Slider Samsung SGH U900 Soul. Review
In fact Samsung U900 get a good machine. So comparing the phone with competitors’ devices, the correct solution would be to buy Samsung U900 Soul, as it successfully takes its unique niche in thin sliders with a powerful camera and an additional touch screen.
Mobile phone - slider with two displays - a new word in the design of this kind of devices. Instead of mechanical aids to navigation in the phone fell off a touch screen DaCP ™.
This LED (OLED) display, which highlights the icons of the functions of management in which you nahodites.V Samsung U900 has an opportunity to adjust the color in which your phone will display icons and design elements. In addition, DaCP ™ provides a system of feedback with audible, tactile and visual signals.
In addition to the additional sensory display significant characteristic of Samsung SGH-U900 - his camera with 5 megapixel resolution, which makes the photos size 10×15 cm see very good quality and good image detail.
The user may be available to those shooting modes: normal, serial imagery, mosaic, frame, and Panorama, and numerous effects (Grey, Sepia, Negative, Antique, Water Colour). It is possible to adjust the white balance, set the values of ISO (from 50 to 400), as well as a timer for 10 seconds. Electronics Camera got fashionable now feature Face Detection, which identifies the presence of a human face in the frame and the camera focuses on it.
Samsung withdraws video (in MPEG-4), but to watch the downloaded videos to your phone 3GP, you can too. Integrated player plays music in formats. Mp3 and. Wma, and has a digital audio ICEpower amplifier from Bang & Olufsen.
EQ player has a nine preset settings: «normal», «pop», «rock», «dance», «classic», «Jazz», «advanced», «dynamic» and «surround».
In the closed slider sensitive surface of the lens, LED flash and mirror conceals the back panel, and thus become resistant to damage and any contamination. A layer of varnish protects the body from scratches, makes metal shine and even further refined gold.
FM-radio Samsung U900 can receive text messages RDS: weather, currency rates and other useful information. It is a pleasure to striking huge memory radio: it can store 99 radio broadcasting frequencies!
Communication ability of the phone, too, are at a high level: Bluetooth 2.0 c support for EDR, A2DP, Basic Printing, Dial Up Networkingi etc.
As Samsung U900 Soul, you can read text documents Microsoft Word (format. Doc), spreadsheets Microsoft Excel (format. Xls), presentation, Microsoft Power Point (format. Ppt), as well as PDF. Also for your convenience as a personal organizer, calculator, five alarms, currency converter and measurement units, and another countdown timer and stopwatch. In the U900 works wap-browser NetFront 3.4, which, in addition to JavaScript, and fonts (three types for the text), Smart-Fit (mapping sites in a single column), in addition received a prototype «mouse» - a virtual cursor.
Loading Samsung U900 Soul for only 5-7 seconds, and the overall impression of the speed of applications and menus entirely positive.
Samsung sgh u900 User’s Testimonials
Samsung SGH-U900 Soul
recently bought a phone standards like almost all the minuses (silent, and that is the problem with the flash (with jump with other mob … writes saying the memory is full, but when you reset via PC everything is OK, all you can see so that this problem is not really serious), and everything like a normal camera, look great!
Dmit [14 Feb., 2009]
Samsung SGH-U900 Soul
Phone in general is good. However, I am pleased he is not too long. The defect, which was previously written alisa is in fact a wedding factory. My machine problems began on the first day after purchase - with incoming calls sometimes do not turn on the monitor, and it was not clear who is calling. One time generally hovered and did not respond to keypresses. Scourging a week characterized it in the shop and insisted on an examination, which confirmed the manufacturer’s defect. Now I wouldnt buy this model anymore, however i like it
irbis29 [2 Jan., 2009]
Samsung SGH-U900 Soul
There is a play on the 4th day there, in the closed position when !:(((( night photo shoots, as a 1.3 MP :((((( Friends laughed …
74345345 [17 December 2008]
Samsung SGH-U900 Soul
Friend bought himself one on birthday, well design is ok, a good slider mechanism, no backlash, and that Samsung is famous for, touch buttons but the idea of a good piece of software that keys and off / receive a call normal, sensors only navigation (joystick), it terribly uncomfortable ……. sound external dynamics as a low-cost model, quiet and sometimes wheeze, while talking of his volume, but rather to listen to music through the speaker - no vibration is a little bit weaky, and given that the speaker little bit silent, it’s easy to miss call on public transport …. kit comes bluetooth headset, good pictures ….. but with low-resolution video ….. big conclusion, it is not worth the money, much better to buy a G600, those most parameters but for less money. all, good luck with your shopping
Demitry [23 June 2008]
Overview of the phone Samsung SGH U900
What Not to just any phone manufacturers in order to surprise the customer and make use of «receiver» more comfortable than ever before! First came the phone-«rasladushka», then was the world body type «slider», and in the further struggle for the favor the buyer was developed «cot» with two displays: an external and internal.Now «folding beds» (albeit with one, even with two displays), and sliders with a single display were very common and are not surprising anybody. But with two sliders displays we have not yet met … The company has established a Samsung phone! This Samsung SGH-U900.
Manage your phone is beautiful and comfortable!
Thus, the paste will begin to admire the innovative solution from Samsung. Therefore, contrary to tradition, about the primary phone’s talk a little later, and our review will begin with a story about an additional display.Under the main display in a place where traditional navigation is key to the key evidence, a Samsung SGH-U900 is its main «salt» - OLED (ie LED) touch screen. It was, depending on the situation, highlighting icons management.For example, when you are on the menu, highlighting the four arrows for the management and key confirmation, and when using the camera to display camera control icons appear. To activate the desired function, simply tap the icon of a finger. Good governance - a stylish, comfortable, modern!
