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Samsung U900

By Joseph Hanlon on 22 July 2008

We wish it looked cooler, but then we often wish that of many in Samsung's range. Looks aside, the U900 won't disappoint people looking for a great phone matched with a good camera. HSDPA data speeds are excellent, especially for streaming media like Foxtel TV.

Editor's rating:7.6 User rating:7.7

Comments (32)

  • emily gave 6/10 on 13/07/2009 23:30

    • Good: very pretty, touch screen is quite cool, very good camera, decent battery life, slides up smoothly
    • Bad: lags, T9 dictionary learns strange words and makes them the default, web browser is terrible, fragile, too easy to press wrong keys

    This phone was frustrating. A couple of months in it started displaying all incoming calls as "unknown". Despite tinkering with all possible settings, I never managed to fix the problem.
    It lags something shocking, and if you hit the touch screen more than once it still registers and takes you to the screen after.
    Better have quick reflexes if you accidentally hit "OK" to send a message, and it's very easy to do that with the touch screen.
    The dictionary learns random words and then makes them the default, for example trying to write "be" comes up as "a3" and "you" was "968" for some reason. Eventually I broke the damn thing - the screen is quite fragile so don't go running into sharp corners with it in your pocket as I did.

  • sam gave a review on 12/06/2009 16:02

    • Good: fast working, doesnt lag much until later
    • Bad: as time passed, i filled its memory and by doing so, slowed it down heaps...

    i encountered a massive flaw when one day i woke up and the screen was black. it kept switching back on but screen just stopped working whenever it felt like it... until it got to he point where it didnt work at all and i ended up using the phone without using a screen and memorising the buttons... not being able to text either... i got so angry i ran it over with my work van and claimed on insurance to get a new phone.

  • Dorian gave 10/10 on 28/02/2009 21:06

    Oh, my bad, forgot to mention the battery life with this phone.
    Battery life is truly excellent, not sure about other's standards, but with moderate usage, it can last about 5 days, with intense usage (2 hours MP3, 1 hour camera and constant texting) it still managed 3 full days.
    I don't know why people believe a battery should last 1 month before it can be considered 'good' (little exaggerated) but honestly, it's not hard getting the charger out once a week and letting it charge.
    Anyway, Samsung SOUL, flawless

  • Dorian gave 9/10 on 28/02/2009 20:55

    • Good: - 5MP camera- Above-average images for a phone
      - Metallic design- Thin and light-weight
      - Excellent keypad and backlighting
      - Touchpad is icing on cake
      - 128MB internal memory, plus slot which can hold up to 8GB
      - Superb audio quality
      - Customisation is gargantuan!
      - Slider itself slides firmly and smoothly into place.
      - Straying or accidental unlocking with this phone is IMPOSSIBLE!
      - Default themes are very cool
      - FM Radio with RDS
      - Very simple and intuitive interface
    • Bad: - Sunlight legibility with this phone is frustratingly poor
      - Pre-installed games are boring (DOWNLOADING IS NEEDED)
      - No 3.5mm headphone jack which is a downer, but supplied earphones sound good too.
      - No standby screen to show clock for example, but not really a bother, just being picky.

    Hi all, as you may notice, I have commented before. It has now been 5 months since I got the SOUL and it is still going strong. It is an amazing handset, with first impressions still strong. People still glance at the phone and tell me, it's a very good-looking phone and envy me for having such a sexy phone.

    Design aside, it's a great performer with calls, text and other functionality. It's very very easy to use, and still after 5 months, no lag whatsoever. It's camera is still top-notch. Even though there are phones now that are pushing 8MP, this is still an excellent camera for a mobile. Besides, for exceptional quality pictures, I use a seperate digital camera (NOTE: CAMERA PHONES WILL NEVER OUTRANK DIGITAL CAMERAS, NO MATTER WHAT THEIR MEGAPIXEL)

    Now, there are some things ONLY the Samsung SOUL has to offer and no other phone has it or doesn't live up to it. These are;
    - Touchpad- Other LG phones for example, do have something similar, yet it is nowhere near as intuitive or user-friendly.
    - Fully customisable- Edit pictures with the ample features, or create an entirely unique theme, using the integrated Theme editor, which is definitely the top in its range.
    - Keypad Keypad backlighting- No other phone has managed to create such a good-looking keypad, yet still managed big-sized keys, borders between keys plus excellent response. It also has the most even and brightests keypad backlight I have ever seen (Nokia phones have always failed in this department, with their backlighting uneven, too low or both)
    - It is a known fact that the Samsung SOUL's camera is still the ONLY camera phone with face detection that is able to detect multiple faces, not just one, and it evident when using the camera.

