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User Reviews & Recommendations

Crap dont bother (Hamish, Australia)

User Rating:

This phone is terrible. Constantly cuts out the signal so I cannot receive anything, despite having full signal. Also went through a period of constant turning itself off. Silver paint has completely peeled off. Takes so long to boot up. Terrible battery life and all of this in only 3 months! And I am stuck on a 24month contract! STAY AWAY FROM THIS PHONE

Pretty damn good (Lauren, Oz)

User Rating:

Got my one last week after reading all the reviews thouroughly and very pleased with it. I was worried about all the reviews saying too sensitve etc. but it is fine and i got use to it very quickly. After you get use to the new way of getting around the phone it is easy and as great features. The camera is good, music is good and it looks damn good! If you are thinking of getting this phone buy it, it wont let you down...if you can use mobile phones that is. If you don't use your mobile that much and arn't a mobile person then maybe this phone isn't for you...otherwise its top notch!

Clear the air (Luke, UK)

User Rating:

After trawling through the reviews on this site & owning this phone for nearly three months, I thought I'd clear up a few common misconceptions people seem to have about it. I've previously owned & used a wide range of phones from really basic Nokia 3210's right up to PDA Smartphone's such as the Qtek 2020i & Glofiish X500, so I feel able to judge this phone in a reasonably experienced manner.

Design & function.
Having owned a Nokia 8810 many years ago I thought I'd try out Samsung's modern day equivalent must have fashion accessory. I expected the build quality to be at least on par with what is now 7 to 8 year old mobile technology, but sadly this doesn't seem to be the case. My U700 has so far led a much pampered life, kept in its own separate protective soft pouch, but somehow the chrome plating has still started to wear from the top corners of the phone. Samsung really do seem to have taken cost cutting to a whole new level as the chrome plate is quite possibly the thinnest I've ever seen. Not good at all from a longevity point of view. The phone's slide mechanism has started to show signs of wear & rattles when you hold one of its halves & shake it, & I am not a particularly heavy phone user either. This yet again brings its long term reliability into question.

Battery.
Battery life is such a grey area to review, as everyone uses their phones differently. However, I've had days where the phone has been pretty much unused & sat in standby a lot only being used for the occasional quick call or text, & on these occasions the phone has lasted for nearly three whole days before needing a recharge. In contrast, on the days when it's had a heavier usage this falls to just over a day. Not unexpected for a phone so thin, as this seems to be the restricting factor when it comes to endurance tests. If you use it a lot then you'll have to charge it a lot, simple as that.

Connectivity.
This is probably where the rumours about the volume control started. If your going to use this phone as a music playing device then you'll need to buy an aftermarket headset, be it stereo Bluetooth or hardwired you will need one with an external volume control, as the headset supplied from the factory has an L shaped plug that covers up the phones volume control when plugged in, making it impossible to adjust in use. What were you thinking here Samsung?

The touch keys.
Most reviews seem to hate this feature, but it's really just a matter of understanding how to use them. They DO NOT operate during a call unless you deactivate the key lock. Why you would need to do this is beyond me, as you simply slide the phone open or slide it closed to answer or hang up the call. All buttons except the volume control are locked out during a call unless you tell it otherwise. When scrolling through the menu's the touch keys take quite a bit of getting used to, but doesn't any new feature on a new phone when you first get it? Personally I have more problems using the numeric keypad to send a text than I do with the touch keys. The scroll wheel is a bit of a useless feature, as unless you have very small fingers then 9 times out of 10 you invariably hit one of the touch keys whilst trying to scroll the wheel. Probably another cause for the touch keys are useless rumours. You don't have to use the scroll wheel, just use it as a 4 way directional key as fitted to other phones.

Firmware & general usage.
When I got my phone it came with the Vodafone branded firmware. After using the phone with this for a couple of days I decided it had to go, as there were so many niggling restrictive bugs in it. So after a bit of research through a certain popular search engine I found out how to re flash the phones firmware myself. I am not going to tell you how as I don't want to be responsible for any inexperienced users making their phones into expensive paperweights. However, it IS easy to do in your own home, costs nothing & makes a world of difference to the phones functionality.

