Samsung's first haptic touchscreen phone has arrived come courtesy of the Samsung Glyde. The Glyde is a sleek device with a slide-out full QWERTY keyboard, 3G connectivity, and built-in GPS. While it is not in the same league as the Apple iPhone, it competes nicely against other keyboard slide out phones such as the LG Voyager, also on the Verizon network. Let’s take a look to see how it did.
The Samsung Glyde may at first conjure up images of the industry-leading iPhone. Aside from the screen looking much like the iPhone's, the Glyde also has a "Home" button at the bottom for quitting applications and menus, and chrome accents around the unit. Everything else, however, is unique to the Glyde. The size, for example, is much more compact, measuring 4.1 x 2.0 x 0.7 inches. We found the form factor a pleasure to hold, with the weight and size being just right. It is a bit thick due to the slide out QWERTY keyboard. But when placed next to the iPhone, it is surprising just how big and wide the iPhone really is. The Glyde’s midnight blue color is definitely pleasing to the eye and the slide-out QWERTY keypad flows nicely with the phone's clean lines and overall handsome looks. Not just a pretty face, the Glyde, impressively, incorporates a gorgeous 2.8" 440x240 pixel high-resolution display that is bright, vibrant and includes haptic vibrating full touchscreen capabilities.
The fit & finish and the quality of materials used are excellent. The keyboard slides out with spring-loaded smoothness. The keypads themselves are easy to press, if a tad small and too uniform in size to each other. The Glyde is nicely weighted at 4.1 ounces, giving it a heightened sense of quality and sturdiness. There were only 2 issues we had fault with the phone's exterior design - first, the phone feels a bit slippery to hold and second, due to the notch on the left side of the phone for sliding out the keyboard, the phone isn't ergonomic to talk with using the right hand as it is with the left. Holding it in the left hand feels very natural and comfortable though.
As a full touchscreen phone, physical buttons are kept minimal. Aside from the Home button placed on the face of the phone, there's the volume control, camera/media toggle, and power/lock/unlock buttons on the right side and that's it. Simple. Clean. Minimalistic. Everything else is controlled via touchscreen. A data port sits on the left side and a 2.5" headphone jack is on top. The 2.0MP camera with flash is on the back. Hidden under the back cover is a microSD slot good for an 8GB card.
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