Samsung Convoy SCH-U640 – mid range phone with some goodies tucked in

For:

Durable, rugged exteriors, call and camera quality was superb,

Against:

Slow 3G speeds, proprietary charger port, 2.5 mm headphone jack instead of 3.5 mm jack.

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Samsung Convoy SCH-U640 is a CDMA dual band (1900/800 MHz) phone. It has a clamshell design. The internal display of the phone is 2.20 inches big, has a resolution of 176 x 220 pixels with 262k color support. The external display has a gives 128 x 128 pixels resolution with 65k color support.

Supported audio formats are WMA, AAC+, AAC and MP3. It also has 2.1 stereo Bluetooth and GPS. The handset is a water proof device. PIM features include currency converter, stopwatch, world clock, tip calculator, to-do tasks, calculator and alarm. The SCH-U640 also has 3G support and WAP 2.0 browser. The handset comes with 90 MB of onboard memory expandable up to 16 GB.

On the right side of the phone there is a speakerphone control button and a 2.5 mm headphone jack and microSD card slot. The other side has charging port, volume rocker and user-programmable shortcut key. Since this is a music phone, we would have loved a 3.5 mm phone jack. We also didn’t like the proprietary jack for power charging, we don’t know why Samsung has done this because it is making phones with microUSB charging ports.

SCH-U640 has a rated talk time of five hours and the standby time is 537 hours.

Razzle Dazzle:

Convoy is a rugged phone which is clear from the design. It has a battery cover, rubber sidings and thick plastic skin too protect it from salt fog, temperature, shock, dust and humidity. The phone feels comfortable to hold in hand due to the body and the hinge of the device is sturdy. The external display has some keys for music control and there is a large speaker which doesn’t look good.

Inside Dope:

Samsung Convoy SCH-U640 is a rugged phone and will lock horns with Motorola Barrage which has a similar design. The phone can take water, there is protection around for this but it makes the phone look a bit boring. We had Sonim XP3 Quest cell phone in our test centers, which could take shocks and water. However, the loads of rubber padding around the phone made it look very ugly. This device is cannot take shocks and water like the Sonim counter part, but will survive occasional accidents. Considering the features it offers, we think this is a good mid range phone, it has a 2 mega pixel camera, music player, GPS and 3G. The phone isn’t costly; it costs about $99 with service and after the $50 mail in rebate. The handset has a clamshell design which looks cool but we all know that clamshell phones have lubricants between the hinges which dry out after which opening and closing the lid isn’t easy. However, if you intend to use the handset only for about 1-2 years, you need not worry much because the oils will survive for that time period.

Display

SCH-U640 is a clamshell design phone and has two displays. The display on the lid is tiny but good enough to give you photo caller ID, signal strength, time and date. It has a resolution of 128×128 pixels with 65k colors. You can use this display as a viewfinder for the lens and also to access features like voice commands, music player, Bluetooth and calendar. There are three dedicated keys for music controls below this display, so you can groove to your favorite tunes without opening the phone. Finally at the bottom, there is a large speaker.

The internal display measures 2.2 inches in size and gives 220×176 pixel resolution with 262k colors. The display is bright, the colors look good and the photos are lively. The menu interface is really user-friendly and you can choose three styles for the menu-view. You can replace the standard menu choices with your own choices of shortcuts and you can adjust the icon positions. Other options include dial font size, menu font style and size, dial font size, clock format and backlight time.

Navigation array and keyboard

The navigation array contains talk and end keys, clear button, voice dial control, camera shutter, two soft keys and a four way navigation toggle with the central OK button. The End key is also the power button for the handset. You can use the four way toggle button for bringing up any applications of your choice. Below these buttons is the numeric key pad. The keys on the numeric keypad are flat on the surface but they are spacious and it is not too difficult to press. We could compose text messages easily on these buttons. The backlighting was better than what we usually see on keypads.

Phone book and additional features

The handset has a 1000 entry phone book; a single entry can take multiple phone numbers, notes, postal address and two email addresses. The display on the lid supports photo caller ID, you can also make groups for your friends and give custom ring tones to them. There are 20 polyphonic ring tones to choose from.

Additional features on the phone include notepad, world clock, stop watch, alarm clock, speakerphone, calendar, calculator and multimedia and text messaging. For advanced users there are features like GPS, POP3 email, chat and instant messaging, stereo Bluetooth, PC syncing, USB mass storage and speaker independent voice commands and dialing. You can connect to the Verizon’s VZ Navigator for GPS feature. Finally you can also access the operators’ push-to-talk service for $5 a month.

Camera

A typical 2 mega pixel camera takes awful photos and maybe we are saying this because we are getting used to 3.2 and 5 mega pixel camera phones in our test centers. This camera is better than the typical 2 MP camera, the photo quality was really good. The maximum resolution that you get is 1600×1200 pixels and edition options include brightness meter, spot metering, adjustable ISO, 10x digital zoom, four choices for white balance, five effects for color, three quality settings and a self-timer. You also get a variety of shutter sounds and shooting modes like panoramic, autoshot and divided multishot. The camera can also shoot videos but you don’t get as many editing options as the camera. MMS clips are limited to 60 seconds but you can make longer videos in the standard mode.

Photos were better than a typical 2 MP camera, there was no image noise and the colors were bright. Videos were not as good as the photos, just about average. You can transfer the photos to the computer using a USB cord or Bluetooth. Photo quality would have been better if the camera had flash.

Music player

We were delighted to get dedicated keys for music control on the lid of the phone. The music player options include the usual repeat and shuffle modes. The handset has 3G support so you can download music from Verizon’s V Cast Music. Based on your playlist, V Cast Music also recommends you more songs. Finally, there is an airplane mode so you can groove to your tunes when aboard. For storing your track and photos, the SCH-U640 comes with 90 MB onboard memory expandable up to 16 GB through microSD cards. In our tests, the 3G speed was quite slow, it took 2 minutes to download a 4 MB song.

Games and personalization

The SCH-U640 doesn’t come with any preinstalled games but you can download some, if you want, from the WAP 2.0 browser. You can personalize the phone with display themes, wallpaper and banner.

Call quality

We didn’t have anything to complain when we tested the Samsung Convoy SCH-U64 for call quality. The signal was strong and clear, the voices sounded natural and the volume level was loud enough. We could hear clearly what our friends were saying even in environments with high background noise. Our friends also didn’t have any problems talking to us on the phone. Speaker phone calls were also clear. The speaker phone gets pretty loud when pushed to the limit and the sound doesn’t distort, which rarely seen in phones. Inclusion of Bluetooth lets you plug in wireless headsets to the device.

Battery life

SCH-U640 has a rated talk time of five hours and the standby time 537 hours. Our tests revealed a longer talk time of about seven and half hours which is really impressive.

Verdict:

Samsung Convoy SCH-U640 is not the best when it comes to looks but when it comes to performance, it is quite good. We have never seen a 2 MP camera perform this good, extra goodies like 3G, music player, Bluetooth makes this phone a great buy.