It seems that form factor “slider” is getting more advantagable in business category Samsung but the other important thing about them is the thickness of the handset body. Samsung SGH-D800 is really outstanding in this category.

Outwardly the handset resembles his sibling Samsung SGH-D820 the main difference of the design is a metallic trim round face panel but the trim changes the appearance to a great extent for the phone looks much better than monochrome plastic of D820. However it the metallic item on the face panel is not very handy in cold regions for your cheek gets stick to the metal.

The phone feels very handy while holding it and by the touch resembles Motorola RAZR V3 for it is also very slim but broad. The parts of the phone slide very smoothly. The spring activates at 2/3 of the way and finishes it without human help. The opening is accompanied with rather nice sound effects (the slider itself opens almost without any mechanical sound).

In the closed state there are five keys available and a five-positioned joystick that is why one can work with the phone without opening it. As for soft keys we have no problems with them but as for the joystick it is not very handy. While pressing up the finger sets against projection of the phone body. One manages to press left or right only from the second effort.

On opening the phone one finds a nice and pleasant to touch numerical keyboard. It is absolutely flat with inscriptions painted on them. Between the horizontal rows there are stylish metallic stripes to noble already smart appearance of the phone. The backlight is made in best traditions of the Korean manufacturer: the figures are read without any problems.

On the left panel of the slider there is a handy volume control key. On the right panel there is a camera activation key which is not very ergonomic due to it being a bit “ sink ” in the body. Theoretically it does not only trigger the camera but allows to take a picture. Though in practice the OK key is much handier.

The display is really something special. Among business class phones it is one of the best ones. It is TFT supporting 320x240 pixel and 262K colors. The image is very vivid one and the matrix is of high quality. Among other virtues are good contrast and resistance to direct sunlight. So D800 is a model for the competitors.

The camera is 1.3 Mp which makes 1280x1024 pixel. It allows video filming. One can get used to the fact that photo can be taken only with an opened handset but absence of flash is a drawback indeed.

In the closed state camera is protected from mechanical damaging being hidden inside the case. The fingers do not hinder while shooting.

The features available are rather standard. There is white balance, brightness setting, digital zoom, auto timer, frames, multyshot , different color modes etc.

The camera also allows to film video with 352x228 pixel resolution and of a rather good quality due to mpeg4. The length of the track is restricted only by the available memory capacity.

The menu is very like the ones in all of the latest Samsungs. Unfortunately there are no themes only color variants. However an animated menu is available similar to flash graphics but the phone does not understand swf format.

Messages

We haven't found anything new here: there is possibility of sending SMS and MMS the latter's “weight” is restricted to 295 Kb. E-mail client is also available. There is an Ignore number function: the phone gets an SMS checks the number and if it is included in the “black” list the message is deleted and the user does not know that such message existed. There is no such function for MMS but it is not that necessary.

Phonebook:

It does not differ much from the previous models so we will give only main information: the phonebook supports up to 1000 entries (3 phones per name, fax, e-mail, picture or image bothto individual number and to the caller group)

Entertainments

The phone has 2 games (Java 2.0), an MP3 player and a mediaplayer supporting 3gp and mpeg4. Additional games can be installed through WAP only. Mp3 player is the one used in senior model with all its merits and drawbacks. So that if incoming call interrupts a track it is to be listened from the beginning after the call ended. One can create playlists , choose playback mode and even set on of equalizer presets. Unfortunately there is no memory expansion slot? Though despite its drawbacks the player is quite appropriate.

An interesting function of TV-out is rather useful taking into consideration Pixel Viewer and the fact that the latest Samsungs support “office” formats: TXT, DOC, PDF, XSL, PTT, HTML .

Applications

As for the rest of software it is quite appropriate for the business class phone: calculator, currency converter, calendar also having function of a rather powerful organizer. Besides there is a picture editor which is quite advanced with many additional features.

Sound

There is only one loudspeaker however it sounds quite in a worthy manner – there are no voice distortions and the volume and quality of ringtone reproduction is rather high and quite deserving. As a ringtone one can assign either 64-tone MIDI or MP3 files.

On the left side there is a slot resembling miniUSB for headset or charging cable. Naturally there is a gag attached to the case with one side. We wonder why did Samsung stooped making sliding shutters which are much more convenient . Besides the same slot is used for TV-out cable.

Memory and file manager operations

The phone is equipped with 82Mb integrated memory. There is no memory expansion slot. The memory is enough for storing pictures but not sufficient for music. The file manager allows to operate with multimedia and other files. It allows to copy? Insert, delete or move fils from folder to folder on condition that the file corresponds the folder type (for instance you can not move video to the folder Images).

Connectivity

There are USB cable (300Kb/s) and Bluetooth (41.8 Kb/s). There is no restriction as to the transfer of files from other device. There are Bluetooth security settings and share files category. The security is made on the high level, which is very actual nowadays.

Working time

Using camera and MP3 player moderately and 15-20 minutes talk per day the phone autonomous working time makes about 4 days. Providing minimum of functions is used the phone can keep on working for 6 days? Which is really an excellent result for a slim phone.

• Excellent display
• Good business functionality
• Nice design, slim case

• Unhandy navigation key
• No IrDA

Having nice appearance SGH - D800 yields to D820 in functionality so it is up for the customer to decide what is more important. Anyway this pair of sliders from Samsung is bound to strain the nerves of the competitors and to launch new handsets of business class with appropriate functionality and design.