If you are a big fan of the latest mobile phones, you may have noticed how Samsung has got a thing for making their models super thin. But they do it so effortlessly well. It’s hard to imagine how Samsung packs in so much good stuff into a very slim profile of a handset. Here’s another sexy addition to the flock, the Samsung U600, which debuted in spring 2007.

The U600 is a slider phone that has dimensions of 49 x 103 x 11 millimeters, and has a mass of 81 grams. The body comes in silver blue finish. The QVGA screen is nothing but small, at 34 x 45 millimeters. It has 240 x 320 pixels resolution and can display over 262,000 colors. The LCD is flanked by touch-sensitive soft keys, send and end keys, and a four-way toggle button in the center. The unit slides up to reveal a flat numeric keypad.

The 3.2 mega pixel digital camera with 4x digital zoom is hidden so it is well-protected when not in use. To access the camera, you need to slide up the phone. There is an auto-focus feature plus an LED flash. The camera is capable of video recording as well. The U600 has a name card recognition feature which takes a photo of a calling card and saves the contact information into the phonebook.

The U600 has Bluetooth and USB connectivity. The unit has an internal memory of 60MB, which can be extended with a micro SD card up to 2GB, sold separately. Mobile businessmen and women can take advantage of the PC sync feature of the U600. Also, you can connect your laptop or desktop PC to the internet using your phone. Other useful tools are calendar, currency converter, alarm clock, voice recording, voice memo, and reminders. The U600 comes with vibrate alert and an assortment of polyphonic ring tones.

There are several messaging options provided by the U600, like SMS, MMS, and email. When selecting a receiver for a text message, a list of recent names will pop out for you. Plus, the U600 has a Smart Search feature, which lets you find specific files or folders that you saved on your U600.

This phone can play music in mp3, AAC, and WMA formats. You can pair up the U600 with Bluetooth headsets or ordinary stereo headsets to enjoy your play lists or the built-in FM radio. The U600 also supports Java games and applications. Call quality is great on the U600. In the box with the mobile phone are the instruction manual, USB cable, charger, stereo headset, and CD-ROM.

Although this phone is slim, Samsung did sacrifice some important things, like distinction between buttons on the number keypad. The LED flash on the camera adds a sort of blue tinge to the photos. Audio playback on the loud speakers could also use a little volume. But overall, the slim Samsung U600 performs well and is at par with its contemporaries. The phone is now available in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

The HTC S740 is a standard smart-phone, come set with a standard numeric keypad and full QWERTY keyboard. This way your normal-looking phones transforms into a messaging device. The specifications has improved from the S730 it has become much faster with more RAM and a better camera.

WHATS IN THE BOX:

• HTC S740.
• Pouch.
• Headphones.
• Charger.
• Data cables.

DESIGN:

The HTC S740 has a flat front with a diamond-like rear. Unfortunately, its shinny and smooth surface are prone to be smeared with fingerprints. The S740 is much longer than your Touch HD, once the phone is close it looks pretty much ordinary, yet its dimensions can be rather interesting. This phone is obviously not the smallest HTC QWERTY smart-phone; however it’s not that thick with a width of 16.3mm, making the phone simple to fit in any pocket. It weighs 4.94 oz that is 140 grams.

S740 has a display of 2.4-inches with QVGA resolution, the colors are brilliant and saturated in addition the colors stay the same even in the sunlight. At the bottom you will find your round D-pad, this blinks in a white color when you have new messages or a missed call. The end and send key are positioned around it, they are tiny but protruding just enough making it easy pressing them. Your functional keys, back and home are there as well.

As mentioned this phone is relatively long, but its screen is not large. This way the numeric keypad makes the most of it resulting in big, handy keys. With all this said its main feature is not its numeric keypad but the QWERTY keyboard. When you slide the phone open, its screen turns into landscape view. On you left is a volume rocker, on your right you find its camera shutter at the top you find a power button. The last button was almost unnoticed through touch; however we did not have any problems pressing it.

Your microSD and SIM are located behind your back panel same to most phones, but underneath your numeric keypad. To get to it you would have to open its slider and after that the tiny cover at the bottom part. While doing this your phone will automatically turn off.

SOFTWARE:

The S740 naturally runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard. The only customization it has is the home screen.  By default, it has the same home screen as HTC Home; you are able to change to WM standard if that’s what you wish. HTC Home features in a vertical file of icons, when you open the slider the screen will change to landscape view from portrait. The difference from the S730 is that you have the menu; this allows you quick access to e-mail, Windows Live Messenger and messages.

