Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH Review

Welcome to the Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH review. The 2009 S8300 ULtraTOUCH is another touch screen mobile phone from Samsung and clearly designed to take on other mid-range handsets regardless of keypad type. It was released in Mid 2009. The UltraTOUCH is a tad different from the other touch screen models from Samsung in that it also has a slide out numeric keypad.  It’s RRP is higher then the others at about $500 (2009).

The higher price tag is justified in that the construction materials and quality is higher than say the Preston.  Afterall it does have brush metal and higher quality plastics.  It also features the much promoted AMOLED screen. True the screen is brigher and certainly much more viewable in daylight but whether the screen quality is better as a result – not so sure.  You see we also have a Blackberry BOLD 9000 that’s screen is exceptional and its not an AMOLED.

The S8300 ULtraTOUCH is a curvy box that is relatively small and also well made. It is easier to hold due to the curves and is well put together phone and looks pretty good too. The slide out keypad feels solid too.

So its looks good but when you start to use the phone things are still good but not as good.  The phone is a touch screen as well as having the keypad.  It is confusing at first before you work out that the keypad doesn’t actually do much but to allow you to input numbers.  The interface is not as smooth as the other models in the Samsung range – disappointing considering that cheaper Preston version is easily faster. The S8300 UltraTOUCH is thus a bit of an oddity.  We don’t think the setup works well.

Apart from that the phone gets all the same functionality as the other models in the mid-range but with the inclusion of A-GPS receiver.  Its runs a custom Samsung Mobile Navigator software or can use Google maps.  The camera is a 8MP unit and the result look good and the video recorder’s results looked good too. Again nowhere near a dedicated digital camera but good nonetheless. The internet browser was also surprisingly good, being able to play Flash files on most websites we visited.

Overall a Ok sort of mobile phone. It has all the communication options you could want.  It does work well but not as well as the cheaper models in the Samsung range purely because it was relatively sluggish.  So unless you really want a slider phone with a touch screen then this is just perfect for you.  We reckon that you’d probably be happier with the S5600 Preston as an example.

Specifications

• Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH
• Network
  Quad-band GSM 850/900/1800/1900
  3G 850/900/2100 (Dependent on country)
  HSDPA 7.2 data speed (download)
• Design
  Slider and Touch screen
• L110 x W51.5 x D12.7mm
  Weight 105 grams
• Display/s
  External TFT 240 x 400 AMOLED
• Camera
  38P
  LED Flash
• Video Camera
  720 x 480 pixel video camera
• Connectivity
  Wi-Fi
  Bluetooth V2
  Micro-USB
• CPU
• Memory
  80MB available to user
  MicroSD up to 16Gig
• Ring tones
  MIDI, MP3, vibration and others
• Features
  A-GPS
  Touch screen
  Accelerometer
  Widgets
  Music and Media player
  Remote security
  Word/Excel/Powerpoint/PDF reader
  Organiser/Calender
  SMS, MMS, IM, Email
  JAVA MIDP 2.0
  FM radio with RDS
  Speaker Phone/Hands free
  Battery 1000 mAh
  Up to 350 hours Standby
  Up to 4 hours Talk Time
• Price history
  From $549 AUS 2010 (Outright)