Samsung SGH-i780 review

When it comes to choosing a smartphone you have plenty of options in terms of hardware format. For example, do you want something small and neat, such as HTC’s tidy little S730 which still manages to pack in a keyboard that it hides away in a slide, or do you go for something chunkier, and more BlackBerry-like, with a mini keyboard on its front fascia for really easy access?

If you are drawn to the latter idea, then you are still somewhat spoilt for choice as there are plenty of variants out there. Only one, though, has a trackpad in its gamut of features, and that is the one we are looking at today, the Orange exclusive Samsung SGH-i780.

Now, the first thing to note about this smartphone is that it is not a shrinking violet. It is big for any pocket at 116mm tall, 61mm wide and 13mm thick. And it isn’t the lightest gadget you’ll ever carry at 120g.

With Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional under the hood we are talking touch screen, and with Office Mobile included you can edit Excel and Word documents, and view PowerPoint slides as well as use OneNote. This may come in handy particularly if you are keen on using your smartphone for mobile email and need to edit email attachments.

For fast data access you’ll be pleased to know that the SGH-i780 is HSDPA - which means theoretical download speeds of up to 7.3 M/bps. There is a camera on the front for those times when you just have to see the person you are communicating with and they have to see you.

When it comes to Web browsing, Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer is on board, but you probably won’t go near it as Samsung has also included the Opera browser which is far superior. You can, for example, open new pages in separate tabbed windows, and the zooming function is excellent. You also get an RSS reader, podcast manager and conversion utility added in too.

So, what about the trackpad that we tantalisingly mentioned earlier and then skidded on past. Well, the short comment is that it's really rather good. Putting some flesh on that statement, what you get is a small black square sitting where you’d normally expect to find a navigation pad or D-pad.

Slide a thumb or finger around it and a cursor pops up on screen. Press the trackpad when the cursor tip is touching what you want, and it is selected. It is all very familiar and given the small size of the trackpad and, indeed, the small size of the screen, very easy to get on with. You can choose from a whole range of cursor designs, some of which, quite frankly, are totally inappropriate – football shaped cursor, anybody?

If you don’t like the cursor you can turn that off and have the trackpad act more like a D-pad and give you four way navigation. We actually found that system less satisfactory than the cursor-based one. And if you hate the whole idea, you can always ignore the trackpad and tap at the touch screen to get around instead.

With 256MB of storage memory you can add more applications and some data to the SGH-i780. And that data includes music, of course. The SGH-i780 comes with a stereo headset but, as we anticipated from Samsung, the connector to the device is proprietary. It shares the same socket as mains power and the PC connecting cable.

On the plus side you can add more memory with microSD cards, and if you are a music fan the battery life is stupendous. This is because the SGH-i780 comes with two batteries. And you get a separate charger unit for the one that is not in the smartphone. With this kit in your travel bag you should be able to maximise working – and music listening – away from mains power.

As well as Bluetooth, you also have Wi-Fi built in so you aren’t necessarily tied to the network for communications.

Disappointments? Well there are a couple. The main camera is a bit average at 2.0 megapixels and without a self-portrait mirror or flash.

The screen is a bit dinky too. With all those data viewing possibilities on offer – the Web being perhaps the most significant of all - it is a pity that the screen measures just 2.5 inches across diagonal corners and offers 320 x 320 pixels. If you are used to a screen taller than it is wide, then this square format may take a while to get used to and require more vertical scrolling than you are accustomed to as well.

But on the other hand, a larger screen would have made this smartphone even bigger than it already is.

Summing up, then, what we have here is a relatively big smartphone with a qwerty keypad and innovative and very usable trackpad, some great bundled software, HSDPA, and two batteries. It isn’t the prettiest smartphone on the block, but it does have a lot of plus points.