Samsung SGH-E630

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Being the youngest form factor in the market, slider phones are rapidly gaining in popularity. A few months back, the Samsung SGH-E800 and Siemens SL65 went neck-and-neck in competition for sliding supremacy. Now, going up against the likes of Panasonic's X500, can the E630 tip the scales heavily in favor of the Korean manufacturer?

Design
There's much to like about the E630. Beside being the smallest new kid on the block, its petite 85 x 43 x 22mm frame and 82g weight are perfect for small hands and ladies' purses. Smooth curves coupled with a stylish black-and-silver color scheme give the handphone a chic, sophisticated look. The 128 x 160-pixel, 65K-color TFT display exhibits sharp colors with adequate contrast, though menu icons look slightly pixelated.

Unlike the semi-automatic E800, this model sadly incorporates only a manual slide-up mechanism. Using a slightly protruding tab below the display, pushing up the top half is smooth but closing it back isn't always as effortless. Over time, the upper half may also get a little loose. Due to the positioning of the VGA camera lens about 15mm from the top at the back, your fingers may inadvertently block the sensor when taking pictures.

While the navigational pad and softkeys allow for most functions to be accessible without sliding the phone open, the central softkey cannot be used as the selector in most cases. Credit is due, though, for the hidden, well-mapped and spacious keypad that is comfortable and responsive to presses.

Features
The E630's menu interface is generally speedy with minimal lag. Messaging is equally smooth and responsive. The repetitive message alert is also useful when you miss an incoming notice the first time round.

Following in the footsteps of the E800, this Samsung model employs the same noise cancelation technology. This helps in sensing ambient sound levels and adjusting handset volume accordingly for clearer conversations even in loud environments. If you think the small internal speakerphone--loud enough as it is--can't cover a large boardroom meeting, the SoundMate accessory should do the trick with its excellent audio amplification. As a bonus, unlike the E800, this nifty accessory comes as part of the standard package.

Keeping with Samsung's proud audio tradition, melodies on the E630 are reproduced with impressive 64-chord polyphony. One particularly odd ringtone which sounds suspiciously like a flying mosquito should definitely raise some eyebrows or get some hands waving. The E630 also manages up to 6 hours of voice recording. MP3 is not supported, however.

The CMOS camera manages decent quality, 640 x 480-pixel pictures and the onboard photolight is sufficiently bright. Like the E800, there is virtually no shutter lag when taking photos. While imaging tweaks are fairly limited, you can use preinstalled frames to add some variety to your snapshots even if their designs are fairly simple. Considering the file sizes of VGA photos, the 18MB of shared internal memory should suffice most users.

With practically all Samsung offerings, Bluetooth is absent in the E630. Without a data cable connection and only the infrared to send just phonebook contacts, users will have to use multimedia messages or email to transfer their photos and sound files.

Reception, Battery Life And SAR
Compared with the E800 and X500 that are both dualband only, the triband E630 has a definite edge. We had no reception problems with the unit during the testing period, and voice calls were clearly audible. We managed about three days of moderate usage using the 800mAh Lithium-ion battery.

The highest Specific Absorption rate recorded was 0.506W/kg, which meets international requirements concerning exposure to radio waves.

Conclusion
If the number of models released is anything to go by, Samsung's dominance of the slider phone market looks set to continue in the near future. At S$538 (US$387.36) with a two-year plan and S$688 (US$495.36) without contract, the E630 is currently priced around the same range as the E800 but higher than the Panasonic X500. If you want a handy triband slider that looks good with superb sound, the E630 could be the phone of choice.