Review: Samsung u550
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Because there is no dedicated Web button, you have to hop into the menu system to launch Verizon's WAP web portal. You can also, of course, program the D-pad to take you to the if you so wish.
The portal takes a good 3 to 5 seconds to load, even in areas with strong EV-DO coverage. Once the basic portal is loaded, jumping around to other pages in the portal takes about 3 seconds each time you reload the screen. Loading Google, for example, was quick, and the page loaded almost instantly. CNN tasked the browser a bit more and loaded two images as well as a dozen headlines in a reasonable amount of time.
The portal itself has been slightly revised since we last looked at it. The new version is harder to read. The buttons and links to Verizon's content have been shrunk down a bit, and the text is very small. This might be problematic for those with any vision problems.
Browsing to the open Web or other WAP sites requires jumping through the options menu. It is a step-laden process that is rather clunky. The best bet for navigating outside of Verizon's portal is to add a series of bookmarks for your favorite sites.
Customize
You can make the expected set of adjustments to the u550 to make it a bit more yours. As we mentioned earlier, you can adjust the appearance of the main menu, and the u550 comes with a couple of preloaded themes that alter the coloration of the menus and icons. You can adjust the size of the fonts, set the clock format, add/remove wallpapers at will, set custom ringtones and so on.
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Samsung SCH-U550
