Samsung X820 review

Alistair Warmington

How does this slim phone measure up?

The Samsung X820 features EDGE connectivity, 2.0 megapixel camera and 80MB of internal memory. It's also the skinniest mobile in the world

Samsung’s Ultra Edition handsets have raised the bar in slim design and the X820 currently holds the impressive title of ‘skinniest mobile in the world’. It measures in at 6.9mm thick, which is only a tiny bit fatter than an iPod nano or about half a centimetre thinner than Motorola’s slimmest model, the L7.

Squeezing all that complicated mobile phone technology into such a slim chassis has resulted in it being a little bit wider and taller than other handsets at 113 x 50mm, but even so that still leaves it looking very compact. What’s more, Samsung hasn’t skimped on the features too much either – there’s a 2.0 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, 80MB of internal memory, music player and web browser with EDGE connectivity.

One serious omission, however, is the absence of any kind of memory card slot. When you have to rely solely on the internal memory for contacts, photos and music, space quickly becomes very tight. This pretty much rules out using the handset as a replacement to an MP3 player, which is a real shame especially as the X820 offers stereo Bluetooth support as well.

Aesthetically, the ultra slim design is a big lure to the fashion conscious and is about as far from being a ‘brick’ as you can get. It is especially well suited for anyone who wears particularly well fitting pair of jeans or who carries an extremely small bag. Admittedly, the matte black finish and silver chrome edging look a bit too much like a pocket calculator for some tastes and there are a couple of other disadvantages too. Battery life is down to a pretty meagre 2.5 hours talk-time, although the flip side is that it recharges incredibly quickly and standby time is a more reasonable 210 hours. Sound quality during calls can also suffer from burbling noises in the background too.

The extra width means that Samsung has been able fit slightly larger keys on the front, which does help you get your fingers on the right buttons each time, but unfortunately the flat button design still makes one handed operation a little fiddly. Texting, in particular, is far better achieved with both hands on.

If you haven’t used a Samsung mobile before, you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting to grips with the menu interface and navigation. The design has been tweaked since older Samsung handsets and lays out the options in a clear, 3 x 3 layout with simple colourful icons for each different section. It takes full advantage of the 220 x 176, 262k colour display so that it is easy to see what you’re doing.

In the end, the Samsung X820 is eye-catching while not being overtly fashion-orientated. Far from being a basic beginner’s handset, the simple interface is well complimented by a respectable feature set, particularly the internal camera, and should be is ideal for business users who don’t want or need a smartphone.