Samsung U300 Ultra 9.6 Review

The U300 is very slim and very elegant phone, and in our opinion is the best looking device from the Ultra II series. Similar to the U100, it uses unsaturated dark blue color for its housing, but the front side is of brushed aluminum, which gives for the very stylish look. On this side are located the lens of the 3.2-megapixel camera, in the middle of the top, and the small landscape line-display, used for called ID and service infromation. It is only 24mm big and displays the reception, battery levels, time and date. Being of the OLED type, it is black like the surrounding surface and its content is illuminated in blue-green color.

Model	Dimension (Inches)	Dimension (MM)	Weight (OZ)	Weight (Gramms)
Samsung SGH-U300	3.9" x 2.0" x 0.37"	100 x 51 x 9.6	3,3	93
Samsung SGH-U700	4.03" x 1.96" x 0.47"	102.5 x 50 x 12.1	3,0	86
Motorola RAZR2 V8	4.05" x 2.08" x 0.46"	103 x 53 x 11.9	4,1	117
Nokia N76	4.19" x 2.04" x 0.53"	106.5 x 52 x 13.7	4,0	115

The Ultra 9.6 is slim, small and with reasonable weight, fitting easily into a pocket. Closed in the hand it feels solid but you will use it opened almost all of the time. Typically for a clamshell without automatic-opening mechanism, we used both hands in most situations, but using one hand only is also possible. The spring mechanism acts only after the two shells are at about 90 degrees, so its action is not very notable. The shell opens almost without a sound.


The greatest advantage of the clamshell form-factor is that when opened, it offers twice more space, which is used for the display and the keyboard. The size of an opened clamshell is also twice bigger, but in this case you are using it in the hand, or on the face (talking through the phone), not wearing it in your pocket. The main display has size of 2.3 inches, QVGA (240x320) resolution and the possibility to show up to 262 144 colors. The color representation is more accurate than the one of the U700, but when put next to the U100 is visible that it also has yellow nuance over all colors, although less-noticable than that of the U700.

The keyboard looks as if it is made of metal, but doesn't feel so. First we though it is touch-sensitive, activated by the electricity of the fingers, but shortly after that realized that it is a standard physically activated one. It is absolutely flat with no relief and looking at it is a must, when dialing a number or typing a message. This reminds us of the U100, which is also that flat. White backlight will illuminate the characters, in order to be visible even in the dark. When it comes to pressing the keys, it is obvious that the type of this keyboard is not like the one of the U100 - they press very hard and have zero tactile feedback. You should press with whole finger, to do it easier, pressing with only the edge of the finger will be very hard. If the key-volume is turned on, a vibration will accompany the presses, instead of the missing tactile feedback.



On the left, the U300 has small volume rocker and the Samsung' connector for charger/headset. It doesn't have any other external controls, like music-button found on most new clamshells, in order to keep the design clean.