Samsung SGH-E730 (Silver Nano)

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Just two months after the introduction of the SGH-E720, Samsung rolls out yet another music-phone, the SGH-E730. While the two handsets sport pretty similar features such as a megapixel camera and an MP3 player, the E730 does come equipped with several key improvements, including an onboard FM tuner and bacteria-fighting Silver Nano coating. Our only gripe about the phone is its lack of expandable memory options, but this should not deter mobile users looking for a compact, all-in-one mobile phone.

Design
Samsung's clamshell phones are known for their attractive designs and strong build quality, and the E730 is certainly no exception. Its all-black cover keeps it relatively stain-free while the Silver Nano coating promises to protect the phone against germs. Its design which involves clean rounded edges and sleek styling should go down well with most people, from fashion-conscious users to business professionals. The glossy surface on the top cover, however, tends to attract smudges and fingerprints.

Though not the smallest clamshell in the market today, the compact, antenna-less design of the E730 is just the right comfortable size for making calls and SMSing. It easily fits tight pockets and small handbags, too. That said, its smooth surface and rounded edges can be quite hard to grip at times. This is particularly so when handling it with wet hands or fumbling to remove it from a pouch to answer a call. Fortunately, the phone's hardy construction prevails, as we found out during a couple of our unscheduled "drop" tests.

As with most Samsung handsets, the buttons on the E730's keypad are generally responsive. It also helps that the company has included a separate Ok key in the center of the four-way directional joypad, which makes it much easier to navigate the phone menus.

Like the E720, the E730 comes with additional external buttons that offer users the convenience of operating MP3 playback, FM tuner and imaging functions without having to flip open the cover. The only downside here is that the external buttons can be activated accidentally when left in the pocket or carrier. Samsung has added a nice touch to the phone by incorporating a sliding cover for the headset jack.

Features
You've to hand it to Samsung for being able to squeeze so many features into a pocket-sized phone that measures just 87 x 43 x 23mm and weighs 88g. On top of its built-in music player, the clamshell now comes with FM tuner. Sound quality is generally good, with slight muffling occurring at times only at the loudest volume setting. The onboard speakers offer good volume range for both music and ringtone playback.

The onboard 1.3-megapixel camera takes still images up to 1,280 x 1,024 pixels as well as records 176 x 144-pixel video footage. During camera tests, most of the outdoor day images turned out well, with good color reproduction and exposure. Video capture was generally smooth. However, the weak flashlight failed to improve the noisy images captured under low-light conditions.

Connectivity-wise, the E730 is triband-compatible with GSM900/1800/1900, meaning Asian customers can use the phone in the US. There is no infrared port on the mobile, but it does offer Bluetooth and USB as standard options. During tests, we found transferring data using the USB1.1 port agonizingly slow. It took about 100 secs to upload a 2.5MB file into the phone. Using Bluetooth, the same file transfer took just 65 secs. Another drawback is that you have to install the bundled software application before you can access the phone through USB, meaning you cannot use the phone like a typical plug-and-play thumbdrive. The phone does, however, support wireless mobile printing via Bluetooth.

Our biggest gripe about the E730 is its limited memory options. While 88MB of onboard storage is relatively generous for a handset, the lack of a memory card expansion slot really restricts the use of the phone's onboard multimedia features.

The E730 comes with two displays. The main internal TFT screen offers sharp and crisp 18-bit color quality at 176 x 220 resolution, while the external 80 x 64 OLED display can render up to 65K colors. Five levels of brightness control are available for the main panel, with the brightest selection delivering a clear view of the screen, even in outdoor daylight conditions.

Performance
In terms of call reception and voice clarity, we did not encounter any problems with the E730. The 800mAh battery lasted an average of two days under normal usage, which should be sufficient for most everyday commuters. Under constant music playback, the E730 powered on for slightly more than 10 hours on a full charge.

One improvement we observed about the phone is the addition of the missed calls and SMS icons on the external OLED display, meaning you can now check for missed calls and text messages without opening the clamshell. However, we found the SMS interface rather frustrating as it switches from T9 predictive text mode to normal tap mode whenever you access the contact list.

For those concerned about phone radiation, the E730's highest SAR rating is 0.345W/kg, which is well below the stipulated international guidelines.