Samsung SGH-E760

Author's product rating:   

Look & Feel
Durability & Robustness
Battery standby time
Value for money
Range of features

Advantages:	Small, Lightweight, Good Camera, Good Graphics
Disadvantages:	Muffled caller sound; No sound profiles; Too many clicks to perform some operations

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This is my first "technical" review I think. I'll try to keep it as concise as possible!

I got a new phone a couple of weeks ago, the Samsung E760, which is a flip phone. It came free with a T-mobile deal from the Link, though it retails at £59.99 apparently. The phone is mostly black (a smooth, rubbery, very tactile substance) with metallic silver on the front cover.

Overall, this is a great phone - it has what I want in a phone at least, in that it's small enough to fit in the tightest of pockets (you can even close your fist over it), has a camera, and the ability to upload photos/ringtones to it. It has many more impressive features than that, too, as well as all the standard features you'd expect.

The most striking things about the phone are its small size (specs below), light weight, and the cool graphics. And it also has a movement recognition feature, which is one of the things that makes me think this phone is aimed mainly at kids. It's fun, but the novelty does soon wear off, and it's not useful for much! The movement recognition means in certain modes you can shake the phone or move it in different ways (e.g. side to side) to make it do things on the menu, or to make moves in some of the games it includes. For example, in the "Shake and Play" menu is a pair of dice that appear on the screen (see pic attached). When you shake the phone, the dice shake (and make a satisfying dice-shaking sound) until you stop moving the phone, then they land on random numbers. Another Shake and Play feature is the Beatbox, where you shake the phone in different directions to make beatbox sounds. To be honest though, I haven't quite got the hang of the different movements you're meant to make (I can shake the dice though!) to make it do menu commands, and I think that's something kids would have time to do and be good at. I'm happy to leave the shake and play feature well alone.

The phone has two colour screens - one inside (the main screen) and one small circular one on the outside. You can set any image you have on your phone to be on these screens, and I must say they display well on the small outer screen. Also, when you set images of people in your address book to their entries, their photograph appears in the small circular screen when they ring you, which looks pretty cool and is an instant aid for knowing who's calling. This small outer screen can also be set to display the time, and gives you general information like signal strength, battery charge etc. while the flip phone is closed.

There are volume buttons on the outer case, for changing key/voice volume. There is also a button on the outer case for switching to camera mode when the phone is open, or for lighting up the outer screen when the phone is closed.

Bluetooth: The E760 has Bluetooth. This is easily switched on by going to the settings menu (in general the phone is easy to navigate without using the manual). I didn't know what Bluetooth was till I got this phone. It enables you to exchange files with another Bluetooth phone (that's in the vicinity) for free, assuming you're both switched on for Bluetooth. I've sent my husband image files to his Sony Ericsson phone, and he's sent me files successfully.

Battery: I do find that the phone needs charging more often than any other phone I've had - about every 2 days, though this isn't too bad, and takes about 1.5 hours to fully charge.

Messaging: Writing a message is standard and straightforward, as with other phones, and as well as the predictive text, upper case/lower case modes, there is a number mode. This is a great feature I think, as it saves time on holding down keys to bring up numbers when tapping in a phone number to send to someone.

There are drawbacks to the messaging though. This is an example of too many clicks needed to accomplish a task. When you want to send a message, you type it out, then there's an "options" button to select. Then you select "save and send", then enter the number or select from address book, then click "options" again, then "send", then it asks you whether you want to "send as SMS" or "MMS" or "email". Too much information! This could all be cut out by instead of the initial "options" button, a "send" button, with a default of SMS (or you could set the default to the desired choice). It takes far too long to send a simple text message!

Software: The phone comes with a disc to install its software on your computer. This is very straightforward and user friendly (particularly noticeable actually, after my husband installed his Sony Ericsson software, which was much more complex). By plugging your phone into the computer using the USB wire that comes with it, you can then upload/download images/address book entries/music/ringtones etc. to and from your phone. For example, I put some music from CDs onto my phone for use as ringtones, and also put some photos of friends on it. It can be used the other way around - if you take a photo on your phone you can upload it to your pc.