On the touch screen control icons are displayed depending on what application you’re using at the momentOn the side of the display are two software keys, and send call keys, and the completion / rejection. They are on a single block, which makes the front cover is very attractive. This block is like a touch panel, but it did push.At the touch panel is similar, and alphanumeric keypad. Its stylish appearance pleases the eye! This is also a push button, and they are so nice!
The controls on the touch screen, control keys and alphanumeric keypad in a touch panel - it is stylish! Red marked icon quick launch MP3-player, about which you can read belowThe main phone displays 262 thousand colors. Its diagonal size is 5.6 cm, resolution - 240 × 320 pixels, so that you will please your favorite photos and videos, displayed on an excellent display of stylish phone! On the left side of the display is the camera for video calls, which you can see your interlocutor. To make video possible in the networks of third generation cellular communications, we will tell about them later.
Related chamber (surrounded in red) allows your interlocutor to see you during the videoOn the left side is key, which you can increase or decrease the volume, under it - protected from dust plug connector firm USB, with the help of which you can connect your phone to your computer, connect the Stereo wired network or the charger. And data cable and charger, and wired Stereo included. However, to use the wired headset is not necessarily because the phone supports profile Bluetooth (A2DP), and so you can talk and listen to music via wireless Stereo. Wide range of Stereo, you can find in our stores.
Key on the left side allows you to adjust the sound volume does not enter the menu. Next to it is firm USB connectorOn the right side is a two-button, which you can quickly start the camera and to manage its work. For example, if a light clicked on this key focus going on the camera to the subject, with a strong pressing - shooting. For this key is a slot for memory cards format microSD. Can «hot» replacement memory cards without switching off the phone. Memory card is not included in the kit, but in any store company IES sells memory cards in a large assortment.
Button camera control allows you to quickly start the camera, do not enter the menuTurn on your phone and find the camera lens, LED flash and mirror for self-portrait. Close slider, and the lens, flash and mirror tucked behind the rear panel and are protected from damage and dirt. Thus, no caps and plugs.
The rear half slider hides the camera lens, flash and mirror for self-portrait, so no caps and lids do not needMobile phone, and it is intended to go through life with her owner. And tribulations of life, may have to go along too. Therefore, to the appearance of the phone over time, not to spoil scratches and other damage, we recommend using a carrying case or bag. A wide range of covers for the phones and handbags submitted in any our shop!
Lots of style, plus the functionality - and success is assured!
Now let’s see what this is capable of «mod». In addition to a second display, not least the dignity of Samsung SGH-U900 - this camera with a resolution of 5 MP, so the photos size 10×15 cm cm are good quality with excellent detail images!
The quality of pictures that may make this camera phone, very goodThe camera shoots and video in MPEG-4. Quality shot commercials, of course, be higher than when shooting in the format of 3GP, which is «love», many other phones (while watching downloaded videos to your phone in 3 GP format display Samsung SGH-U900, you can still). The maximum length of the video depends on the amount of free space in its own memory (the amount of 100 MB) memory card. To save captured videos and photos - in the phone memory or memory card - you decide. The program «Photo» You can change the brightness, contrast and saturation of colors in the photos, stretch, rotate and crop the image to insert text. Program «Video Editor» allows you to insert text in the video, make transitions between frames (ie they will be accompanied by a change in how some effects, for example, the previous frame will spill into squares) If you have a printer that supports Pict Bridge, you can print by photos, and connect directly to the phone. You can connect them via cable, and USB, and Bluetooth. Built in MP3-player plays music in MP3 and WMA. You can run it without entering the menu, as well as on the touch screen when the phone is in standby mode, highlight the appropriate icon to start the player you want to click on it. You can listen to music while watching pictures (background). The equalizer has nine presets sound: «normal», «pop», «rock», «dancing», «classic», «Jazz», «advanced», «dynamic», «surround». Create their own profile settings, you can not. Integrated FM-radio can receive text messages RDS (weather, currency rates and other useful information). We were pleasantly surprised colossal memory of the radio: it can store 99 radio broadcasting frequencies! And the manufacturer has not indicated on the number of settings that can be stored in the memory of the receiver, and we will find out their number. Apparently, the manufacturer fed believe how many radio stations can be stored in the memory of this phone, so he did not specify this information. We have never come across a device that can store as many settings of radio stations. Needless to say, you can save this configuration to all phone FM-radio stations that broadcast in Moscow! Now these stations just over 30. You can automatically tune into the station. As player, you can listen to the radio in the background. You can set reminders, and at a time when starting your favorite radio will sound an audible alarm of your choice, and the phone displays a message that it’s time to add the radio to a certain frequency. In addition, the radio can be switched on at certain times as an alarm. Built in voice recorder can record voice with a maximum recording time 60 minutes. Audio is recorded in AMR. You can record only your own phone. An important feature of many modern phones Samsung, including model SGH-U900 - they report that they changed the SIM-card, two pre-established number of other cell phones. When you install a different sim-card into the phone to Samsung, these numbers are sent to SMS, which contain the phone number assigned to the this card, the date and time of its installation. So if the phone was stolen, this information (particularly room) would be of invaluable assistance to law enforcement agencies in investigating crimes, the return of the rightful owner of stolen property and punish criminals. If the phone is simply lost or forgotten somewhere, you can call this number and invite him to return for a fee. Disable this function only with a password known only rightful owner of the phone. Phone does not report that he sent an SMS with your new number, so the new owner did not suspects that «smell of fried», and not try to get rid of this phone. So the fan to steal or buy a criminally obtained telephones (for buying and selling stolen goods, too, are being imprisoned) expects a very unpleasant «surprise» as «the sky in the box» and «Friends in polosochku» over the next few years. We hope that the function «Notification of change sim-card», you did not need. But the ability to view Office documents directly on the phone can be useful to many people. So, you can view text documents created using Microsoft Word (format DOC), spreadsheets Microsoft Excel (format XLS), presentations of Microsoft Power Point (format PPT), the scanned documents into a PDF. Built three games: «Racing», «Mini» and puzzles. Thanks to support Java, you can download and play, and that, whether they are for your phone, you can ask the provider that offers downloads of games. Application RSS reader allows you to read the news you are interested in issues that come from the Internet in the RSS, directly on the phone. More for your convenience are: organizer, calculator, with the possibility of calculating trigonometric functions, five alarms, currency converter, and units of measurement, countdown timer, stopwatch.
