Verizon SMT5800 Cell Phone Review - Hardware
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Mark Brezinski Published on March 17, 2008 Comment on this |
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Summary
The SMT5800 has a good QWERTY keyboard and is average everywhere else. Its screen is a bit larger than average, but this is true for many smart phones. The only other area that sticks out is the phone's lack of a standard headphone jack.
Keypad
Text Words Per Minute (9.56)
For the keypad timing test, we input a sample paragraph and time ourselves. In the case of phones with multiple input methods, we test out both and use the faster score. For the SMT5800, the internal pad too 20.09 seconds to finish and the external took 24.1 seconds. This works out to 47.78 and 39.83 words per minute respectively. This is really not a surprise. QWERTY keypads are usually better than standard 12-key arrays, regardless of whether or not T9 is on. To read more on this test, click here.
T9 and Auto Complete (10.0)
Both T9 and auto-complete receive support on the SMT5800. In fact, both are initially turned on as default entry methods. This will optimize entry on the external keypad, but is somewhat annoying when entering unrecognized words.
One Hand Usability (7.37)
This is the same test as the previous texting timing test, only we only use one hand. This time, the outside pad was the winner, finishing in 26.05 seconds (versus the QWERTY's 34.38 seconds) for a words per minute score of 36.85 (versus 26.05). This result follows a trend as well: though QWERTY keyboards offer a slight advantage compared to keypads, they are simply too unweildly to use with one hand. For more info on this test, check out this article.
Keypad Backlighting (6.0)
The keypad is backlit very well. The blue lights are even and bright, and even allow the letters and symbols to shine through clearly. The green and blue phones for the send and end keys are less bright, but their different colors still allow them to stand out. There is also a time-out setting in the power management screen.
Controls
D-Pad/Joystick (4.0)
The SMT5800's d-pad has problems. The up and down arrows are simply too thin to not get in your way from time to time. Moving from up to down requires your finger to hop over the really convex select key. Besides this one significant drawback, it does have a lot of redeeming qualities, like good tactile response. The high lip towards the edges make the d-pad easy to find by touch and also help corral your fingers so you don't accidentally hit surrounding keys. If the tiny up and down arrows were even slightly bigger, this would be a great d-pad.
Touch Screen (0.0)
Though it's large, touching the SMT5800's screen will only smudge it.
Jog Dial (0.0)
The SMT5800 has no jog dial. Not even the volume keys -- which sometimes allow you to scroll through lists -- lend a helping hand.
Soft Buttons (7.0)
The soft buttons are decent. They have some good snap to them, are easy to find since their relation to the d-pad is the same as most soft keys; assuming you've used a typical cell phone before, your fingers will find them easily. Even if your finger memory isn't the greatest, they have little hyphen-like bumps on them to aid in touch navigation. These are all-around solid soft buttons.
Volume Control (5.0)
The volume switch is a bit disconcerting. It slides up and down along the side of the phone, with a spring that moves it back to neutral. Since it's a switch, it doesn't have the tactile response a button would, so it can be confusing if you've accidentally done it multiple times or not at all.
Power and Standby (4.0)
The power button is on the top of the left side of the phone. It only performs its namesake action as a secondary function, but the length of time you need to hold it in for is relatively short. The button doesn't have the best tactile response, which will probably make most users squeeze the button far harder than they need to.
Other Buttons (3.0)
There are three additional buttons not covered above. There's a home key, a back key, and a shutter button. Holding down the shutter button will open the camera application. The home and back keys do exactly what you'd expect of them.
Display
Primary Screen Gross Resolution (8.0)
Like many, many, many other phones (as is no doubt illustrated by the below table), the SMT5800 has a 320 x 240 pixel display. Since the screen is a bit larger than average, we might have expected a bit more pixels. As it is, 320 x 240 is a fine number of pixels to have, but we can't help pining for a VGA display.
| Cell Phone | Resolution | Score |
| HTC SMT5800 | 320 x 240 | 8.0 |
| HTC Tilt | 320 x 240 | 8.0 |
| Pantech Duo | 320 x 240 | 8.0 |
| Nokia N82 | 320 x 240 | 8.0 |
| Motorola Q 9m | 320 x 240 | 8.0 |
| Palm Centro | 320 x 320 | 8.5 |
Primary Screen Pixels per Inch (8.33)
The combination of an average resolution and larger than average screen size would mean the SMT5800 is a bit behind the pixel density curve, but fortunately it runs with an above average crew. Therefore, the 166.67 pixels in contains in every inch is about average for phones in its class. A low pixel density will mean blurrier lines and washed-out colors.
Screen Physical Size (6.0)
The screen is a larger-than-average 2.4 inches diagonally. This would be above average on most phones, but smart phone tend to have larger screen sizes.
Screen Brightness (9.0)
To test screen brightness, we browse to a blank white webpage, then hold the screen two inches away from a light sensor. We measured the total lux at 90, which is bright enough to use as a makeshift flashlight should the need arise.
There are different backlight time settings that apply either when the phone is plugged in or when it's runing from battery. There are also ten levels of brightness to choose from, and the ability to enable the phone's light sensor.
Screen Bright Light Performance (8.0)
The SMT5800 performed well on this test. What we did was shine 3000 lux onto the screen in order to simulate the glare effects of a sunny day. We were able to read everything and make out icons in spite of the glare.
Color Depth (6.0)
The SMT5800 can only display 65,000 colors, because that's the maximum Windows Mobile Standard currently supports. Some phones can display slightly over 16 million colors, which allows colors to be very deep. At 65,000, the colors will be fine for most use, but not very good for rendering graphic art.
| Cell Phone | Colors (thousands) | Score |
| HTC SMT5800 | 65 | 6.0 |
| HTC Tilt | 65 | 6.0 |
| Pantech Duo | 65 | 6.0 |
| Nokia N82 | 16,000 | 10.0 |
| Motorola Q 9m | 65 | 6.0 |
| Palm Centro | 65 | 6.0 |
Secondary Screen (0.0)
The SMT5800 only has the one.
Ports & Storage
Power & Data Ports (8.0)
The SMT5800 has a mini USB port for data transfer, charging, or both at the same time. It looks a bit funny, which will allow for proprietary cables, but standard ones will work just fine.
Headphone & Jack Compatibility (5.0)
As previously alluded to, the USB port is shaped a little strangely to allow for proprietary cables. There is an adaptor for a 2.5mm headphone jack, but this is joined to a splitter for Mini USB so it's unweildly to use. Thankfully support for Stereo Bluetooth headphones is on board, so you can eschew the wires entirely.
Internal Storage (1.0)
The SMT5800 has 128 MB of flash memory. This should be enough for a small album of pictures, your PIM info, and maybe a couple of songs. Beyond that, you're at the mercy of the next score.
Expansion Slot & Format (8.0)
The SMT5800 will support microSD cards up to 8GB, which should provide plenty of storage for your multimedia.
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