hello everyone,

just thought i'd share my initial views on this new device from Samsung.

i've been waiting for this quite long time liao, and bought it yesterday on a whim. it runs WM6.0 (no threaded SMS), 624mhz processor, GPS, wifi, HSDPA, 256rom, 128ram. all in all, the specs on this machine quite loaded.

it has an interesting new input method - there is no 4-5 way navigator ala most smartphones, but instead has a mini touchpad which can be used 2 ways - as a finger mouse, and as a 4-way navigator. finger mouse method quite weird, as you basically finger the touchpad to move a mouse pointer around to click on items/programs/etc. not very intuitive if u are used to clicking up-down, left-right with physical buttons. as for 4-way navigation, you swipe up, down, left, right on the touchpad to move the highlighted item, just like you would click on a 4-way navigator. only problem with this method is you can't simulate holding down a particular direction, so you have to swipe many many times if you want to scroll down various items. i've tried both methods yesterday and today, and i prefer the 4-way swipe method - more intuitive in my view.

the screen resolution of 320x320 also creates a few problems - most programs will be able to adjust to the square size (most progs are written with 240x240 reso in mind, thanks to the Treo 750), but the higher reso means that some programs and the font sizes all look slightly out of whack, and in some case, drop down lists don't appear, but are actually there if you swipe down the list.

games generally don't work at all, since most are hard-coded into a particular resolution, although i haven't tried many games.

because of the higher reso, Samsung saw it fit to make the default font size quite big, which takes away from the advantages of a higher reso - ie more stuff on screen. there also doesn't appear to be any way of changing the fonts sizes either, so the menu fonts don't look similar to the Start Menu fonts for example, and this makes for a rather unbalanced GUI in my personal view.

other than the aforesaid complaints, this is a very very well-stacked device. very fast, all connectivity options loaded (GPS in a 13-14mm thick device!), very classy design, and most importantly for me (being a ex-Treo user) a physical qwerty keyboard. i've been using a HTC Touch Dual last few months, and whilst that is one heck of a device, nothing beats a physical keyboard in my view.

only a minor complaint - the keyboard keys can be a little stiff when pressing, not as smooth as the Treo keyboard.

will go and try out my GPS software now and update everyone later.

highly recommend this device. can't wait for someone to hack WM6.1 onto this baby and my life will be complete... until the SE Xperia X1 that is...

ac