Sign up to the computer, internet access
So, it’s time to see how the phone behaves when you connect to your computer. That is, we had to change the exclamations of admiration for the breaths of frustration. Not only is the company’s USB connector, so you can only use the cable included with the phone, so even the permanent Windows «sees» only installed in the phone memory card. In order to work with the contents of their memory, we had to install the drivers on your computer and phone, and the program Samsung PC Studio. Yes, for ease of connection to a computer phone Samsung SGH-U900 is definitely not leaders. When you connect your phone to the computer using the USB cable is charging the battery, but if your computer is equipped with a module Bluetooth, a data exchange can do without the cable, but this is little comfort.
Working with the content of its own memory, you can using the Samsung PC StudioHowever, not all so gloomy! Yes, connect your phone to your computer’s inconvenient, but then begins «chocolate». In fact, Samsung SGH-U900 can be used in the networks of third generation mobile communication. If you will be in the area of such a network, you can make already mentioned video and data transmission at speeds of 3.6 Mbit / s technology HSDPA. Note that this is not theoretically attainable, but the real data transfer rate! Such a network already in place in several areas of St. Petersburg in the network operator «MegaFon», so if you can and even more so if you live in this city, you can enjoy high speed Internet access today. Such networks are based in Moscow and major cities, and soon they will start to work. So the Samsung SGH-U900 - is a high-speed wireless modem for your computer! In the meantime, if you’re not on the banks of the Neva, a high-speed Internet access technology will provide EDGE (up to 236 kbit / s), which is implemented in the networks of GSM. If three years ago this technology was seen mainly in the central part of the major cities and supported by a small number of phones, but now it has ceased to be exotic. You can meet and EDGE in a small town, and village, and even in uninhabited areas near the road or railway. Simply list the phones that do not support this technology as «pipe», which support it, such as «pipe» is a lot. Well, if you still ugorazdilo be where there is no EDGE, you will come to the aid of GPRS data transmission at speeds up to 58 kbps. Not very high speed, but as they say, than the rich, and make happy. GPRS is supported, all network standard GSM (except, perhaps, very small networks operating within a region). You can work online and not using the computer. Built in the browser can display directly on the phone and WAP, and ordinary HTML - sites.
Verdict IES
Samsung SGH-U900 has a telephone, which deserves the attention of connoisseurs of fashion and «navorochennoy» electronics enthusiasts and a beautiful life! If you took the photo shoot, then be sure to include resolution of 5 MP, but if you remember the settings stations, he can remember 99 settings, with a phenomenal memory does not even have a «advanced» MP3-Players. Not to mention the admission of RDS and «napominalke» that it is time to listen to your favorite radio … And, of course, to please the eye of its owner’s Samsung SGH-U900 is not only a nice body, but the new style control system.
Samsung SGH U900 Soul: soulful phone
Declared at World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, phone U900 is a new “skates” from Samsung, has recently become the second manufacturer of cellular phones in the world. It is attractive, and in doing so supports all the latest technology, and the price is very nice.
Samsung SGH-U900 Soul | Design and ergonomics
U900 looks very solid, in particular, because of the success of textured steel hull. Flawless finish, the phone should be sufficient for long. The model is not very bulky, U900 is well in hand, and the keyboard does not cause problems, evenif the keys almost flat.
Today, fashion has gone to touch screens, and Samsung introduced an entire line, which should be a new trend. Actually, in the case of U900 is implemented only partially, instead of a traditional cross because the phone uses a small touch screen. We previously tested a similar system of government on the model E950, and there it is not very convinced. Fortunately, our fears are dispelled, the sensitivity of a well-balanced, and each step is confirmed by a small vibration. Interestingly, the touch screen automatically changes the content, depending on the activity: it provides the navigation for MP3-player mode or function of the photo using the camera. Frankly, we were surprised at what Samsung has maintained the traditional keys on both sides of the touch screen?
Samsung SGH-U900 Soul | Display
Indoor screen works flawlessly, it has good detail and color plausible. Unfortunately, the impression of working with him on the street turned out worse. Anti coverage leaves much to be desired, a sunny day is something to see on the screen is problematic.
Samsung SGH-U900 Soul | Equipment
U900 supports the three-band GSM, as well as all the high-speed data transmission standards, whether it is 3G + and EDGE. Unfortunately, Samsung is still adheres to its own standard connector, so you always have to have a handy cable, for example, to connect to a computer. Can be criticized the lack of WiFi, but, given the price of the phone U900, it is not surprising.
Built 128 MB of memory can be expanded using the cards Micro-SD, which can store music, photos and video. Finally, support for Bluetooth 2.0 and A2DP profiles added AVRC, allowing to fully enjoy the wireless headphones. It is important to note that the slot for the standard wired headphones and adapter in the package is not included.
