Almost 4.5 years and it was time to say goodbye to my Motorola E398. It was really a good phone with loud Mp3 player but sadly parts were not available in market, not even original charger and battery. So I started looking for new phone which should have good camera, Mp3, FM and Internet browser. After exploring various models on Internet and shops, I deceided to go for U800E Soul B which has been released by Samsung last year under lifestyle series.
I purchased this phone on 17th Nov 2008. To my surprise some of the features were missing in it. Actually Samsung has put different version for this model in Indian market and they have literally ruined the Indian version.
Following are the features available in International model but Samsung thinks those are not required for Indian customers:
3G
Living world theme
Customizing of SMS tone
MS document viewer
Secondary camera for video call
Recently they have realized this mistake, I suppose and now they have renamed it as’Soul B’ instead of’SGH U800E Soul B’ to avoid further confusion with international model.
Overall the phone was not as good as expected but had to manage with it. Also I was not knowing it would give further shock to me. Do you belive in Black friday? I had to belive in it because of this mobile. 13th Feb 2009, Friday. I woke up this morning and found the screen of my phone was blank. I could not switch it on, it was completely dead! Within 3 months of purchase.but thank God it was under warranty.I took it to Samsung service and after checking it the service guy said phone should be sent to company since the motherboard was crashed, would take 3-4 weeks to get it repaired. Well. I received it last week with new motherboard and offcourse with some scratches and screw driver marks on the body. WAP was not working due to missing configurations which service guys managed to set and now phone is working perfectly.Local service guys at Pune are helpful but I feel mechanics should take proper care of the phones they receive for repairing and we should receive our things in same good condition.
So this was my experience.I understand, other Samsung models might not give this type of problem but after this incidence I will never go for any Samsung phone.
Positives:
Slim(only 9.9 mm thick) and attractive design
FM Radio
3MP Camera is too good if we take pictures during day time.
Battery lasts 2 or 3 days and the one bar takes a good 10 to 12 hours to disappear.
*Negatives:
Camera flash
Poor sound quality of MP3 Player and volume is too low(My old moto was better with 2 speakers)
Display is okay but struggles under direct sunlight
Slow internet browser
Typing sms is nightmare with this type of keypad.