Samsung SCH-u750 [Black]

[stadsport]

I recently picked one of these babies up, and 30 minutes after I got it, my brother's girlfriend dropped it in the pool. Luckily I had insurance, so I got my replacement yesterday. I had gotten to play with the semi-broken one over last week but I held off on the review for a fully functional model.

So here it is.

The u740 looks like a standard flip phone from the outside. It's not bad looking by any means; it looks clean and professional, and includes a 1.3 MP camera with autofocus, a very bright LED flash, stamp-sized LCD, touch sensitive music controls, and of course the rainbow-reflective "SAMSUNG" logo. The phone is a little thicker than the RAZR, which is pretty good.

The outside screen seems like it's of very poor quality; it ghosts more than the Grudge. But it gets the job done, and the default clock is classy as ****.

When opened, the phone has a large, bright LCD display with a somewhat disappointing resolution at 220x184. At first I was turned off by the lower resolution (a step down from my QVGA Chocolate) but I've found that Verizon's software doesn't take advantage of higher resolution anyways, and resorts to cropping and upscaling, which makes things look worse. Indeed, the screen resolution isn't that bad at all.

You're also greeted with a very confusing looking keypad, that basically looks like a sideways keyboard. Number keys are grayed to make them easily distinguishable from the rest of the keypad, and there's your standard 5-way navkey, two softkeys, and End/Send keys at the top.

Close the phone and open it sideways, and the keyboard looks much more natural. The gray number keys are now standard letter keys, and the left softkey is joined by a lower-left softkey, which, in landscape mode, becomes the right softkey. The speaker also displays its stereo speakers in landscape mode.

The default interface is a flash-based one called "My Desk" that features a virtual image of a desk, showing a little black book for contacts, a phone for Recent Calls, a toolbox for (you guessed it) Settings, a large TV for Get It Now, and a mailbox for messages. Who keeps a toolbox and mailbox on their desk, I don't know, but that's besides the point. There's an alternate flash interface called "Amoeba" and the standard, hideous Verizon themes.

Of course the primary interest of this phone is obviously for text messaging, with its QWERTY keyboard. The software is standard Verizon software, which is on all of their phones, so entering text messages is the same basic process as all of those. The keyboard is by no means as fast as a full-sized keyboard, but after getting used to the cramped keys, it's a joy to type on. On each letter key is an "alternate" key, a symbol or number, that can be entered in landscape mode by either holding down the key (for longer than I'd like) or by enabling the Numlock. There's also a shift key which cycles through abc, Abc, and ABC. Of course, the 5-way navkey also changes orientation to make sense in landscape mode. Instant messaging is also the norm with verizon, with the shoddy mobile messenger app that eats up your text messages at any chance it gets, even things like refreshing the buddy list apparently. Aside from this, the Mobile IM app kind of bugs me in that the input method is slightly different from the rest of the phone (for example, no holding down keys, you have to use Numlock, and Shift acts like Capslock). Also, AIM creates a "Mobile Device" group that you must manually add your Buddies to with a PC, else most of them won't show up online. On the plus side, Mobile IM is pretty well integrated and will stay active with the phone closed and alert you on new IMs. The phone also offers a lot of voice recognition. You can call people, check mail, all the standards using only your voice. But there's also a really cool voice dictation software that lets you speak and have the phone transcribe it into a text message. It's really cool, but prefer doing things the old fashioned way.

Web browsing on the phone is about the same as other Verizon phones. It's only available in Landscape mode, which is fine by me as it makes web browsing MUCH less painless. But the Openwave "Mobile Web" browser is pretty bad, and has some annoyingly stupid bugs. For example, sometimes if I use the web browser, then quit, the next time I go to use it, it displays the home page before even connecting, then finishes loading when connected, but ignores all input and is unusable, the phone has to be rebooted. Also, it will gladly display images within web pages, but refuses to view them alone (ie direct links to images). It doesn't support frames, and the phone's small RAM means you won't get to see a lot of images.

But, in comparison to other verizon phones, Landscape mode and a real keyboard makes Mobile Web slightly less painful.

Music on the phone is as basic as can be. They didn't give it a dedicated music player like the Chocolate, just Vcast/Get It Now. You can play your own MP3s, but it feels like you're being punished for not buying them from Verizon. You don't even get to load your own album art, you only get album art with downloaded tracks. It pauses the song when you open the options menu, and settings like shuffle are reset every time you open the media player. The exterior music controls do their job well, and can be locked and unlocked with a "HOLD" key on the left side.

Luckily, video isn't quite so bad. Of course it uses the same video player as other vzw phones, but it allows fullscreen playback without letterboxing, something a lot of their phones don't do. Playback is quick, and the stereo speakers, while lacking any bass response, are loud and rarely crackle.

I'm very mixed on the camera. It offers a myriad of controls and options, to list a few: various color effects, white balance, ISO/exposure adjustments, timers, multiple consecutive shots, and an automatic LED flash that's surprisingly bright and useful. On the other hand, pictures often come out very blurry, even if you're holding it still and somewhat far away. Kind of disappointing, considering the phone is advertised with autofocus. I'd hate to see it without autofocus. The phone takes pictures up to 1.3mp (1280x960) but has settings for other, lower resolutions which offer digital zooming. There's even a "Picture ID" setting that takes pictures sized for photo ID. Its camcorder mode keeps much of the camera features, like an automatic flash, but records at a much lower resolution (176x144). The quality isn't bad at all, just a little small.

[Example shot]

Overall, I love the phone. Like most others, it feels crippled by Verizon's shoddy software (no bluetooth file transfer, no A2DP despite Samsung supporting it for this phone, etc), but the form factor simply can't be beat. It's slim and attractive like a normal phone, but also practical and useful with its QWERTY keyboard and landscape display. It gets the best of both worlds in this respect. The battery life is satisfying, getting almost four hours of talk time and millions of years on standby. The phone, even the hinge, feels pretty sturdy and while there's always room for improvement, I'm very happy with this phone.

The SCH-u740 retails for $299, or $179 with a contract ($129 with a contract when purchased online), and is available in black (shown) or a "Champaign" color with a gold exterior and carbon-fibre style trim around the exterior screen.

[TheElite]

Nice phone, although I may have gone for the champagne coloured one.

[Nicholas-c Veteran]

nice phone + review :)

[LunarFalcon]

nice, detailed review for a good-looking phone. Too bad about Verizon's software though. I agree with your points there

[Rappy Veteran]

I like the fact it opens up 2 ways allowing you to type easier...that would be easier then the keyboard on my phone....nice review as well :)

[Brian M. Veteran]

Nice review, but that phone just isnt for me... especially that keyboard o.O

[PL_ Veteran]

Nice. Never even heard of this phone until today.

Looks a bit too complex IMO :/

[Cosmin]

Very interesting features . Thanks

[Wannes]

Is it possible that this phone has several names because I can't seem to find it in Belgium. What's the price though?

J.

[stadsport]

Is it possible that this phone has several names because I can't seem to find it in Belgium. What's the price though?

J.

It's exclusive to Verizon Wireless, which I don't think is anywhere but the United States. It goes for $299 USD, and its only name is the SCH-u740.

[Groovedude]

It's exclusive to Verizon Wireless, which I don't think is anywhere but the United States. It goes for $299 USD, and its only name is the SCH-u740.

im pretty sure tmobile offered me this one when i took out a new contract :)...

[Matrix XII]

I wish Canada could get this phone, it looks awesome!

[EduardValencia]

Not my style