Samsung D900 - Is there anything better for under £150? (Samsung SGH-D900)

Member Name: buckhysen

Product:	Samsung SGH-D900
Date:	20/02/09 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stylish, durable, reliable, great reception

Disadvantages: Can't change SMS tones, touch sensitive keys can take a bit of getting used to

As someone who has had nowhere near the amount of mobile phones most people have, I always read up a LOT before changing my phone.
The Samsung D900, at the time of buying was just about the best phone on the market and after more than two years it has really served me well and more importantly lived up to it's early reviews.

Unlike most people I simply buy a mobile phone for service quality and the basic features. I don't really care for a high mega pixel camera (I already have a camera), or a great Video/Voice recorder (I have a video camera), I don't want to watch videos (I have a TV) I don't want to play games (I have a games system) and I don't really want to listen to music on it (I have an MP3 player), yes I know you can buy a state of the art phone at £300+ with all these things on them, but lets be honest you will never find a phone that can offer as good as all these features can offer on a specific gadget.

So when buying the Samsung D900 I was delighted to discover instantly that although having all the above features, the phone didn't rely on any of them as a real selling point. Yes you can play games, browse the net, take photos, listen to music, etc but with a low 2mb (Which was actually quite high when I bought it) memory Samsung had obviously decided that this phone was never meant to be packed with music and videos, etc.

So lets get down to it..... What do I love about this phone?
Quite simply it's the reception I get above everything else, which I had thought might be down to Virgin, but since buying this I have unlocked the phone and had spells with Orange and now O2 and have found that the reception is by far the best I've ever had on a mobile phone, and better than more modern phones I've used recently. No breaking up or low volume here.

Having touch keys was also an added bonus when deciding to buy this phone and this is the other strong selling point. Texting is easy, simply slide up the phone and the perfectly sized keys make texting a doddle.
Although this is also where the first minor annoyance comes in with the D900.
Due to the touch sensitive keys at the top it is very easy to cancel a text at anytime, which is a bit of an annoyance when first using the phone and I've read about a lot of people sending their phone back due to this. But I personally think this is a remarkable decision to make because it just takes a few texts to practise holding the phone slightly different... No big change but it does prevent this.

The only other slight annoyance with texting is that you cannot change SMS tones, which is surprising on a modern phone, and as the standard 10 SMS tones are a bit naif to say the least it does get a bit annoying. I find I change my text tone all the time because the standard tone drives me mad.... But to be honest this is only a minor annoyance.

As mentioned above the phone does come with a lot of cool features, including MP3 player, 2mp camera phone, decent quality video and voice recorder (Although a little quiet), and the usual games, calculator, calendar, etc.
But as I mentioned above I rarely use these features in a phone as I have other gadgets for this.

Whether using the software included (Which is not compatible with Vista unfortunately) or bluetooth, it is very easy to transfer Music, ringtones, videos and photos from your phone to a PC, or vise versa.
And despite the smallish memory I still have well over 300 ringtones, etc on my phone with plenty of memory to spare.

When I bought this phone brand new I paid £170. Which considering I've now had the phone around 2 1/2 years is great value for money.
My only grumble with the phone now is that the space key does sometimes stick, but considering it's 2 /1/2 years old, been dropped plenty of times, been thrown into the bottom of bags and in pockets full of keys, crumbs and all sorts it has lasted really well. I think for a small phone it is one of the most durable phones you will ever buy.

Touching on the camera, as I know a lot of people do buy phones for this alone, the 2mp camera does do a good job. I'm sure it's not the best camera phone out there by a long way but it does take more than reasonable photos indoors and out. If I'm without my camera I do find that it is more than an acceptable alternative for closer shots. Although I wouldn't want to rely on it in a dark bar/club or at a concert.
Once uploaded to a PC the photos do often look in focus and bright which is a good thing. Portrait shots in particular are excellent.

I can't say I've really explored the games on this phone, I know you get 5 or 6 although I believe these are mostly demo's and you have to pay more to play (Certainly with Pool, Midnight Club and Fifa Soccer).

Another feature I use daily is the alarm. Which is loud and certainly wakes me up every morning. In fact I don't know where I'd be without it most mornings.
My only grumble with it is that you cannot use standard ringtones/MP3's/real tones and have to stick to midi tones, which I can live with as I have hundreds. So they never get boring.
I often find myself pressing the snooze button in the morning and to be honest if you are really tired then it can be difficult to find the snooze button without cancelling the alarm, but again it's something that you get used to and stop doing after a while.

Overall I have been delighted with this phone. Especially after 2 1/2 years of constant use.
Phones have moved forward since I bought this but some friends still see it and ask if it's new. So the technology has lasted somewhat.

This is a durable, great reception phone which would be an excellent purchase now as I've seen it at less that half I paid for it online.
I certainly don't think you'd find a better phone at less than £150, so if like me you don't worry too much about all the extra features and want a phone that was made to be a phone first and a gadget second then this really is an excellent buy.

Summary: For the price, a fantastic purchase!

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