Samsung Glyde Cell Phone Review - Hardware
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Alfredo Padilla Published on May 28, 2008 Comment on this |
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We were able to type fairly quickly on the Samsung Glyde's QWERTY keyboard, despite some issues with it. What we didn't like at all was the unresponsive and difficult to use touch screen.
Text Words Per Minute (8.58)
We were able to type 42.9 words per minute (WPM) on the Samsung Glyde using two hands with the QWERTY keyboard. You can see below that this is better than average, but we also saw slightly better performance from some of our comparison devices. We found that the Glyde's keyboard took some getting used to, when we first started typing on it we were much slower than this.
the top of the QWERTY is a little too close to the bottom of the uppper slide
We found that the layout of the keyboard is a little strange with the space button located in the middle of the bottom row of buttons, and we also found that they way they are set up on a grid rather than being off-set like a regular keyboard also took some getting used to. The top row of the keyboard are also very close to the bottom of the upper part of the slide, which meant our fingers bumped up against it anytime we went for a letter on the top row. As our results indicate you can get used to it and type fairly quickly, but it's definitely not amongst the most comfortable keyboards we've used. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
T9 and Auto Complete (5.0)
When using the external keypad you have the option to use predictive text entry to make typing faster. There's no support for word completion, where the phone tries to guess the word you're typing before you finish it.
One-Handed Typing (6.62)
For the one-handed typing test we used the on screen keypad rather than the QWERTY keyboard because it was much faster. We were able to manage 33.1 words per minute (WPM), which is a little faster than average. With the QWERTY using one hand we were significantly slower, simply because the QWERTY is not designed to be used with one hand. You can see that effect below as devices like the Sidekick LX and Palm Centro are much slower because they don't have an alternative to the QWERTY for one-handed use.
the on screen keypad is the easiest way to type one-handed
That's not to say that typing on the Samsung Glyde's on screen keypad was good. We had the same trouble with lack of responsiveness we saw throughout the touch screen interface. You can improve this somewhat by turning up the sensitivity of the screen in settings, but we do our tests using the default settings. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Keypad Backlighting (7.0)
The letters and symbols on the QWERTY keyboard are well backlit. The lighting is even with letters showing up in white and symbols in yellow. There's no light sensor to turn the backlight on or off automatically but you can set the length of the backlight in the settings to 7, 15 or 30 seconds as well as alway on or always off.
D-Pad/Joystick (1.0)
There are directional buttons built into the QWERTY keyboard on the Samsung Glyde, but these are used very rarely. In our use of the phone the only time we could use them was when we were playing a game. As such we are only awarding a single point for them.
Touch Screen (3.0)
The touch screen on the Samsung Glyde is the primary means of interacting with the interface. We found that using the touch screen was immensely frustrating. The screen did not respond quickly to our presses, sometimes we had to touch a virtual button as many as six or seven times before it would recognize our "press". You can alleviate this a little bit by turning up the sensitivity of the touch screen in the settings, but in default mode it's very frustrating to use. There is some haptic feedback, but after the fifth vibration that doesn't result in any change on the screen it just gets annoying rather than helpful.
Added to this is the fact that where you press on the screen is very particular. For example in the web browser you actually have to press below a link to activate it, we found ourselves pressing the screen a dozen times before we could activate the link we wanted. Similarly with a lot of the buttons found at the bottom of the screen we had to adjust where we pressed constantly. We're sure that with a lot of use the experience will get better, but many may not last that long. We've seen much better touch screens on devices like the LG Voyager or the iPhone, compared to these the Glyd's touch screen just isn't up to snuff. Considering that this is how you're going to interact with the device most of the time it's probably the biggest condemnation of the device.
Jog Dial (0.0)
There is no jog dial on the Samsung Glyde.
Soft Buttons (0.0)
The Samsung Glyde lacks any traditional soft buttons.
Volume Control (5.0)
The volume control on the Samsung Glyde is located on the right side of the device near the top. The button is long and juts out far enough that you can find it easily by feel. Although up/down is not well differentiated the length of the button means that you're unlikely to hit the wrong direction on accident. One thing that should be noted is that up/down volume changes depending on the orientation of the phone. When held vertically up and down are obviously up and down. When held horizontally, however, they switch with down, or right now, turning the volume up and up, or left, turning it down. Just something you have to get used to.
Power and Standby (7.0)
The power button on the Samsung Glyde is located just above the volume keys on the right side of the phone. The power function is secondary as the button is also used to lock the screen. Giving it a long press, however, will turn the phone off while a short press when it is off will turn it back on. The button is not recessed as most power buttons are, but it's also not as prominent as the volume keys, meaning you're unlikely to press it by accident. It does the job, nothing fancy here.
