INSIDER ON THE SLIDER (Samsung SGH-E370)

Member Name: astrababe

Product:	Samsung SGH-E370
Date:	04/01/08 (172 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Stylish, easy to use, reliable and tactilely pleasing

Disadvantages: No USB - to - PC cable . Apart from that, none

The first mobile phone I ever had was a Nokia 3210 - a bit of a brick in comparison with the dinky wee things you get nowadays. No camera, no polyphonic ringtones and definitely no video or mp3 players. However, I found the cost of the contract was more than the calls I was making so, after the compulsory year, I switched to a Pay As You Talk Siemens A60. It was a very nice phone but, after a year or so, I coveted my daughter's cute, pink, clamshell flip phone so I made the disastrous move of selling the Siemens to my sister and buying a Sendo flip phone which, although nice for a while, turned out to be cheap and nasty, the buttons kept sticking - a real irritant when trying to quickly send a text message - and negotiating the menu was excruciatingly awkward.

I wanted a flip phone but I wasn't fussed about ringtones or a camera. I carry a digital camera and a 35mm so what on earth would I want with a camera phone? I really only use a mobile phone to communicate with my children by text or make an occasional quick call so a contract wasn't viable. Also, because of the rather restrictive area in which I live, it had to use the Vodafone network. I quite liked the look of the coloured Motorola Pebl but when I saw it 'in the flesh' so to speak, I really didn't like the Rolf Harris Stylophone keypad. I scoured the shelves of phone shops and supermarkets for the right one but they were cheap and plasticky or beyond my financial range or the design wasn't quite what I wanted.

Then my brother handed me his phone to speak to my sister and I discovered the slider phone. Now these may have been around for yonks but bear in mind I live in the back of beyond - yes it really exists.
At the same time, I received the usual junk mail letter from a catalogue I had just about given up on. They were begging me to buy from them and I could have 35% off any purchase so I got on the internet and ordered myself a Samsung E370. There are adverts on TV and magazine inserts just now for the Samsung D900 - it looks very similar to that one. At the tim, the purchase price was £169.99 but, with the generous catalogue discount, comes down to £110 then take away the usual commission, the phone should eventually cost me about £99 give or take a few. Please bear in mind that this was a year ago. While I was waiting for this to arrive, I happened to be in Inverness and popped into the Vodafone shop. The same phone was in there (and in Argos) for £149 (and even cheaper on the internet) but, secured to the wall-shelf as it was, it felt a bit light and plasticky.

The phone arrived by courier post and was well-packaged in a good firm cardboard box. Despite my limited needs, the box reveals that this phone has video messaging, flash camera, mp3 player, Bluetooth and tri-band. Yes, it even makes phone calls! The box is sealed with a sticker which advises you not to accept the package if the seal is broken or to inspect it in the presence of the delivery agent. When I opened the box, all I needed to do was insert the battery which is incorporated into the back cover of the phone. The box also contains a carry strap (which I haven't used) and headphones. The headphone wire seemed to be grossly uneven until my daughter explained that you put one side in one ear then wrap the wire around the back of your neck and into your other ear. Hm. The modern world is so complicated.

Right. The phone, then, which is described on the box as ebony black. Despite my fears after visiting the Vodafone shop, the 85g weight of the phone is satisfyingly substantial in the hand. I'm from the old school of thought that light equals cheap. The phone slides smoothly open and closed with a very pleasing clunk.

Above the screen is the Samsung name which, when moved around, reflects pretty rainbow colours and below there are five buttons plus a central navigation and OK/i button.
On the menu screen there are nine dinky little icons with a whole host of what my auntie calls thingamabobs which are pretty self-explanatory and run as follows:-

