Reviews and tests / Samsung U900 Soul Preview

SMAPE  Reviews and tests  Samsung  Samsung U900 Soul Preview

The slider form factor is the most widely distributed solution in Samsung's portfolio, this rule being perfectly true for the new flagship of its fashion sector. The model is positioned as a very stylish toy penetrating into the premium segment – for the most part it's made of metal and is very slim, the second screen effectively makes up for a navigation panel, powered by the touch technology. The closest possible alternatives for this model are Sony Ericsson C902 (price and functionality) or LG KF600 (design).

Samsung U900 Soul has very solid looks, it's pleasant to touch and play with. The body sports a deliberately elongated design leading to a massive feel created to please the male audience, the same effect occurs with G800 (which was actually a bit too thick, not too long). Furthermore, the two models have almost the same kind of metal pieces inserted into the body in a very similar fashion. However the design of U900 is closer to G600 and E950, being something from the middle. The navigation panel has been improved to minimize the number of stray keystrokes. All the active elements are affected by the gradation effect – the active area of an element expands once you press it, which contributes to the ergonomics (for instance, the whole screen becomes devoted to the rewind functions when you're rewinding a track in the player).

Such an implementation of the secondary screen's functionality makes the model a winner among comparable solutions, KF600 being not an exception. However the latter wins when it comes to user themes and games – LG's invention seems to exploit the power of the second screen in a more creative manner. Though overall ergonomics is worse than what Samsung offers in Soul. The two dial and two software buttons aren't of the sensor type, but rather common mechanical ones – in this case, a plus to the ergonomics. A KF600 would have you to touch your way to the side-positioned button or open the keyboard should you need to look at the clock while Soul takes but a single tap on the specific button.

The light gray is the only color in which the model is issued so far, but it's highly probably that other variants will emerge as the product gains more popularity. The premium status of the new handset stands for the high quality of assembly and materials – the body coating is very resistant to mechanical damage, too. After a month of active use, only one small worn spot emerged on the back metal plate. The sliding mechanism is next to ideal (if not ideal) – perfectly smooth, optimally tight and neither too jerky nor too slow.

The keypad relies on the traditional mechanical principle, the keystroke is rather shallow. The button segmentation is very distinct, the buttons themselves are comfortable large and the backlight is perfect. It takes no pain to compose an SMS typing blind, the task manager button allows to instantly switch between Dial, Messages, Web and Music or close all these menus at once, which further improves the ergonomics. The side edges host a standard variety of controls: the camera button and the extension slot to the right, the interface slot and the volume rocker to the left.

The hardware platform of Samsung U900 Soul is remarkable primarily for the powerful 5 Mp camera – an analogous unit is used in G600, for example. The changes mainly affect the software part – a face detector, an image stabilizer and an improved Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) are now in. The close rival KF600 has only a 3.0 Mp camera, giving way to C902 as another formidable competitor, but even in such a competition U900 looks very worthy – in a fashion similar to G600 versus K850i. It's the first Samsung-produced premium phone to feature such a powerful camera.

The main screen isn't too large (2.2'') but its quality is perfect. The view angles and brightness levels are just as good as you might expect for a such high-ranking solutions. The secondary isn't as good as the one in KF600 though – it's based off OLED technology, is only 1.14'' large, the resolution and palette are just 128x112 and 65K respectively while the competitor has TFT, 1.49", 176x240 and 256K. However such an ascetic approach is easily explained by Samsung's intention to use the second display as a navigation and service panel only.

The connectivity aspect of the new product is remarkable for the 3G support, the rest of features are quite traditional. There's quite a good FM radio with RDS support (though no option for radio recording). The onboard memory size is 120 Mb which is quite a lot, a microSD card slot with hot swapping support is available, though no card is to be found in the sales box. Probably the handset will be shipped with a Bluetooth headset bundled – this feature is yet to be decided on. The hardware platform is based on the Qualcomm MSM6280 chipset, which stands for 3D Java profile support (something relatively new to Samsung products, though Nokia and Sony Ericsson had made common use of it quite a while before). The performance levels are quite good. The phone is powered by a 880 mAh battery showing good results.

The software platform is almost identical to the one used in G800, save for a number of minor additions and improvements which hardly sum up to make a significant difference. The most noticeable things are the availability of a theme construction set and the lack of the Living World feature. The U900 model will receive a thorough review in the coming weeks so stay tuned and check our site for updates.

Author: Dmitry Ryabinin, dm@smape.com

SMAPE.com

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