'Soul'ful

I 've always been an ardent fan of Samsung's slider phones-particularly the Ultra series, because they look good and have a clutter-free design. The latest addition to the Ultra series is the U900 'Soul', first showcased at the World Mobile Congress 2008. The U900 has had a love affair with brushed aluminium it seems; it's there everywhere. Right from the word go, it impressed with its solid build quality, snappy performance and dazzling screen.

Remember the KG KF600? The dual screen slider (reviewed by us in May 2008)? Well, the U900 'Soul' is designed on similar lines. The navigation pad on the front has been replaced by a touchpad; where the icons displayed on the screen change according to the menu that you've selected. LG called it the 'InteractPad' and Samsung calls it 'Magic Touch', but they're both the same concept. It's a different matter that the U900's 'Magic Touch' pad is far more responsive.

Slide it up and you will find a large keypad underneath that is comfy to use and provides good tactile feedback.

You'll also see a 5 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and digital image stabilization. Just a little bit of tweaking and the results are really good, even on the PC. The only glitch is that low light pictures suffer because of the LED flash. Just because of that, the camera pales in comparison to similarly priced phones like the Nokia N82 or the Sony Ericsson K850i (both with Xenon flash). I also couldn't fathom why Samsung has just restricted the video recording to QVGA mode i.e. 320 x 240 pixels-at this price and for a 5 MP camera, I was expecting it to record video at 640 x 480 pixels.

Samsung SGH-U900 Rs 20,585	Performance Coolness
Pros Stylish, touch pad, camera Cons Average battery life, No GPS or WiFi Sold by Samsung India Tel: 1800 110 011	Specs GSM triband with EDGE & 3G, 16M colour 2.2-inch TFT, 5MP autofocus camera, Bluetooth with A2DP, FM, 128 MB onboard memory, 880 mAh battery, 112 g, 105 mm x 49.5 mm x 12.9 mm Verdict

I liked that you can customize the display on the touch pad too; you can choose different colors for the icons and for the effects. The touch pad also takes some time getting used to, because it's flanked by some regular keys. You will inadvertently place a finger on these buttons expecting them to work like the touch pad (which requires only a feather touch). Battery life also may be an issue; the U900 comes with a 880 mAh battery, which will probably not last more than a day. But that's the price you pay for the slim size. The sound quality with any kind of usage is pretty decent. For connectivity, it has EDGE, 3G with HSDPA and Bluetooth with A2DP, but I would have surely loved to see WiFi and integrated GPS too. The phone has a memory card slot that can accept an 8 GB card, but our package has no memory card in the box. Make sure that you get a decent sized card in the retail package before you buy though.

Overall, the U900 is a great blend of style, performance and features; one of the best slider phones in the market. But at the current price of Rs 20,585 you can also get GPS & WiFi in the Nokia N82. Tough call!