Review: Samsung SGH-i620 QWERTY Smartphone

Samsung SGH-i620

Samsung SGH-i620

Samsung SGH-i620

Samsung SGH-i620

Samsung SGH-i620

Our friends at Samsung were kind enough to slip us a bright white SGH-i620 while we were visiting them at the 2008 CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas. This particular i620 was built for Vodafone Italy, and sports the company's "mail & call" logo on its side. The i620 is similar to Samsung's other i6xx series messaging devices, such as the i617 BlackJack II, and runs the same Windows Mobile 6.0 Standard edition operating system. It is a tri-band GSM/EDGE cellphone that can get HSDPA 3G data speeds on 2100MHz networks, such as those in Europe.

Physical Aspects

Samsung's SGH-i620 is designed to be a messaging smartphone that has great style, but often fashion comes with a bit of a price. In the case of the i620, that price is Samsung's use of touch sensitive keys on the front of the cellphone. While they work pretty well, touch sensitive keys never work as well as real hardware buttons, even if they are prettier. They can sometimes be activated by accident, causing an unintended phone call or two, but they certainly make the device look more sexy - especially in our unit's white color scheme.

One thing that no compromises were made on, though, is the scrollable d-pad wheel on the i620. It is, quite simply, the best I have used. It is far faster and more responsive than the d-pad wheel on Samsung's own BlackJack II (SGH-i617), of which I am also a fan. The wheel response is smooth and very quick. It doesn't spin freely on its own, but it sure feels like it wants to.

When the solidly sprung slider mechanism on the i620 is opened up, users get access to the nicely spaced out QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard on the i620 is almost 2mm narrower than the one found on the BlackJack II, but I didn't notice the difference in actual use. In general the keys have a nice feel, being domed just enough, and are backlit well. The only complaint I have concerns Samsung's oddball numeric keypad layout, which aims to use two letter keys per number. It is nice in theory, but confusing to look at. A similar layout was used on the original BlackJack, but was dropped on the BlackJack II.

The SGH-i620's display is a decently nice 2.2" QVGA resolution unit that can render up to 65,000 color shades. The brightness level is adjustable so that users have the option of turning it down a bit to prolong the device's battery life. The battery itself is located behind an easily removed cover on the rear of the device. The main 2 megapixel camera remains hidden until the slider is opened up, but a forward facing camera for video calls is found on the front of the i620, above the display.

The overall build quality of the SGH-i620 seems quite good. The chrome trim on our review unit appears to have been minorly scratched at some point, but overall the device appears to wear well. On the left hand side of the phone are the volume control rocker switch and the covered microSD card slot. A covered power/headset/USB port is located on the right edge of the phone, next to a shortcut key that calls up the Windows Mobile Quick List or camera.

The i620 measures 95.5mm x 59.5mm x 17.5mm (3.8" x 2.3" x .7") in size, and our review unit tipped the scales at 129g (4.5oz), with both the microSD and SIM cards installed. I really can appreciate the i620's good looks and very pocketable form factor, but from a usability perspective, I really question Samsung's use of touch sensitive softkeys and call keys. At least the keyboard, which is at least as important, is very usable.