Ringtones: the phone comes with many ringtones, from classical to pop, to rap to sound effects. I prefer to download my own to the phone, from my own CDs. They can then be set to different people in your address book so that different tunes play according to who rings you. You can also play them using the MP3 player on the phone, but again, this is a feature for kids (to annoy adults with on bus journeys, methinks), and you can never ever get a decent sound out of a phone - it couldn't ever compare to a proper stereo player if you ask me, even though this phone does feature stereo speakers.

Camera: the camera is good quality - for me, a camera phone is never going to replace my digital camera, so it doesn't have to be great quality with loads of pixels (it has 1.3 megapixels), but this one is far superior to the last one I had (on the LG 8120), which is a nice bonus. It also has many features to it, like instant zoom and brightness adjustors (you just press the arrow keys to adjust), and frames included, so you could e.g. take your friend's photo so they're superimposed on a pic of a clown (some of these kiddie features appeal to me, I have to say... :-).

Video: using the camera, you can switch to video mode and video anything you want. You can also download videos to your phone, e.g. a pop video you can watch and listen to (there are one or two included with the phone as examples, but you can delete them, which I think is good, so they don't take up your memory space).

Games: there are three Java games included on the phone, and the ability to download more at a cost. The games are a snow luge game, a treasure hunt game, and a football (penalty-scoring) game. You control all the games using the motion sensor.

Phonebook: It's a straightforward phonebook that allows you to store several numbers for each person. Easy to use, though again some operations take too many clicks and could be reduced. E.g. you get to a person's record by clicking on the record. I think just scrolling down the list, you should be able to see all the info for a person there and then, as you could on the LG 8120 (sorry if I keep comparing to this phone but it's the most similar phone to this I've had, and produces some interesting comparisons).

Keypad: I'm still getting used to a few differences on this keypad compared to the Nokias/LG I'm used to, but I'm sure I'll pick them up. There are just a few key differences, like the space key and the key you use to change the predictive text feature to normal text are different to those used on Nokia phones.

The phone is small, so the keypad is small. This is all ok, except for the "Ok" menu button and arrows, which is a circular button near the top, with ok in the middle and arrow keys around the circle. This I find sometimes difficult to depress in the correct way, so I don't quite get the arrow key I wanted to press. This is due to the compactness of the phone though, and I'm willing to forgive it over gaining a tiny phone.

These four arrow keys can be set as shortcuts to any menu you wish, which is a useful feature, so you're not restricted to built-in shortcuts that might not be what you want.

Browser: The built-in browser allows you to access the internet, for news, games, etc, and for email (you can send and receive email from your phone). You can also use your phone with a laptop by connecting the USB port and the laptop can then connect to the internet using the phone.

Other features: There's a handy world time feature, which allows you to select various time zones from a map of the world and it'll tell you the time (it doesn't cover all places though). The voice recorder acts almost as well as a proper dictophone, and could be used to record lectures or the like, as the sound quality is good and you can record up to an hour's worth. There's also a convertor for currency and various measurements, as well as the usual calculator, alarm clock, calendar/organizer, stopwatch/timer etc, all in working order.

Things they could improve:

1. I like my phone to be able to both vibrate and ring at the same time, as especially when I'm on the move, I don't tend to hear my phone but do feel it vibrating. I've been able to do this with all previous phones (various Nokia models and LG 8120) but not this one. You can only set it to vibrate only; ring only; vibrate three times then ring, which is annoying. I set it to the last setting, which is the best compromise, but I sometimes miss calls as if I don't carry it on me, I don't feel the vibrations, and the ringing doesn't start till the person calling is just about to ring off.

