Samsung SCH-U420 calling and messaging phone

The thin-and-light slider arrives with Bluetooth, a VGA camera, impressive calling features, and killer looks.

The SCH-U420 is beautiful to look at, but the slick, lightweight design clearly comes at a cost of usability. Keys are a shiny, black plastic with little gap between them, making it far too easy to press above or below your intended stroke. The number keys butt up against the bottom of the upper half of the slider, making the top row difficult to access. The phone is small and very light, but feels solid. Its slide opens and closes with a spring-loaded, reassuring click. The screen is bright and colorful, and text is easy to read in every application.

Calling - Mediocre

Call quality on the SCH-U420 is mediocre, at best. Calls have a slightly buzzing sound to them, making words slur together on the receiving end of calls. Though the microphone is positioned away from the mouth, breathing sounds, and occasionally air currents from air conditioning vents were audible. Dialing on the phone was just as bad. The keys are small, very slick, and close together. The top row of digits are so close to the bottom of the slide that dialing ''1'' or ''3'' resulted in frequent errors -- indeed, we found ourselves pecking with our fingernails to dial correctly, an uncomfortable predicament. Similarly, pressing ''OK'' in the center of the five-way button was nearly impossible. The phone sports speaker-independent voice dialing, a feature that may save you the headache of dialing with the keys. Polyphonic ringtones are supported and sold through Alltel's Axcess network, but the phone cannot play MP3s. Bluetooth headsets are supported, but unfortunately there's no conference calling. The contact list is basic, but competent, allowing you to store five numbers and an e-mail address for each contact. Live searching cuts the necessity for scrolling. Also, a set of fun fonts are available on the dialing display, making your numbers look like sticky notes or handwriting.


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