Samsung SGH-F700 Preview

Introduction:

Last February Samsung presented a few of its new models at the 3GSM congress in Barcelona, one of them being SGH-F700. Today we are going to preview the Vodafone version, called SGH-F700V, which is not much different than the standard model, except for the operator’s menu.

Some of the differences between the phone that we have here and the one that we saw at the exhibition are easily noticed: the new F700 has a bigger display and is larger in size, its QWERTY keypad is arranged in four rows, rather than in three and, unfortunately, the camera is not 5-megapixel as we and all fans would have liked (and saw at the 3GSM), but only 3-megapixel. However, in spite of these changes, the phone is still intended for Internet-hooked users; the two loudspeakers and the 3.5 mm stereo jacks also show for its multimedia options.

As the phone we are testing is not a final-version, we are doing a Preview instead of Review. Expect our in-depth one in future.

360 Degrees View of Samsung SGH-F700:

Interface:

Samsung F700 is one of the first non-smart phones of the brand that utilizes a touch-sensitive display. It is the first to use the Croix-named interface created for such phones, which also appears in other models like the F520, Giorgio Armani phone, etc. As we are acquaint to Samsung’s line, we are not surprised seeing that the Croix interface shares much with the standard software used in other phones, including the G800, G600 and the Ultra series for example. It is different, optimized for finger-based input through the display, but still is very similar, personalizing predefined modules. The Croix supports landscape interface orientation which in this model is used when the keyboard is opened.



While by default the home screen looks pretty boring, there are a few things that make it look as one of a modern phone. All options are visualized over semi-transparent background: on the top is a standard service line, followed by four shortcuts, carrier logo, a shortcuts button in the center and date/time line at the bottom.

The four shortcuts lead to silent-mode, main menu, dialing screen and calling history and their functionality cannot be personalized. Considering the size and resolution of the display, we’d prefer seeing more and bigger buttons.

The shortcut in the center (or the only hardware key on the front) opens a screen with 5 buttons, arranged in two lines that cross each other in the centre. This is made to match the interface name (“Croix” means “Cross” in French).

While the line at the bottom has small text characters with the date and the time by default, taping on it will expand it, occupying much greater area. As this is the tool for both date and time, there are two options: calendar of the month or a large clock, changing from one to the other by scrolling a finger from left to right or vice verse.

The look of the home-screen is greatly affected by the background image, which occupies all of its 3.22 inches. We are happy that Samsung preloaded a few gorgeous images for this purpose but also F700 is one of the first Samsungs coming with option called Photo Slider. It is a variant of a feature which we saw in the G800 and creates a slideshow out of up to 9 images with a few options for duration and transition type.

The main menu is visualized either as a grid of 3x4 icons or as a vertical list. The first view comes as default and is what the Croix interface is characterized with, as each icon is highlighted by two lines (horizontal and vertical) crossing at the current selection. The icons in this menu are in the same style as the one on the homescreen. As this is touch display and tapping on any icon will activate it, you should move a finger around it and the icon under it will be highlighted. Once you tap to confirm the selection, a slight vibration will indicate this has happened. This is instead of the tactile feedback you would receive from most standard hardware keyboards and can be set at one of 5 intensity level or can be turned off.

If the list view is selected, each will show with its label (name) but none of them has icon. This isn’t what we should see in such type of device as it looks really plain. The same visualization is used for the sub menus.

Phonebook:

We’ve already mentioned that the software shares many similarities with other Samsung phones. The phonebook is example for that, being the one we’ve seen in the Ultra U700 phone – saves up to 1000 numbers and unlike most other Samsungs can have lots of numbers (for example 3 mobile-private phone numbers) attached to each contact. Other fields offer options like emails, address, caller ID image/ringtone, notes, etc.

The phonebook is displayed as vertical list, and when a contact is selected its number and very small image (that is useless) show. Searching finds results only in the first name, which is very unpleasant problem of most non-smart phones. The contacts can be sorted in groups that allow for common image and ringtone.


The Dialing screen is one of the shortcuts on the home screen . It visualizes a virtual numeric keypad with numbers and letters, four shortcuts and an area where numbers are visualized. As those four shortcuts are in the style of all other buttons in the phone, their function is not really clear to the customer but here you cannot scroll over them to see it. The keypad works almost as a normal flat one, but in the cases the display doesn’t react, you just have to press again.