1. CALL RECORDS - Recent contacts, Missed calls, Dialled calls, Received calls, Delete all, Call time.
2. PHONEBOOK - Contact list, Add new contact, Group, Speed dial, My name card, Own number, Management.
3. APPLICATIONS - Music player, Voice recorder, Java world, World time, Alarm, Calculator, Converter, Timer, Stopwatch.
4. BROWSER (WAP 2.0) - Home, Bookmarks, Go to URL, Clear cache, Profile settings, Current profile.
5. MESSAGES - Create new message, My messages, Templates, Delete all, Settings, Broadcast messages, Memory Status.
6. FILE MANAGER - Images, Videos, Music, Sounds, Other files, Memory status,
7. CALENDAR - View mode (Day/Week view), Create (Schedule, Anniversary, Miscellaneous, To do), Go to (Today/Date), Sort by (Schedule, Anniversary, Miscellaneous, To do), Delete (Selected, Periods, This month, All), Missed alarm, Memory status.
8. CAMERA - Record video, Shooting mode, Effects, Frames, Flash, Timer, Go to photos, Settings, Camera short cuts.
9. SETTINGS - Time & Date, Phone settings, Display settings, Sound settings, Light settings, Network services, Bluetooth, Security, Memory status, Reset settings.
Each of these has its own little standard menu too.

Okay some specs then. The weight of the phone is 85g and it measures a cute 86 x 43.1 x 20.4mm when it's closed. The length, when slid open, is approx 120mm. The 65k colour display screen is 128 x 160 pixels and measures 34 x 26mm. The camera has 1.3 mega pixels which I believe is pretty decent for a camera phone. I hope this is making sense to someone out there. The camera has a flash available and you can also take sound and colour videos which I love. I've never had a video camera and, while I love taking photos of the kids growing up, being able to video them, albeit a little jerky, and record their voices too is great. On the right hand side of the phone is a small silver button which allows instant access to the camera without having to go through menus. Just above this is a covered slot for your headphones.

I really like the sound on this phone. With 40 polyphonic ringtone channels, mp3 player and vibration, the sound is more musical and less tinny than previous phones. With two soothing and three lively alarm tones to choose from, you can select which days of the week you want the alarm to go off. I've permanently set mine to go off every morning from Monday to Friday but I also have the option to add two more alarms, as a one-off or permanent, and an on/off option for the alarm to ring when the phone is switched off. There is also the option of melody alone, melody plus vibration, vibration alone or none of the above. There is a very handy volume adjuster slider on the left hand side of the phone which enables you to quickly adjust the volume yet is not so obtrusive that you might do so inadvertently.

The phone does not have infrared but it does have Bluetooth v2.0 - a new discovery for me and a handy wee thing for transferring photos, ringtones etc between my phone and my daughter's. She has the gubbins to transfer photos from her phone to the laptop. Unfortunately, the Samsung doesn't come with a USB phone-to-PC cable.

My old phone seemed to be constantly in need of a recharge (bit like meself) but this one could be on Duracells - it just keeps going and going. It isn't Duracell though. The battery which, as I said, is incorporated into the back cover of the phone, is Standard battery, Li-Ion 800 mAh. Can I just add at this point that I'm not constantly yabbering on the mobile phone - I save that for the landline. LOL. I use it for sending text messages and occasionally to phone home if I'm travelling about. With this phone you can send SMS, MMS and e-mail. The talktime is up to 3 hours and standby time is up to a massive 320 hours. That's over 13 days! I confess, here, that I don't really understand this next bit of info but it may be useful for someone who is more au-fait with technology. This phone has GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) and EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) technology. The GPRS is Class 10. [shrug! dunno, sorry]

The 40mb internal memory is huge compared to my other phones. The phonebook has a 1000 entry capacity and holds 20 dialled, 20 received and 20 missed calls.

The Java World games include Forgotten Warrior (climbing up ladders to different levels while being shot at by sinister wee beasties), Freekick (a quite boring football game where you just take shots at goal) and Arch Angel (jet planes shooting at each other). You can download other games if you wish.

This smashing wee phone is available in other colours - pearl white, pink, blue green, noble blue, deep blue and wine red. I think I'll stick with my classy ebony black. Also in the package is a 97-page instruction book. Don't be thrown by this. The book is only 16½ x 9cm so it's quite small, well-indexed and is very easy to read.
I have only one bugbear, however. The manual does not explain how to access the T9 predictive text which was driving me mad because that's where you access the all-important apostrophe. You have to hold down the * key until it changes to T9. Now, don't get me wrong. I know how to use predictive text. I just couldn't work out how to get to it on this phone.

If anyone out there is looking for a new mobile phone, I would definitely recommend this one.

Summary: A lovely little phone

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