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Review: Samsung Sunburst

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Menus Calls / Contacts Messaging

Making calls was easy enough, but many calling functions were held back by the unresponsive touchscreen. To start a call, you have to hit the dialer button on the homescreen. Pressing the Send key opens the call log, but there's no way to access the dialer from the log. You can tap on a recent call entry and start dialing or send a text message, though. The call log offers a detailed history for each caller, including dates and call duration.

When you're in a call, the Samsung Sunburst offers a nice selection of features, though pecking at the small icons on screen can be a hassle. When a call comes in, you answer it by swiping one of two thin buttons on screen. These were too close together, and I accidentally rejected a couple calls. Once you're in a call, you get onscreen buttons for the speakerphone, Bluetooth settings and a button to mute the mic. If you want to place another call for a conference, you press the dial key and simply dial the third party.

The Sunburst gets speaker-independent voice dialing from Nuance. You can say a contact's name or the digits in a phone number, and the app will start dialing. It worked well in my tests, only failing on less common names in my list.

The contact list has just enough fields, but it isn't as extensive as a smartphone. You can add up to five phone numbers and three email addresses for each contact. From the contact listing, you can make a call or send a text message. You can also send an email or open up a Web page, if you include a URL with the contact. You cannot start a navigation session, even if you include a postal address.

There's no way to synchronize the phonebook on the Samsung Suburst, which is a real disappointment. Besides synchronizing with Google, Yahoo or some other popular service, the Sunburst doesn't even let you sync with AT&T's own online Address Book. This will make entering your contacts a real chore.

Next page: Messaging

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Samsung Sunburst A697

3" display 240 x 400 pixels
1,000 mAh battery
Memory Card Slot

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