Samsung SGH-U900 Soul | Multimedia
U900 easily handle multimedia tasks. To begin with, the phone is equipped with a five-megapixel camera that gives you the best shots at kamerafonov. Photos obtained detailed, good color rendition, and the suppression of “noise” is also very effective. Incidentally, in this respect, many kamerafony concede ordinary “soap-dish.” If you forget your camera at home, please phone to cope with shooting video, though video quality is not as good as the pictures. Again, this weakness is typical for almost all modern kamerafonov, except KU990 Viewty from LG, which is our benchmark.
The player is quite satisfactory, and to store songs can be used as embedded memory, and flash cards. The player recognizes all popular formats, and if stored music bored, you can listen to FM-radio, and there is even support for RDS. In fact, only the headphone jack of its own standard (as with other phones of this manufacturer) is the criticism, because it prevents the connection of the headphones of your choice. Since the adapter is not included, wireless headphones are Bluetooth.
Samsung SGH-U900 Soul | Time autonomous work
For this type of phone being offline work just perfectly, even the most talkative users will be satisfied. However, during the tests, we do not often enjoy broadband Internet access.
| Samsung SGH-U900 Soul | |
| Network | Tri-band GSM, HSDPA, EDGE, GPRS |
| Dimensions / weight | 105 x 49,5 x 12,9 mm/112 g |
| Screen | 240 x 432 pixels, 16. Millions of colors |
| Resolution Camera | 5 MP |
| Player | MP3, AAC, eAAC +, WMA, FM-tuner |
| Interfaces | Bluetooth 2.0 (A2DP/AVRCP), USB |
| Memory | 128 MB and kartovod “Micro-SD |
| Time autonomous work | 113 hours |
| The average retail price at the time of publication | 13 700 rub. |
Benefits.
- Superb finish;
- Good quality capture photos.
Disadvantages.
- Poor anti-surface;
- Non-standard headphone jack.
Mobile phone SAMSUNG SGH U900 SOUL
Our Opinion : phone really has heart, and in addition, excellent design and sufficient features.
New U-series flagship, the representatives of which (to a greater extent this applies, of course, U600) used a rabid demand and are selling well so far. We again accurate, relatively thin slider (size 105,9 h49, 5h12, 9 mm). A large range of thickness for the Ultra Edition is due to the presence of 5-megapixel camera. Fotomodul, however, is not the best in the company’s current product line - there are more advanced «tsifromylnitsy» Samsung G800/G810 with an optical zoom. However, the decision provides images comparable in quality with the Samsung G600, yes to the same given number of specific functions and software features to improve the quality of photos.
Other features of the model are the case with elements of metal, which gives an even greater image charge this unit, as well as touch panel, which, depending on the current mode displays various icons - for example, when the phone is used as a player, you will see a «key» play / pause, and in standby mode - the icon for quick access to your player, Communications, etc.
Naturally, in the presence of the entire «gentlemanly set» functionality inherent in a modern cell phone. Thus, the model is really attractive - no landmark, not revolutionary, but very interesting for the end-user
Samsung SGH U900 Soul or Mobile Soul
Today we will talk about one of the most notorious contemporary phones - Samsung SGH-U900 Soul. The tube was provided with an already long ago. However, intricacies of mobile fate overshadowed the beginning of her real life for a long time. Before us is not just a phone, as the quintessence of mobile technologies. At least, so the developers had planned, therefore, continuous … Revised slightly delayed the output device on the market. Yet, the pursuit of an ideal, not only takes up a lot of force, but devoid of rational motivation.
Phone got a beautiful name - Soul. All known translations of the word - “soul.” However, there is another explanation for this title. We are an abbreviation of “The Spirit Of Ultra”.Very nice play on words. Samsung Corporation promotes its line of devices Ultra Edition, and models of Soul played the role of leader. Highlight of the phone should be a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus. Electronics camera got fashionable now feature Face Detection, which identifies the presence of the frame of human persons and the camera focuses on them. In addition to it we will Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) - technology that enhances the images in a poor light. So maybe we are just a good camera? On this issue we also have to answer.
Is there a direct competitor of the Samsung SGH-U900 Soul? We are uniquely able to provide an apparatus which will be on the road with “mobile mind” - Sony Ericsson C902.Two of these phone are very similar: they have a similar position; tubes were 5-мегапиксельные cameras, both solutions can work in networks of third generation, and they are almost identical in price direction. The battle between the models will bring to the brand preference. So diverse, but the “cloned” Samsung can play.
If the fate of one of the most anticipated phone remains in the fog, his positioning is fully transparent. The tube is aimed at fans of stylish image of phones with good built-in camera and a mass of possibilities. Этаких harvesters, who can do everything and always. But have to take into account the fact that the phone is one of the most expensive in the line of the company, and therefore a potential user of the tube should be a very wealthy man.
