Claiming the title of world's slimmest 3G phone to date, Samsung's SGH-Z150 packs a punch despite its petite size - but that goal hasn't been reached without compromise.
Review summary of the Samsung SGH-Z150:
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 World's slimmest 3G handset or not; Samsung's SGH-Z150 packs plenty of features into its wafer-thin appearances - but could just as well have done without most of them since the handset is mostly good for scheduling and basic messaging. Poor voice quality, no vibrating alert, worse photos, horrid battery life and a straight-jacket memory situation combine to deliver a striking blow to the handset's usability - and a well-earned 'avoid like the plague' recommendation. If you can withstand its 'ooh' factor, that is. Release: July 2006. Price: $325.
Pros:
Cons:
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Mediocre |
67%
GOOD |
Very good |
Excellent |
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Full Samsung SGH-Z150 Review:
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Calling - Good
Despite good signal reception, Samsung's SGH-Z150 disappoints with below-par voice quality, a so-so speakerphone and mediocre video call quality - the latter during which the rear camera cannot even be engaged.
Further on a negative note, the handset also lacks vibrating alerts and voice dialing of any kind, and with a marginal 1,5 hours of talk time and 6 days of standby only the most frugal of users will avoid having to charge the phone every single day.
Messaging - Good
Sporting an excellent display, the SGH-Z150 could easily display more than 90 or so characters when composing messages - yet doesn't. Its ability to archive 200 messages is similarly mediocre, and we also miss touches such as being able to organize missives into folders, easily spot which messages have been replied to and - this is a big one - a vibrating alert.
Still, messages can be backed up to a PC with ease, and the keypad of the handset is a comfortable one - albeit not the most spacious we've come across.
Best of the rest
With the exception of unusually good scheduling capabilities and a mediocre browser, the remainder of the SGH-Z150's feature set is decidedly on the grim side. Poor battery life negates serious use as a laptop sidekick or music player, and the latter is also hampered by lacking memory expansion despite the decent amount of onboard memory.
Furthermore, stills and video produced by either of the handset's dual 0.3 Megapixel cameras are far below sub-par, and the pre-installed games should be avoided at all costs as they may very well cause immediate blind- and deafness.
Price and availability
The Samsung SGH-Z150 is now available across Europe, selling in the €325 range without subscription.
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