 "Samsung SGH-X820 Ultra Edition 6.9")
I’ll get this right out of the way – the Samsung Ultra Edition 6.9 is the thinnest phone in the whole world. At 6.9mm, it’s thinner than the RAZR or the SLVR. In fact, it’s so thin and so light, that it sometimes becomes difficult to find the phone in your pockets and it always makes you skip a heartbeat. You don’t want to lose this phone! The phone is a bit wide at around 5cm, but not too tall at around 11.3cm. The slimness and the weight (only 66gm) totally redeem this phone.
Even after being so thin, the phone offers a full featured keypad with actual buttons that give you proper tactile feedback, so typing an SMS or generally using the phone requires no adjusting. The only two problems with the keypad lie within the flatness of the keys and the navipad. The keys, even though tactile, are a bit too flat to discover and differentiate by touch if you’re not looking at the phone. You’ll need to look at the phone to end or make a call. The other problem is in the navipad. While the left and right direction keys are well-sized, the up and down keys are a little thin and require nail-typing. Even the “Ok” key in the center is a bit small, and moderately large thumbs may accidentally end up clicking one of the directions instead.
The phone is not just ridiculously thin – it also manages to pack in a good set of features which increase the usefulness of a phone so slim. After all, what’s a really slim phone that has a monochrome display and basic phone features? The Ultra Edition 6.9, also known as the SGH-X820, features a nice, wide 1.9-inch 220x176 262k color display, which is essentially the same as most other mobile phones, only rotated sideways. The display is bright and very readable in sunlight as well.
__PAGEBREAK__
The wide aspect ratio of the screen comes in handy when shooting with the built-in 2 megapixel camera situated at the top behind the speaker of the phone. The camera area is the only area that’s a bit thicker than the rest of the phone, but it’s small so it never poses a problem. When in your pocket, it works like a grip to pull the phone out. There’s no flash, so pictures in low light don’t turn out too well, but the overall quality of the day shots is excellent. The phone also records video. There is a TV-output feature which lets you see the pictures and videos on a TV screen if the small size of the phone screen doesn’t cut it.
Media playback is not lacking, with support for MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC as well as WMA files. The quality of playback is top-notch, even when using the handsfree speaker, which also quite loud, by the way. Unfortunately, there is no FM radio tuner, which will not appeal to most audiences in this phone’s price bracket. A headset can be connected to listen to music, but there’s no direct way of using your own pair of headphones with it. If you want, you can use the TV-out RCA cables along with an RCA to stereo-jack converter and finally put your own headphones or even connect it to any other stereo system!
The phone offers 80 MB of internal memory, but sadly no memory card slot to expand it. Still, 80 MB is decent enough capacity for most average users. You can store around 80-85 photos at full quality or a little over 20 CD-quality MP3 tracks of 3-minutes each.
The phone will go on for upto four days without recharging, but not with heavy use of the camera and/or media player. Even after using the camera to shoot a good amount of pictures, the battery life is still very, very good, like most new Samsungs. It does take a little while to give it a full recharge, though.
The phone runs on tri-band GSM/GRPS/EDGE networks (900/1800/1900) and offers Bluetooth as well as USB connectivity. No, there is no Bluetooth stereo headset support! Also available is Java MIDP application support.
Head to head with the SLVR L7, the Ultra Edition 6.9 misses out on an expandable memory slot, but wins with its superior slimness and light weight, 80mb built-in memory, a great quality 2-megapixel camera, excellent sound quality and great battery life. All this warrants the Rs 14,500 price tag, but if you can make do with a slightly thicker phone with a memory card slot, the L7 is an excellent buy at around Rs 8,000.
 "Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty")
 "Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched")
 "Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?")
 "Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House")
 "Israel targets top Hamas leaders in Doha; Qatar, Iran condemn strike as violation of sovereignty")
 "Nepal: Oli to continue until new PM is sworn in, nation on edge as all branches of govt torched")
 "Who is CP Radhakrishnan, India's next vice-president?")
 "Israel informed US ahead of strikes on Hamas leaders in Doha, says White House")