The thing that annoys me most about Samsungs firmware is the fact you can only use midi files as text message alerts. You can use MP3's as ringtones but not as text alerts. Maybe there's been a firmware revision to include this since I re flashed it, I don't know.

Text messaging.
There seems to be a lot of people complaining about how hard it is to send a text, & this is simply untrue. Here is how I do it, & if this is hard or longwinded then you must be pretty lazy! I've set up a shortcut on the left hand arrow key (scroll wheel) to put me straight into the create message screen. So that's ONE key press before you actually start typing the text. Enter the main body of the text, whatever it may be, then press the down arrow ONCE to highlight the recipient name box. Press the centre of the scroll wheel to bring up the submenu. Now, at the top of this menu should be the names of the last three contacts you sent a message to. If you want use one of those then just highlight that name, OK it, then hit the centre button again & select option 4 to send (you can press button 4 on the keypad if your really lazy). If you have more than 3 regular recipients you can set up a total of 10 common recipients if you wish (option 6 in the submenu), or alternatively you can choose from your phonebook list (option 4). In reality this is no harder than ANY other phone I've used, & I don't see what people's problems are with this at all. Replying to a saved message is even easier, so I don't understand at all.

Camera.
I only have one real issue with the camera. It's a half decent phone camera, & as long as you don't expect studio quality shots from it then you'll get along fine. After all, this is a mobile phone not a dedicated camera. BUT, the phones LED flash ONLY operates when you press the shutter key to actually take the photo, it doesn't work in preview mode, something EVERY other phone I've had does. A bit of a letdown if you ask me. The autofocus works fine, if you know how to use it. The shutter key is a two stage key & you half press it & wait for the square in the centre of the viewfinder to turn green before you're fully press it. Just the same as most Sony Ericsson's I've had.

All in all it has its flaws, but build quality issues & Vodafone branding aside I feel most of the problems are from users expecting too much from it, or from expecting it to function in exactly the same way as their previous phone. A full screen preview of pictures would be a useful addition when browsing from the file manager, but hey at the end of the day this is intended as a fashionable phone with a few decent features NOT a multifunctional all singing all dancing media device, & that's where I feel people are going wrong.

No good, no how (Dilek GRant, RIngwood)

User Rating:

Such a useless phone. I got it just for the look of it. Keeps texting people when it's in my bag, goes on the Internet. Too many steps for texting. When slides up you can't dial numbers so don't phone your bank from this phone. If you unlock the keypad while talking, touching your face dials numbers or goes to different places on the phone. Most annoying phone ever.

Please also see my message to Vodafone below.
The phone I have with Vodafone contract is Samsung U700. This telephone is absolutely useless. Especially due to touch key pad. Causing me a lot of hassle. Thinking about it brings tears to my eyes & I am not exaggerating at all. I have just spoken to your Customer Services & been told that there is no way I could get rid it off until the end of my contract. Because of this I have decided to cancel my contract with you. I have asked for the procedure to be emailed to me. As soon as I find another phone I will go ahead with it. I am writing this message to you as I feel that I have been let down & I want you to know this. I can't believe how you could offer a rubbish phone like this to customers. When I got this phone from you, other networks didn't have it. Now I understand why. I will never ever get a Vodafone because of this terrible experience & let everybody know about this.
If you don't reply to my message or send me one of those automated generic messages, I will not worry as I will believe you are confirming that I am right.
Regards.

my new phone is.... (Lucas, South Africa)

User Rating:

Got mine last week. Should've made this move earlier. Pity there is no radio available on it. The phone is supposed to lock its touch sensitive-screen the second you dial to prevent accidental touches on the buttons as well as when the phone is closed. So if yours isn't, take it back. Luckily in SA we don't have that apparently ugly Vodafone lines or whatever on the screen.

What I also miss is a proper pouch for it. It looks like that is not available yet.

The phone is also R30.00 cheaper on contract from Vodacom than from MTN. I doubt if is available on Cell-C contract.

It will take some time to get use to, but it is all worth it.