Samsung D900 (a.k.a. 12.9) Review

[Amnesia]

Many apologies for the delay in this review. I have had it for a week now and have been busy sorting some odd jobs now I'm back from vacation.

I'm recentely reviews the X820, an amazingly thin phone as many would agree. However, I'm the person who wants to take nice snaps now and then. I tend to always need to take a picture when I don't have my T7 Cybershot with me, even though that cam is equally as slim.

So you want to have the ability to take photos, plug it into a tv, have a fast UI and not sacrafice bulkiness I hear you say? Good thing Samsung have graciously given us the D900.

The Ultra range's boxes are all the same. Slim and nano like. The front of the box lifts up to 'reaffirm' that "yes you've just gone and bought a super slim phone".

Alright, lets open the box. Slipping the package out, we see that the contents are nicely packed in. You are greeted with the traditional configuration of plastic in plastic in plastic. No problem, I don't care about the plastic, give me the phone!

Holding it in your hands compared to the X820 isn't fair. It's double the thickness. Nevertheless, seeing it laying flat on the table is amazing as it's super slim. Add to the fact that it feels oh so rubbery (like the D600) and you've got a phone you just want to rub while it's in your pocket. Be carefull though!! You don't want people getting the wrong idea.

So who is this phone for? It's pretty much for anybody to be honest. Someone who wants to turn a few heads (before it's well known). It takes great snaps with it's 3MP camera, has an amazing crisp and smooth screen (QVGA), and a some features which you can't help but smile at.

The design is slim, as you should already know by now, it's a bit wide, but that's only because of the 'Razr effect'. You want something slim? It's got to be a bit wide. It's a mesh of rubber and gloss. The gloss does look nice, however as we all know, it's a finger print magnet. I wouldn't touch the phone with oily fingers either since you'll stain the rubber.

The screen is very very nice. The images are vibrant and very smooth. The brightness is also very good and reading messages in direct sunlight is good.

The new UI system is also something I like alot. The icons look nice and everything is organized. You no longer have the option of four color 'skins', you now have a dark theme and a light theme. It seems as if you may be able to install OTHER themes onto it. It comes with a theme called 'theme'. This makes the main wallpaper change depending on the time of day AND by country. Yes you heard me correctly. When I was in Qatar, it was a picture of a Sand Dune with a clear blue sky in the morning (how stereotypical, ah well), on my flight to the UK, it changed to a picture of Big Ben with birds flying in the sky. I was quite impressed to see that. When there is NO signal detected, the wallpaper changes to a green hill with blue sky. Additionally, when dialing a number, the background turns into a 'polaroid' and the numbers appear to be written underneath it with a pen. Very nice. I'd like to see some of the other themes though.

The 3 MP camera has a fast refresh rate and is indeed a marvel, this is only the case with alot of light. In low light areas, there is a lag. Yes there is a video option built in. The compression ratio is also improved compared to older models. You have the usual special effects and frames to mess with. Pictures do look very nice on the phone. I've yet to transfer any, I hope to add some soon though. You can change shutter sound, zoom sound, frames, effects, size, etc... The usual.

The speaker is very loud although, and this is a big although, some people do not like to REMOVE the plastic off the screen. If you do NOT remove the plastic off the screen, you'll end up blocking the speaker and the sound will not be clear at all. This means the speaker is also the ear peice, so sadly you'll either have to remove the plastic or cut it and place it back.

One of my favourite functions of the phone is that you can lock the menu. You can either lock it so that if someone tried to access the whole menu they need to enter a code, or you can lock the messages area only (or the files specifically). I love such a function! I don't know why other phones don't have this feature. It's now common with the new Samsungs.

It also has features such as Sonic Wellness (which plays a song and clip on your phone) which is supposed to make you feel better and relax you. It has a built in answering machine, for those who don't want to use their voicemail. Hmm oh, you'll notice, if you buy the phone, that the screen turns off and doesn't display a clock. They've done this to save battery. Holding the volume battery, you'll get the date, clock, missed calls and signal level. Nice little summary.

Yes there is loud speaker.

Yes you can choose vibrate and ring and the same time.

Yes you can select custom ringtones.

No you cannot select custom text message tones.

I also have quite a few greyed out menus which is strange.

TIP:

There IS a full screen view. Samsung just doesn't mention it on the phone.

Pressing 1 changes the phone to full screen view :)

Now I've covered the basics and given you all the story, I'll mention a few of the specs.

Specs:

80 MB internal memory, micro SD support.

Quadband

Features: mp3 player, bluetooth, PC Sync, Sound recording.

3MP Camera

Screen: 262K internal screen (QVGA)

System: Generic Samsung

Sound: one speaker.

Main feature: slim.

Battery Life Talk: 6.50 hours (390 minutes)

Standby: 260 hours (10.8 days)

Alright, what's in the box? You get the charger, cable to plug the phone into the tv, headphones, battery cover, battery, and syncing cd. Sadly, no micro card comes with it. I purchased one for around 20 pounds for a 1gb. I thought I'd need some more room.

When you first switch it on, you see a smooth animation and the phone automatically searched for the appropriate settings, if not available, it'll set the default.

It appears that this phone comes in grey and black. This is the black version which I have.

As mentioned, the keypad is great. It's nice to press, has a glossy surrounding and is easy to get used to the keypad layout. All is well.

When I slid the phone up, I noticed that sometimes it does not 'lock' into place. It may be the phone that I have, but when it doesn't lock up, it wiggles. Pressing firmly when sliding up solves this.

Sound Quality on the phone is great. No thinness of bass, no tinny sound, no problems that I could notice.

Video:

Video was actually pretty good. It was smooth and didn't show much pixelation. Good thing it has a high frame rate. 29fps I think.