Connectivity:

The phoneis a tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900 MHz) and, unfortunately, only onefrequency can be used in America, which means that its use will berestricted to some areas only. F700’s CDMA-variant is expected tolaunch on the market in the beginning of the next year, under the nameof Samsung SCH-U940 (upcoming with Verizon); the rumor show it hassimilar design and we suppose that part of the functionality will bethe same, but the camera will be 2-megapixel, instead of 3-megapixel.The interface will most probably be different.

However, let’s goback to SGH-F700. It can also be used in 3G networks, thanks to thefact that it maintains UMTS/HSDPA 3.6 Mbit/s., but only at 2100MHzfrequency, which means that its 3G use is only possible in Europe andAsia, not in America. Unfortunately, the phone is not equipped withWi-Fi.

There are two ways to connect the unit to a computer: Bluetooth 2.0 or a cable.

Asa modern high-class phone and one of the first Samsungs under the“Internet” category, the F700 surely has something to show when itcomes to browsing. It has full HTML browser that offers two displayingoptions: “Smart-fit” and “Desktop” view.The first renders the pages optimized to fit on the display width,delivering only vertical scrolling, while the second shows the page ason a computer.


Themoving (scrolling) around the page is done by sweeping movements overthe touch-sensitive display. In order to see more of the page, Zoom (out) function can be used (the volume rocker is a shortcut to it) or you can activate Page pilot option, which will fit the whole page over the display with option to zoom on selected area of it.

Camera:

Mobile phones’ multimedia capabilities have become of paramount importance for the consumers’ choice, which has prompted manufacturers to make more and more improvements in this respect. Obviously, SGH-F700 is not an exception to this rule and its Korean manufacturer has made an effort to offer good technical capabilities and a wonderful interface and ways of handling the phone.

Although the phone is not a high-end cameraphone like, for example, G800, it still has a 3-megapixel camera with autofocus and a LED flash. To the left of the display is a column with all the icons showing the current settings that you’re using to take pictures (resolution, white balance, ISO, etc), while to the right are the navigation and settings buttons. The latter button can be hid if you wish so - a function, indicated by the small arrow. All options and menus in camera mode are shown in semi-transparent buttons, only the text being in solid color, to make it more legible.

Another interesting feature is that in the Viewfinder mode menu you have the following settings options: normal, wide with icons and with no icons, which, apart from changing the interface, also impacts the possible resolutions when taking pictures. In normal mode you can choose from a total of six sizes, and in wide mode there are four sizes to choose from (up to 2016x1120), which is actually a wide-screen picture with the non-standard ratio of 18:10. In this mode, the maximum resolution that can be obtained is 2.2 megapixels instead of the standard 3.




In camera mode you can choose from two resolutions (QVGA 320 x 240 and 176 x 144 pixels), which is a bit disappointing, since the VGA resolution is increasingly becoming the standard for making video clips with the high-end phones. Anyway, with the higher resolution they are good enough to be watched on the phone’s display and with the lower resolution they can only be used for multimedia messages.

Multimedia:

The music player is another module that has been copied from the U700 and just optimized for the touch-sensitive display navigation. It sorts the multimedia files by: Last played / All / Recently played / Most played / Artists / Genres / Albums / Composers / Playlists, similar to other music players of modern phones, like the Walkman of Sony Ericsson for example. We would have liked to see sorting by rating, but it is missing. The user can create playlists, add music from the memory to it and reorder the added tracks.

The "Now playing" interface has nothing in common with non-touch Samsung phones. In order to resemble the Croix (Cross) idea, the interface has the two lines (vertical and horizontal) which cross, occupying the whole screen. The position of the horizontal towards the vertical indicates the volume level while the opposite indicates the time progress.
Rewinding and controlling of the volume is achieved by moving those lines across the screen and the play/pause is where they cross – in the “Croix point”.

Other options are hidden in menus that are opened by the small "arrow" buttons in the upper left and bottom right corners.

The player can be minimized and then it works in the background. The music keeps on playing but you can use the phone’s functionality, type a message, use the camera or browse the internet for example. In this mode, the homescreen will visualize the now playing song information at the place where calendar/clock is normally shown.

For personal listening to music, headphones should be used. As 3.5mm jack is present at the top, this won’t be a problem as any standard ‘phones can be attached without any adapter. If you don’t like the wires, the stereo Bluetooth (using the A2DP profile) will come of help, allowing connecting compatible headphones, speakers or audio system.