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Review: Samsung Craft

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Menus Calls / Contacts Messaging Social Networking

The Samsung Craft ties social networking and IM together in one application. “IM and Social” offers support for AIM, Yahoo and Windows Live for instant messaging. These all worked fine. The interface didn't look great, but messages always went through with no trouble. I wish there was more support, though. I'd like to see Google Talk support, and as long as the same app deals with Facebook and MySpace, chat support for those networks would have been a great addition.

For social networks, IM and Social can help with Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. The app offers better than average support for these networks, but it can be difficult to manage. You can read status updates on Facebook, and leave comments or even “Like” a Facebook wall post. You can post your own updates and even upload pictures directly from the app.

For Twitter, you can check your feed, post an update or read direct messages. You can post pictures and even search Twitter for anything you like. The app still lacks plenty of features. Notably, you can't see trending topics, and I couldn't figure out how to send a DM instead of a public @reply.

The IM and Social app is very difficult to manage by touch. The status feeds and the tabbed menus at the top of the app all felt very sticky. I would drag my status feed down, and it would bounce back into place, making it impossible to progress and read further into my feed. With the tabs, the Craft would only let me drag the tabs some of the way left or right to see the options hidden on either side. I had to open the keyboard and use the arrow keys instead to read Facebook notifications, for instance.

Even though it is difficult to control, for a feature phone, the IM and Social app offers more features and a better interface than the similar apps I've seen on recent AT&T and Verizon Wireless phones. It's unfortunately necessary, too, because the phone's Web browser does a poor job handling the touch friendly versions of the popular social sites.

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Samsung Craft SCH-R900

3.3" display 480 x 800 pixels
1,500 mAh battery
Memory Card Slot, Hardware Text Keyboard, Headphone Jack (3.5mm)

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