm... yep, that's it. Good phone, but it's no iPhone.

Features / Specifications

* confirm features at manufacturer's Web site.

Release Date
December 2007
Size
112.0 x 56.0 x 15.9 mm
4.4 x 2.2 x 0.6 inches
Weight
139 g
4.9 oz
Colours
 
blue
Screen
  • 3.2-inch TFT
  • 240x440 pixels
  • 262144 colours
  • Touchscreen
  • Haptic feedback
Memory
  • 100 MB phone memory
  • microSD memory card (4 GB max)
Networks
  • Tri-band (GSM 900, 1800 and 1900 Mhz)
  • EDGE
  • 3G (UMTS 2100 Mhz)
  • HSDPA (Max: 3.6 Mbps)
Battery Life
  • Talk time: 4.5 hours
  • Standby time: 350 hours
OS
Samsung OS

In The Box

Samsung F700 phone, battery, charger, user manual, 1 GB memory card, headset, software CD.

Connectivity

  • Bluetooth 2.0
  • USB 2.0
  • 3.5 mm jack
  • Video calling

Camera

  • 3.2 MP Camera

  • features: 3x digital zoom, video capture, spot metering, auto-focus, shutter sound, digital zoom, picture quality, ISO, exposure, white balance, viewfinder mode (regular or wide-screen), shoot mode

  • QVGA video resolution
  • 15 FPS video capture

Messaging

  • SMS, MMS, Email, IM
  • Software QWERTY
  • Hardware QWERTY

Entertainment

  • Games: BlockBreaker, Bejeweled, Kasparov's Chess

  • Music Player
  • Video Player

Internet

  • HTML browser

Installed Applications

  • Google Maps, mobile printing, mobile tracker
  • Document viewer
  • PIM: PIM tools
  • Voice recorder

Prices

Prices coming soon.