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By Larry Loh, CNET Asia
Nov 14, 2006

Samsung's 9.9 continues the Kate Moss lineage of bulimic thin under its Ultra Edition series, garnering yet another wow for this middle sibling sandwiched between the 6.9 and the 12.9. However, while it gets raves for pushing the envelope on slim folders, at the same time packing in an array of cutting-edge technology, its attraction rating starts to plummet the moment you attempt to use the keypad. So what was Samsung thinking?

Design
It's certainly no mean feat toppling Motorola's iconic RAZR. To have surpassed that deserves kudos, and frankly, we've not seen a clamshell this skinny. But to have even squeezed an array of cutting-edge technology into such a bulimic folder without appearing squeezed certainly earns it bragging rights.

The Ultra Edition 9.9 (a.k.a. SGH-D830) packs a 2-megapixel camera (but no photolight) above a small, blue OLED screen that displays signal strength, battery life, time and date, and incoming calls or text messages. It even shows the song title. A microSD slot with cover sits on the right edge. On the left side is a volume rocker and a charging port that doubles as a headset port and USB connector. The lid features an interesting microdot texture, and the 96.5g clamshell feels good in hand.

Inside, as expected of the Korean firm, are a startlingly gorgeous 2.3-inch 262K-color screen, grilled microphone and ear piece areas, and a flushed keypad with largish keys. Onboard are a music player, image editor and Bluetooth.

Once you get past ogling all that amazing form and function and start using the phone, that's when the user experience starts to waver. Because it's so slim, opening the clamshell can be tricky at times. But the problem really kicks in when you start to check out the keypad.

The 9.9 may be thin, and it may be sexy. However, one wonders what possessed Samsung to feature a keypad with hardly any tactile feedback, knowing how crucial the typing experience is on a mobile phone. No doubt, it's all part of the cutting-edge package to offer touch sensitive-like keys on a flushed surface.

But when we tried texting, we had no tactile feedback and had to watch where we were pressing. We also had to watch our speed since typing any faster resulted in missed letters. The two softkeys were particularly unresponsive, requiring a couple of hard presses before we got it right.

Some users might possibly get used to the keypad, but speed texters and those who like to SMS without looking will find the user experience too overwhelming. Interacting with your phone should be a no-brainer, and this is just too much work.

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