Samsung SGH-Z560

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Samsung's latest clamshell phone, the SGH-Z560, is one of the company's first handsets in Asia to offer High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) connectivity. It also offers a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, a speakerphone, and an external memory slot. The design is attractive, though decidedly unflashy, and its performance is acceptable, despite some fuzzy calls. The Z560 is currently available at selected retail outlets for about S$368 (US$261.92) with a two-year contract or S$698 (US$496.80) without contract.

Editors' note:

This review is based on a Samsung SGH-A707 unit available in the US. Its equivalent model in Asia is the SGH-Z560. Some parts of this review have been edited for localization in Asia.

Design
We'll be frank: The Samsung Z560 flip phone isn't a trendsetter when it comes to design. It's not ugly by any means, but the black color is rather ordinary, and the form factor is a tad boxy. At 97.3 x 51.3 x 16.3 mm, it won't fit in a compact parking space, but it still slides easily into a bag and into smaller pockets. And though it's rather thin we love that the SGH-Z560 isn't blindly chasing the now-tired craze for skinny phones. It's also a tad weighty (98g), but in return you get a well-constructed handset that has a solid, comfortable feel in the hand. The hinge feels especially sturdy.

Though the external screen on the Z560 is small (1 inch; 96x96 pixels) for the phone's overall size, the display shows just about all the information it should, including the date, the time, the signal strength, and the remaining battery life. It also displays photo caller ID and acts as a viewfinder for the camera lens, which is located right above the screen. Unfortunately, there's no flash to brighten up dim environments, and only the display's contrast is changeable. Below the display sits the touch-sensitive music controls, which allow you to play and pause music and fast-forward and rewind between tracks when the phone is closed. The controls were user-friendly and not overly sensitive--in fact, they required a firm touch. To start the player when the front flap is closed, you must press the silver bottom on the right spine, which also activates the camera and the ringer profile list. Above it is a very recessed microSD card slot (you'll need sharp nails to remove a card), while the headset/charger ports and a volume rocker rest on the left spine. Stereo speakers sit on either side of the front flap.

	The Z560's external music controls allow easy access to the music player.

The Z560's internal display is huge at 2.24 inches (176x220 pixels), and it supports 262,000 colors. It's very easy on the eyes, offering vibrant, eye-popping colors and readable text. As with most Samsung displays, it's difficult to see in direct light, but you can change the brightness, the backlight time, and the font size, color, and type. We continue to enjoy Samsung's simpler menu structure--the pop-up secondary menus are particularly cool--and we had no trouble navigating through our various choices. Our one minor quibble is that the display shows fingerprints and smudges quite easily.

The SGH-Z560's navigation array immediately below the display has its good and bad points. The keys are large and well-spaced, but we wish they had a more tactile feel. And, they're just about flat with the surface of the phone, so they tend to be slippery. Also, the "OK" button opens the Web browser in standby mode rather than opening the menus, an arrangement that we would consider to be more convenient. The four-way toggle doubles as a shortcut to four user-defined shortcuts while a handy secondary shortcut button sits just to the left of the toggle. There are also two soft keys, a dedicated button for launching the music player, the traditional Talk and End/Power buttons, and a clear key.

The Z560's backlit keypad buttons are similar to their navigation counterparts. Though they are large and well-spaced from each other, they are almost flat with the surface of the phone and rather slick. We didn't have any misdials but it wasn't easy to dial by feel.

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