Samsung's SPH i700 Pocket PC smartphone with integrated camera has a lot going for it, a sleek, lightweight chassis, a very good 65,536-color TFT LCD screen and excellent radio and network performance.

It's no champion, but it's definitely a contender.

The i700 is a dual-band, single-mode device that works on 1900 and 800 MHz CDMA/1X networks. It has been available from Verizon in the United States and is also now offered on the Telus network in Canada.

It's no powerhouse as a Pocket PC, but the i700's 300MHz Intel XScale processor and 64 MB of RAM are adequate and let the i700 hold its own against competition. For example, the competing Hitachi SH-G1000 Pocket PC smartphone from Sprint features a 400MHz processor, but only 32 MB or memory.

The i700 also has 5.6 MB of NAND flash memory which saves device settings in a hard reset. And it has an SD (Secure Digital) flash memory card slot that is SDIO (SD Input/ Output) compliant - meaning it can accommodate peripheral devices, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth network interface cards, as well as memory cards.

Easy-to-Use Camera

The integrated VGA (640x480-pixel) digital camera and slick, easy-to-use picture taking software push the i700 into the very cool category.

The camera lens, mounted in the top edge of the body, swivels 270 degrees. It can swivel into the body of the i700 for protection, restoring the clean lines of the chassis. In fact it's difficult to tell there is a camera when it’s folded away.

The lens also swivels all the way around so you can hold the unit up in front of you, look at the screen as a viewfinder and shoot ahead --or you could hold it down low for more candid shooting.

With the Samsung DigitALL Camera software running, the top half of the i700's screen becomes the view finder - a bigger LCD viewfinder than most dedicated digital cameras.

The lower half includes an at-a-glance settings menu. You can choose the picture storage location, change the image size (160x120, 320x240, 640x480 pixels), adjust exposure (Normal, Brighter, Brightest, Darker, Darkest) and select image quality (Normal, Fine, Best). A Settings menu on the main menu bar also lets you adjust White Balance.


i700 Side View

To the right of the quick Settings menu is a big shutter button that is can be pressed with an index finger instead of the stylus. There is also a self-timer (3, 6, 9 or 12 seconds).

From the View menu on the main menu bar you can choose to look at the picture you just shot or thumbnails of all recent shots. Once you're viewing an image, you can use the Send menu to send it as an attachment to e-mail or by infrared.

Don't expect great quality from the i700's camera - you certainly won't want this to be your only camera. The pictures I took at the largest pixel size and best quality were fuzzy and noisy and often poorly exposed. But they're good enough for taking fun pictures to e-mail or to remind yourself what something looked like.

As with most phone cameras, the lack of a flash somewhat reduces the value proposition. It will be difficult, for example, to take useful pictures of products at a trade show because of the low indoor light.

The i700 also shares both the up and down sides of the Pocket PC platform. In this case, disappointingly, it's the Pocket PC 2002 operating system. Samsung reportedly won't have a PPC 2003 firmware/software upgrade for the i700 until the end of the year.

One of the often stated Pocket PC down sides, especially noticeable after using a Blackberry for awhile, is the reliance on touchscreen and stylus. Unlike the clamshell-design Samsung i600 from Sprint, which has an integrated numeric hardware keypad, the i700 has only virtual, i.e. onscreen, keypad and keyboard.


Samsung i600

For those adept at electronic handwriting, composing e-mails and notes is easier with stylus and touchscreen than with a PDA-size keyboard and thumbwheel. (I once hand wrote a travel journal on a Pocket PC, making lengthy entries each day - unimaginable with a Blackberry.)

But when it comes to using the device as a phone, a hardware keypad is definitely nice to have. And when you only need to make quick menu selections and enter small bits of text, it's nice not to have to grope for the pen and pull it out of its scabbard.

This is the nature of Pocket PC computing, though, and those accustomed to the interface wouldn't have it any other way.

Also, if you insist on a hardware keypad, you will pay a price. The i600 is slightly smaller, folded, and lighter than the i700 (3.54 x 2.1 x 0.92 inches, 5.0 oz. versus 5.2 x 2.8 x.6 inches, 6.9 oz.), but it makes sacrifices on screen size.

The i700 features a bright, clear 240x320-pixel screen (approximately 2.2 x 2.8 inches) with 65,000 colors, while the i600 has a relatively puny 176x220-pixel display.

The user interface is important, of course, but radio/network performance is more important. In our testing on the Telus network, even with signal reported by the device to be weak, calls were clear, loud enough and free of break-up - though it won't always be as good, of course.

Internet Issues

The Telus CDMA/1X network is not always on for Internet access. Each request for a Web session or e-mail retrieval requires "dialing" over the cell phone network. Though this is done automatically and takes only a couple of seconds, it can be irritating if you're having trouble e-mailing something and keep making repeated attempts.

Meaningful comparisons of data throughput between devices and networks are difficult or impossible. MSN Mobile, available over the Telus network, is much more graphically oriented than most of the sites and services available on Rogers' GSM/GPRS network, which I have recently used, for example. The graphics probably slow both network throughput and display time.

My subjective impression, though, is that there isn't much to choose between throughput speeds on the two networks, and I doubt the i700's processing power was a factor in page display time.

One point to keep in mind: you can't use the Internet while making a voice call on the i700.

The software bundle includes more than just the usual barebones collection of Pocket PC applications - Microsoft ActiveSync for synching with a PC, personal information management (tasks, calendar, contacts) and note taking tools, Microsoft Media Player and Microsoft Reader. It also includes Office for Pocket PC - Word and Excel.

The voice recorder functions in my testing were mediocre. It's really only useful for making personal voice notes with the microphone held right up to your mouth. Even then, the audio quality is poor. If you hold the phone even a few feet away, recordings are almost inaudible.

On the other hand, you can record phone conversations by pressing and holding the hardware Record button while talking.

There were a couple of little things I didn't like about the i700.

The head phone jack is the micro size which has become the norm in phone devices, but wasn't originally for Pocket PCs. This means existing head phones with standard mini jacks won't work unless you get an adapter from Radio Shack.

And the head phones that come with the unit are really intended for hands-free phoning not music listening, even though they're stereo. They sound tinny and thin when listening to MP3s or WMAs with Microsoft Media Player - although that could also be the unit's audio circuitry.

Also, the protective leather holder, while solidly constructed, is inelegant and doesn't work as a belt clip. It has a purse-style hand loop.

Still, if you're looking for a Pocket PC smartphone, definitely add the i700 to your list. The core features and functions - especially the color LCD and radio/network performance - are good enough to warrant its inclusion. And the camera makes it a fun unit to carry.