Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH preview: First look

3. Design and construction (continued)

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Now that's an excellent keypad

Sliding the phone open reveals the keypad. It is quite spacious with large enough keys for comfortable typing. Some additional bordering wouldn't have hurt the typing capabilities of the device but it is good enough as it stands now.

The keypad offers comfort and quite decent typing speed

The Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH keypad has a nice, even backlighting which, combined with the great display, make for amazing looks in the dark.

The Samsung S8300 is a beauty in the dark

Continuing our tour around

The only noteworthy element on the left side of Samsung S8300 is the volume rocker. It's large and has nice tactile feedback, making it quite comfortable to use.

The volume rocker at the left is good enough

The Samsung S8300 right side hosts the camera key, the display lock key and the microUSB slot. The latter is hidden under a small plastic lid to prevent dirt accumulating. We are glad that Samsung are using the standard issue microUSB ports on some of their latest phones, as this is definitely a step in the right direction. We'd be glad to see other manufacturers do the same thing.

It's more crowded on the right with the camera key, the display lock key and the microUSB slot

The top is completely plain and so is the bottom, save for the microphone pinhole.

The top and the bottom are pretty plain

The back of the S8300 UltraTOUCH hosts the 8 megapixel camera and its loyal companions - the LED flash and the self-portrait mirror. Those are of course only visible when the slider is open, which gives them some serious protection from scratches.

An 8 megapixel camera is at the back, along with the LED flash and the self-portrait mirror

Under the back cover lays an 880 mAh battery. Not the most impressive capacity but with the relatively power-cheap OLED display it might just do the trick. Unfortunately with the pre-release status of our unit we are unable to provide any information about its real life endurance. Rest assured though, we will make up for that once we acquire a retail unit.

An 880 mAh battery lays under the cover

The general build quality of the S8300 UltraTOUCH is commendable. No creaks or other disturbing noises of any kind were heard throughout the time of our preview. The slider is also nicely done - as is usual for Samsung, it's smooth and stable.

The phone held in hand