I’ll be honest with you, first impressions may be all you get of this Samsung SGH-D410, the first US slider phone from Samsung – currently available from T-Mobile. It’s not that it isn’t cool, it’s just that first impressions may be all you really need with this one, because all-in-all it’s not that deep.
The first thing that grabs you, after fiddling around with it for about 30 seconds trying to remember exactly which part of the screen actually slides, is the 262k-color screen. It’s mighty fine. T-Mobile saw fit to stick a picture of their spokesperson Catherine “Zeta” Jones as the wall paper, and it’s not that I’m not a huge fan or anything, but a photograph is a good place to start when you want to show off your bright, glimmering, vibrant screen (unless you’re in the sunlight and then – oops! – it’s almost unreadable). Now too bad that it’s going to get scratched all to holy hell thanks to the fact that you decided to get a chic slider instead of a old fashioned flip-phone, like the kind Abraham Lincoln used in radio-unfriendly Illinois woods.
It’s kind of a weird phone. It definitely has that Samsung fit and finish, with lots of metal bits complimenting the plastic parts that look like metal, and that heft that makes it feel expensive (it’s not awful, by the way – about $300 from T-Mobile). The 180-degree camera barrel that sits off to the left is nice, but it also makes the lines of the phone a little awkward – something I’m happy to deal with, though, for the ability to take a nice self-portrait. Or you can roll the camera back with your thumb, getting it sort of out of the way when the phone is closed, hopefully protecting it from too much harm.
Sound and radio quality seemed decent – better than my Nokia 3650 in Brooklyn, for a rough benchmark. That could have something to do with the stubby Samsung antenna that sort of hangs out in back, even if it is hidden when the phone is open. And you can configure the phone so that it powers on when you open the slider (manually; don’t let the term ‘slider’ fool you into thinking there is anything automatic about it). Dialing the numbers pops up big, sort of corny-looking numbers on the screen, but at least they’re easy to read.
And speaking of corny displays, I pretty much hate the animated 3D graphics of the Samsung interface. It’s not just the D410, either. I saw a bunch of the new Samsung phones coming out this year the other day and despite some really nice products, a lot of them, especially the high-end, fancy phones that should be looking the most classy end up seeming sort of junky with the brightly colored and somehow inappropriate displays. I’m not against animations in menus, but there’s got to be a better option. Fortunately for me, you can change the menus into a slightly-less obnoxious setup, where instead of giant, full-screen icons there is a more normal menu (still with icons, though smaller). At least with the smaller menu I wouldn’t be embarrassed to full it out in a crowded bar. It’s a shame that such an eye-catching conversation-starter of a phone has such cheeseball visuals (especially with that good-looking screen)
So yeah, words to your moms, dropped bombs, etc. I like it – if I weren’t addicted to smartphones I could certainly see myself owning one – and it’s clear that Samsung is taking some chances that are paying off in the style department. I wouldn’t buy it without a case, though, just like you have to with any phone with an outward-facing screen.
Oh, and speaking of smartphones, Daddy Fedex just brought me something that smells like an h6315. I’ll let you know.
Ack! A quick mention of the camera before I post. It sucks! It’s not the phone’s fault, though – it’s not worse than most others – but I’m done settling for VGA-quality cameras. From here on out, any phone without a megapixel or better camera isn’t making it through without a stern talking to.
Read – SGH-D410 Product Page [T-Mobile]
Related
Samsung and T-Mobile’s New Slider: d415 [Gizmodo]
https://gizmodo.com/samsung-and-t-mobiles-new-slider-d415-18955
