Weaknesses
The version
of the phone we had was decked out in a silver and grey colour scheme. From a
distance it looks a million dollars but when you're up close the finish is
actually a bit plasticky. If you're thinking of purchasing the handset you
might be better off opting for the alternative dark grey and black version.
Another issue we had was with the controls. The touch buttons that are positioned under the screen look great but you don't get any tactile feedback from them, so they feel a little bit strange to use at first. Sometimes there's also an annoying lag between tapping the buttons and the phone registering the key press.
Also, although the centrally mounted dial acts as both a scroll wheel and four-way navigation key, it doesn't work well at either function. Often you'll find yourself skipping over icons in the main menu that you are trying to select.
The handset can be used as a music player but it's not a very good one. Although the supplied headphones have decent sound quality, navigating tracks is a nightmare.
The phone doesn't present you with artist, track and album menu options. Instead it just lists all the tracks held on your memory card and then allows you to manually sort them into artist and album categories. Most of the time, you're left just scrolling through very long lists of track names until you find the one you want to play.
ConclusionThe U700 is a bit of a mixed bag. It looks good, has a brilliant screen and really is a blistering performer for viewing Web sites. However, there are times when the touch buttons and wheel make it feel quite awkward to use. The interface for the music player is also woeful. It's certainly not a bad handset but we don't think it's a great one, either.
Additional editing by Shannon Doubleday
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User reviews4
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smat 21 March 2008
Good: Good for Photos and phone calls
Bad: The touch buttons and the battery life the external buttons power it up in you pocket running the battery down.
Comment: At first I thought this was a great phone but the external buttons do not lock when it is closed and cannot be locked so when you put it in your pocket, even with the brightness turned right down and the displays set to min. time the battery goes down very quickly.
The touch buttons are unreliable and when trying to use the rotating scroll feature your finger slips off and suddenly you are on the internet.
I find it hard to connect with Bluetooth it always needs confirmation unlike my Nokia that just automatically hooks up.
One thing I would also like is a flashing indication of a missed call and new SMS message as the old Samsgung had.
As a phone it is good which is what it is all about as long as the battery is not flat.
cazz 20 October 2007
Good: large screen, looks sleek
Bad: Plasticky, those awful touch sensitive buttons!
Comment: This wasn't the phone I wanted (that was the G600...out of stock) but was persuaded into by Vodafone, it looked good so I went with it.
Having tried it for a week it's now on it's jolly little way back to Vodafone, it's awful, the touch sensitive keys drive me crazy, I thought I might get used to them but last night reduced me to a wreck, just one small swipe over those buttons and the whole message you were writing disappears and you're on Vodafone Live...again.
The casing is plastic and shiny I was so worried about scratching it I even started looking for some sort of silly fabric bag I'd seen someone else with to protect it, then I came to my senses and rang Vodafone to return it.
Ahh my struggle is over
Travis Boothman 4 September 2007
Good: The look,
Bad: Short battery life, poor music player, low volume,
Comment: I was really excited about buying this phone, it looked great, I heard and read good things about it, so I was bitterly disappointed when I actually got the phone and realised I was duped by the hype.
The look of it is fantastic but that's about it, the 'user guide' was useless and lacked information, the battery life is extremely poor (about 1 hour of talk time).
The volume for ringing and the music player is very poor due to only one speaker.
The camera is hard to use and is not good in the dark, and the video only lasts 15 secs.
When talking for awhile (after 20mins) the back gets hot due to the battery.
It's very sensitive to the touch and the 'rolling' control in the middle is not very good e.g when trying to sms you 'brush' the roller and lose everything.
You just lightly touch the pad and it rings someone.
Trying to write a sms is hard due to the fact that when you mispell a word you have to delete the whole word and start again.
Well I've only had it a week so I may find more wrong with it later.
Thanks for reading.
And I wouldn't recommend ANYONE to buy this phone.
See all 4 user reviews