MY UNSUNG SAMSUNG (Samsung P400)

Name: stuleg

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Product:	Samsung P400
Date:	04/06/04 (738 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Swivel Screen, Large Display

Disadvantages: None of Note

Although I was fairly happy with my old Nokia 3310 there comes a time when a mobile phone upgrade becomes a necessity. I wanted a high spec phone that had WAP access so that I could check travel reports and football results while out and about, I also fancied some snazzy polyphonic ringtones and I?d always liked the look of flip phones that close to form a more compact unit. After much research on the internet I decided on the glorious looking Samsung P400, and I?m thrilled that I did. I have always had pay and go phones as I like the fact that I only pay for the time I use the phone with no contracts and monthly fees to worry about. I tracked down a Samsung P400 in Littlewoods on the network I wanted, O², and paid the £330 necessary to make the phone mine.

What?s in the box

Well quite a lot actually, obviously the phone itself along with not one but two batteries, this is a good idea as you can have one battery charged at all times for quick changeover and minimal fuss. Of course both batteries need recharging so a charger is also present as is a data cable and computer software to run it, this is another bonus as all important information stored on the SIM card can be uploaded for safe storage on your computer, ringtones and wallpapers can also be downloaded from a computer as long as they are in MMF format. An earpiece and finger strap are next on the list with a plethora of manuals, instruction leaflets and warranty brochures the last items included in the box. A SIM card is also included from your chosen network provider, but I was able to use the SIM card from my Nokia 3310 and thus keep the same phone number.

What are the main features of the phone

The features of the Samsung P400 are many, including: -

World W
;ide Triband: -which enables the phone to be used anywhere in the world thanks to band selection technology. The Samsung P400 will work on GSM 900, 1800, 1900 or a combined 900 / 1800. The phone simply searches for the best available band to use when it is switched on in a new country.

Rotating Large Colour Screen: - The Screen on the P400 is 3cm by 4cm and displays 65,000 colours in crystal clear LCD. It rotates and flips in any direction to optimize viewing for the inbuilt Java games or the camera.

CCD Rotating Digital Camera: - The CCD (charge-coupled device) rotating camera means that images are crystal clear and can be captured from any angle. The 180` rotating lens means you can also take pictures of yourself and save or send them as required. Up to 100 352 x 288 Pixel pictures can be saved on the phone itself and used as wallpaper or in photo messages. 2x zoom and brightness adjustment ensure the pictures you take are of the very highest quality.

Polyphonic Ringtones: - Twenty-five of them to be exact, and the option to download a further fifteen. All of the ringtones are crisp and clear to add a little personality to the P400

WAP: - A real selling point for me, WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) allows the user to access special WAP designed websites to find out a wealth of information from travel bulletins to sports results. The cost of WAP access on the P400 with O² pay and go costs about six pence a minute.

The Phone itself

The Samsung P400 itself is silver in colour and weighs in at a nimble 105 grams, with dimensions of 90.5 x 47.5 x 23(mm) this makes it an extremely small and thin phone. Talk time is between three and five hours with standby bat
tery power at an acceptable one hundred to one hundred and twenty hours. The memory of the P400 is large with the capacity for one thousand phone book entries, one hundred MMS text messages and up to five Java games up to a total of one hundred kilobytes each, add to this the one hundred picture storage outlines earlier in the review and the P400 is a master at keeping plenty of your information on tap. The Samsung P400 also has plenty of ?Personal information Management?, including a Calendar, a Scheduler, a to do list, Once/Daily/Weekly alarm, Vibration alert, World time, Calculator and a converter. Call management features record the last twenty missed calls, the last twenty dialled numbers as well as cost per call and call time in minutes and seconds. Add to the mix some animated wallpapers and easily navigated menus and the Samsung P400 is peerless in the world of mobile technology.

A Brief Look at the Menus

The menus on the P400 are pretty self explanatory and are accessed with a single button push and the up and down keys on the phone. The first menu is titled ?Text Messages? and consists of the inbox and outboxes as well as templates that can be pre-saved to save time. The next menu is called ?Picture Messages? and has exactly the same sub categories as the text messages menu except they deal with pictures instead of words. Next up is ?Call Records? and this menu deals with missed calls, recent calls, dialled calls and call time, basically all of the information you could want regarding your recent phone calls is here. ?Camera? is next on the list and this menu is a lot of fun. The user can decide whether to take and send a photo or just take it for storage on the phone. A My Photos option allows the user to browse all of the photos stored on the phone in a thumbnai
l gallery with the option to set any picture as the wallpaper for the P400. ?Sound Settings? is where the polyphonic ringtones are stored and chosen by the user. Other sub menus such as ring volume, alert type (vibrating, ringing or silent), keypad tone and incoming message tone are also here. ?Phone Settings? deals with the behaviour of the P400 itself, with greetings message, language and security issues such as PIN numbers all available for modification from within this menu. ?Organiser? is fairly self explanatory with the options contained therein to set the date and time, to use the calculator and to work out currency exchange rates. An alarm and to do list is also available. ?Network Services? enables the user to select how a network is searched for (either automatically or manually) as well as call barring settings and caller ID information. As its name suggests ?Funbox? is where all of the frivolity is to be found, the WAP browser is accessed from here with its favourites and home settings. The games are also here with the four included (Bubble2smile, Fun2link, Ultimate Golf Challenge and MobileChess) all fun to play once the controls have been mastered. Any and all downloaded ringtones and wallpapers are also stored here for easy access. Last but not least the ?My Services? Menu lets the user know which network provider(s) the phone is connected to. All of the menus are smooth scrolling and brightly coloured with animated pictures to compliment them, a real pleasure to navigate through.

My Personal Opinion of the Samsung P400

Well, to put it simply I love it. The Samsung P400 is a pleasure to use; it is small enough to fit comfortably in the pocket yet loud enough to hear in a noisy room when it rings. The polyphonic ringtones are crisp and clear and the la
rgeness of the screen in comparison to the overall phone size is beautiful in its clarity. The buttons are easy to press even with my large fingers with single button access to both the camera and the WAP service. The open and shut mechanism feels strong with a warble emitted upon opening or closing of the phone. The camera is easy to use with clear pictures the like of which I have never seen from a camera phone. Battery life is good, with the two batteries included taking a mere three hours to fully charge. Finally, the inclusion of a data cable is inspired; it enables me to back up important SIM card details like phone numbers or texts to my computer, the software that enables this to happen is quick to load and easy to use.

Would I recommend the Samsung P400 then? You bet I would, I recommend it like I have never recommended anything before, I urge you to go and get one, it really is a dream mobile phone.

www.samsungmobile.com
www.O2.co.uk

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