Other Buttons (2.0)
In addition to the buttons discussed above the Samsung Glyde has one additional button, found beneath the display is the home button, just like the iPhone. The functionality is simple, press it and it takes you back to the home screen from any point in the interface. The button is small, square and prominent enough to find by feel. In addition we're also awarding a point for the lock function of the power button. This is critical with a touch screen device as you don't want to accidentally activate things. A short press on it will lock the display and another short press will unlock it.
Primary Screen Gross Resolution (8.5)
The Samsung Glyde's screen resolution is 240 x 440 pixels. This is higher than the 240 x 320 displays that are common on phones but less than the 320 x 480 pixel display found on the iPhone. We found the resolution was quite good enough for viewing photos and rendering the interface sharply.
| Cell Phone | Resolution | Score |
| Samsung Glyde | 240 x 440 | 8.50 |
| Palm Centro | 320 x 320 | 8.50 |
| LG enV2 | 320 x 240 | 8.00 |
| Sidekick LX | 400 x 240 |
8.50 |
| LG Voyager | 400 x 240 |
8.50 |
| Apple iPhone | 480 x 320 |
9.00 |
Primary Screen Pixels per Inch (8.95)
Pixel per inch (PPI) is a measure of how tightly packed pixels are on the display. Higher pixel density leads to sharper images on the display and richer colors. Lower pixel density can cause the display to look washed out and pixelated. The Samsung Glyde's pixel density is 179 PPI, which you can see below is better than average. This is more than good enough that we don't have any concerns about it.
Screen Physical Size (7.0)
The Samsung Glyde's display measures 2.8 inches diagonal. This is as large on the diagonal as the comfortable displays we've seen on devices like the LG Voyager, although the Glyde's particular screen resolution means it ends up being a little long and narrow. The narrow aspect in particular can hurt you when the device is oriented horizontally like when the web browser is in use. Still, it's larger than the display on most phones, as you can see below.
Screen Brightness (5.0)
The Samsung Glyde's display measured 75 lux in our test. We test screen brightness by pointing the phone's browser at a blank white page, turning brightness up to maximum and then using a lux meter from two inches away to measure the brightness. You can see below that the Glyde's screen brightness is just about average, although several of our comparison phones performed much better in this test. The Glyde lacks a sensor to automatically adjust brightness for you, but you can adjust it manually in the settings with five brightness levels to choose from. You can also choose how long the backlight stays on for.
Screen Bright Light Performance (2.0)
The Samsung Glyde did not perform well under bright lights. There was an extreme amount of glare off the display which washed out almost everything. We don't expect you'll be able to navigate the interface under extremely bright conditions. To do this test we shine 3000 lux of light on the display, equivalent to a sunny day, and judge how legible the screen is.
Color Depth (8.0)
The Samsung Glyde's screen is capable of displaying 262,000 colors. This is more than enough that you shouldn't have any trouble getting a "true" color on photos or videos that you look at on the device. It's significantly more than the 65,000 colors that most phones come with.
| Cell Phone | Colors (thousands) | Score |
| Samsung Glyde | 262 | 8.00 |
| Palm Centro | 65 | 6.00 |
| LG enV2 | 260 | 8.00 |
| Sidekick LX | 65 | 6.00 |
| LG Voyager | 262 | 8.00 |
| Apple iPhone | unknown | 6.00 |
Power & Data Ports (2.0)
The Samsung Glyde uses the same proprietary port we've seen on other Samsung phones for both power and data. Charging via USB is not supported. We're not fans of proprietary ports, preferring to see a standard like Mini or Micro USB as on the LG env2. You can see our displeasure reflected in the Samsung Glyde's score.
Headphone Compatibility (4.0)
The Glyde uses the same proprietary port that is used for power and data for headphones as well. Our disdain of proprietary ports is even more pronounced here, if a phone doesn't have a 2.5 or 3.5 millimeter headphone jack it doesn't receive any points. The Samsung Glyde will receive some points for supporting stereo Bluetooth headphones via the A2DP and AVRCP profiles, however.
Internal Storage (1.0)
The Glyde has 57 megabytes of internal storage, sufficient for your contacts and text messages but not for storing a lot of multimedia. Even a bunch of photos will fill this up fairly quickly. As such if you're going to use the multimedia features of the Glyde we recommend you invest in a Micro SD card.
Expansion Slot & Format (6.0)
The Glyde supports Micro SD cards, including more modern SDHC cards with storage available up to 8GB currently and projected up to 64GB in the future. This should give you plenty of storage for music photos and videos. We recommend you get the biggest card you can find because the card slot on the Glyde is not well positioned. To access it you have to remove the back cover, which slides off but is a bit difficult to get back on. We would have much preferred to see an externally accessible card slot.
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