Great Teenager Phone

Author's Rating:

Pros: Sleek, good looking, durable, full of functions that teenagers demand

Cons: Haven't found any beyond the cost of all the text messages

The Bottom Line: 
Sleek, durable, and functional - excellent camera; excellent phone clarity; lots of photo and music storage space; great phone for texting and surfing the Internet

Author's Review
When the daughter turned 13, I offered to get her a mobile phone. My plan was of course to get her a basic (cheap) phone she could use to call home or use in an emergency - you know, the free phones they give you when you sign up for a new line of service. She of course had other ideas, and immediately gravitated to the Motorola Razr and the Samsung u740. The Samsung won out - it looks better, feels more durable, and has more functionality than the Motorola phone.

The u740, to start with, is one sharp looking telephone. But beyond that, it is packed with functionality - more functions than I could ever use, but just the ones that teens today find indispensible.

The u740 is a clamshell design - open the case from the long end (portrait mode)and it is a mobile phone; open it from the side (landscape mode) and you have the perfect text-messaging instrument.

In addition to communicating, the Samsung u740 also contains a zoom digital camera (takes very good quality photographs, and short videos), and has 60MB of internal memory to store those photos and videos, plus music. Music can be loaded to the phone from Windows Media Player via a USB cable, or with a removable microSD chip. Media on the phone can be transferred to a computer using the same USB connection or chip.

The phone of course is Internet capable, and is compatible with a number of popular instant messaging formats.

It would take me months to figure out how to use most of the functions on this phone - the daughter, who is not particularly technological, figured out all of the major functions the first day - in most cases without even looking at the user manual. So, if you're under age 30, it appears that this phone is relatively easy to use.

The Samsung u740 is sleek and thin - small enough to slip into a teenage girls tight jeans. Despite being small and pretty, it is apparently rugged. My daughter takes this phone everywhere - they are practically inseparable. Yet in little more than a year, she has yet to damage or destroy it.

Bottom line - I am thoroughly impressed with the quality and durability of this mobile phone, and with all the functions that it has.