Samsung E950 review: ?ccentric slider

Visually appealing, the Samsung E950 is a feature-rich handset that takes Samsung�s idea of touch sensitive interface one step further. Fitted into a compact slider body you get a 3 megapixel camera, microSD card slot, FM radio, stereo Bluetooth and a 2� TFT display with a QVGA resolution. The handset is equipped with a novel input solution � a dedicated touchscreen that serves as a navigation D-pad. That feature alone was enough to get us itching with impatience to lay our hands on one of those phones. Join us as we explore the Samsung E950 slider.

Key features

• Unique touchscreen navigation solution
• Compact size and weight
• 3 megapixel camera
• 262K color TFT display with a QVGA (320x240 pixels) resolution
• Bluetooth with A2DP
• microSD memory card slot
• FM radio
• TV out
• MS Office documents viewer
• Data cable and a 512MB card included in the retail package
• Nice web browser

Main disadvantages

• Touchscreen navigation sensitivity is dodgy
• Camera lacks autofocus and produces average quality photos
• Office documents viewer is slow
• Choppy animation in the main menu
• Java applications can be installed only through WAP
• Only preset message ringtones

The Samsung E950 is obviously the successor of last-year�s Samsung E900. Both handsets feature full touch sensitive navigation throughout the phone�s interface. Besides being among the first handsets with touch-based navigation, the E900 failed to impress with technical specifications when compared to the other high-end Samsung handsets at the time. The same holds true for the E950 now. Samsung have more advanced handsets currently, so we guess the E950 will mostly count on exciting technology (unique touchscreen pad) and fashion appeal (this baby just looks great).

Having had our deal of Samsung reviews in the past month, we were still excited to see how far Samsung would go with that touch-pad, touch-screen and touch-everything extravaganza. So, we got busy with an early pre-release version of the Samsung E950.

Perhaps this is the right place for a little disclaimer. Being a pre-sales piece , our Samsung E950 suffered from some serious bugs. We do hope though they�ll be fixed in the retail version .

You know the drill

The Samsung E950 measures 98 x 46 x 15 mm, which doesn�t make it the slimmest slider currently available, but in terms of size the Samsung E950 is pretty compact and even light. The mobile makes good use of metal and matt black plastic. We like the design and the construction itself seems pretty solid. Thanks to the touch-sensitive elements on the front panel, the surface is smooth and there are no keys sticking out. The touch-sensitive navigation display is inside a silver frame at the lower end. A slight recess above the display nests the earpiece.