2. There are no profiles available, to use or to set up. By profiles, I mean setting up different ringing themes, like silent, outdoor, etc. I use two settings - when I'm at work I like either a very quiet ring or just vibrate, and the rest of the time I generally want the phone to vibrate and ring as loud as possible, at the same time. This phone doesn't enable you (or else I'm missing something) to set and save different profiles in this way. There is a quick way to get to "Quiet Mode" however, by pressing and holding the hash key. So effectively, the phone has only two profiles, and only one of them is customizable (i.e. not Quiet Mode).

3. When changing the ringtone (in any way, e.g. the tune, the volume, the vibrate/ring setting) you enter the Sound Settings menu and go to Incoming Call (NB: you can set up a shortcut to up to 4 places, and this is one I've set up a shortcut for, so it can be accessed quickly for quick changing of the ring profile). However, when you enter this menu, it plays the ringtone you have set. This is particularly annoying when you're in a quiet place and want to set the volume lower, as you get a loud blast of the tune until you exit this menu.

4. You can attach photos to people in your address book. This is great, and something my last phone (LG 8120) did. However, much as I disliked that last phone (for its constant break-downs if nothing else), I have to say it did do better on this feature than the E760. The E760 only allows one way of viewing the address book, with each name and number one after the other. I would prefer to be able to see the photo of the person on the menu as I scroll down, for easy recognition of numbers. Also, when you actually go into a record, the photo is very small (thumbnail sized) and there doesn't seem to be any way to expand it, which I personally find annoying - it's too small to see well. So the only use for these photos is for them to appear on the outer screen when the callers ring. In addition to this I would like them to a) be used as part of the address book menu for instant recognition, b) come up on the screen when I dial a particular person's number (instead you get a pic of a phone).

5. There is no flash on the camera! In the scheme of things, given my earlier comments about not using this over a purpose-built digital camera, this shouldn't matter much, but I do miss having a flash sometimes.

6. If you press the green calling button, a list of previous calls comes up (as with most phones). You can then press it again to call someone on the list. This is great. However, what you should be able to do is to enter the caller's record in your phonebook from here, and select a different number for them if desired. E.g., I called my husband on his mobile an hour ago, and go to this number in the caller list for quick reference. But this time I want to call him on his work number, which is stored in the same record. I should be able to (e.g. using arrow keys) flick between his numbers on this calls list and choose his work number then call it, all in a few clicks. This isn't possible though, and instead I have to go into the phonebook, into his record, and select the work number.

MAJOR DOWNSIDE: I need to get in touch with Samsung about this, in case it's a fault in my phone, however, I don't think it is. I think it's due to the compact design. All phone calls I receive, the caller is muffled, to the extent that even people I'm closest to and whose voices I know well are sometimes difficult to understand. I've tried changing the volume, moving my ear less close to the earpiece, but nothing works. This is a major flaw, given communication is the first reason you buy a phone.

FEATURES: MP3 player, Clock, Alarm, Java (MIDP 2.0) games, Camera, Video capture & player, Bluetooth v1.2, MPEG4 player, WAP 2.0, T9, Organizer with calendar, Built-in handsfree (I haven't figured this out yet though!), USB port, SyncML, vCard, Voice memo, Vibration, Motion sensor, World time

NETWORK: GSM 900/GSM 1800/GSM 1900
SIZE: 88 x 44 x 23 mm
WEIGHT: 87 g
DISPLAY TYPE: TFT, 256K colors
DISPLAY SIZE: 176 x 220 pixels
(Second external OLED display, 65K colors, 96 x 96 pixels)
RINGTONES: Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3
PHONEBOOK :1000 x 10 fields, Photo call
CALL RECORDS: 20 dialled, 20 received, 20 missed calls
MEMORY: 92 MB shared memory
DATA SPEED: 32 - 48 kbps
MESSAGING: SMS, EMS, MMS, Email
CAMERA: 1.3 MP, 1280 x 1024 pixels, video
BATTERY: Standard battery, Li-Ion 800 mAh
STAND-BY: Up to 240 h
TALK TIME: Up to 8 h