The U700 was classified at the time of release as the world’s smallest mobile to support the advanced 3G HSDPA data transfer speed. Considering what else has been packed in, this is a great achievement, though what will be more noticeable upon first impressions is the look of the phone.
Put simply, the U700 is a fantastic-looking device and proves to be one of the more eye-catching phones on the market; it is sure to acquire plenty of attention because of this. The build-quality definitely merits a mention as the sliding mechanism is solid without being too rigid and the keypad feels solid and comfortable, whilst still in keeping with the rest of the design aspects.
Measuring at just 12.1mm thick the dimensions may lead many to believe that the functions will be somewhat limited, surprisingly, this is not the case. As well as the aforementioned high build-quality, there are also some well-thought out ideas with regards to the keypad. It uses the standard 4-way D-pad that was seen in the U600, but in the U700 the same control doubles as a scroll-wheel. Upon using this for the first time, I pleasantly impressed and it is great to see Samsung building on the U600’s design.
As a bonus, everything seems much more responsive than previously seen and this makes for much better user-interaction. An improvement over the U600 is the speed of the menu system and key response, which proved to be a major hindrance before, but has now been resolved in the U700 to make it one of the best user-interface experiences available on the market today. Whilst the same touch-sensitive keys are still present, the implementation is much better and means the U700 again improves upon its predecessor.
Surprisingly, I have a slight gripe with the display, something which you would expect Samsung to receive top-marks for usually. Although the quality of the display itself is very good, the visibility under direct sunlight is a concern. This is mostly due to the surface on the front of the U700 being very glossy, which has an adverse affect on the display quality; this is a shame and obviously means that fingerprint smudges are inevitable.
A nice little-surprise with the U700’s features is the quality of the camera. With a 3.2MP module built-in you would expect pictures to be reasonable and surprisingly it’s better than expected. Along with the Mega Pixel rate, you get a Macro mode, autofocus and flash. The image quality is much better than is realistically expected from such a minute handset and it comes mightily close to the top performers in the 3MP arena.
The only real complaints that can be made are the lack of an FM radio and the disappointing display legibility under direct sunlight. In spite of this, the wealth of features combined with the high-speed 3G data transfers (HSDPA) and the gorgeousness of the phone make the U700 a very appealing proposition. The quality of the controls and menu speeds just add to the feeling that the U700 will win many admirers and should have no problems in finding a niche in the market.
