Samsung U900 Soul preview: First Look

Samsung U900 Soul 360-degree spin

Samsung U900 Soul is obviously not the slimmest Ultra handset. In fact, it is not even among the top 3 Ultra devices. At 12.9mm thick, U900 Soul is on par with the good old Samsung D900, which is surely the most popular member of the first Ultra lineup.

Exterior and controls

As far as the Ultra lineup is concerned the U900 is supposed to excel in features rather than slimness. The 5 megapixel camera and the touch pad are unique to the family and can hardly be overlooked.

In terms of controls layout and ergonomics, Samsung U900 Soul is pretty similar to the Samsung U600 - except for the missing power button and the added video-call camera. The Soul even has the same size display with QVGA resolution.

The display itself has remarkable image quality and brightness, but is quite disappointing in terms of legibility under direct sunlight. The high brightness and contrast levels however can make us partly forgive that.

Samsung U900 Soul sports a 2.2" 16M color display that has great picture quality

The volume rocker and the USB slot are placed on the left side of Samsung U900 Soul. The other thing worth noting here is the lanyard eyelet.

The left side of the phone - USB slot, volume rocker and a neck/wrist strap eyelet

On the right side of the handset we find the dedicated camera key and the microSD card slot. These are all arranged exactly the same way as in Samsung U600.

Samsung U900 Soul's right side is where the dedicated camera key and the microSD card slot are

The main difference is the front panel where several changes have been made. The first one is the added video-call camera, which was missing in the U600 (fair enough, U600 had no 3G support).

The other major change, and probably the easiest to notice, is that the D-pad is now replaced by a touch pad. It has nice haptic feedback and the vibration strength can be adjusted to the user's liking.

The sensitivity of the touchpad itself can also be configured but we ended up using it at the maximum at all times. When sensitivity is reduced the Touchpad needs a good push in order to accept a command.

The keypad of Samsung U900 Soul was one of the most pleasant surprises to us. If you have been keeping track of our recent reviews you will know that utterly flat keypads are not really our cup of tea.

"...The other major change, and probably the easiest to notice, is that the D-pad is now replaced by a touch pad. It has nice haptic feedback and the vibration strength can be adjusted to the user's liking. The sensitivity of the touchpad itself can also be configured but we ended up using it at the maximum at all times..."

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The one here however uses really large keys and small metallic borders between rows to ensure great touch orientation. Also, mixing up two neighboring keys is pretty much out of the question with the U900 Soul. All this said, we can safely conclude that the keypad of Samsung U900 is really great and texters will truly enjoy the phone.

The keypad of Samsung U900 Soul was a really pleasant surprise to us

The camera of the Samsung U900 Soul is situated on the back of the phone and is only revealed when the slider is open. It is also equipped with a LED flash and a self-portrait mirror. The pixel count sounds formidable so you may rest assured that we are not going to leave the camera out of the preview. It is going to receive its due attention a little later on.

The 5 megapixel camera is equipped with a LED flash and a self-portrait mirror

The overall build quality of Samsung U900 Soul is great and it is obvious that high quality materials have been used. The brushed metallic front panel frame and battery cover also bring a lot of positives to its design.