Specifications
|
Samsung SGH-U900 Soul
|
|
| Weight, gram | 93 |
| Dimensions, mm | 105,9 h49, 8h12, 9 |
| Standard connection | GSM 900/1800/1900, UMTS 2100 |
| Battery | Lithium-ion |
| Phonebook | 1000 contacts |
| Sound | Polyphonic 64 voices Melodies: embedded downloaded. Type: mp3 and wma |
| Chamber, MP | 5.0 (technology: Face Detection (recognition of individuals), Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) (better pictures in dark conditions)) |
| Memory | Slot for memory cards format microSD |
| Display | 2,2 “display, made by technology TFT, has a resolution of 240×320 pixels and can display up to 16 million colors |
| Basic functions | Alarm clock, calculator, stopwatch, games, timer, calendar, applications, SMS, MMS, tasks, built MP3-player, radio |
| Communications | GPRS Class 10, WAP 2.0, email client, EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, USB 2.0, HSDPA |
| Price, rub. | 15 000 |
Complete
Of the road waiting for the phone is usually a good set. In the box with the Samsung SGH-U900 Soul developers put: charger, standard battery, wired headset Samsung, USB-datakabel, CD-ROM with various software for the synchronization, user manual, a list of service centers, booklet Samsung FunClub and original warranty card (with card of the buyer). It is a pity that a set of modest and does not contain anything interesting.
Design
On the way the phone is not only a pleasure to watch … So, we have a classic slider, made in the best canon Samsung. The size of the device constituted 105,9 h49, 8h12, 9 mm, with the venerable mass of 93 grams. Promoting the tube, the developer has repeatedly stated that the user has a thin slider. We have not had such an impression. Visually the tube does not refer to the class of “Slim.”
The body of the phone is covered with stylish chrome plates. Detailed examination of the past brought us to the idea that they are made of metal. All other members of the body are made from high quality plastic. Such a phone would be difficult to scratch, the paint was not obotretsya and stylish appearance will continue for a very long time. The manufacturer gave users three colors: black, silver and gold. Of course, the black unit looks preferably. Golden solution is much cheaper than their brothers.
For information on how to wear the phone image, you can not write a single article. We limit ourselves only to the dry commentary Samsung SGH-U900 Soul. The tube is placed without complications in the jacket pocket or a jacket. In the pocket of jeans or a shirt to put it is not very convenient, velikovata it to do so. Most place the phone on the strap through the neck. And gimmick will be able to demonstrate to their friends, and a camera to take any second.
At the front of us encounters a huge screen, which is surrounded by a dark frame. Below are some of the navigational keypad. The entire facade side of the tube withdrawn almost one plane. It looks expensive and luxurious, but not very practical. However, is it possible to speak of a “practicality” in relation to such expensive phone? At the bottom of the front panel is a small borders to cushion thumb. This is a hook for the disclosure of slider. Shear mechanism works just perfectly, and the receiver wants to open and close without stopping.
Getting ahead, let us notice that we are 3G-apparatus. Networks third generation of the user associated with the video. Lens VGA-camera for that hid in the upper left corner of the phone next to the back screen.
The other side of the phone is smooth. However, the boundary between the metal leaves the battery compartment and black plastic main body has a significant crack. To speak of constructive shortcomings language is not rotated, but it looks quite messy. Disclosure slider exposes the camera lens, for a self-portrait mirror and a window flashes. This is the location of these elements contributes to their long-term preservation of quality. Unusually looks quite a large window lens, which indirectly supports the good shots. The withdrawal leaves the battery and access to the SIM-card as simple as possible.
Let us note at end of the apparatus. On the left we found the interface connector, which is suitable not only for charging, but also to connect USB-cable. He covered a dense plug.Above the interface connector sits kachelka volume and lower eyelet for the strap. The upper and lower ends apparatus is free from structural stress. Right, you can see the button quickly activate the built-in camera and slot for memory cards. All the side buttons are stiff, the middle course, and almost indistinguishable clicks. Managed not as simple as we would like.
We purposely meticulously approached to consider the design of a cell phone image Samsung SGH-U900 Soul. However, if we had the unit, which is destined to become a leader, another approach is simply impossible. Still, Samsung SGH-U900 Soul has made us more positive impression than aroused criticism. First of all, you see a really expensive machine. Such a device - a luxury. Fashionable phone will remain for no more than 3-5 months, so wrest pockets until the last coin in such a device is clearly not worth it. Buying the unit will be both men and women. Talking about the cover for this model - blasphemy.
Samsung sgh u900 Technical specifications
Samsung SGH-U900 Features And Specifications:
| GENERAL | |
| Weight (ounces) | 3.95 ounces |
| Weight (in grams) | 112g |
| Dimensions (mm) | 105.9 x 49.5 x 12.9mm |
| Form Factor | slider |
| Frequency Band(s) | 900,1800,1900 |
| SAR Rating (Ear) | .7 W/Kg |
| NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES | |
| Voice Technology | GSM |
| Downloadable Applications Format | J2ME MIDP 2.0 |
| Sound Quality | FR, NB |
| PHONE FUNCTIONS | |
| MEMORY | |
| Phone Book Entries | 1000 |
| Internal Memory | 100Mo |
| Memory Expansion Format | MicroSD |
| DISPLAY | |
| Color Display | (Color mode: 16,000,000) |
| Main Display Technology | TFT |
| Display Resolution | 320 x 240 |
| PERSONALIZATION | |
| Polyphonic Ringtones | yes |
| COMMUNICATIONS | |
| Bluetooth | yes |
| Bluetooth Profiles supported | BPP, GAP, HSP, printing |
| Wap | WAP 2.0 |
| Data Formats | 3G, EDGE, GPRS |
| ENTERTAINMENT | |
| File Formats | doc, WMV, AAC+, H.263, H.264, 3GP, MIDI, MP3, mpeg4, WMA |
| PHOTO & VIDEO | |
| Camera (and resolution) | 5-megapixel |
| Camera Options | 4x zoom, Multi Shot, MBsaic Shot, Single Shot, Panorama Shot |
| Camera flash | Xenon |
| Optical Camera Zoom | yes |
| Video Recorder | yes |
| Video Formats | 3GPP, MPEG4, AAC, H.263, WMV, H.264 |
| MUSIC | |
| Music | AAC+, XMF, WMA, SMAF, MP3 |
| MESSAGING | |
| Predictive text input | yes |
| SMS | yes |
| MMS | yes |
| EMS | yes |
| TOOLS | |
| BATTERY PERFORMANCE | |
| Talk Time | 240 minutes |
| OTHER… | |
| Languages Supported | Spanish, French, German, English, Portuguese, Italian |
Samsung sgh u900 Review #2
Samsung has introduced yet another gorgeous phone to add to their U lineup. The Samsung SGH-U900 is a gorgeous slider phone with 5 mega pixel camera and some unique features. Read on to find out more about the Samsung Soul.
