Three years back, Samsung launched the D500 to a rapturous reception. This mega popular dinky slider carried 90MB of built-in memory, a 1.3-megapixel camera and a lorry load of kudos. To keep the flame alive, Sammy has retooled the D500 for the size zero generation with the D800. Ok, so it may not be deliciously delicate as the Ultra posse, but its 14mm profile is still mighty trim.
It may straddle the higher end of the entry level phone spectrum (on a good day it may hit the lower mid-range reaches) but its build quality, chrome trim and fetching white tactile magnesium bodywork belies its status. Similarly, its slider action is springy and assured, not what you expect from a phone of this ranking.
However, despite the strong design it does throw up some usability niggles from the get go. The front keys look sizeable enough but their close proximity means there’s a clash between the soft keys and the left/right selection on the navigation pad. Every time you access the menu, you tend to inadvertently activate the back command.
Unfortunately, Samsung’s thorny keypad issues don’t end there. The main keypad arrangement may look touch sensitive but it’s actually mechanised. Even so, you will still need to give it a good thumbing before garnering any response and it proves a slippery customer.
The D800 redeems itself briefly with a typical Samsung bright and detailed QVGA-quality screen but its chances hit the skids when you notice the bare bones 1.3-megapixel camera. With no autofocus or flash, so picture quality is only good for MMS, wallpapering or blogging. However it does take some tasty video, shooting in 352×288 pixels at 15fps. It may suffer from the judder but it’s not a bad return.
Perhaps the D800 biggest failure is its rigid memory regime. 80MB of internal is a decent enough portion but the absence of a memory card slot seriously limits the skater’s true multimedia and music playing potential.
A quality construction and svelte figure can’t hide the pedestrian features and lack of memory at the heart of the D800 It’s a nice enough blower but Samsung has and will do better sliders.
Best features
Quality build and slimline design
Solid slider action
Stunning display
Not so good
Usability issues
No expandable memory
Mediocre camera
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