Review: Samsung's Double Jointed SCH-u740

Samsung SCH-u740

Samsung SCH-u740

Samsung SCH-u740

User Interface

The Samsung SCH-u740's user interface was flexible and quite responsive in general. The phone's standby screen wallpaper can be changed to show a recent photo taken or, if you prefer, you can choose to use one of the many wallpapers that come pre-installed. The default theme is My Desk, which uses a main menu that mimics an office desk setting with your most used applications (messaging, settings and tools, contacts, recent calls, and Get It Now) appearing as items on the desk. Moving left or right on the d-pad redirects a virtual beam of light to a different item on your desk. Pressing OK then causes the appropriate sub-menu to pop-up. I preferred using the Business theme, which is a variant of the traditional Verizon UI, because it was very bright and easier to read.

Regardless of the theme, pressing the OK button from the standby screen takes you into the main menu. Once in the menu, you can use the keypad number keys to quickly navigate directly to the appropriate main menu section, and from there hit the number key that corresponds to the desired menu item to dive in even further. Of course you can also use the d-pad. Sub-menus generally pop up as full screen windows, but often require scrolling to see all of the available options. I tried looking for an option to change the menu's font size, hoping to get all options on one page, but only found an option to change the size of the font used for dialing. I also stumbled upon an Icon Glossary in the submenu of the phone. The glossary shows what all the icons look like and what each stands for. This could come in quite handy for new users of the u740.

The u740 allows users to set their own d-pad shortcuts. The phone's default settings are left for Pictures and Video, right for Get It Now, down for the Calendar, and up for Mobile Web. The center button is hard coded as the select or "ok" button and cannot be changed. The phone's 3 softkeys cannot be modified, either, and default to Message for the left softkey and Contacts for the right. When not at the standby screen, the right softkey seems to handle anything option-related and the left seems to handle anything action-based, such as editing.

The phone's CLR key serves its obvious clear/backspace function as well as doing double duty as the back button when navigating through the u740's menus. If you long press the CLR, it will take you out to the main standby screen, just like the red end call key does. I encountered times when this button was of no apparent use, mostly when I was in some of the more advanced apps such as Mobile Web 2.0. The only way to exit out of such applications is to hit the red end call key.

The only real complaints about the UI are the inconsistent CLR/back functionality that we just mentioned and the lack of flexibility offered when it comes to using the phone in both the landscape and portrait modes. Too many of the phone's applications seem to require use of the phone in the horizontal landscape orientation. On top of that, the 3 or 6 second window that the phone offers when switching from one mode to the other is just not long enough. One slip of a finger when reconfiguring the phone and you are forced to traverse the menus again to get back to where you were.

Conclusion

Overall, I am happy with the look and feel as well as the options the Samsung SCH-u740 provides, but I definitely struggle with its many quirks. Most such issues seem to be related directly to the Verizon UI or to Verizon's V CAST services. I do certainly love the option of switching from regular predictive text input to a full QWERTY keyboard in one full swing. But I admit, the keyboard does take some getting used to and I definitely would caution novice mobile phone users that this is not the easiest keypad in the world to use due to the compromises needed to make it work in two orientations. But thanks to the keypad's flexibility, along with great battery life, a microSD expansion slot, and broadband access, I give the Samsung u740 a "Recommended" rating.

The Samsung SCH-u740 is available on Verizon's website for US$139.99, after rebates and a 2 year service agreement.

You'll find a gallery of sample photos shot with the Samsung u740's 1.3 megapixel camera as well as additional screen shots on the following pages.