Design
As the last member of Samsung’s Ultra lineup of handsets, the SGH-U900 Soul has a fairly thin profile of only 13.5mm (.5″). The truth is that the rest of the phone is equally compact, considering all the technology it possesses. At 107mm x 49.5mm (4.2″ x 1.9″) in size when closed, the Soul fits comfortably in the hand as it does the back pocket of a pair of jeans. Of course you wouldn’t want to put just any phone in your back pocket - not, at least, if you didn’t want to break it. For its part, the Soul feels extremely solidly built thanks to a fair amount of metal in its construction. Solidness comes at the expense of some weight, though. 113g (4.0oz) is far from heavy, but there are many other devices on the market today that are far lighter. But that is OK because few of them can offer what the Soul can.
When closed, the front of the U900 is dominated by its dual displays. The main QVGA resolution TFT screen is incredibly sharp and colorful, looking for all the world like a 2.2″ diagonal sheet of paper at times. It might be only passable in harsh, overhead sunlight, but it excels in just about any other situation. The OLED touchscreen that sits below the main display is one of the Soul’s most interesting components. It offers amazing contrast and acceptable haptic vibration feedback that actually makes it a fine alternative to a hardware d-pad. In certain parts of the phone, such as camera application, it morphs to show icons for controls like macro mode and flash, which makes it even better than a d-pad.
Surrounding that touchpad controller are a set of fairly conventional softkeys and call control keys. While the buttons are all part of one solid piece of metal, they each offer great tactile feedback to users. The call keys and the softkeys all share the same white color scheme and backlighting. It would have messed with the Soul’s style a bit, but perhaps red and green colors should have been used for the two call keys.
The keypad is revealed when the moderately sprung slider mechanism is opened up. The keypad is made of the same bronze-gray colored metal as the exterior of the phone, and the color coordination adds much to the Soul’s overall good looks. The keyboard’s keys have a fair number of raised finger guide ridges surrounding them, and they offer the perfect amount of click when pressed. The white backlighting on the keypad comes through superbly and has enough contrast to be easily read in both bright and dark environments. The top row of keys on the keypad include, from left to right, a video calling button, a clear key for editing, and a shortcut menu key.
Controls for the camera and volume are set on the side edges of the Soul, directly across from each other. While the position of the camera shutter button is fine, the volume keys would be better located closer to the top of the phone. This isn’t really possible, though, since that is where the battery is located. Covered power/headset/USB (charger, headset, and cable included in the box) and microSD memory card ports sit below the volume and camera buttons, respectively. The main 5 megapixel, auto-focus camera, which is located behind the display on the top of the phone, can only be used when the slider is opened up. When closed, the camera lens, flash, and mirror are completely protected by the rear metal panel that covers the battery. There is a front facing camera located above the SGH-U900’s main display that can be used for video calls, where available.
I spent a fair amount of time with prototypes of the Soul when the product was first announced earlier this year, but I am surprised by how much better the device seems now versus then. It is a beautiful looking device that is solidly built, has great ergonomics, and possesses some real nice high-tech bits in its clean looking design. 5 stars all the way.
Display
Samsung U900 Soul is equipped with a 2.2″ 16M color TFT LCD display that supports QVGA resolution. It is one of the first Samsung handsets with a more than 262K-color screen. Not that it’s that important, as the difference between 262K-color and 16M-color displays is barely visible on most cases. You either need a really trained eye or a special picture to notice anything.
The display itself has remarkable image quality and brightness, but is quite disappointing in terms of legibility under direct sunlight. As a matter of fact, this is the case with almost all recent Samsung handsets. We can’t help wishing Samsung did something about that. It’s a real pity that almost perfect indoors, the screen becomes useless outside.
Keypad
The keypad of Samsung U900 Soul was one of the most pleasant surprises to us. If you have been keeping track of our recent reviews you will know that dead flat keypads are not really our cup of tea. Therefore we didn’t really expect wonders of this one. That’s until we started using it.
The keypad uses really large keys and small metallic borders between rows to ensure great touch orientation. Also, mixing up two neighboring keys is pretty much out of the question with the U900 Soul. The space between keys cannot be pressed and this way borders exist without damaging the design of the keypad.
We are also generally very pleased with the touch pad and the controls surrounding it. The sensitivity of the touch pad can be set to one of the three available levels. When the sensitivity is to its minimum the touch pad needs as heavy press, almost like a normal key. This can be useful for people who cannot get used to the combination of touch sensitive and regular keys. As for us - we always used the phone with the touch sensitivity to the maximum as it provides best touch experience.
Another feature of the touch pad that we particularly enjoyed is the fact that you can configure the haptic feedback. You can once again go for one of the three levels of intensity and you can even switch it off if you prefer to do so. The backlighting is really nice. It is strong and even and makes using the phone in dark environments a piece of cake. All this said, we can safely conclude that the keypad of Samsung U900 is really great and texters will truly enjoy the phone.
