JT's New Phone: Samsung SCH-u740

As I mentioned at my last Geek Dinner, the battery life on my trusty Habs phone (LG VX6100) was steadily dying, despite a brand new battery.  I should’ve gotten a replacement a few month ago, but couldn’t really find anything I liked.  Here’s the list of what I really care about in a phone:

• good battery life
• good signal/reception
• clear voice use (in other words, people can hear me, and I can hear them)
• as small a form factor as I can find
• SMS features
• some kind of camera (really I’d love 2MP, but it’s about the first thing I’d cut from my list)

That’s it, nothing too fancy.  A friend of mine mentioned to me some new “dual-hinge” phone from Samsung, and I sought it out at the local Verizon store this past weekend.  I bought one today, and so far, I’m really pleased with it.  Actually, as I write this I’m listening to MP3s I loaded onto my 1GB MicroSD card which it’s playing via the speakerphone.

My initial positive reactions:

• it’s SMALL
• good speakerphone
• love the qwerty keyboard
• screen is woefully small, but very bright
• has a “alarm-only” ringer mode, which I’ve wanted for a long time

The negatives:

• still learning the keyboard (it’s small and I’m really used to T9 at this point)
• no way to enable/disable/change ringer volume while phone is closed (unbelievable, considering there are 4 buttons available)
• hinge might be flimsy, still not sure how it’ll hold up in a year (I expect no less than 2 years of use from a phone)
• it’s CHAMPAGNE colored!  what the heck?  I think it actually comes with a 1978 Cadillac.  I’m gonna have to skin-it this thing.

I read a few thoughts and reviews online so far (specifically at Engadget Mobile, CNET), and I’ll share my own after a few more days’ worth of use.  I have 14 days to return it, so if anyone’s had a particularly bad experience with this phone, please let me know!

More pictures here.