This is a 3G phone has Wi-Fi, you will enjoy high-speed internet. Regrettably, your default browser is Internet Explorer, you will experience difficulties while loading complex pages such as phone-Arena.com, and we recommend you choose an alternative like Opera Mobile.

Although the HTC S740 is designed especially for texting, but its multimedia capabilities are also great, its video recordings play excellent. Videos clips play in high quality at a resolution of 640×272 pixels, the music player has an average sound through the headphones and when the volume is turned up the sound becomes very sharp. Its loudspeaker is not very good.

CAMERA:

It comes with a 3.2-megapixel camera this has improved from its previous models. Also has all the basic functions such as brightness and whit balance, Outdoor pictures are not very satisfying. Unfortunately the camera doesn’t come with a flash, making the indoor picture not that good quality. The HTC S740 also is able to do video recording at a resolution of 352x288pixels.

The new HTC S740 also features a GPS system this will assist you when you have lost your way. Unfortunately, you don’t have a preinstalled application for running it.

PERFORMANCE:

It was a pleasure using the HTC S740 the performance was good without any lag while navigating through all the menus or while running different applications. Additionally when the slider is opened its display changes the orientation pretty fast. This improvement is greatly welcomed since it took 3-4 seconds by previous models. The sound was not very impressive with loads of noises, the loudspeaker was unclear and crackling, but the sound was loud from both sides.

CONCLUSION;

In all the HTC S740 is an excellent smart-phone which boasts a number of features and has a handy QWERTY keyboard as a bonus. But on the downside it is a tad bulky, with a weight of 4.94 oz or 140 grams which is not easily ignored. If you looking for a smart phone that’s not touch screen then you defiantly will not be disappointed with the HTC S740.

PROS:

• Has a great display.
• Modern and interesting design.
• A very handy QWERTY keyboard.

CONS:

• Pictures are disappointing lacks in flash.
• Calls are not clear with all the noises and crackling during a call.
• The phone is noticeably bulky and is also heavy.
• The loudspeaker disappointedly is useless.

The iPhone was made available in the United States in June 29, 2007. AT&T Mobility, formerly Cingular Wireless, was the service provider lucky enough to win the rights to distributing the unit with their subscription plan. The iPhone comes in two models, the 4GB unit costs $499 and the 8GB unit costs $599. During the launching weekend of the iPhone, Apple reported a total of 270,000 phones sold within 30 hours.

The hype associated with the iPhone can be explained by the unique features of the model. It measures 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46 inches and weighs 4.8 ounces, nearly the same as that of its cousin, the video iPod. The iPhone has an astounding 3.5 inch LCD multi-touch screen with 480 x 320 pixels resolution. Graphics are beyond stunning and impressive. The signature menus from Apple are simple to use and operate. Tapping on the screen with one’s fingertips make the iPhone a joy to navigate with. Plus, the iPhone has a virtual numeric keypad and QWERTY keypad. Text input is made simpler with the installed predictive text entry software.

The winning card of the iPhone lies on its multimedia capability. It is perhaps the best of the best in audio and video playing capability in all mobile phones sold by far. It supports lots of music formats like mp3, AAC, protected AAC, mp3 VBR, WAV, and others. For video, it supports mp4, MOV, and MPEG4, among others. Images can be viewed in portrait mode or on widescreen, and quality is nearly perfect. The integrated speakers give excellent audio output, or you can opt to listen on the included headset.

Apple’s iPhone has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and EDGE connectivity. You can send SMS and email, as the iPhone has included menus for Yahoo! Gmail, AOL, and Mac. You can also browse web pages and navigate with ease on the touch screen, as said earlier. Although the unit has a 2.0 megapixel camera, you can’t send MMS messages with this one. The EDGE packet data system is quite slow for those people expecting a bit more from the iPhone. It still lacks the 3G everybody is looking for. To download songs, you have to sync up your iPhone with your PC using the USB dock included.

Included in the package of the iPhone with the unit is a stereo headset, dock with USB cable, USP power adapter, user manual, and cleaning cloth. The iPhone is initially available in the US only, but in late 2007, it will be sold in Europe. By 2008, the iPhone is expected to be available in South America and other regions.