User Interface
The UI makes use of subtle, but very effective animations on the main menu, which slides in from the right side of the screen. Nothing too fancy goes on, but the subtle size changes the icons go through when they are selected works well. The added icon labels are also a nice touch. For those that prefer more traditional menus, the main menu can be configured in a traditional list mode, which better matches the other menus in the phone.
The Soul’s UI uses a number of different input types. The two most common are radio buttons and left/right select boxes. When there are only two options available, the option that is not currently active will be selected by default so that a quick tap on the OK button on the touchpad is all that is needed to activate it. When there are more than two options, the currently active option is highlighted. In the left right select boxes, moving left or right on the touchpad (which will then show left and right arrow heads) lets you change an option. Pressing the center button on the touchpad saves the currently configured settings page instead of bringing up a list of the available options that we would have rather seen. Though in its defense, the Soul’s touchpad shows the center button as a 3.5″ floppy disk icon, the universal symbol for save.
This is a fine example of the Soul’s touchpad at its best. The way it morphs constantly to the task at hand is fantastic. No guessing is required. Even better is how it is used in the camera, where the settings shortcuts show right on the touchpad itself when they are available for use. It makes the entire photography process much simpler for novices and experts alike. It simply makes sense.
We are also quite impressed with the Soul’s support of themes, especially user created themes. Many Samsung feature phones have rather weak theme support, but the Soul has a theme editor that is beyond pretty much anything else we have seen. While not all of the functionality of the pre-set themes can be duplicated, users can select from multiple menu icons sets, change font colors and styles, edit background images to use new colors, and more. It is very impressive.
The only real downside we see to the Soul’s user interface has more to do with hardware than software. While we truly love the new touchpad, with its constantly morphing OLED display, we find that there is a bit of a mental disconnect when we move back and forth between the hardware softkeys, that move and click, and the touchpad, which doesn’t move and causes non-localized haptic vibration on the phone. It isn’t a major problem, but we do believe that it slows us down a bit at times. Overall, though, Samsung has done a fantastic job with the user interface on the U900 Soul.
Image editing
If you wish you can also edit your pictures using the integrated Image Editor - it’s one of the most capable image editing applications for mobile phones. It allows you to apply a whole bunch of effects and adjustments. Transformations and crops, as well as insertion of various items, are also available. All in all, the Samsung U900 Soul offers you virtually all of the most popular editing capabilities you could possibly use on a cell phone. We still doubt it anyone takes image editing on their mobiles seriously.
Music player
Armed with generous internal memory of 128MB and a microSD card slot, the Samsung U900 Soul has every premise to act as a portable music player. It is therefore important that the music player application be up to the task. Not that it’s that hard of a task but still sometimes it’s the small things that mess up the big picture. Luckily this is not the case with the U900 Soul.
The Music player application allows filtering tracks by author, album, genre and composers. You can also choose to play either the tracks you’ve recently listened to, or the ones that you’ve played the most. If that doesn’t seem enough, you can create your own custom playlists. The music player can naturally be minimized to play in the background. The player in Samsung U900 Soul has undergone some changes when compared to, say, Samsung U600 but the functionality isn’t greatly altered. It has no equalizer presets, but sound effects instead. The difference is that the sound effects also include wide and surround options in addition to the seven available presets. There are also three types of visualization and you can enable fading out on stop if you like.
Video player
The video player is one of the phone features to reap the benefits of the touchpad. It gives you all the controls eliminating irksome labels over your video. Controlling the video player with the touchpad covers all essential features, including fast forwarding and rewinding, and these are easily accessed without going through menus. In addition, you can enjoy the videos fullscreen.
The camcorder works in MPEG-4 format, so there is no doubt the player supports it. That makes converting your favorite clips and movies to watch on your Samsung U900 Souls a piece of cake. Plus, the great picture quality of the display lets videos be enjoyed in their full shine.
Camera
Samsung U900 Soul is equipped with a 5 megapixel camera with a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1920 pixels. As it turned out, photography is really one of Soul’s strengths. The camera interface very much resembles that of Samsung G800. It is a bit more user-friendly thanks to the four shortcuts on the touch pad but still not really our favorite. However, the available settings are quite a lot so we are willing to forgive the somewhat complicated menu.
Some of the more important settings are picture size, shooting mode (single shot, multi-shot, mosaic, and frame), effects (black and white, sepia, negative etc.), white balance and face detection. The face detection feature itself works pretty well and is even capable of recognizing several faces simultaneously. The additional camera settings include wide dynamic range, anti-shake, picture quality and ISO settings. Exposure metering is also configurable and the auto focus can be switched off if necessary.
The picture quality of Samsung U900 Soul is what impressed us here. We especially appreciated the image processing, which balanced in-camera sharpening, noise levels and scene detail with remarkable results you would hardly see in any other cameraphone. The only noticeable problem we see with the camera is the occasional red tint, which we are used to see in Sony Ericsson and LG cameraphones.
The activation of the wide dynamic range option doesn’t help with the highlights, but brings in quite a lot of detail in the shadow areas at the cost of somewhat increased noise. Check out some samples showing what exactly this widely advertised feature does. Our guess is that you can do the same in Photoshop CS with the Shadow/Highlight function, but anyway it’s a good feature to have in your phone. We are just not sure that the regular user will know when to switch it on. Having it switched on permanently is not an option since it doesn’t bring any good to images in low contrast photo situations - besides it keeps turning off every time you switch the camera off.
