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By Damian Koh
Mar 11, 2008

Samsung's Ultra Edition phones have generally left the impression that its handsets are slim by default. So when the SGH-D880 dropped into our Labs recently, it felt like a refreshing change to hold something more "substantial". Dual-SIM card phones are not new to begin with, but Samsung could be the first major mobile phone maker with one right now, and that's the D880.

Design

Design is an important consideration when buying mobile phones these days. Though the D880 isn't the most compact handset (104 x 51 x 18.9mm) out there, it still does pretty well in that department. The control buttons are large and provide decent tactile feedback. A legacy issue with the D880 is the center OK button that activates the phone's Web browser which some users may not like.

The LCD screen is flush with the surface for a sleeker look, while the textured material on the back and parts of the sides reduce unsightly smudges. The black-and-gray finish also makes a nice combination for a mobile phone.

Overall, the build quality is respectable. Like most slider phones, the D880 comes with a spring-loaded mechanism for opening the phone. One of the most common problems for these types of handsets is that the two halves tend to jiggle when the phone is opened. Fortunately, that's not an issue on our review unit.

Features

The main selling point of the D880 is its ability to have two SIM cards on standby at any one time. The primary SIM card carries out all the usual phone functions, while the secondary SIM maintains an active line so you can still receive calls on that number. When a call comes in, the screen will display the name of the SIM card that's being used. So if you have only business contacts on the secondary SIM, you'd know it's work-related when the incoming call shows up on the LCD. Likewise when we are in the message folder, a number ("1" or "2") that corresponds to either one of the SIM cards is shown beside each message.

Because of its unique dual-SIM feature, the D880 comes with a dedicated switch on the left edge for quick access to the SIM management setting. This lets us select our primary card with the option to enable/disable the second SIM. Take note that the phone reboots automatically whenever you switch primary cards. The option to disable the alternative SIM can help to conserve power when the battery is running low.

The SIM card management button allows us to toggle between the two SIM cards in the message sending field and also in the dial mode. Out of curiosity, we had four active calls on at the same time--two on the primary SIM and two on the secondary SIM--and we were able to switch between all four calls either by using the swap option (if the lines are on the same SIM) or the SIM management button. It was mind-boggling at first, but we were pretty amazed.

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