Samsung F700

alfagt

Anyone know if THIS is going to be available anytime soon here? Am due my annual upgrade and it looks to be a nice phone in a desert of dross available (N95 8GB excepted) from Vodafone.....

smartie07

i read in one of the paper's x-mas magazines last week that it will be available before xmas and will be 299 on prepay

buddy

Available to order now.

Looks good - hard to find reviews as it's not really out that long.

kirving

Where can I order this? 299 on prepay seems like a bargain!

alfagt

Got mine last week in the Vodafone store in Cavan town, was even cheaper than i thought. €110 on my upgrade, i'm on Perfect Fit 400. Was told in store that it is €299 on prepay. Also, strangely for Voda, the phone isn't locked (At least the one i got isn't, didn't try any others.). Tried an O2 sim in it, it worked perfectly! It is branded though...

As for the phone, it has the most responsive touchscreen i've ever used. Takes a bit of getting used to if you've only used a normal phone, but after an hour or so you'll be up to speed. And it's so accurate. When you touch the icon you want, it responds immediately, you don't need to keep prodding it like you would on some other touchscreen phones i've used. The slide out qwerty keyboard is also pretty good if you're typing a long text or e-mail. It's not as intuitive to use as the i-phone ui, but i would say its the best of the rest. And that includes the LG Viewty.

Coming from using an N95, the only disappointments so far are the camera and the ring volume when using MP3's as your ringtone/message tone. The camera is way too slow when taking photos, my record is 9 seconds between pushing the shutter key and the photo being taken! It's also takes pretty crappy low light shots. But then it's only a phone and i wasn't expecting too much, especially at the price it's going for. And i've gone back to using the standard tones for calls and texts as i've missed a few calls just because i couldn't hear the phone ringing. Maybe i'm missing some setting that fixes this, but if there is one, i can't find it..

Overall i'd say the pro's outweigh the cons with this phone. It's solidly put together, the call quality is excellent, it looks beautiful, has a good sounding and easily used media player and is excellent for watching videos. I'd give it 8/10.

kirving

Thanks for that alfagt, I can only see information about it on the vodafone.co.uk site, on bill pay. Nothing about prepay, and nothing at all on vodafone.ie. I was going to buy a second hand n95, but I think its locked to 02 bill pay, as 2 02 prepay sims dont work in it.

Next option was an N73, but if this is only a little more, it seems like a good buy, and different to the usual candybar form factor too. Does it run symbian, yea?

alfagt

It seems to be only available in Vodafone stores at the minute, not online. But then, the N95 8gb is not online, it's just in the stores as well. Seems that Voda don't update the online shop as often as they should for some reason.....

kirving

Rang vodafone call center and the guy didn't know when it was due to be released, but it was definitely bring released. Then, I rang vodafone Grafton Street and the guy said they were in stock, at 299 for a ready to go handset.

Have you had any other problems with it? Would you prefer Nokia's Symbian OS to this, or does the samsung incorporate all of the same features? I know its a person thing as to whether you like a touch screen or not, and I can always sell it and get an n73 if I realise I don't like it.

bluemachaveli

I've been reading online that all F700 from Vodafone are unlocked!
Any one bought a pre-pay one that can confirm?
Wouldn't mind pickin one up but don't really wanna change networks!

Thanks.

alfagt

It's not a Symbian phone, it's a Samsung designed OS so it is nothing like any of the S60 phones. It's not a smartphone, as far as i can tell you can't even change the theme. And there's only one preinstalled.

Have had no problems with using the screen day to day, it does take a little getting used but the haptic feedback when you touch the icons helps.

kirving

Should have mine in an hour or 2 so I'll tell you if its unlocked then. Got it today in Vodafone Grafton Street. (It's not on display as of yet)

Edit: I just want to confirm that mine is unlocked, Meteor sim worked fine in it. Its Vodafone branded though. The camera is very slow alright, and it seems a bit light, but thats all I can say for now. Back in its box till christmas!

bluemachaveli

Kevin Irving wrote: »

Should have mine in an hour or 2 so I'll tell you if its unlocked then. Got it today in Vodafone Grafton Street. (It's not on display as of yet)

Edit: I just want to confirm that mine is unlocked, Meteor sim worked fine in it. Its Vodafone branded though. The camera is very slow alright, and it seems a bit light, but thats all I can say for now. Back in its box till christmas!

Just to confirm that is Pay As You Go?
Thanks.
Mite pop out tomorrow to get one.

kirving

Yep, it was PAYG, for 299. I'm not too mad about the touch screen at all, thats just me though. The screen is lovely, and the keyboard its a good feature too. I don't think it can really multitask either. Not trying to put anyone off, it certainly is a good phone.


I wonder could I exchange it for an N73? Probably not...

alfagt

Hey Kevin, just to let you know that the best way to deal with the touchscreen is to treat it gently! It took me a while to cop on that prodding the screen too hard can catch the phone out. So don't go exchanging it until you've tried it for a while first, you may be surprised! Now that i've been using it for the past few days i'm finding that i can text a lot faster on this than i could on the N95 and i'm navigating my way round the menus just as fast as i have on any phone i've owned.

kirving

Well Ive used it for a day now, and I've decided I don't want to keep it for the following reasons:

• The camera is slow(although it does take very good pics)
• I hate the touch screen(maybe my hands are just too big!?)
• The texting isn't the best, although the keyboard helps(I just prefer nokia)
• The battery life isn't the best(Ive been using it a lot, but it didn't last as long as i would have expected)
• I don't like the menu system, its clunky and bland.
• You have to unlock the phone before answering a call, and once it is answered, the screen locks again

Now it is a good phone, but I thought I'd like a touch screen but its just not my cup of tea.

Would I be able to bring it back and exchange it for something else?
Has anyone done this?


If I cant do that, I'll probably have it up for sale on adverts in the next day or 2, with 1 days use, a new sim with the free credit and all original packaging (for €280)

richieg

I was playing with this today for a while and I like it but i have a few questions I hope you can help me with
1. How well does calander, tasks and address book sync with outlook?
2. What is the max sized memory card that will work with it?
3. Does the gmail mobile app work on this phone or if not how good is the built in app and can you get gmail on it?
4. When you connect to a PC does it see the phone as a external storage device and read the memory card?
5. Does a data cable come with the phone or can you connect via bluetooth to a PC?
6. What is the web browser like?

kirving

I haven't looked an the syncing or e-mail options(i wouldn't really use them much anyway), a 1gb card comes included in the pack, dont know what the max is though.

You get a data cable with it.

alfagt

Well the only synching i did so far is to transfer my contacts from Outlook and it worked fine so i assume the appointments, etc will work too. Have tried a 6gb card, it works fine as well. Don't know bout Gmail, don't use it. And for connecting to a PC you have the choice to connect as a mass storage device or through the Samsung PC suite.

smartie07

i'm thinking of buying this phone but have heard that the camera quality is awful (very blurry). Is this true?

richieg

Picture quality is fairly good but it ca b slow to capture pictures. If something is moving this could cause some bluring