Samsung SGH F400 Photos and Review // Live Loud Campaign
June 3, 2008 by Jayvee Fernandez
Filed under Samsung
Samsung’s Live Loud campaign has struck their packaging and made it look kick ass. Currently, Samsung Mobile have a few phones launched for their Live Loud Campaign and this includes a phone we recently got to view – the Samsung SGH F400. We were able to get one up close and review it for a couple of days. Our verdict: WOW.
It is ironic to say that one of the best features of the F400 is the fact that it borrows the Nokia S60 platform as its operating system. This seems to be the trend now with phone manufacturers licensing competitor OS’es as a way to transition users into their brand. Nokia is big in Asia. So is Samsung. So a stylish Samsung phone that runs an ease-of-use Nokia S60? Cool beans. Not a lot of manufacturers have licensed S60 – I can only name Siemens with the SX1 many many years ago and it sucked. Well guess what, the F400 integrates S60 pretty well sans the Nseries standard functions such as WiFi connectivity.
What sets the F400 apart as well is its rubberized scroll wheel which comes out when the top half of the phone slides down (sliding up the SGH F400 reveals the keypad). This brings up a music scroll menu that’s so hardcore, it makes me wonder why the iPod didn’t figure this half circle layout before. The rubber really helps the tactile feedback and helps me choose songs. Pressing down on the rubber pad actually makes a selection. Let’s go to audio: the Bang and Olufsen speakers are truly amazing. They’re loud and crisp.
One gripe I have about the phone is the proprietary headphone connector. Music phones, by standard usually have a 3.5mm jack so that you can attach any sort of earphone brand available. Samsung makes use of a proprietary connector similar to the one it uses for the charger.
Overall, the SGH F400 is a great music phone. The camera is good. The audio and B&O speakers are fantastic. It doesn’t have WiFi but it does have 3G. The fact that it makes use of a Nokia OS allows those people familiar with the Finnish architecture want to switch to something as stylish as a Samsung with almost zero learning curve.
Pros
Good integration of Nokia S60 platform
Decent camera
Ultra loud audio
Mind blowing alternative selection interface with the “rubberized wheel”
Cons
Proprietary headphone connector
Jayvee,
That would be fantastic. Plus I could use a new phone.
This phone looks awesome. Any way your readers (i.e. Me) could get a hold of a free one in a contest of sorts?