Photo gallery: Dualsim SliderDesign
Phones branded with a company name other than the big players tend to fall into a series of predictable pitfalls, especially in regards to build quality. Dualsim's Slider dodges this criticism with a solidly built handset reminiscent of Samsung's mid-range offerings, like the G600. The handset is constructed from moulded, glossy piano-black plastic, and while it's not the kind of phone you want to drop too often, it does feel sturdy in our hands.
Mostly the Slider features standard phone components: a colour display, a numeric keypad and a camera mounted on the back of the phone. But you'd be excused for ignoring these elements when first picking up the Dualsim Slider, because its touch-sensitive navigation panel is quite eye-catching. Located below the screen, the Slider's menu is controlled by a context shifting navigation panel sitting within a recessed circle. Sadly, this panel doesn't work as good as it looks, the touch area is tremendously unresponsive and we found pressing our fingers against the metal recess to be uncomfortable. After using the Slider for a few hours we were already wishing it had a standard five-way nav key.
If the name of this phone hasn't informed you by now, the Dualsim slider is a phone that makes use of two SIM cards simultaneously. To make using this feature even easier, the Slider has two mechanical call keys on its faceplate, allowing you to dial a number with the keypad then choose which SIM card to send the call from. This is also indicated on the screen by displaying the name of the two carrier networks the phone is connected to at the time.
Features
The dual-SIM card feature is a nifty trick, and for some people — namely those with business and personal phone numbers — the feature will have a very practical purpose too. We think the dual-SIM functionality is implemented well with this phone, it's certainly a simple task to use either of the simultaneously active SIMs, but sadly this is all the Dualsim Slider has going for it.
The phone is equipped with two GSM network compatible radios, but doesn't support 3G networks or data. On top of this, the Dualsim doesn't feature Wi-Fi, so you can all but forget about using it for the mobile web. It does have a web browser built-in, and it supports Java apps, so you could download Opera Mini if you liked, but it's way too slow for our purposes.
The Slider supports a shortlist of media file playback, including MP3 audio and MP4 video files, but its lack of a 3.5mm headphone socket means you're left with the truly awful bundled headphones for listening to your music. It does come with a microSD card slot though, so if you choose to use it for media you can at least buy a decent-sized card and store quite a few tracks and video clips.
On the sunny side, the Dualsim does feature a decent enough 2-megapixel camera. We're not suggesting this shooter is on par with the cameras found in Nokia or Sony Ericsson phones, but for a camera phone without a flash or auto-focus, we were pleasantly surprised with the light and colour in the pics we took.
Performance
As a basic mobile phone, the Dualsim Slider does a good job of making and taking calls, but SMS messaging is an entirely different story. Not that we're suggesting that it can't send messages, but this has to be the first phone we've seen in years without predictive text. We were stunned when we flicked through the manual only to find references to multi-tap input (where you press the number keys numerous times to select the letter you're looking for). After our dislike for the unresponsive touch panel, the lack of predictive text made this a phone we couldn't wait to be rid of.
But we had one nasty surprise left, a paltry day and a half battery cycle. Ordinarily, GSM-only phones last between four to six days between charges, mostly because they don't have power hungry 3G radios to chew through the juice. While we understand the Dualsim is maintaining two network signals simultaneously and that this must have an effect on the battery life, a day and a half is unacceptable. If two SIMs need more battery then this phone should have a larger battery capacity than the 850mAh pack it comes with.
Overall
Two SIM cards is a great idea and the implementation of this in the Dualsim Slider is great, however, this is tainted by poor design and the exclusion of some basic phone features, like predictive text. If you need a phone with two-SIM functionality, we suggest waiting for one of Samsung's dual-SIM offerings which should be available in Australia sometime in the first half of 2009.
The Dualsim Slider is available through selected retailers and through the Dualsim website for RRP AU$399.
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