Review: Samsung F700

Samsung F700 Review

Phone rating:

In a nutshell: Samsung have made a splash with their iPhone-beating smartphone. Featuring a touchscreen user interface with vibration feedback, plus a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, the F700 is very easy to use. It also comes with a 3 megapixel camera with autofocus, 3G video calling, a music player, plenty of memory, full Bluetooth support and fast 3.6 Mbps HSDPA.

Samsung don't have a strong reputation in the SmartPhone field, but the F700 SmartPhone looks set to change all that. Marketed as an iPhone-killer, the F700 features a touchscreen user interface as well as a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard. Whereas the iPhone was just a cool user interface with no substance beneath the surface, the F700 is a high-spec phone with fast 3.6 Mbps 3G and a 3 megapixel camera with autofocus.

The F700 is the first Samsung phone to feature VibeTonz technology, which makes the screen vibrate when you touch it, to aid feedback, rather like the LG Viewty. The touchscreen is a huge 3.2 inch, ultra-high resolution display. Now, the iPhone user interface is still the best we've seen, but the F700 isn't far behind. It's just as usable, just less slick, if showing off to your friends is what matters. The QWERTY keypad makes the F700 easier to use than most Blackberries, and makes mobile email and texting very easy indeed. Our verdict on the user interface: well done Samsung, this is a fantastic design and we think this is definitely the direction that technology is headed in 2008.

The operating system is Samsung's own proprietary OS so it remains to be seen how much third party software will be available for the phone. Nevertheless, it does ship with basic applications including a web browser, email and a document viewer.

The camera is a 3 megapixel device with autofocus. It's certainly an iPhone beater, but can't match the best camera phones around. A second VGA camera enables video calling.

Musically the F700 is good, with a fully featured music player and plenty of memory (100 Mbytes plus microSD card support.) VibeTonz also adds vibration effects to games and ringtones, so you can literally feel the beat of the music. The phone is supplied with high quality Bose headphones. Disappointingly though, there's no radio.

In terms of connectivity, the F700 is once again ahead of the iPhone but lagging behind the best smartphones. It has full Bluetooth support and USB, but lacks infrared and WiFi. It has 3G with HSDPA, but only triband GSM support, not quadband.

Don't get us wrong, we do like the F700 very much, but it feels like a good phone rather than a great phone. It's exclusive to Vodafone and quickly became Vodafone's best selling phone after launch, and is definitely a phone that we can recommend. We hope to see more like this from Samsung in 2008, and if they can raise their game just a little, then they could seriously rival phones like the Nokia N95.

Share this page on Del.icio.us

Features of the Samsung F700 include:

• 3 megapixel camera with autofocus, 3x digital zoom
• Video camera (VGA) for 3G video calling
• Display: 262k colours, 440 x 240 pixels (3.2 inches)
• Music player (MP3, MIDI, ACC, ACC+, WMA, e-AAC+ formats; OMA DRM 2.0)
• 72-voice polyphonic ringtones, MP3 ringtones
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, email (POP3 , SMTP , IMAP4), Instant Messaging
• Document viewer
• Java applications
• Memory: 100 Mbytes plus 1 Gbyte microSD memory card
• Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB 2.0
• HTML web browser
• WAP 2.0, GPRS Class 10, EDGE, HSDPA (3.6 Mbps)
• Tri Band (900/1800/1900 MHz) plus 3G (UMTS 2.1 GHz)
• Size: 112 x 56 x 16 mm
• Weight: 139g
• Talktime: 270 minutes
• Battery standby: 350 hours

Samsung F700 Consumer Reviews

Love your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!

Average rating from 42 reviews:

Reviewed by Candice Scipio from South Africa on 28th Jun 2008
I hate the samsung F700 it the worst phone I have ever bought it make me sick. Nothing on this phone is easy to use not even answering a call you have to play tap tap on the screen most of the time I miss my calls just trying to answer it. Then the same goes for ending a call most of the time I waist my airtime just trying to end a call. The 3mega pix auto focus camera is pathetic I had a erricson with 3mega pix and believe me this phone could have like 1mega pix and no auto focus. Even though it has a keyboard don't try to use mxit you will get frustrated just trying a send 1 message. The F700 was a complete waist of my money I hate this phone....
Rating:

Reviewed by jp from SA on 21st Jun 2008
its a great phone..i broke mine last night tho :(..the touch screen works fine even after the drop, but i just cant find where to get the lcd cover replaced..you should buy this phone if you dont plan on partying too hard..!
Rating:

Reviewed by kevin wilkie from England on 20th Jun 2008
Good but fatally flawed. Often can't accept incoming calls on thouch screen key. Worst of all the screen has cracked (it was in my pocket at the time) and Vodafone say this is a chargable repair, despite the fact that other people in this review have had the same problem. I think I will be changing my business contract as well as my phone.
Rating:

Reviewed by nicola from uk on 18th Jun 2008
i love this phone, on the odd occasion it may freeze but its like anything electrical - they do that! nothing with compare to the nightmare that wasa the n80 i had that kept breaking/overheating/not charging/freezing/wiping its own memory. only problem ive had was dropping something on it which has cracked the screen BUT the touch screen still works, i just need to find a replacement screen. as for the camera not working in the dark ... have you adjusted the settings? mine takes great pics and i ive the qwerty keyboard. its a bit of a show off phone, whenever im using it and friends have not seen it or have they comment on how slick it is
Rating:

Reviewed by Gail from Endland on 13th Jun 2008
I LOVE this phone. My m8s friend has it and its absolutly gorgious. How much on pay as you go. I WANT IT.!!!!!
Rating:

Reviewed by Rob from UK on 13th Jun 2008
Okay, I have read these reviews, there is a mixed bag here of good and sadly bad points. There are a few people I Would sadly frame and shame, e.g. Bella From the UK. The Apple Iphone was NOT ment to be sold for normal people, it was and still is ment for business men. The Iphone isnt great either, there are huge problems with it. It's good for music and thats it, its got a bad quality speaker and the touch screen brakes more times than a car brakes on the road at traffic lights or whatever. The samsung has no radio, I know I would class that as a minor problem, but other people might think its more important. It has 3.5G, unlike the iphone, you can video call on the F700. Its got a cute and classy design and its accepted as a phone as its got this great keyboard, making msging easier and faster. This F700 is a great phone, I have been looking and i havant found one like it, easy to use and great features. I recommend it, I think i'll even get it myself!
Rating:

Reviewed by lisa from uk on 8th Jun 2008
this pjone is brilliant and it wil only brake if u dont take care of it properly like with my other pjone w580i everyone elses broke eccept mine i recomend this phone to everyone
Rating:

Reviewed by gareth kirkham from newcastle on 22nd May 2008
i think this phone is very very very very outstanding
Rating:

Reviewed by stacy from dundee on 16th May 2008
i've had my samsung f700 for about 15 days, i love it but it broke after having it 3 days, it stopped charging, i wanted to get the same one again but vodafone arent getting anymore in so therefor i have to cancel my contract because i was going to go for the nokia n95 but have to pay more on my contract to get that which is appauling as it isnt my fault it broke neither is it my fault that they arent getting anymore in. But i loved this phone, the touch screen is really easy too use, has good memory, not a great camera but u have to remember its a phone not a digital camera, also like that you can change your message tone because on quite a few samsungs you can't. The flip out keyboard is great for people who love to text.
Rating:

Reviewed by charli from england on 6th May 2008
I LOVE IT X
Rating:

Reviewed by Arnold Sseezi from uk on 4th May 2008
ya, had this phone for two days before the battery jus started acting up, what am i meant to use it for 4-5 hours and then plug it in again, come on!and apart from that nice phone.
Rating:

Reviewed by amy from england on 28th Apr 2008
this phone ive had it for 2 mounths and i think its good but it could have been better
Rating:

Reviewed by Josh from wales on 26th Apr 2008
ive had this phone for 5 months and i think it is excellent! never had any trouble with it! easy to text and the touch screen is great. looks good and all my friends want it! i have read in some of these reviews that the phone freezes i dont know why that is happening to theirs but mine certainly has never frozen its working exactly has it should be! Love this phone recomend that u get it!
Rating:

Reviewed by Bella from uk on 25th Apr 2008
Well I have had this phone for about a month now...and to be honest it's the worst phone iv ever handled..If you ever consider getting it ... I actuali reccommend that you don't. The touch sensitive is really annoying and thats not because i don't like touch sensitive phones...it's just this one. It freezes alot! Extremely Bulky and gets scratched easily! It takes forever to take a picture! doesnt respond well. It should also have a 5MP camera...really does let it down! :(
Rating:

Reviewed by Sophie from UK on 21st Apr 2008
After having the phone for 3 weeks it had to be sent for repairs after taking it upon itself not to make or receive calls and texts. The phone has been back in my possession for 6 weeks and now wont allow me to send or receive mms messages. Although it appears initially quite flash and always finds approval from others its bulky, unreliable and irritatingly slow when trying to get out of its various screens. Definately consider something else.
Rating:

Reviewed by XeN from UK on 19th Apr 2008
POOR! Have had mine returned 4 times now due to poor response from touch screen, locking up and not be able to use the phone. Am trying to get it changed as it is clearly a design fault / software fault with the phone but vodafone dont want to know.
Rating:

Reviewed by Ashley from UK on 18th Apr 2008
This is an excellent phone, but the camera could be better. If the camera was better, I would give this 5 stars. The keyboard feature is so cool. 8/10 :)
Rating:

Reviewed by lucia from plymouth on 17th Apr 2008
i like this phone is very nice
Rating:

Reviewed by Christopher Smith from Ireland on 13th Apr 2008
After 1 week of ownership I'm just about getting the hang of it's touchscreen controls it takes a bit of practise but it's worth it. The slide out keyboard is a revelation for anyone with failing eyesight & it works great. The only down side to this phone is it's music player the sound is great but the controls & menus are messy other than this it's agreat phone.
Rating:

Reviewed by J. Fernandez from UK on 12th Apr 2008
I got this phone 3 months ago and find it quite a bad choice. is bulky and menus are not good at all. If you are thinking about getting this phone, look for an alternative. It is the best advice i can give you! If you still want to go ahead... well.. don't say i din't warn you!
Rating:

Reviewed by Lewis from Singapore on 12th Apr 2008
Samsung is a brand which i truly support but they are not able to anticipate or rather know what the general market wishlist is. Although they are strong in terms of the other electronic field, when it come to the design and the demand for smart phone features...they are still way behind the rest fot he competitors. They need to do a better market survey on the Asia market and not be contented within their own world. There are much more than the view from the "well"...if you climb out of your little enclosed well, you will be able to breath and smell more things....
Rating:

Reviewed by Max from Canada on 9th Apr 2008
Awsome phone, couldnt be better. This phone is great and i would suggest it anytime over the iPhone
Rating:

Reviewed by Andrew from UK on 8th Apr 2008
I have had this phone for 4 months. Phone interface is clunky. Even hanging up is 2 keystrokes, let alone accessing a number pad for accessing call centre options. The adress line for texting does not allow instant access to the phonebook, so selecting contacts is slower than it should be. The screen shuts down mid call, and while you can still speak, it is impossible to hang up without taking the battery out. This problem persisted even after Vodafone 'repaired' the handset, and it has been sent for another repair. Overall this phone is pretty disappointing, given the potential it had to be great.
Rating:

Reviewed by paul from uk on 5th Apr 2008
poor, unfinished, very low suport on software, poor battery life, screen freezing, and lots more...
Rating:

Reviewed by Graham from England on 3rd Apr 2008
Poor Poor phone, Samsung should be done for false marketing as this thing is no smartphone! I did try and explain in detail but this site kept telling me not to swear, I've had 4 people read it and there is no swearing in the review???????? in short Media player is quiet and fiddly, internet explorer is so annoying I've cancelled my line rental till I get a new phone, camera's worse than the 2mp one on my Vario, no sortware support even from Samsung, can only use up to 2mb SD cards......etc etc my old Sony Ericsson T68 in 1999 was as advanced and better laid out than this. Roll on the Sony Ericsson X1 so I can get a proper smartphone again!!
Rating:

Reviewed by Paul from UK on 2nd Apr 2008
Upgraded and sent it back - very poor battery life, touch screen terrible compared to an iphone, couldn't make it synchronise and little help from Samsung and vodafone. User manual pathetic.
Rating:

Reviewed by frenchy from uk on 18th Mar 2008
i bought this phone after i bought the 8gb n95 i'm very happy with the f700 great phone it's so easy to text with it never had no problem i've been using the phone with glove during the cold and it work not like the iphone i'm sorry but the f700 for me is the best touchscreen phone out for the moment
Rating:

Reviewed by Aaron from UK on 11th Mar 2008
I have a f700 and have hadfor sometime. I find the phone looks very slick but thats as far as the "Good" features go. The internet decides for you if it wants to show WEP pages or full internet. The music player is rubbish, you don't even get a next track button and have to fast forward all you tunes. The volume is very low either with or with the Bose headphones. The memory can only hold 200 text which is a nightmare in todays texting enviroment. The only good thing I've found is themusic quality when plugged into an amp, its the only i-phone killing feature. My old nokia e70 far performed this nightmare that I'mnow stuck with, help....
Rating:

Reviewed by Gary B from England on 9th Mar 2008
Got this after returning the Viewty after 6 days; this is going back too. Like the Viewty, it has many good features but for what I need, it doesn't reach the mark. Good points; easy to use, QWERTY keypad nice touch (if you're sat at a table/desk,) internet very quick in 3G areas. Not so good; as with Viewty, poor battery life, poor reception, very fiddly navigation to get to basic functions, touch-screen can be unresponsive. Fancy the N95 although some say that's not great so could be sticking with SE.
Rating:

Reviewed by Colin from UK on 8th Mar 2008
Looks very cool and generally works well - BUT the touchscreen has a habit of freezing - the receiver down button sometimes will not respond and its VERY frustrating. I am stuck with this now as I am on contract. If the touch screen worked I would be happy
Rating:

Reviewed by Azam from UK on 6th Mar 2008
I copied a wmv video and a avi video but the phone dont play them, its a great video phone and you could play videos if it allows it. The head phones maybe bose but the quality is not as good as w800i music which i have. The sound is not very clear, you cannot hear every note as you could in w800i. So music is not so good, video is well not good, the screen is 100% great and feels like iphone but just 1GB memory.. i mean which planet are we from now? I am going to return it and get a sony phone again. sorry samsung but its not just there..
Rating:

Reviewed by Neil from UK on 26th Feb 2008
A heap of junk. Gotthis from Vodafone in December and the email has never worked. Vodafone keep sending me settings but the email does not work on sending, only receiving. Touch screen is unreliable and often does not respond. Other irritations are that the contact database does not accept alpha characters in postcodes and it is impossible to do two things at once (eg look up a number whilst making a call) I understand from Vodafone that they have now discontinued this phone.
Rating:

Reviewed by not impressed from england on 25th Feb 2008
really wanted to like this phone, unfortunately it is the first phone i have ever had to return. problems include: - touch screen unresponsive - camera requires people in photo to be completely still for 5 seconds (doesn't work with kids) otherwise you get a blurred photo (happens most of the time) - short cut button often stops working whilst on a call making it impossible to hang up unless you open the phone to activate the terminate key - answering a call takes about 5 seconds, which if you are already on a call makes it very difficult to hang up and accept the next call- which is very annoying
Rating:

Reviewed by darren from england on 21st Feb 2008
bought this as an upgrade, great phone to use great touchscreen shame about how long the battery doesnt last so takin back and gettin something different.
Rating:

Reviewed by Bill from greece on 21st Feb 2008
overall a very nice phone. Impressive design and astonishing 3.2in of touchscreen are more than enough..... if what you want is to show off to ur friends. I am a wannabe buyer of the f700 but it lacks certain main characteristics this type of cell should have: no wi-fi (for free netsurf as the GPRS and HSDPA cost a lot!) no possibility of third-party software. anyway, still a great Phone. I would aprreciate it if someone owning it,posted its SAR levels, i can't find then on the net....
Rating:

Reviewed by Shell from UK on 19th Feb 2008
Very good. Although after a few weeks, the button on the screen caused the screen to crack 4 times, but has been sent for repair and due back any day, hopefully all sorted. Found the slide out keyboard great, really easy to text with.
Rating:

Reviewed by Kiera from CANADA on 14th Feb 2008
OUTSTANDING! Best phone ever I've had it for 3 months and nothing bad as happened! WOW! LOVE IT! It is big,bold and very beautiful!Oh yeah and great MP3 love it and love the touchscreen!
Rating:

Reviewed by Danny from UK on 22nd Jan 2008
i have had this phone for 5 weeks and WOW,i love it.its big,bold and beautiful.the touch screen is great as is the qwerty.downloads very quickly.Its easy to use and so cool to looh at.I am normally a SE user but after the nightmare of the W910i no more.Battery on F700 needs charging a lot but the phone does a lot.Great MP3,a shed load of memory and no tie up with the cash cow that is Apple .yeah I mean Itunes and the iphone)not for your grannie but a fabulous phone
Rating:

Reviewed by Dave from England on 18th Jan 2008
I got this phone as an upgrade with Vodafone from a Sony Ericcson K800i. I got the first one on 7th December....it lasted 10 days before the touch screen froze. It would not respond to any functions or keys. It went back, and the new one worked fine all over Christmas. Today (18th Jan) it pulled the same trick. Its going back, considering a G800. The big screen is good for internet but its very fiddly to hit the hyperlinks as they are so small. Shame, because I thought it was better than the iPhone. Camera is a nightmare to use in dark conditions because of the time it takes to auto focus then there's a shutter delay; you've got to have a very steady hand to get good photos.
Rating:

Reviewed by Richard from UK on 10th Jan 2008
This phone is big but thin it is fiddly too start with but once you use it for a day or two it becomes much easier too use. I wouldn't say it is the quickest to make phone calls but txting can be easier with the qwerty keyboard. I have found most functions so far on the phone work but again getting too the them takes longer than other phones! I have been using the SE 810i for 18 months and for me that is the still the best phone around as it works after some heavy usage! This phone is not as good as the LG Viewity but is a good alternitive for a vodafone customer is you want too look flash.
Rating:

Reviewed by Rob from UK on 8th Jan 2008
On the whole okay but i have sent mine back due to the size and fiddly nature of the navigation combined
Rating:

Reviewed by abdi from usa on 4th Jan 2008
it's not as good as the LG Viewty KU990 but it a good phone overall
Rating:

You can read more Samsung F700 reviews at RecommendedBuys UK.

Samsung F700 links