Finally, impressed as we were with the U900 camera, we held it against the Nokia N95 8GB in an impromptu shootout. The latter has the best camera we’ve got to test so far, so there we were - curious if Soul would manage to outperform it. The results showed that Samsung U900 Soul’s camera was really up to the task, producing better pictures than the N95 8GB on most occasions. Samsung U900 showed lower noise levels, more precise exposure metering and better in-camera processing. Nokia N95 8GB strikes back with more reliable color balance and better edge-to-edge sharpness (thanks to its bigger lens). Considering that it wasn’t a full-scale shoot-out, we didn’t cover all the possible parameters but only the most popular. Announcing a clear winner wouldn’t be fair to either contender but we can only say that we did liked the Samsung U900 results better even though it is still in beta.
As far as video recoding is concerned, Samsung U900 Soul didn’t really manage to impress us. The highest resolution available is QVGA and this is no longer considered a great achievement. The videos might turn out usable on some rare occasions anyway. We can’t help our disappointment as VGA recording would have been the icing on the cake for the U900 Soul’s camera.
Conclusion
The SGH-U900 Soul is a fantastic all-around multimedia cellphone. The camera takes photos that are far better than even Samsung’s own photo-focused G800 can muster, and the music player and most of the other major functions work equally well. Except for the email client, that is. When you add to that a very slick and customizable user interface, and the new morphing touchpad controller, you have yourself a capable device. Package that into a slick little metal body, and well, you have yourself a winner.
And that, quite simply, is what the Soul is: a winner. We’re not quite half way through 2008 yet, but it looks like we might have found a contender for the best non-smartphone of the year. The Soul is really that good. As such, we give it a “Highly Recommended” rating. You’ll find additional screen shots and sample photos shot with the Samsung SGH-U900 Soul’s camera on the following pages.
Samsung sgh u900 Review #1
 Samsung SGH-U900 Soul |
 Samsung SGH-U900 Soul |
 Samsung SGH-U900 Soul |
 Samsung SGH-U900 Soul |
Samsung’s new SGH-U900 Soul gets its name from Samsung calling the device the “Soul Of ULtra”, a fitting name for what the company says is the last handset in its original Ultra line of thin profile feature phones. The Soul has a lot of high-tech goodies packed into its metal shell, including a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and a new OLED backed morphing touchpad controller where the d-pad would normally be. So what’s the catch, you ask? Well, the Soul lacks 3G support for North America, and doesn’t even work on the 850MHz GSM/EDGE frequency band that is so common on this side of the Atlantic. But while this beauty of a phone might best suit the European market, it still is worth taking an in-depth look at.
As the last member of Samsung’s Ultra lineup of handsets, the SGH-U900 Soul has a fairly thin profile of only 13.5mm (.5″). The truth is that the rest of the phone is equally compact, considering all the technology it possesses. At 107mm x 49.5mm (4.2″ x 1.9″) in size when closed, the Soul fits comfortably in the hand as it does the back pocket of a pair of jeans. Of course you wouldn’t want to put just any phone in your back pocket - not, at least, if you didn’t want to break it. For its part, the Soul feels extremely solidly built thanks to a fair amount of metal in its construction. Solidness comes at the expense of some weight, though. 113g (4.0oz) is far from heavy, but there are many other devices on the market today that are far lighter. But that is OK because few of them can offer what the Soul can.
When closed, the front of the U900 is dominated by its dual displays. The main QVGA resolution TFT screen is incredibly sharp and colorful, looking for all the world like a 2.2″ diagonal sheet of paper at times. It might be only passable in harsh, overhead sunlight, but it excels in just about any other situation. The OLED touchscreen that sits below the main display is one of the Soul’s most interesting components. It offers amazing contrast and acceptable haptic vibration feedback that actually makes it a fine alternative to a hardware d-pad. In certain parts of the phone, such as camera application, it morphs to show icons for controls like macro mode and flash, which makes it even better than a d-pad.
Surrounding that touchpad controller are a set of fairly conventional softkeys and call control keys. While the buttons are all part of one solid piece of metal, they each offer great tactile feedback to users. The call keys and the softkeys all share the same white color scheme and backlighting. It would have messed with the Soul’s style a bit, but perhaps red and green colors should have been used for the two call keys.
The keypad is revealed when the moderately sprung slider mechanism is opened up. The keypad is made of the same bronze-gray colored metal as the exterior of the phone, and the color coordination adds much to the Soul’s overall good looks. The keyboard’s keys have a fair number of raised finger guide ridges surrounding them, and they offer the perfect amount of click when pressed. The white backlighting on the keypad comes through superbly and has enough contrast to be easily read in both bright and dark environments. The top row of keys on the keypad include, from left to right, a video calling button, a clear key for editing, and a shortcut menu key.
Controls for the camera and volume are set on the side edges of the Soul, directly across from each other. While the position of the camera shutter button is fine, the volume keys would be better located closer to the top of the phone. This isn’t really possible, though, since that is where the battery is located. Covered power/headset/USB (charger, headset, and cable included in the box) and microSD memory card ports sit below the volume and camera buttons, respectively. The main 5 megapixel, auto-focus camera, which is located behind the display on the top of the phone, can only be used when the slider is opened up. When closed, the camera lens, flash, and mirror are completely protected by the rear metal panel that covers the battery. There is a front facing camera located above the SGH-U900’s main display that can be used for video calls, where available.
I spent a fair amount of time with prototypes of the Soul when the product was first announced earlier this year, but I am surprised by how much better the device seems now versus then. It is a beautiful looking device that is solidly built, has great ergonomics, and possesses some real nice high-tech bits in its clean looking design. 5 stars all the way.