Organizer.

Calendar, tasks, notes, secret memo, alarms, timer, stopwatch, record sound, calculator and world times, and a few games. Oh and don't forget the menu lock.

Phonebook

The phone book is nice and simple. A few taps and you're away.

Settings

Also known as the Control Panel. Anything is accessible. From brightness of the screen to sound quality.

You are able to change skins, wallpapers, ring tones, and even the sound the phone makes when you dial a number, switch the phone on, or cycle through menus.

Pros

Amazingly thin..

Fast bluetooth.

Great screen.

Very fast menu system. (VERY VERY VERY fast)

3MP

Cons

No radio (not really needed but would have been nice)

Slide doesn't lock all the time (might be just my phone)

My verdict? It's battery holds on long enough for me, it looks nice, has a great screen. What else could you want. Get this now or wait for the 3G version in december.

the best place to get a great deal is Fluid Mobile :)

http://www.fluidmobile.com

or Compare a Deal

http://www.widgx.net

Here's a bunch of pics.

Edited August 21, 2006 by Amnesia

[stezo2k]

Looks like a great phone :) nice review

[Shetland]

I sex u lolzolzozlzol nice review.

[sn00pie]

Great review!

Amnesia, do you buy these phones or try them out or something? You go through more phones than I do shoes. :D

[dailyplanet]

Nice review! I have one question: how wide is it? I saw some promo shots and it seems to be as wide as the RAZR (across).

[Amnesia]

@game, I run an online mobile store, so I get 'special' prices.

Plus my honest "down-to-earth" reviews help to promote the great deals on offer.

I'm also hard to please. I keep hoping I'll find that mobile that'll satisfy me.

Oh how I wish the P990 was super slim had a 4mp camera, and removeable keyboard.

@daily, it's not as wide as a razer, it's slightly slimer, but very close.

to everyone, there IS a full screen view. Samsung just doesn't mention it on the phone.

Pressing 1 changes the phone to full screen view :)

[deepfriedmario]

Nice review, I got the D500 and love it, the D900 looks like a huge improvement over it. But what exactly do you mean by a full screen view?

[lil_psc]

omg? samsung has a new user interface(navigation system)???

how does it compare to nokia s60? (more pic of this in review plz)

no matter how sleek or thin samsung phones are if nagivation is **** then thats a big NO from me

[hobier]

awesome review...i myself located in khobar....maybe i'll drop down your shop sometime......besides is there any chance you could post a video of the menu/navigation of D900...i currently own sonyericsson w800i and it has a really awesome navigation n all round animations.

[Echilon]

I really like the look of this phone, but the price tag is a bit offputting :/

[j4020]

Wow. Nice phone. Thanks for the review.

[DreadBoat89]

my friend has that phone... so cool

[crazzyyfool]

Ooohhh! Nice phone. Is it 3G compatible by any chance.

[Digitalx]

very sexy, loving samsungs 3G phones they are putting out i have to get one eventually :yes:

[Amnesia]

@deepfriedmario, I meant fullscreen video playback.

@bebe, yes it has a new UI. VERY drastic improvement.

You can see how I demonstrate a couple of options on this video

www.lol-rofl.com/content/phoned900.mp4

@hobier, I run an online store for UK contracts (two) but I'm opening two tech stores soon. One in Bahrain and one in Qatar (Doha).

@echilon, they go for around 260 in the UK on ebay, they cost 190 pounds in the Middle East.

@thefunkymunky, no, it does not support 3G, Samsung are releasing a 3G version which is exactly the same but with an added cam in December. It will only be .6mm thicker.

[Noveed]

its not very loud either, i played around with it for a while, my E900 sounds a lot louder, i think this only has 5 vol levels whereas the E900 has 7.

[Echilon]

@echilon, they go for around 260 in the UK on ebay, they cost 190 pounds in the Middle East.

Do you know anywhere online that sells them for that price? The flight to the middle east could be a bit expensive :p

[Amnesia]

@Noveed, mine is extremely loud (you can even go into the service menu and make it 2 times louder), are you sure you didn't have the plastic on the screen when trying it out? The plastic blocks the speaker.

You can get them on ebay for around 240 sim free (asian spec, which is better because has more options than the European and American versions. Yes oddly the Euro version is limited :s)

You can also get it from http://www.widgx.net (compares ALL networks deals) or http://www.fluidmobile.com

In some cases, it works out much cheaper to get a contract. I just take out a contract, throw away the chip (well put it away) and in three months, pay off the rest of the remaining time.

You wont find it for 190 yet. I mean, in the Middle East, (specifically Qatar and Emirates, Qatar being the cheapest), the phones are way cheap when they first come out. Thats mainly because they don't have the amazing deals other countries have like "Free line rental and free phone".

[Noveed]

positive, it is a friends D900 anyway, ill have anoter play around with it, how many vol levels does yours have, plus what is the service menu keypress?

[saxondale.]

Is there just 1 D900, or is there a super slim version? since im looking to upgrade my contract, any reason to pick the E900 over this? apart from the camera quality...

[Digitalx]

so i suppose that why the chocolate is better because its 3G over this ?

is fludmobile one of your sites ?

[Noveed]

huh? chocolate is not 3G where does it say that?

[Amnesia]

The chocolate is not 3g.

The D900 has only one version. That is the super slim slider. The E900 is the touch phone which is like the chocolate.

In December there will be a 3G version of the D900, which will be .6mm thicker.

The secret menu code is

*#8999*8378#

I have 5 levels of volumes, but you can set each 'level' to mean something different.

e.g. level 1 means level 1, level 2 means level 5, level 5 means level 9

[Noveed]

oooh nice thx man, ill try it out on ma mates D900.

[Wannes]

WOW :o