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Loading ...Vincent Nguyen got his grubby little hands on another phone the rest of us will just have to dream about, Samsung F700 or the Vodafone Croix. We’ve written about this phone several times before eventually getting some hands on time at CeBIT a few months ago, but Vincent actually got one in for review.
The phone he has has GSM and HSDPA connections, since Vodafone hasn’t yet made it stateside, Cingular has made a decent substitute. The HSDPA works at speeds up to 7.2Mbps and the GSM can connect on frequencies of 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz, and the phone can also connect to EDGE networks.
The phone measures 4.1×2x.6 inches in size and weighs a mere 3.2 ounces. The screen is 2.78 inches diagonally and has a resolution of 240×440 which isn’t bad, but isn’t quite the 3.5” display of the iPhone either.
As you can see there is a full QWERTY keyboard that slides out making typing fairly easy. And yes, it does have a touch screen, but not just a normal touchscreen, this touch-screen gives haptic feedback when you touch it. There is a 3MP cam on the back with what looks like a flash.
It will accept microSD cards in capacities of up to 4GB for storage of music, videos, or pictures. If you choose music, there is Bluetooth available and the A2DP profile is available for wireless streaming of your tunes should you choose to load them on there.
Sadly, Vincent wasn’t impressed, sure the specs look and sound great, but the menus kind of suck and have a rather steep learning curve, the haptics aren’t really there as it shakes the whole phone, not just where you touched, the keyboard has no tactile feedback, and the browser is garbage compared to just about any other smartphone browser out there. Really the only good things Vincent had to say about the device is that the battery life was pretty good and that the call quality was pretty good. Hopefully by the time the US version hits Verizon they have some or all of these issues fixed.
Samsung F700v / Vodafone Croix Review [via PhoneMag]
This is cingular’s phone? When did they add this phone? I haven’t seen it before, it reminds me alot of the iPhone.
Perfect phone, plagued by Samsung software.
Had it been released from Nokia or HTC, it would have been the phone of the year.
its not a cingular phone, its a Vodafone phone, but Vincent lives in the US where there is no Vodafone coverage, so since the phone works on GSM and HSDPA networks, and Cingular has both GSM and HSDPA networks, Vincent just stuck his Cingular SIM card in there and starting using it.
That looks amazing. I’d love to get my hands on something like that in the US.
that looks like a wannabe voyager! when the hell is samsung going to quit copying LG?
Technically, this phone was in the making before the iPhone, it was reviewed by Wired Magazine in the Dec.2007 issue, and it received the highest rating of six touch screen phones. iPhone: the original iClone of the Samsung Croix. I find it hilarious how Verizon carries two phones exactly alike except for the slapped-on touch screen on the Voyager (LG?! WHYYYYYYYYY?! *dies of shame*) ;)
A few bugs…
The java based music player keeps the display lit and runs the batter down in 2-3 hours
When the screen is lit so are the keys EVEN if the keyboard is closed - My FRIDGE has a switch to turn off the lights when the door is shut
The java based music player doesnt do background mode so you can forget about taking or making phone calls while you are listing to your downloaded tracks
The scrolling is ill thought, the slower you swipe your finger down the faster the scrolling, different apps ( ie music player ) scroll up or down when you stroke your finger downwards on the display
As stated a neat device spoilt by poorly tested software ( that admitedly looks cool )
Dave -
You can actually listen to the music player whilst doing other things…Click on the options when ur listening to a song…scroll down and find the settings page, scroll to the bottom of that and it asks if you want to have background mode on or off.
Only problem im having at the mo is getting videos to play full size…Does anyone have any ideas?
Its a POS the battery life is appauling, I can drain it in 2 hrs just sending texts let alone playing music or using 3g unless you turn on silent mode everytime you press a key on the keyboard it plays a sound either a beep or a typewriter sound that gets onyour any anyone within 10 yrds nerves withing 3 words being typed (this cant that I can see be turned off). Its not a patch on my old o2 xda orbit in anyway shape or form, was rushed out by vodafone to rival the iphone and is nowhere near only comparason is it looks similar and is as effective as a paper weight.