Samsung E900 - Touch For Tunes

The E900 is the latest offering from slide phone specialists, Samsung. It weighs in at just 93g and has incorporated essential technology, such as a 2MP camera, MP3 player and Internet capabilities. It is effectively Samsung’s answer to the LG Chocolate and goes above and beyond what its rival can do.

Like the Chocolate, the E900 is touch sensitive so the menu pads on the top half of the phone respond to the slightest touch, although the bottom half consists of regular buttons. Even though I find that odd, the combination works because it aims to please everyone and makes the assimilating to the text function easier.

Aesthetically, the Samsung E900 is certainly pleasing to the eye. Considering the technology it packs, it is certainly lightweight and a lot less bulky than expected. How much of this is a result of there being pads rather than buttons on the top half is open to debate. The screen is simply excellent. Colours are displayed with dazzling brilliance and the quality of the image is unparalleled. If you don’t particularly like the black model, Samsung has also released a pink E900. It’s certainly eye-catching if nothing else.

Technologically, the E900 is a jewel. The MP3 player is of the usual high Samsung quality and audio can be imported via bluetooth or from your PC using the USB connection. The 80 MB memory, whilst ample for photo storage, would need supplementing if you did want to use it as a music device. There is a slot for a MicroSD disc to expand the memory though.

Samsung throw everything but the kitchen sink into the mix with the document viewer. If you want to view Word or PDF documents, an Excel or even a PowerPoint presentation, you got it! This feature blows your regular organizer out of the water.

You can’t help but love the E900. The menus are easily viewable without actually going into specific areas as a result of scrolling lists that pop up when you select an area to view, making navigation effortless. The document viewer makes it the perfect phone for business and the games and music options give it scope for play.

I do have some gripes about the E900 though. I don’t like the touch sensitivity, even though it does automatically switch off when you accept a call. I find the pads a little too sensitive for my liking. Although I have no idea whether it is connected to that or not, the battery life is poor. 3.5 hours of talk time is a poor return for this type of phone.

The camera has its weaknesses too. The image processing is very slow, as is the time it takes to load the camera function. These noticeable delays defeat the object of having a 2MP camera on the E900 in the first place.

The E900 is definitely one of Samsung’s better phones. The functionality is amazing, but the slight problems that users will experience undermine its place at the top of the pile.

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