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Though it's part of Samsung's Galaxy S family, the Samsung Continuum is not simply a Samsung Fascinate with an extra screen on the bottom. It's actually a more narrow device, about a quarter inch slimmer than the Fascinate, but it's a hair thicker, too. The screen is smaller. The Continuum uses a 3.4-inch touchscreen, while the larger Galaxy S phones use a 4-inch display, though both push the same 800 by 480 pixels. Directly beneath the screen is a strip of four standard Android buttons: Menu, Home, Back, and Search. These are capacitive touch buttons. Beneath that strip is the ticker, a thin AMOLED display that is just under 2-inches long and less than a half-inch tall. Otherwise, the Continuum and the Fascinate are identical, inside and out, with the same processor, the same networking capabilities and the same interface design on top of Android 2.1.

All of the buttons around the rim of the Samsung Continuum are nicely raised, and most have a thin metal accent strip that makes them easy to find with your fingertips. On the left side you get a volume rocker switch, and an exposed micro-USB port. No cool sliding port cover for this phone, unfortunately. On the right is a nice two-stage camera button. It was very easy to find the halfway point for auto focus, then press all the way to take my shot. The microSD slot is on the right side, with a very flimsy cover. I could easily imagine accidentally breaking that cover off within a few months of buying the phone. Up top is the power / screen lock key, as well as a standard 3.5mm headphone port.

There are squeeze sensors built into the sides of the phone, and when you squeeze the phone the ticker display at the bottom lights up. Well, it usually lights up. Nine times out of ten squeezing worked, but a few times I had to squeeze repeatedly to light up the display.

The phone is very slim and tall, but well-rounded at every corner. Even though it's covered in glossy plastic, it felt solid and classy all around. It was easy to slip into a tight pair of jeans, thanks to the smooth, rounded edges. The phone weighs in at 4.25 ounces (lighter than Samsung claims), so it wasn't a burden to carry.

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