Samsung Ultra S S7350 Review

Introduction:

We have recently presented our review of the Samsung UltraTOUCH S8300, the current lineup flagship and now we are about to introduce one of its runners-up to you, the Samsung Ultra S S7350. It is a slider that looks similarly, although there are a number of differences under the cover. Most importantly, the 2.8-inch AMOLED screen of the UltraTOUCH has made way to a smaller 2.6-inch screen that is not touch sensitive by any means. Wi-Fi is missing and the awesome eight megapixels of the camera seem to have shrunk to as many as five.  Fortunately, the multimedia functionality of the phone has not fallen victim to the attempt to cut costs and the device plays both DivX and Xvid files. Now let´s get down to brass tacks, grab a hold of it and take a closer look at what the phone delivers.

Design:

As we mentioned, both the Ultra S and the UltraTOUCH share similar design, with the apparent lack of touch sensitive screen accounting for some of the differences. With its 2.6 inches display is slightly smaller, but still provides the same 240x400 pixel resolution. Image quality is superb with lively and saturated colors, but things change in a snap if you take the phone outdoors in direct sunlight. Colors fade away and reading what´s on screen becomes an uphill battle. The standard functional keys and send and end buttons are just below, flush with the body of the device. The rhomb-shaped back button is conspicuous in its absence and there is an ordinarily looking D-Pad in its place. These all are comfy to use and respond to your press quickly. It´s rather unfortunate, but both send and end buttons don´t have backlighting, so finding them in the dark means you´ll find yourself either groping about in the dark or, alternatively, using the light of the two functional keys to guide you. 




You can compare the Samsung UltraS S7350 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Opening the slider gets you face to face with the numeric keypad. It looks stylish, but the fears we had regarding its convenience turned out to be true. Keys are rather small, have but a short travel. To top it off, the uppermost row is pretty close to the edge, so pressing any number from 1 to 3 isn´t the most pleasing experience we've had. We cannot pass a favorable comment on the other three rows either. They lack prominent borders and we kept pressing the wrong keys way too often if we failed to gaze at the keypad. Well, what can we say? Another example of design and vision gaining an upper hand over functionality.



Now is the time to mention the sliding mechanism of the Samsung Ultra S S7350. It comes in really stout and tightly fitting, but there is something we don´t particularly like. It´s as if there is some excessive friction of both parts of the slider against one another, so you can hear slight rubbing, rustling-like sounds coming out when the phone is being opened or closed, plus the mechanism doesn´t slide all too smoothly. Don´t get us wrong, we encountered no problems at all, but the whole thing was just unpleasant.

Aside from those on its front side and the keypad itself, the Ultra S only comes with buttons you cannot go on without. The volume rocker is on its left hand side, while the camera shutter along with the standard microUSB port is on the opposite. Now, these are really comfy to use, are prominent enough and easy to press. It´s a pity the numeric keypad isn´t more like them and less like what it is. 



Seeing the back of the phone won´t make you let out any “wows” since it´s definitely fairly ordinary looking. The only feature that lends some color to the otherwise rather simple overall look is the unusual pattern over the upper part of the slider, just where the 5 megapixel camera has found its place.

Software:

If you have used a phone from this manufacturer, the interface of the Samsung Ultra S S7350 would make you feel at home from the get go. All menus we know remain the same. Lending them a different appearance is as easy as setting another theme, but our unit has come with two of these only. The good thing is you can create your own themes with the phone itself, which makes for a nice extra feature in our opinion.



We saw another new and comfy bonus feature on the Samsung UltraTOUCH S8300. We are talking about the “Fake call” function. It´s activated when you hold the lower part of the D-Pad pressed downwards, which causes the phone to start ringing as if someone is calling you. We have to admit it has saved us from conversations we didn´t exactly feel like taking part in on multiple occasions.



Multimedia functionality is definitely one of the strengths of the brand new Korean. Its music player is actually the same and still looks really cool. It can appear in three different visual modes, sports a ton of equalizer settings and shows album art without a hitch. Sound quality through the only loudspeaker is good, but lacks enough punch. Trebles are also pleasing to hear, but they tended to kind of trail away, creating certain hollowness to the sound as if basses were turned higher. You can always switch the FM radio on in case you feel like listening something different, provided you haven´t forgotten to bring along the earphones - they actually act as an antenna. Still, it was not for the audio quality that we said the phone was pretty capable multimedia device. It was the video playback we were referring to. It delivers stellar quality, playback of both DivX and Xvid video content is smooth at 720x304 resolution and movies look great on the big 2.6-inch display.




Unlike the flagship, i.e. the UltraTOUCH, Ultra S sports a slightly more modest 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. It features simplified interface that is easy to use and delivers a wide range of options like white balance, exposure control, scenes, face and smile detection and more and more… Now to the pictures. Snapshots are not bad at all. Colors are vivid and realistic and camera captures enough details, although image noise is noticeable. Quality of indoor pictures is passable, but noise level is higher. Opened images appear in vertical view, but this is where the accelerometer can kick in. Just turn the phone aside to horizontal and the picture spins sideways, lean it to one side and images begin to flow one after another on the screen. The Samsung Ultra S S7350 captures videos at 720x480 resolution and 30 frames per second. They have pretty good quality when watched on a normal computer screen. Colors are realistic, there is neither lagging nor slowdowns and we believe videos are totally usable.





Samsung Ultra S S7350 sample video at 720x480 pixels resolution.
 *Note that due to codecs support, you may not be able to play the file.

As you may know, the phone sports a built-in GPS receiver that powers the geotagging, so you can remember where the snapshot has been taken or just use it to find your way back home. Unfortunately, there is no preloaded navigational software, at least on our unit, but you can still go for Google Maps. Now is the time to point out the manufacturer has announced two different versions of the phone – with or without the Route 66 navigation pack. Keep in mind, the variety in your region may not have the software pack preinstalled.

Performance:

We have absolutely no remarks or second thoughts regarding the performance of the Samsung Ultra S S7370. We didn’t encounter slowdowns or lagging. The loud sound on our end got us flabbergasted during our first talk. We had to turn it down to its mid setting to get loudness to a bearable level. In-call quality fell out to be superb both ways and we had no problem at all catching onto things being said. Oh, we almost forgot the loudspeaker. It also packs a lot of punch and delivers good sound quality. We just wish the audio was less sharp. Now, how long will you be able to keep spreading about rumors with you pals, before the phone starts raising hell over a flat battery? As the manufacturer has officially indicated, it won´t be long indeed. The battery is rated at 4 hours continuous talk time, but will keep the phone alive for around 14 days if you just leave it on a shelf.

Conclusion:

Now, it´s about time we passed a final verdict on the appealing Samsung Ultra S. It is functional indeed, software doesn´t crash or lags, phone performs admirably on the multimedia front and delivers great in-call quality. Now, we´re not being difficult, but there is a little something we don´t like. Friction of the upper against the lower part of the slider is far from being unnoticeable when the phone is being opened or closed and the mechanism gives out a rubbing noise.

The Samsung Ultra S S7350 hasn´t hit the shelves yet, so its success will ultimately depend on its retail price. We do not have any doubts to recommend it to anyone, unless it comes with a steeper price tag. Still, keep in mind there are many other cool multimedia phones that look great and are not expensive, with both the Samsung Pixon and LG Renoir among them.

Samsung Ultra S S7350 Video Review: