Samsung S7330 mobile phone

Exclusive to 3 Mobile in Australia, the Samsung S7330 mobile phone boasts a "magical touch" window, a 3-megapixel camera with face detection, 3.6Mbps HSDPA capabilities and a brushed-metal finish.

The Samsung S7330 mobile phone features what Samsung has dubbed a "magical touch user interface". Replacing the navigational pad found on most mobile phones, the magical touch display window is a touchpad that changes depending on which handset functions are being used. For example, when using the camera, icons such as flash and self-timer appear; navigating to the music player will make playback controls, like stop and pause, display.

During general use, the touchpad acts as a regular five-way navigational pad, with direction icons and a centre key. The speed and responsiveness of the touchpad are good, and haptic feedback is also present (you can adjust both vibration strength and sensitivity).

The Samsung S7330 is certainly a stylish mobile phone. It feels sturdy, and the spring-operated slider has a smooth action. The glossy brushed-metal finish on the rear is attractive. A downside to the design is the size of the S7330 when opened — it's one of the longest slider phones we've seen and is rather top-heavy, so messaging with one hand, for example, is a frustrating experience.

The Samsung S7330's keypad is large, but the keys are flat and tactile feedback could be improved. The selection buttons and answer/end call keys surrounding the touchpad are also a little small and too close to the edge of the phone.

Running the proprietary Samsung operating system, the S7330 mobile phone offers a user-friendly interface, with the ability to customise a shortcut menu for quick access to commonly used items. Icons are clearly labelled and submenus have a simple list format, so the phone is easy to use.

The Samsung S7330 is an HSDPA-capable device. As the phone is offered exclusively on 3 Mobile, users have access to the Planet 3 portal. This provides a wide range of content and services including mobile Internet, e-mail, news, sport, entertainment and social networking. We had no problems accessing any of these features, although the S7330's browser doesn’t render Internet pages particularly well.

A disappointment is the Samsung S7330's lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, though there is an adapter in the sales package. The included headphones produce average sound quality; however, A2DP Bluetooth means you can stream your music wirelessly to a compatible set of headphones or speakers.

The 3-megapixel camera includes autofocus, an LED flash and face detection. Other features include SMS, MMS and e-mail messaging with T9 predictive text input, an FM radio, voice recorder, and a range of PIM features such as a calendar, alarms, an RSS reader, timer, stopwatch and converter.