    Of course, no mobile is perfect, so it also has its minor faults.
    - I too was concerned with the quiet sound the phone produced, yet since figuring out the way to fix it, it's now loud enough.
    - The fact that there were only 3 pre-installed game which were all trial and unexciting. Yet after watching a Youtube video on how to install games onto it, I now have 25 games on this phone, including Tetris, SPace Invaders and Mario to name a few.
    - Due to the metallic battery cover, I noticed it started to get scratched, however, they're only visible on a certain angle.
    - Sunlight legibility with this phone I must admit, is a shame, and your hand or something must shade the screen on order to see it outside on a sunny day, yet inside it's bright as, so it's quite ironic I guess...

    Well, this has been indeed an extremely lengthy review and I wouldn't be surprised if hardly anyone even read the whole thing, yet I would just like to conclude by saying, this mobile is still one of a kind in many ways and impresses on a whole, not just on one or a couple of functions. Hopefully, this helps those who are considering this phone, and my recommendation...well, it is quite obvious! :P

  • afk gave 9/10 on 11/02/2009 22:15

    • Good: adding to previous review:
      . headphone adaptor works a treat - connected my top notch headphones, great sound
      . Phone has good reception, and turn up the ringer and phone call volume and it is plenty loud enough.
      . Very easy phone to use - very user friendly. Had it 3 weeks now getting better by the day
    • Bad: . Volume on Music player could be a bit more for me but still 99%
      . Still miss user customisable equalizer but not a deal breaker

    MARKED AS SPAM BY AKISMET

    I have already rated this phone below - not sure if we are to use this as a forum but a couple of answers to the questions (encourage to just explore - its pretty intuitive)
    1. the space when texting is at the botton right under the speaker icon - when texting, multiple clicks on 7 changes the text mode
    2. you can change the text tones and the keypad tone - go settings/phone profiles/normal/click on options/scroll and click edit/scroll the screen across with the right arrow to key pad settings/ scroll down and change the tone type/scroll further and turn volume off - alternatively when in idle mode with the slider open click the volume buttons down and the key pad will turn off (simple way)
    3. My sms messages save in sent mail automatically. Texting has its quirks but I am over it - it works fine for me.
    4. The camera works reasonably good indoors and I find it very good outdoors, almost as good as a camera - son has a nokia N95, camera just as good as Nokia. Shutter lag etc. not as good as a digital camera but more than adequate for a phone.

  • Mathias Brix gave 7/10 on 04/02/2009 07:57

    Hello, im thinking of buying one of these, and already have an Samsung (f200). So im wondering if the SMS service has improved, and the phone saves your Outgoing SMS automatic?.
    Also, is the Camera in good condition, so it can be used as an average digital camera?

  • Nettie gave 9/10 on 02/02/2009 20:42

    • Good: I love all the features of this phone.
    • Bad: totally useless user's guide

    I wanted this phone when I was in the market for a new one but was unable to get it at the time so I got a Nokia 6500 slide (useless phone, by the way!). Now have the U900 and love it! It has all that I am asking for in a phone! I don't need to browse or play games (as others have complained that it is lacking in), so it is perfect for me.
    But, can anyone tell me if the text message tone is able to be customized or even changed? The user's guide is absolutely useless, so I'm unable to figure it out. Also need to know how to turn off keypad tones as they are sort of driving me nuts! If anyone could help, I would appreciate it...

  • thom gave 6/10 on 29/01/2009 17:44

    on the keypad what number is the space??

  • Afk gave 9/10 on 22/01/2009 22:43

    • Good: . smart and modern looking phone
      . slider works great - well balanced
      . good reception
      . well constructed
      . very easy to master in no time
      . lots of user friendly adjustments and customisations
      . Easy to hook up to media player 11
      . can be used as mass usb as well
      . up to 8gb micro sdhc - plenty of music and photos etc.
      . pretty much lag free and very responsive
    • Bad: . front screen will attract fingerprints (minor)
      . no custom equaliser (relatively minor)
      . no 3.5mm stereo headphone plug (have found an adapter on e-bay)

    I read lots of reviews before buying this phone. Those of us that don't have sony ericsson or nokia have probably adapted more easily. Went from Motorola to this - easy conversion- I have read all the stuff about speaker volume not good enough (its not hard to learn how to change it); ring tone not loud enough (set the profile to normal / melody then set ringer volume to 7 and its heaps loud enough); lots of complaints about not being able to turn off the camera shutter - haven't found a way to do that yet but have got it pretty quiet - it is not a deal breaker anyway. The touch panel is brilliant and very very easy to master - change the sensitivity and it works fine - love the way you can change the colours and effects - it is an extremely intuitive touch pad and extremely useful. Construction of the phone is very good, well balanced and smart looking. Haven't used all the features yet but working on it - all in all a very easy phone to use (you don't need the manual, just use your intuition) and the key pad for numerics, texting and all the commonly used functions work a treat. The mp3 player is excellent and has more than enough grunt to be effective (would like to have a custom equaliser other than the presets,but still works fine) - Love this phone!

  • Lance gave 9/10 on 22/01/2009 20:56

    I can,t find a video editor on my u900. is my phone missing some software? if so how do I down load it?

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