Sliders, sliders everywhere but nary a black one in sight. Samsung's new t629 slider phone takes the place of the t809 in T-Mobile's lineup, trading in all-black chic for silver sleek while leaving the rest of the handset mainly the same.
Why the change? Is the t629 really any better than the t809 it replaces? I guess that depends on which you prefer, black or silver. As the adage goes, beauty is only skin deep, and there are some notable changes to this latest Samsung slider - most importantly, perhaps, being compatibility with T-Mobile's new "myFaves" service plan.
The t629 carries on Samsung's tradition of making head-turning handsets with brilliant displays, though it lacks the t809's ingenious swivel camera housing. On the other hand, it makes up for one of the t809's major shortcomings: battery life. Read on to get the scoop.
At 99 x 51 x 14mm, or just over half an inch thick, the t629 certainly qualifies as a slim phone, if not quite as thin as Samsung's Ultra Edition models. The all- housing is finished in matte silver with chrome and grey accents, and has somewhat harder lines and sharper edges than previous Samsungs. The phone looks quite nice overall, with mirror-finish buttons and a glossy screen bezel providing a nice contrast to the muted grey of the phone's body. Weighing 91g (3.2 oz), the t629 is quite light in the hand, and tucks away almost unnoticeably in a pocket or purse.
A roomy 2.2" display takes up the majority of the front of the device. The display is bordered by Samsung (top) and T-Mobile (bottom) logos, and a raised plastic ridge about three-fourths of the way down the front panel invites the user's thumb to slide the handset open and shut. Pushing the slider from the middle of the phone, and not the bottom, could conceivably lead to some fingerprints on the display (from overeager thumbs), but I didn't find this to be much of a concern.
The front-mounted control panel features three columns of buttons. On the left we find a softkey above Call, in the middle a four-way directional pad with center-mounted OK/Select above Cancel, and on the right another softkey above Hangup/Power. All of the buttons were readily accessible and fairly easy to use, save for the Cancel key, which is both small and somewhat hidden beneath the raised bottom edge of the D-pad. More than once I accidentally pressed Cancel and "Down" at the same time.
Sliding the handset open reveals a standard 12-key dialing layout. As is the current trend, the buttons on the dialing pad are flush-mounted - in this case they're membrane keys separated with raised plastic ridges. The flush-mount keys look very sophisticated, but they don't provide nearly the same level of tactile feedback as standard push buttons. While not a huge issue like they would be on a computer keyboard, they did make for some adjustment during dialing and some annoyance during message composition. On a positive note, the ridges between the keys do aid in blind dialing.
Unlike the t809, which featured a very nifty swiveling camera sensor mounted along the top edge of the rear panel, the t629's camera/speaker housing is built into the back of the handset. It bulges out in the back much like the t519 Trace's camera. The bulge is pretty minimal (though quite noticeable on a device this slim), and actually provided my index finger with a place to "rest" while holding the handset. The lower portion of the rear panel serves as a cover for the battery and SIM card slots, and is adorned with a Samsung logo as well as T-Mobile's new "myFaves" icon.
On the left side of the phone, we find a rocker switch used to control volume and a covered port used to connect the included AC charger and wired headset. The right side of the phone features a covered slot for microSD removable memory cards and a single programmable button labeled with a camera logo and, for some odd reason, a red stripe. As you might guess, this button is used to access the camera features.
For whatever reason, I prefer the "old" all-black look of Samsung sliders like the t809 and D900 Ultra Edition. However, the t629 is by no means a bad looking mobile phone. I like the choice of matte silver with mirror/chrome accents, as I find too much chromed plastic on a phone rather cheap looking. The t629 looks new, nice, and noteworthy.
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