Samsung D780 review: Dual SIMplicity

Samsung D780 360-degree spin

Subdued exterior and plastic all over, Samsung D780 is a straightforward bar shape alternative of the Duos slider. The neat and conservative bar won't have your mouth watering, but the sensible handling won't get you complaining either.

Design and construction

Samsung D780 measures 115 x 49.6 x 15.7 mm and weighs 108.5 g. And that's big - it's the first impression it leaves - one XXL son of a gun.

Samsung D780 in hand • compared to D880 Duos

Samsung D780 brings no design novelties. The entire body is covered with dark silver plastic, save for the grooved black surface at the bottom of the rear. Silver accents have been applied sparingly: a frame around the D-pad, the volume rocker, the dual SIM keys and the camera key. The silver ridges between rows of keys on the keypad are a nice touch.

The front is asymmetrically split between the 2.1" QVGA display and the ample keypad. The D-pad with confirming action is enclosed in the black frame surrounding the screen. It's conservatively styled, though comfortable and responsive. On the sides of the D-pad, the traditional two soft keys are placed - this time, at a considerable distance from the bottom of the screen. The Call and End keys, along with the C correction key in-between, are outside this layout and blend with the alphanumeric keypad.

Display and D-pad

The alphanumeric keypad is great for typing, with large enough buttons and sweet press feedback.

The comfortable keypad

The right side of Samsung D780 features the camera shutter key and the connectivity port under its plastic cover. The Connectivity port is, as usually, used for plugging the supplied charger, data cable, or wired headset.

The right side of D780

On the left we find the lanyard eyelet, volume rocker, the dedicated dual-SIM key and the microSD card slot, which also has a plastic cover. The side controls on D780 offer better elevation and tactility, as opposed to D880 Duos.

The left side of Samsung D780

The top and bottom of the D780 are completely bereft of controls, quite unusual for bar shaped handsets.

The top and bottom are bare

The back panel of Samsung D780 is divided in two - the smooth dark silver battery cover and the grooved black surface down the bottom. The 2 megapixel camera lens and self-portrait mirror are placed in the top right corner of the back panel.

The camera works in portrait orientation, even if the shutter key on the left side suggests a regular landscape position. The camera key is actually quite meaningless, as it only gets used for starting the camera. While shooting, it makes a lot more sense to use the center of the D-pad as a shutter key.

Samsung D780 rearside

Removing the back panel reveals the powerful Samsung 1200 mAh Li-Ion battery. It's quoted at up to 250 h of standby time and up to 3 h of talk time. In reality the battery was a decent performer - we had to recharge the D780 every three or four days. You shouldn't forget that the battery powers two separate transceiver units inside the handset.

Battery and dual-SIM compartment

Display - keep away from sun

The Samsung D780 has an average 2.1" TFT screen of QVGA resolution capable of displaying up to 256K colors. Typical Samsung, visibility under direct sunlight is poor. Unfortunately, poor in this case means almost illegible.

The white keypad backlighting is even and strong. The backlighting of the navigation keys enhances user-friendliness.

Display and keyboard in the dark