The Samsung i780 is a touch-screen device with a small stylus housed in the casing if you’d rather not use your fingertip to tap away at the screen.
Alternatively, you can opt for utilising the tiny touchpad. Normally with a Windows Mobile device we would expect to see a navigation D-pad or a mini joystick sitting beneath the screen. However, the tiny touchpad controls the on-screen position of a miniature cursor. Get the cursor in position and press the touchpad to select.
The good thing about this system is that it offers 360° movement of the cursor around the screen. However, the touchpad can take some getting used to as it’s very small.
Small is also the word best used to describe the i780’s screen. At 2.5 inches corner-to-corner and square, its 320x320 pixels are somewhat squeezed. If you like web browsing or other activities that require a lot of information to be viewed on-screen, then it may not be good enough for your needs.
Samsung i780 – tall, thin and slendor
Despite the small screen, the i780 is quite a tall device at 116mm and this is largely down to the inclusion of a QWERTY keypad. The keys are tall and thin, well spaced and nicely raised from their surroundings, making it relatively easy to use them at speed.
Samsung i780 – well-specced
With Wi-Fi, HSDPA and a front-facing camera for two-way
video calling, the i780 is well specced. Although it’s slightly let down by the standard two-megapixel camera and Samsung’s proprietary
connector for its stereo headset.
Prospects are lifted again by the inclusion of separate applications for RSS and podcast management and by the Opera web browser.
There is a fair amount of on-board memory, and you can add more thanks to the microSD card slot.
Samsung i780 – the verdict
Battery life is one of the real plus points of this device. The i780 comes with two batteries and a separate charger unit. Between them the batteries should provide plenty of life away from a mains charge.
However, Samsung lets itself down by using a proprietary connector for applying mains power to the i780 and to the battery charger. We would have preferred a mini USB connector.