Verizon SMT5800 Cell Phone Review - Tour & Design

The closed SMT5800 is about 60% screen, with a small keypad/d-pad array at the bottom. The typical 12-key array is surrounded by two soft keys, a send and end key, and a home and back key. The buttons themselves are typical, just arranged slightly differently. The speaker on top of the screen is also a bit different than usual: it's equipped with two blinking LEDs. The left is green, the right is red.

Front Open

Sliding open the SMT5800 will uncover a full QWERTY keyboard. Above the keyboard are two soft keys and two LEDs to denote an active shift or function key. The keyboard itself also features a few shortcuts to commonly-used features, such as the messaging application and volume control.

Left

The left side is where the SMT5800 keeps its power button and volume switch. Towards the bottom is also a microSD card slot, which is strangely without a cover.

Top

There's really not much to see on the top of the phone.

Bottom

The first in the zig-zag of features along the bottom is a little switch which pushes the battery cover off. The tiny dot apostrophe after the switch is the microphone hole. After this is a standard Mini USB data/charging port, even though it does look slightly different than usual. The final feature is a lanyard loop. Again, if you're the sort of person who actually uses the lanyard loop, you'll be profoundly disappointed in the loop's location. Your phone will hang unevenly, creating a frustratingly lop-sided lanyard experience.

Right

The right side of the phone has a shutter button that will also behave as a camera application shortcut. Towards the bottom is the other end of the lanyard loop discussed above.

Back

The back side of the phone is one big expanse of a battery cover. Towards the top are two features: the speakerphone and the 2.0-Megapixel camera lens.

Battery Out

Since this is a Verizon phone, there will be no SIM card waiting underneath the battery. All that you'll find is a boring, blank, plastic wall.

In the Box (3.0)
In addition to the phone and standard stack of manuals, the SMT5800 doesn't come with many extras. There's a wall charger, a Mini USB cable, and a strange dual-headed adaptor that expands the semi-proprietary Mini USB slot into a "more standard" Mini USB slot as well as a 2.5mm headphone jack. This is only really useful for when you want to be charging or synchronizing your device at the same time that you are listening to music, which should be fairly rare.

Handling (5.0)
At 4.1" by 2.0" with a 0.7" depth, the SMT5800 is a bit on the husky side. Relative to other sliding QWERTY handsets, however, it's about par for the course. The SMT5800 fits naturally in the hand, with all the pertinent buttons falling close by the thumb and index fingers. The only issue users might run into is the semi-sharp edge created by the battery cover.

Portability (6.0)
Though not as portable as some of the super-thin phones out there, the SMT5800 is certainly not a heavy burden. It might give your pocket a bit of a belly but it won't be very noticeable. It'll also have no problem sliding into a purse or bag, in the world of smart phones the SMT5800 is in the more portable range, although it's not as small as a Razr or Chocolate.

Aesthetics (6.0)
Though not a flashy or particularly sleek headset, the SMT5800 makes up for it in understated, classy professionalism. This is a phone you won't feel embarassed about taking out in front of clients, and its slide-out design and larger-than-average screen puts it into the realm of good-looking. If you want a hip, quirky, neon yellow phone that has an elkin bottle-style flip design, the SMT5800 will make you yawn. Amongst business users, the SMT5800's target audience, this phone will get a few impressed nods.

Durability (7.0)
Even when slid open, the SMT5800 feels really durable. We were pulling and twisting it around, and never once did we get we get the feeling that we could easily break it. Solid construction aside, there were a few issues where wear and tear could negatively impact the phone. The first is the sliding mechanism. With the external keypad, the QWERTY won't get slid out as much as a phone without one, but moving parts are still cause for concern. The screen is exposed, which means it's a likely candidate to pick up some scratches. Lastly, the microSD card slot isn't covered by a panel, which could allow junk to get inside the phone. These smaller issues aside, however, the SMT5800 seems to be really sturdy.

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