Samsung SCH-U740 Review

Slim is in, and the U740 is much sleeker and lighter than the enV. There is almost an inch difference in the size (3.84”H x 2.04”W x 0.58”D) and 1oz difference in weight (3.6oz), making it fit better in the hand and not as noticeable while in your pocket. Unlike the silver plastic on the enV, the U740’s exterior is champagne (gold) color and is more slippery feeling. For those not into the champagne color, look for the all-black U740 soon to be released. What makes the U740 so unique is that it’s a dual-hinge flip phone. It can be opened like a standard flip phone for normal calling, or opened clamshell (sideways) for use of the QWERTY keypad. When opening it either way, the hinge feels very sturdy and seems like it will hold up over time.




Located on the front of the phone is the 1.3MP camera with flash, and the 65K color 96x96 pixel STN display, that is just large enough for showing the date & time, message alerts, status icons, and also MP3 song information. Below it are the touch-sensitive MP3 playback buttons, which allows you to Play/Pause, Rewind, and Fast-Forward. On the left side is a Hold button that will lock/unlock the phone, Volume Up/Down buttons, and combination Charger/Data/Headset port. The right side has the dedicated Speakerphone button and MicroSD card slot.


Opening up the phone will show the 262K color 176x220 pixel TFT display. We were disappointed that Samsung chose not to use a higher quality QVGA display on the U740. When comparing the internal display of the U740 to the enV, the U740’s display was not as sharp, with images and text having jagged edges. We also noticed that images were more washed-out looking, despite adjusting the Brightness setting in the U740’s software.

On both sides of the display are Stereo Speakers that are use for playing ringtones, MP3 music, and speakerphone use. When the phone is closed, ringtone and MP3 playback can sound muffled. Because of this, we recommend having the phone opened while playing MP3 files. The overall sound from the speakers were loud, but had noticeable distortion when playing at medium to high volume levels. This was also noticeable when having the volume turned up while using the Speakerphone. We found that the enV did a better overall job with ringtone, MP3, and Speakerphone sound quality.



At the top of the keypad is the 5-way navigational control that accesses various functions of the phones menu. The menu is divided into five sections (Get it Now, Messaging, Contacts, Recent Calls, and Settings & Tools). One thing that we did not like about the menus is that some selections are only available when the phone is opened clamshell. For example, when selecting My Music, you are given a message saying “Feature Available in Rotated Mode”. You must then flip the phone closed, open it sideways, and then access that menu again.


The numeric/QWERTY keypad on the U740 is a mixed blessing due to the small size of the buttons. While dialing phone numbers, we often would accidentally press a wrong button and would need to delete it. For QWERTY text messaging we encountered the same problem, the buttons are too small for normal sized thumb use. Also, when looking at the keypad, it is very eye-straining since there are letters and numbers facing different directions. Between the small buttons and cluttered appearance, we were quite dissatisfied with the overall functionality of the keypad. Between the U740 and enV, the QWERTY keypad on the enV is much easier to use, has larger and more spaced-out buttons, and is easier to look at without straining.