Samsung SGH-D830 mobile phone review

We put the World's thinnest clamshell through its paces

29 September 2006 0:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Not content with launching the world's thinnest candy bar phone, the Samsung X820, Samsung has also launched the world's thinnest clamshell phone too; the Ultra SGH-D830.

At 9.9mm thick there is no doubting that like the X820, the D830 is incredible thin but has Samsung had to cut corners? We take a look.

With clamshells all seemingly coming with dual screens, dual cameras, and dual everything else these days, the first thing you'll notice is that the D830 is lacking both the dual camera - unsurprisingly its not 3G - and a decent dual screen on the front.

The front, which according to some we've shown also looked like the back - i.e. bland, features a simple single colour display that offers basic information like the signal strength, battery info and time and date.

Aside from this, the outer case is so void of design, detail or buttons (there is no dedicated camera button for example) it's almost as stealthy as a ninja on a special mission.

Inside and that minimalist styling carries through with a completely flat keypad and a very large 2.3-inch 262k clear crisp screen.

In our tests, the keypad proved both strange and uncomfortable to use, mainly because you don't get any feedback as to whether or not you've pressed the button, but have to rely on on-screen prompts.

When it comes to interface and applications it's business as usual, with Samsung offering a slightly more modern looking interface to its usual phone menu than in the past, however nothing that is going to surprise any previous Samsung mobile phone owner and the usual suspects such as web browser, alarms, voice recorder and calendar are still all present.

Due to the model's thickness, some compromises have had to be made, the most notable being the battery life. The D830 offers almost 5 hours less than compared with the company's much thicker D600 model - a paltry 2.5 hours.

Likewise the phone's multimedia elements have been hit hardest in Samsung's second weight loss experiment. While the phone sports a 2 megapixel camera, the D830 doesn't offer a flash to light up those dark pub shots most people love to snap.

Triband, Bluetooth, 80MB of internal memory and a microSD expansion slot make up the other features of the phone.

Verdict

With the same feature set as the X820 this really comes down to whether or not you want a clamshell over a candy bar design, if it has to be Samsung and thin.

Like the X820 the D830 offers the bear minimum of features, albeit good features. And is clearly aimed at the Motorola RAZR crowd - its actually roughly the same size bar the thickness.

Like the RAZR, it is the perfect phone for users don't want to be fussed with whether or not their phone can let them watch TV or double up as a comprehensive MP3 player like Sony Ericsson's Walkman range.

However unlike the clear large screen and flat design will of the X820 the D830 doesn't really seem to have any style associated with it opting for the stealth bomber look instead.

A dated design and awkward to use keypad means this wasn't for us - If you must have Samsung and you must have thin, stick with the X820.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Samsung
Price as reviewed: £Price dependent on contract
Latest price: Compare prices
The good: Thin, 2 megapixel camera
The bad: Lacks any real design, keypad isn't responsive
Quick verdict: A dated design and awkward to use keypad means this wasn't for us - if you must have Samsung and you must have thin, stick with the X820
Score