Review of Samsung's SCH-u650 Sway slider cell phone

Samsung SCH-u650 Sway

Samsung SCH-u650 Sway

Samsung SCH-u650 Sway

Samsung SCH-u650 Sway

Samsung recently launched the SCH-u650 Sway through Verizon, with a 2 megapixel camera, a microSD card slot, and an ultra-slim slider form factor. The Sway is definitely a looker, but do the features work properly, or is it just another pretty face?

Physical Aspects

Despite its high-quality looks, the Samsung Sway is clad entirely in plastic. While this does offer a feather-light in-hand feel, it also diminishes the feel of quality somewhat over similar metal cell phones. The plastic does serve to eliminate fingerprints, which is good. The back of the phone is textured with lines running from top to bottom, the length of the phone, to offer grip. Both the top and bottom keypads are a single panel, and feature the look of brushed aluminum.

The Samsung Sway is incredibly lightweight, but feels rather solid when in use. There are no audible creaks or squeaks or groans that are normally present in plastic cell phones. The slider is very smooth and spring-assisted, with no wobble. After a few weeks of use, I feel confident that this phone would last through some rough treatment, though it's clearly not ruggedized. The entire phone measures only 105.4mm x 49.8mm x 12.0mm (4.15" x 1.96" x 0.47"), and thus slips very smoothly into nearly any pocket.

The front of the Samsung Sway is rather plain, with its small 2.2" QVGA display, surrounded by a mirrored border. The navigation cluster consists of a typical layout, with left and right softkeys, dedicated end/send keys, and a centrally located 'c' or back button. The d-pad is square with rounded corners and a well-defined center button. The d-pad is separated from the rest of the buttons by a thin raised border, and I found using it to be a great experience.

When you slide the Sway open, you'll find a standard numeric keypad. As mentioned before, the keypad is a single panel, but is separated into rows of buttons by small raised strips, similar to those surrounding the d-pad. The numbers and symbols on the keypad are rather difficult to see when the backlight is off, but are at least very large, and the backlight is nice and bright. The top row of number buttons is rather mushy, but the rest of the keypad offers very nice tactile feedback, which I found made text input easy.

There are no connectors on either the top or bottom edge of the phone. The volume rocker is on the left edge, with the covered combination power, headphone, and data cable port below. A microSD card slot is located on the right edge of the Samsung Sway, and is recessed a bit too much, which can make it difficult to eject the card. There is a dedicated camera button located directly above the microSD card slot.

When closed, the back of the Samsung Sway is completely plain, save for the large Verizon logo. The 2 megapixel camera is only visible when the phone is slid open, which means that you must have the phone open in order to take a photo. There is no flash, though a small self-portrait mirror is located right next to the lens. There is also a large loudspeaker next to the lens at the top of the slide.