Samsung T400 Dual Band Mobile Phone (1)

Nowadays mobile phone are more than a gadget for IT savvy people. With more and more brands in the market, manufacturers of mobile phones not only have to come out with new models that meets the trend but it also must be fashionable. The Samsung T400 could well be one of such phones. In the package, you can find two batteries, a charger, hanging strap, ear piece, manual.

Finished in metallic silver and clam shell design, this phone has a small dimension of 80 x 42 x 21.5mm and weigh only 80grams. This phone comes equipped with a 128x144 pixels (internal) 65K TFT colour screen which displays vivid colours and a second external black & white LCD which shows the time and other information.

On top of that, 40 polyphonic channel ringtones can be personalised for specific phonebook entry. The ringtone is very loud and not only MIDI tones can be programmed, voice can be programmed into the ringtone as well using third party software like psmplayer. The ringtones are very loud and clear. You can listen to this WMA file (484KB). There is also a 6 colour service LED which will change colours when playing the ringtones. (30 Embedded / 12 downloadable). Other than ringtone, you can also change the background image of the phone to the preloaded images or images downloaded from the web. (6 images embedded / 8 images downloadable) For those who need to access ringtones, you can use the WAP 1.2 complaint WAP browser to connect to websites that provides Samsung compatible ringtones. I am somehow disappointed that the phone does not support GPRS and MMS. There is also no infra-red port available. The two possible ways to download ringtones is via datacable (which is not on sale yet) and WAP.

The navigation system of this phone is straightforward. You should be able to find out where most of the functions are located within minutes. The phone comes with T9 input for SMS input which is rather fast in response. The only thing that it is only available in English and Indonesian. (A T408 is available for Chinese market).


Back of the phone	Back of the phone with battery pack clipped on	Charger for the batteries

For the executives, you might find this phone useful as it provides Scheduler, Alarm, Calculator, To-do list, Calendar, World Time. There is also the Voice memo, Voice command, Voice dial.

The package also provide two 800mA / Lithium lon batteries which can last a talk time of 150 ~ 335 minutes and a Standby Time of 120~220 hrs.

If you are bored, you can try out the 3 games Bowling, Speed Up, Honey Ball that comes with the phone.

Samsung T400 has a nice design which appeals to the professionals as it has all the necessary schedulers, alarms and ringtones that will make you stand out from the crowd. I especially like the 40 channel polyphonic ringtones and I would resist answering the phone just to let the phone ring a little longer.

I particularly love the 65K TFT screen. All the colour images can be displayed vividly on the screen. The only drawback is that it will appear dim under strong sunlight especially in tropical countries making it difficult to read the contents on the screen.

In terms of features, this phone seems to only have a basic feature set. There is only WAP. There is no IRDA, MMS and GPRS on it. Considering it as a Dual Band GSM900/1800 set, it would have included GSM1900 for better coverage for the mobile user. To date, the data cable is not available and I find that the phone have limited storage space for images and ringtones will let me ponder again in my selection of this phone over others. SMS storage is limited by the SIM card.

During our tests, we find that the interface are user friendly, esp the shortcut keys to ringtones and SMS. The voice quality is excellent. Reception is good and there are no drop calls so far.

I would recommend this phone to working professionals who needs a fashionable phone.