Review of Samsung's S8000 Jet with Webkit browser and TouchWiz 2.0 UI

Samsung S8000 Jet

Samsung S8000 Jet

Samsung S8000 Jet

Samsung S8000 Jet

The Samsung S8000 Jet is the Korean manufacturer's latest flagship feature phone product, which Samsung claims to be "smarter than a smartphone." That sets some pretty high expectations, but on paper, at least, the Jet certainly seems to have what it takes. For example, how many non-smartphones can you name that feature a Webkit-based web browser and sport an 800MHz processor?

Read on to see how the Jet makes out in our tests.

Physical Aspects

The Samsung S8000 Jet is an attractive device that is equipped with a large 3.1-inch WVGA resolution AMOLED^(INFO) touchscreen display that works reasonably well in direct sunlight. Unlike some of Samsung's other recent AMOLED touchscreen devices, however, the Jet makes use of a resistive touchscreen^(INFO) that requires a slight bit of pressure to be activated. The upside is that such displays are more accurate when it comes to selecting small on-screen objects like links on a web page or keys on a keyboard. It is quite likely that the Jet's touchscreen is the most beautiful display used on a cell phone today. It's that good.

The body of the phone is constructed of a comfortable plastic material that has been formed into a shape with soft corners and slightly curved surfaces. The rear cover has a unique look to it, thanks to a bit of technology borrowed from Samsung's "Touch of Color" line of flatscreen televisions. There is nothing else like it on the market, and people seem to be quite drawn to it.

The front of the Jet is less interesting, but does feature a uniquely designed menu button that looks something like a 3D cube, a reference to one of the device's menus that we'll touch upon later. The other two front-facing controls handle call and power functions, and there is a noticable lack of a dedicated back key.

Above the display sits a forward-facing video call camera and a sensor that deals with automatic screen brightness adjustment as well as turning off the phone's touchscreen when the phone rests against a user's cheek during a call. A simple volume rocker sits on the left edge, the 3.5mm headphone port and micro-USB power/data connector are on top. The right edge is home to a screen lock and unlock key as well as an oddly shaped key that controls the camera as well as brings up the Jet's 3D cube menu mode, depending on where it is pressed.

The phone is rather typically sized for a full-touch device, coming in at 109mm x 54mm x 12.5mm (4.3in x 2.1in x .5in). Its 110.8g (3.9oz) weight is also right where it should be. All in all, the Samsung Jet sports a very sleek and workable physical design, and even ships with a nice leather pouch.