Samsung UltraTOUCH S8300 Review

Interface:

Samsung UltraTOUCH S8300 utilizes Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface. You can call up your phonebook or main menu directly from the home screen through the icons at the lower end, but keep in mind the main menu can also be accessed by sliding a finger right to left, while sliding in the opposite direction takes you to the Photo Contacts, which allows you to store shortcuts to your favorites. Actually, these are images that can be tagged with people´s faces in a Facebook style and assigned contact numbers.


In the preview, we said that the interface needed some finishing touches. Indeed, Samsung has already updated the software, but we are not entirely sure the end result is more satisfying really. Dragging around widgets is now smooth, but other actions are just too slow. Moreover, animated transitions between the Widget, Photo Contacts and Menu screens are gone now, probably because the developers couldn’t figure out how to get rid of the lagging. Well, it would be way better if they had been fixed, rather than just removed, but maybe the time schedule of the developers did not allow that.


Widgets:

Everyone knows widgets are cool, but in most cases there are just a few of them. It looks like the Korean manufacturer has done their level best and we cannot complain that they lack here. Most of them aren’t very original and are actually shortcuts to different phone functions, but this only applies to preloaded ones. We now have a special new widget with the sole purpose to allow download of more widgets! However, placing more than three or four on the screen at the same time is not such a bright idea as it may look, mostly because there is little room and scrolling up and down your home screen is an uphill battle, since the interface has not been properly optimized.


Phonebook and Organizer:

The phonebook features a drop-down menu with three available functions: Contacts, Groups and Favorites. There is a search field below the drop-down menu that, if the phone is closed, brings up the on-screen numeric keypad with its large, easy to use keys. Unfortunately, you can only see up to three or four contacts at the same time, which means that the only reasonable way to find one is to use the search option. Well, you can still scroll to the desired letter, but this may feel somewhat annoying in case you´ve got too many contact names starting with the same letter (don´t forget the unhandy scrolling).



The manufacturer has also provided a really smart feature – fake call. Some of you may be of the opinion this is something rather useless, but it could prove a life saving feature in case you want to avoid a boring conversation or the presence of someone you´d rather not be with. Just hold the volume down button pressed for a while and your phone will simulate an incoming call.



In order to gain access to the organizer, you need to navigate to the main menu first. Do not expect something truly exciting here. Organizer functions are numerous and good enough for a non-smart phone. Samsung has included everything that may come in handy: calendar, memos, tasks, world clock, calculator and unit convertor. Aside from these, there is also a voice recorder, timer and a stopwatch, all of these in the applications menu.