Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH preview: First look

Known as Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH or simply Tocco Ultra depending on the market, the latest touch phone by Samsung comes in the slider form factor. Beside the killer looks and slim profile of only 12.7mm, the specs sheet of the Samsung S8300 continues with a 2.8" capacitive OLED touchscreen, 8 megapixel camera and a GPS-receiver with Route 66 navigation.

Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH

Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH a.k.a. Tocco Ultra at a glance:

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100 MHz, GPRS/EDGE class 10, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
• Form factor: Classy touchscreen slider with an alphanumeric keypad
• Dimensions: 110 x 51.5 x 12.7 mm
• Display: 2.8-inch 16M color OLED touchscreen, WQVGA resolution (400 x 240), tempered glass for scratch resistance
• Memory: 80MB integrated memory, hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB), 2GB card supplied
• OS: Proprietary Samsung Touch UI, latest version of TouchWiz UI (1.5)
• Camera: 8 megapixel auto focus camera with dual PowerLED flash, Face detection, Smile Shot, Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) and VGA video@30 fps
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS and optional Samsung Mobile Navigator by Route66
• Misc: Accelerometer for screen auto rotate, Proximity sensor for auto screen turn-off, Anti-scratch screen surface, FM radio with RDS, DivX/XviD video support
• Battery: 880 mAh battery

It's been exactly one year since the first time one of the big-five phone manufacturers announced a fully touch-operated slider. The Samsung S8300 takes over from where the LG KF700 left off and attempts a huge leap forward.

While the LG KF700 wasn't that popular, the Samsung S8300 seems ready to go that extra length. It is the key product for Samsung for the first half of this year and we are almost as curious as you are to see if it appeals to the phone-buying public.

Samsung S8300 all over

The Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH looks quite nice in the flesh and we have to admit that we are rather fond of the metallic frame around the display.

Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH next to LG KC910 Renoir and Samsung i8510 INNOV8

Join us on the next page for a detailed check of the device's ergonomics.