Cell Phones Blog

Introduction
A few years back, Motorola generated a lot of buzz in the mobile phone community with their ultimately ill-fated MPx (MPx300) dual-hinge clamshell.  The mpx packed a full QWERTY keyboard into a standard flip phone form factor, and opened both the “long” and “short” ways for use either as a traditional phone or widescreen device.  While that phone was a little ahead of its time (it’s big problem was not enough horsepower for its intended functionality), the idea of a dual-hinged clamshell handset was, and still is, very intriguing. 

Apparently the folks at Samsung also find the dual flip phone interesting, because they’ve released a handful of them over the past few years.  The most recent is the SCH-u740 for Verizon Wireless.  The u740 packs a full QWERTY board along with a 1.3 mp camera, color display, and a 3G VCAST music and video player with external display and media controls into a slim, stylish flip phone design.  Though some may be put off by the abundance of buttons on the handset’s main panel, if you’re a messaging maven the u740 might just be the next best thing to a full-blown smartphone.

Design
I really, really like the design of the u740.  It’s detractors will say that there are too many buttons, the buttons are too small, and the button layout is too confusing.  I’d counter that if you’re interested in this phone, you’re interested in getting a full QWERTY board in a small flip phone’s body, and you won’t be too put off by having to learn its layout.  At 97.5 x 52 x 15 mm, this handset is much smaller than any QWERTY-wielding smartphone out there, with the (possibly lone) exception of HTC’s new S710 “Vox.”

When closed, the u740 looks much like any other slim clamshell handset, with the exception of its somewhat thick hinge.  The front panel houses the camera sensor and LED flash assist light along with an external display and three touch-sensitive music player controls.  From the closed position, the front panel can be flipped open the “regular” way for voice calls, or twisted up the “long” way for access to messaging, Web, and video functionality.  The design is somewhat similar to Samsung’s D307 (Cingular) or Nokia’s n93 and n93i phones.  My review unit was finished in a glittery champagne colored plastic with black trim, though an all-black version is now available as well.   Open the phone and you’ll find a 2.2″ display flanked by twin (stereo) speakers on the top panel, and the aforementioned “chock full O’ buttons” layout on the bottom panel.  Looking at the handset as you would a traditional flip phone, the layout basically consists of a navigational array - 5-way D-pad flanked by two softkeys and dedicated Send and End/Power keys -positioned above a QWERTY layout.  There is an extra softkey in the lower left corner of the panel - this button serves as the right softkey when the phone is in widescreen mode (it winds up in the lower right corner when the handset is rotated). 
 
I found the keys pretty easy to use despite the somewhat crowded layout of the QWERTY board.  Held in widescreen mode, the u740 fit comfortably between my hands and left my thumbs well-positioned for typing.  The buttons themselves are long, slim ovals with a nicely rounded “raised bubble” shape that made for easier and more accurate typing.  While the sheer abundance of keys and somewhat confusing UI system (we’ll get to that later) will probably leave the novice cell phone user cold, the u740 really isn’t made for that user, anyway.  Its intended audience should delight in wiling away the hours tapping out SMS messages in widescreen/QWERTY splendor.

The left panel of the phone houses a rocker switch for volume and plastic-capped headset/charger port on the lower half, and a hold key on the upper half.  On the right side you’ll find a speakerphone button and another plastic capped port, this one for removable microSD memory cards.  The back of the handset is largely given over to a battery cover.

All in all, the U740’s design will appeal strongly to a relatively small subset of mobile phone users:  frequent text-messagers who want a full QWERTY keyboard but don’t need the power of a smartphone or even the bulk of Verizon’s LG VX-9900 “enV.”  While the enV packs more features and a roomier