Samsung i620 review: Whiter shade of pale

We have seen lots of phones from Samsung with slider form factor but this time it's a full hardware keyboard that is revealed when you slide the Samsung i620 out - the new mid-range smartphone running on the Windows Mobile 6 Standard edition. Packed with some exclusive features - a rotating D-pad wheel and sensor keys all over, you might as well be blown away by the one-off snowy white color too. So, it's compact, it's QWERTY, it's smartphone - yes this is really an offer you can't resist to play with - and neither do we. So grab yourselves something to drink and join us on this Samsung i620 review.

Official photos of Samsung i620

Key Features

• Windows Mobile smartphone
• Novel design and unusual form factor
• Compact dimensions
• 2.2" TFT display
• Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and HSDPA, 1.8 Mbps
• Rotating wheel and sensor front panel keys
• Full hardware QWERTY keyboard with sufficient backlight
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
• 2 megapixel camera
• microSD card slot

Main disadvantages

• Landscape orientation is not common for applications
• No Wi-Fi
• No autofocus, mediocre camera performance
• TI OMAP 200 MHz processor struggles at times
• QWERTY keyboard has little tactile feedback
• Only 34MB storage memory available to the user

The Samsung "i" line of smartphones are obviously keeping us busy these days. And again, quite obviously, the i780 we recently tested and the i620 are poles apart. While the high-end PocketPC sure adds value to the Windows Mobile lineup of the company, the main point of i620 is the benefit of diversity. After all, Samsung i620 is an i600 in the slider form factor and short of Wi-Fi. Sadly, one of the defining traits of the device is an absence.

Samsung i620 handles very well. The touch-sensitive controls on the front and the rotating D-pad wheel make navigation a breeze.

Samsung i620

Ergonomics and friendly handling are a nice advantage of this smartphone, especially considering the space consuming QWERTY keypad slumbering under the slider.

Samsung i620 in hand