The Ultra Series from Samsung is well known for its elegance and records in slim design. The glory has started to grow with the U600 and U700 models. When U900 Soul appeared, it seemed that the series has received a crown and will remain unchanged for a good time, but it wasn’t so.
Samsung U800 Soul b is the living proof of a new born series, under the name of “Soul”, which now has all the three form factors: slide (U900), bar (U800) and clamshell (G400). This new series has kept all the goodies from Ultra series, U800 has only 9.9 mm thickness, but it had added “weight” and style through its metal polished case, which gives it class.
So, what Samsung U800 Soul b has to offer? It’s a slim mobile phone with straight, but in the same time, cool design, with a quality display of 16M colors, 3G, 3Mp digital camera with flash, FM with RDS, Bluetooth with A2DP and not the last – 1Gb internal memory!
Let’s analyze them one by one.
Design and construction
From the first photos released by Samsung, but in general from pictures, Samsung U800 Soul b does not make impression – it looks common. In life it is much better.
The first things which became clear when you take the phone in hands, is the material from which is made – stainless polished steel. The case is varnished and polished in two ways, perfectly smooth, reflecting and glossy, is the surface from the rounded edges. In rest, the steel has a plain surface with a linear pattern (which is also smooth because of the applied varnish) that highlights the strict character of the phone.
The phone’s perimeter is made of black plastic, which is somehow rubberized and helps keeping the phone in hands. On this plastic frame we see all the phone’s connections: the all in one port (charger/headset/USB) is located on the right side, a little lower is the digital camera button and the right bottom corner has the eyelet for attaching accessories. On the left side we find the microSD slot and the volume rocker, which besides its natural function can also reject or silent the phone during a call (it has to be pressed down). The feature can be chosen from the phone settings. The upper and bottom sides do not have any interesting elements if we ignore the sieve pattern on the top of the phone which may seem like a speaker.
The rear side of the phone is dominated by the digital camera, which is highlighted through its cold silver polished steel on the grey background of the phone. The digital camera module consists of the camera lenses and lower, the xenon flash, which has an appreciable size. On the right of the digital camera is located the loud speaker, which has a quite powerful and clear sound. This can be explained because of the Bang & Olufsen ICEpower audio processor that was used in Samsung U800 Soul b. The package content also features an unusual for Samsung headset; it has the same ear fixing system as the ones from Walkman series (Sony Ericsson). The headset is also divided in two: the first cable which is connected to the phone and ends with a 3.5 mm standard jack and the ear pieces (which can be replaced with any other standard headsets). Keeping all this in mind and adding the 1Gb built in memory and the microSD slot, and we can name Samsung U800 Soul b not only a style phone, but a musical one too.
Almost the entire rear surface is also the battery lid. The locking mechanism is intuitive and well balanced, the lid is firm fixed and is not loose like in some other metal case phones. On the battery is not mentioned its capacity, but it was announced 880 mAh and 320 h in standby while 6 h in conversation – quite good, but even better is that the numbers corresponds with the reality – on an average usage, the phone can last about 4 days, a really performance!
The front panel begins with the voice speaker and next to it, the secondary digital camera for video calls. Lower we have the 2” screen capable to reflect 16M colors and a 240x320 pixels resolution. Of course, the display is framed by the same black color and it looks a lot bigger when in standby.
Under the screen we have the control keys, the D-pad, two soft keys and the Receive/Reject keys. The reject key is also the On/Off button. The spacing the and the size of all buttons are well determined and suit all the fingers types.
Calls, Menu and Phone Customization
The sound quality is at high level and both people of the conversation cannot complain and do not have to raise their voice.
Dialing with Samsung phones always was fun because of the interesting animations they offer. Samsung U800 Soul b has 5 types of dialing fonts: from theme, two types of normal, Sticky notes, Living world and Quill pen. A very useful feature in all the Samsung phones, U800 Soul b inclusive, is the “Intelligent search” or “Smart Dialing”. Once you start dialing a few numbers on the screen, you are automatically provided with the contacts that have the combination in their phone number and that almost always are the persons you want to call. The system works perfectly, it analyses the digits combination in the full length of the phone number, so, if you remember more than two numbers, no matter where they are located, the system will indentify that phone number. And it does not delay even if you have 500 or more contacts in your phonebook.
The menu can be accessed with the OK button from D-pad or with the left soft key. Each one of the four D-pad directions are also shortcuts to various submenus chosen by the user. The desktop can have the background from the applied theme, an image or an image slideshow. The theme can change the background depending on the country/territory where the phone is used, but this feature can remain unseen if you do not travel across the country borders. The menu can be arrange as a 3x4 grid or a standard list.
A special word we shall dedicate to the “Theme” section which contains 3 standard themes and one is “Monolithic Purity” – it was created especially for the grey color because it has the same color and linear pattern which looks like a continuation of the case on the screen. What we really appreciate is the possibility to create your own themes in a very simple way, but with astonishing results. This option loose a little the locked customization door for many Samsung models as U600.
From the Entertainment menu we can find some preloaded games and two editor programs: “Image Editor” and “Video Editor” – they let you to edit the multimedia content directly on the phone. The organizer is quite usual and has the same elements as Memo, Task, Calculator, Converter… and of course the Calendar.
Digital camera and Music player
The Samsung phones always had good digital cameras and Samsung U800 Soul b in general is not an exception. Why we still have some doubts? Because of the autofocus lack. Even without this function, the pictures are clear and of a superior quality, if we are talking about the general ones. Due to the 3Mp sensor, the maximal size of the photo is 2048x1536 pixels. A macro picture, with high details is not possible – autofocus is needed. The xenon flash is enough powerful and it can be of real help as possible as can be for mobile phones. The options menu is ample and we can name a few of them: shot mode (single, multi-shot, mosaic and frame), color effects (black and white, sepia, negative), white balance and others.
The hard part comes with the video recording… the maximal resolution is QCIF (176x144 pixels) at a speed of only 15 fps – discouraging. This fact throws the phone on a level with the models from 2-3 years ago, when the video recording just started to be available. The made video clips are just “suggestive” in the true meaning of the word.
Let’s focus on the music player. It has a good level, it allows sorting by artist, album, genre and you can listen the frequently or recently plaid songs. Of course, you can create your own playlist. There are also available audio effects that are similar with the equalizer presets and visual effects to enjoy the eyes. The player can be minimized and you can type an SMS if you need to, while listening to music.
The FM radio features an agreeable interface and it has the possibility to auto save the stations with strong signal. RDS is also on board and you can read the info they broadcast.
Conclusion
Samsung U800 Soul b is a phone that leaves a good impression as a styled and technological one. We cannot mention any critical disadvantages for this model, however, a better video recording quality and the autofocus for macro pictures would be a desire for U800.
In rest, it has an excellent design, user friendly interface with all the necessary functions, 3G calls and data transfer speeds, 3Mp digital camera and 1Gb internal memory + microSD makes a very good player on the market from Samsung U800. It is a direct competitor with Nokia 6500 classic which resembles is impossible to not notice. Both the price and the phone itself are very attractive in this niche and we are sure that the customers will appreciate the efforts of those from Samsung.
