The Verizon Glyde Review (a/k/a the Samsung U940 and Samsung Glyde)   5/8/2008 - 337 views,

While they are unlikely to ever get the iPhone Verizon really doesn’t need to worry about it - this newest of Verizon Wireless cell phones is sure to be the brightest star in the Verizon mobile constellation. As the only Verizon telephone to feature both a touch screen and a slide out QWERTY keyboard (the other Verizon phone with a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard is the Verizon Voyager, which requires flipping the screen to access the keyboard), it’s easy to see why Verizon cellular phone fans have been clamouring for the release of the Glyde, and why those who up until now had eschewed Verizon Wireless phones are now considering a switch to Verizon phone service.

In short, this is one hot phone.

The first thing that strikes you about the Verizon Glyde is how it feels in your hand. Yes, sure, the way that the Glyde slides open to reveal it’s keyboard is slick, but the phone also just feels good in your hand. It’s small, yet feels sturdy - when you open the screen to type, it doesn’t feel as if the screen might snap off, as it does with so many screen+keyboard phones.

And speaking of the keyboard, it is a feat of engineering and design. Seriously - Samsung really got this right - a full QWERTY keyboard that is only 3 rows deep (how do they do that, you may ask? The space bar is in the middle of the zxcvbnm row, rather than dropped down below it.

And this is a hint at how it stacks up against the Voyager. The Voyager’s keyboard, although larger, inexplicably has the space button (not bar, button) up on the side of the keyboard! Worse than crazy - unusuable for anyone who actually knows how to ..you know ..type!

Glyde Keyboard:

Voyager Keyboard:

The next thing to note - well actually a couple of things to note - are about the touch screen.

First of all, by default it is set to a touch sensitivity of ‘medium’. Apparently, to Samsung, “medium” means “beat on it repeatedly until it finally detects the touch”. Don’t let this frustrate you. Just immediately, as the first thing you do when you get your Glyde, go to the touch screen settings, and change it from ‘medium’ to ‘high’.

Second, even with the touch sensitivy as sensitive as it will go - you will find times when you have to press the screen more than once. Fortunately, as the phone trains you (rather than the other way around), this seems to happen less often, but it doesn’t entirely go away.

On the other hand, the Glyde has this awesome haptic (basically that means you get touch feedback from a device) system so that you can have the phone give you feedback by vibrating whenever you interact with the touch screen, so you know, immediately, whether the screen has registered your touch.

Now, let’s take a moment to talk about the size of the Verizon Glyde. This is definitely a palm-sized phone - but only just. It’s noticabely smaller than the Voyager, and that is a happy thing for those of us who found the Voyager just a bit clumsy because it was just a tad too big to hold comfortably while actually using the phone for anything other than dialing.

The Verizon Glyde and the Verizon Voyager:

The Verizon Glyde and Voyager in profile:

The Verizon Glyde and the Verizon Voyager, each open:

The Verizon Glyde and Verizon Voyager - rear view:

Perhaps even more interesting is comparing its size to my all-time favourite candybar phone, the Sony Ericsson Walkman 810w phone (which is the older brother to my other all-time favourite candybar phone, the Sony Ericsson Walkman t616).

The Sonys are already diminutive while being just the right size to be fully functional. So check this out:

This phone is a great size, with many great features.

That said, it’s not without its issues, and while they may not be deal-breakers, it’s best to go into this relationship with your eyes wide open.

For example, astute observers will recognize the screen on the Sony in the above picture as the “unable to transfer a file by bluetooth to the other device” error message, and that brings me to one of my beefs with the Glyde:

There is no file transfer (other than v-card) supported by the Glyde’s bluetooth! Nor can you browse the phone - in fact, there seems to be no file system at all - at least not a usable one, on the phone!

How stupid is that??

Worse (to me), the phone is unable to support more than one bluetooth connection at a time. Meaning that in order to tether your laptop via your Glyde (which does work very well - seamlessly, in fact), you must manually disconnect your headset!

WTF?

Even if you can’t take calls with your phone while tethered (and with the Sony, you can), you shouldn’t have to go through three steps - each and every time - just to tether your laptop! (1. Disconnect headset, 2. tether laptop, 3. when done tethering,
reconnect your headset.)

(In fact, when tethered, you can’t do anything else on the phone at all! You are stuck in the data screen (although you can, from the data screen, get to your messaging (text, etc.) screen.)

Now, all that said, let’s talk about where that headset connection shines: voice commands.

The voice commands on the Glyde are superb.

And you don’t even have to train the phone (although you can, to refine it).

Just press your headset button (or the voice command button on the phone) and say any of the following: call, send, goto, check, contacts, play, followed by the object of your desire (i.e. “Call (contact name)”, or “Send text message”, or “Play (playlist name)”, and it will either do your bidding (such as playing the playlist you dictate) or set you up for the task you requested (such as sending a text message to so-and-so a contact).

Very sweet!

Even sweeter, the Samsung technology uses its superior voice system to automatically read you your text messages, should you so desire. Now that’s nifty!

Ah, but you ask, what about the camera? How is that?

You know what? For a 2.0 megapixel camera, it’s not bad! Perhaps the autofocus helps, but is really isn’t bad (for a phone - remember, this is a phone, not a digital SLR!)

Here is a picture that I took with the Glyde for testing purposes, I call it “Still Life with Cup”:

Now, of course, any phone I test gets compared to my trusty T-Mobile Sidekick. For ease of photo taking and sending, the Sidekick just can’t be beat. But still, the Glyde isn’t bad. As soon as you snap a picture or video you are offered the option to “send”, and while “via email” is not an option, the “as text message” option does support sending to email addresses. Woohoo!

By the way, I just noticed that you can now buy the Glyde through Amazon - shipped right to your door, at an obscene (as in low) price! Buy the Verizon Glyde through Amazon

[This review is being updated by the minute - stay tuned for more!]