Lately I’ve been reviewing a lot of Samsung phones and while I enjoy them, this was a nice little change of pace. The Shadow comes with Windows Mobile and a slide-out key pad. It’s a good looking phone, but is it a great phone?

(view more photos below or see the whole set here)

In the box
The Shadow came in a familiar box layout, which I’m not fond of because the top folds out but is weighed down with the user guides so it can rip pretty easily. Inside, along with the phone, is a decent case, a USB connection/charging cable, a wall charging cable, headphones (with extra foam covers), and an adapter. These are the items I usually need with my phone and it’s nice to see them all included.

It just feels different
I’ll be honest. I’ve been playing with a lot of touchscreen phones and I own a touchscreen, and I just like them better. That said, the Shadow does offer a pretty comfortable feel and makes up for some loss of navigation ease with the smooth navigation wheel. It moved just a little too easily for my tastes, but literally just a little. It did make getting around in the phone a bit friendlier. It’s still no touchscreen, but it’s a better solution than most other non-touchscreens, so that helps.

On the back of the phone is a 2.0 megapixel camera, which is smaller than many modern smart phones, but enough to get the job done. The color gradient on the back is a nice aesthetic touch and the weight is just right for this smallish phone. Charging is accomplished by plugging into the bottom of the Shadow. This is how it should be for every phone, in my opinion. The other edges contain the usual buttons for camera shutter, volume and power as well as a MicroSD slot. The face of the phone provides a display a little smaller than some of the high-end smart phones and buttons for menu navigation, call/power functions, home, and back. Amid all these buttons is the navigation wheel which is molded to help your finger grab it. The center of the navigation wheel is a button for selecting.

Using the Shadow
One of the cool things like like about a vertical slider like this is that you can just slide it up to wake it up. I kept forgetting about that, but after owning one for a while, it’ll be a natural movement that will save you those split seconds throughout your day. Unfortunately, I found it was too easy to accidentally dial someone in your fave five. I may have accidentally dialed someone that was pre-programmed in my five a couple times. One of the cool features of this phone is that you can switch between cellular and wi-fi for making phone calls, which is great if you’re always worried about your minutes. Phone calls were good, the camera was pretty decent, and the overall usability experience was above average.

My thoughts
For about $150, this is a pretty good phone. It packs a lot of features into a small footprint and some of the physical features are just plain more intuitive than other non-touchscreens. The battery life seemed a little short in my testing, though. If you were going to buy a smart phone on a bit of a budget, this is a decent choice, but if you have the money, a (more expensive) touchscreen might be a better choice.

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