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By Damian Koh
Apr 22, 2008

Given that the SGH-F700 is probably one of the first Samsung phones with a large 3.2-inch touchscreen LCD, people will undoubtedly compare it with the iPhone. Is it a fair comparison? Not quite. Though for the average man on the street, any handset that has a 3-inch (or thereabout) touchscreen panel is an iPhone pretender, regardless of which one was released earlier.

In fact, the F700 aside (and subsequently the F490), there are a number of touchscreen handsets currently available for different segments of the market. The Sony Ericsson P1i is targeted at the business users, while the W960i Walkman and Motorola ROKR E6 are music-focused models. Brand-conscious users also get a choice between the LG Prada and the Giorgio Armani-Samsung. Rounding up the list is the LG Viewty KU990 which is one of the company's best camera-phones yet.

The proposition for the F700, however, is slightly different. The presence of a QWERTY keyboard usually means that it is firstly a messaging device, then a smart phone. In this case, Samsung meets the first criterion (though barely) and missed the second. We'll explain why in the review.

Design

The single most glaring similarity between the F700 and the iPhone is the hardware key below the LCD. This button is central to the operation of the phone. In idle mode, it calls up a grid of shortcuts to the music player, dial pad, Web browser, messaging and main menu. When a call comes in, you'll also need it to answer or reject the call and to access other phone functions.

The F700 is rather clean along its edges. Besides the camera shutter, volume bar and manual lock switch on the right edge, only three other controls (power button, sync port and 3.5mm audio jack) reside on the top of the handset. At the back, a 3-megapixel autofocus camera module sits beside the built-in LED flash.

Our main gripe with the F700 is with its glossy surface which tends to pick up fingerprints easily. We had to constantly wipe it clear of grease and the handset was also prone to scratches when left unprotected in a pocket. This is something which the anal retentive should take note of. In order to minimize these issues, Samsung provides a screen protector cut to fit the F700's screen (though it doesn't cover the entire front surface) and a matte battery cover in addition to the original glossy one.

The build quality and size of the F700 are decent and the same goes for the spring-loaded mechanism which is smooth and fluid. The screen slides out to the right when the phone is in the upright position to reveal the QWERTY keyboard underneath.

As for the keyboard, the square keys with round borders resemble those on the Apple MacBooks. Although each button has adequate spacing to the adjacent key, the tactility just isn't that great. The letters on the keys have a white backlight to them with the symbols and numerals showing up in blue. Some people may prefer a more compact layout like the ones on the Nokia E61i and the Moto Q9h, over the wider format on the F700.

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