Samsung D410 review

The upscale Samsung SGH-D410 brings plenty of innovations to the market. It is one of the first mobile phones with slide design and a 260K color display. The advanced features move Samsung SGH-D410 to higher price range. But is it worth?

In case you have considered Samsung a company producing flip-phones (V-type) only, you are going to be surprised. Samsung offers a slide model classic conception similar to Nokia 7650 or Siemens SL55.

Click on the thumbnails for full resolution pictures.

 
  
At first sight Samsung SGH-D410 looks like a luxurious phone

Not the smallest around

At first sight Samsung SGH-D410 looks like a luxurious phone. It features a large display, taking 2/3 of mobile's front part, which is a considerable size by phone's dimensions 98x48x24 mm. In fact the new SGH-D410 mobile phone is pretty big with its weight of 116g.

 
Size comparison 

 
Phone seems quite well fed from its side view

In locked position only the basic phone functions such as call making and receiving as well as phone book access are available. The keypad is locked, so you won't be able to write text messages. Nevertheless, a central cursor key, a correction key C, two call keys and two function keys are here at users disposal. LED blinks under the display in one of seven different colors.

 Function keys are available even in locked position

Handling with phone in locked position is a bit complicated. To wake up the phone, you have to press the green call or the side key for about 2-3 seconds. Phone reports that keypad is locked. To unlock it you should press the left function key with the three dots. After that you can start working with the phone. Easier and faster way to activate it is to slide-up the keypad.

 
Keypad shows up after you slide handset top part backwards 

It's spinning

Above the display you can mark a revolving roller. Samsung fans surely know that it contains lens of an integrated camera. Don't forget the infrared port on the left bottom of the handset and volume rock switch a bit above it. The phone is also equipped with a personal handsfree connector.

 
Integrated camera rotating lens system 

Equipped with a standard Li-Pol battery the handset worked approximately three or four days. The producer claims battery capacity of 900 mAh.

 
Side volume rock switch • battery took out

Overall design is certainly interesting - high quality materials, even metal. We have always commended Samsung mobile phones for their solidity, this time the rear part doesn't keep tight as expected. On the other hand that's a usual complaint of all movable constructions. Essential weaknesses are the outstanding size of the handset and the external antenna, which could have been integrated without any service impacts. Anyway, Samsung SGH-D410 looks very attractive and I dare to say... valuable.

Antenna is really whopping 

A really good display

The best comes up when you turn the handset on. Fabulous animation welcomes you, making you shout: "Go on!". This is really something you've never seen on the cell phone. 3d flower field with many glittering effects and 262 144 colors. Yes, SGH-D410 can really display four times more shades than best cell phones nowadays. Moreover, the display is active (TFD) and with 176 x 220 resolution.

 
There's no doubt - display is absolutely top-class

Samsung SGH-D410 is contemporary a top-class phone but surely we will relish soon more models showing over 100k colors. So, don't sell out your family possessions just to afford splendid display, it's really not necessary.

   
 
Main display and various wallpapers 

Layout items are positioned in quite a traditional way. As usually, you will find signal and battery strength indicator, operator logo, date and time on the display. To customize your display you can choose one of the original wallpapers either as animation or as a static picture. There are two context keys assigned to the items on display. Left key stands for "Choose" and right one for "Cancel" function.

Middle key still for WAP only

The middle WAP key still does not perform confirmation function, which has to be corrected with the next Samsung models. Moving the central cursor key opens each of the four significant functions. You can activate the activate camera menu by moving down the cursor key, moving up stands for sounds settings, moving left brings you to the text editor and moving right starts the voice recorder.

  
Middle key still not used for confirmations • keypad illumination

Let's explore the main menu. As far as we know previous Samsung models this one will not surprise us. The item list has two different shapes. In the first case each item is separately displayed with an animated picture. The second form displays the icons small enough to see four of them at one glimpse. On lower levels items are displayed simply in a text form. You can also use key shortcuts to jump to a required item in the menu. I find this way especially efficient.

  
  
Two different shapes of items list

 Lower levels items.

Hello, do you hear me?

Samsung SGH-D410 is a triple band cell phone (900/1800/1900 MHz). Probably you won't experience serious problems with received signal strength, due to the big external antenna. You can browse the phone book and make calls even when your handset is in locked position, but if you want to insert a number you have to uncover the keypad. Handset has good quality sound, the only problem I found was that sometimes the calling person didn't hear me 100% properly.

 
Dialed numbers are huge - that's benefit •  dialing number

Besides SIM card capacity you can count on a free space in the phone memory. You can insert 1000 entries in the phone book. Actually, it's 1000 numbers, not contacts, that means if you insert three numbers under one name, they will fill three entries from 1000 available in the memory. Phone can handle both phone books together - SIM card and phone memory - and fortunately it is possible to search by more letters. You can't reach the phone book at "one touch", you have to use the menu. It's possible to sort contacts into 10 groups, for every one of them you can set up a different type of ringing, SMS tone or an icon. You can do the same with the contacts on the SIM card.

Now, let's turn to the ringing tones. Polyphonic melodies with 64 voices is what I find revolutionary. Exploring the phone you'll find plenty of new melodies and I am sure that your ears will appreciate them. One of 10 different sounds can be assigned to an incoming SMS. I found the most attractive light effect. LED in the phone blinks intensely and if the message comes at night when you rest in a dark room, it seems like the message from heaven.