Click for more images of the Samsung SGH-E700.

Samsung has sometimes been criticized for its lackadaisical support of features such as GPRS, Java and MMS. Its smart riposte is the SGH-E700, which will cap a good year for the Korean giants. This new clamshell is the most full-featured Samsung we've seen yet, and possibly also the most attractive one. And for Samsung, that's saying a lot.

Design
The E700 sports a few departures from Samsung's regular design scheme. Most dramatic is the new paint job. After lining up several models of anonymous silver clamshells, Samsung adds a dark navy band on the E700's front panel, a simple touch that reinvigorates the overall look.

The phone also loses the antenna that plagued most Samsungs, while dropping the protruding bits of the V200's swiveling camera. Instead, a small, non-rotatable camera lens is located on the outside top flip of the mobile, just above the external 256-color OLED (organic light-emitting diode) display.

The overall design is sleek and clean. With the E700 measuring a handy 90 x 45 x 23mm, and weighing a nice 85 grams, it's one of the most desirable-looking camera-phones on the market today.

Usability
The well-engineered clamshell opens easily and smoothly, revealing a dark blue keypad. The large, flat buttons are responsive but feel a little shallow. A four-way directional pad sits above the number keys, with a WAP access key in the middle.

In general, the software interface is tidy and fairly simple to use. However, it is also a little quirky at times. For example, unless you want to do a 'Delete all', you have to open each message, picture or ringtone individually before the option to delete appears.

Critics of Samsung will also note the much improved SMS and MMS systems. Thanks to dedicated soft keys, composing a message with numbers and local names is now simpler, while the T9 dictionary accepts new words. Heavy texters will also appreciate the freshly included 'Send to many' function.

The E700's MMS feature allows multiple pages to be sent, while pictures and voice recordings can be attached. However, there is a limit of 80kb of data for each MMS. Loading and viewing MMS messages are on the slow side.

For all its good, it's disappointing that Samsung removes several customization options for the E700. This handset, unlike previous Samsungs, doesn't allow programmable shortcuts. It is also not possible to assign your own downloaded ringtones to caller groups.

Multimedia
The internal display is a 128 x 160-pixel 65,000-color TFT screen. Bright and clear with gorgeous colors, the E700 shows that Samsung still sets the standard for cell phone displays. The external OLED screen shows the time, date and other information in large, bright lettering.

The 40-chord polyphony is up to Samsung's usual high standards, but we detected some distortion when ringtones were played at maximum volume.

Camera And Other Features
The VGA camera of the E700 is among the best handset cameras we've seen. With the touch of a side button, the external OLED screen turns into a viewfinder for shooting self-portraits. This is much better than the tiny mirrors used by most other manufacturers.

Pictures are 640 x 480 pixels at maximum resolution, and images looked good when viewed from the desktop. Many special effects are available as options, and one quite unique feature is the camera's burst mode, which takes 9 or 15 high-speed pictures at a go. The night shooting mode deserves a special mention as we found it very effective under dim lighting.

The E700 has a very generous 9MB of storage space--more than enough for photo buffs to snap away without worrying about memory space. Of this, 600 kb is reserved for Java games and application. There's also a voice memo recording function, but strangely, this is tucked within the MMS menu. With GPRS, MMS, Java, and the above-mentioned camera, the E700 is one of Samsung's best equipped mobiles.

We found the SGH-E700's reception generally good, and we had no problems with signal strength and voice quality. The life of the Lithium-polymer battery life is fair, allowing for about three days of moderate usage.

Conclusion
The E700 is expected to be launched before Christmas, and pricing is not yet available. If Samsung manages to price it right, the full-featured and good-looking E700 may well prove to be a festive hit. If you're in the market for a fashionable camera-phone, consider putting aside some of your Christmas budget.