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Samsung S400i
The first thing that struck me about the Samsung S400i was the packaging. It really is fantastic; a sort of drawer on the bottom slides down, which pushes the phone up out of the top (see right). I’m clearly very easily wooed by nice touches, but it was a good start to my S400i experience.
OK, on to the actual review:
The Samsung S400i is a really nice little phone. Let’s be clear right from the start that the S400i is an entry level phone. It’s not a high end handset, it’s not supposed to better the S500i which is a far superior phone technically (though I think the S400i is nicer).
At a glance
- No mp3 player: however it does play mp4 and aac encoded music, which are the standard formats used by iTunes—so no biggie as far as I’m concerned.
- No memory card slot: like all of the samsung handsets barring the S500i, the S400i has no memory card slot, which is a pain when it comes to it’s use as a music player.
- Looks: slimmer and trimmer (or smaller and lighter if you’re a fan of less flowery language) than the Z320i, much better looking than the S500i, but more masculine than either of NEC’s i-mode® handsets.
- Camera/Screen: Far crisper and brighter than I expected, the camera pictures—despite being only 640 × 480 are actually pretty good, even in low light. I’m actually quite surprised by how good the images from the camera are.
- User Interface: Much nicer than the other Samsung phones. Much friendlier and easier to navigate. I guess on the ‘high end’ handsets like the S500i they feel the need to use ugly, square designs for the type and menu items to make them appear more masculine and industrial. Bad move.
Thoughts
I really like these Samsung sliding phones, particularly when the sliding mechanism is executed a slickly as it is on the S400i. The size of the phone is perfect, and it’s extremely well balanced—it feels great in the hand. I have to say that I’ve never thought much of Samsung’s consumer electronics, particularly their phones, but I’ve definitely been turned by their recent releases on i-mode. The s400i is a really great entry level handset, not perfect by any means, but it’s a good looking, cheerful little phone, that’s more versatile than it first appears. My only major grumble is that it doesn’t come with a USB cable or a set of headphones in the box.As always, we’re always happy to hear your views on the Samsung S400i, so please do leave a comment below if you’ve had first hand experience with this phone too—or even if you just want to ask us a question. I’d particularly like to hear from anyone with the free bundled photo printer—the disadvantage of being just a reviewer is that we don’t get all the freebies that you paying customers do!—mainly as to whether it’s any good?
Oh, and one more thing, the calendar application is really nice.
Key specifications
Samsung S400i Size 91 × 45 × 21 mm Weight 88g Java DoJa 1.5 Connectivity USB, Bluetooth Camera 300K pixels Display Screen size 176 × 220 pixels Wallpaper screen size 176 × 220 pixels Browsing screen size 176 × 178 pixels Doja screen size 176 × 186 pixels Colours 262k i-mode Browser Access Inc. Netfront v3.2 Languages supported HTML 4.01 partial iHTML, cHTML, WML 1.3 Max page size 100kB i-mail Size limit 20KB Capacity inbox: 3.5MB, outbox: 2.5MB Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need more information on the technical aspects of the handset. The Samsung S400i is available exlusively from O2
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