Samsung Glyde SCH-U940

You could say the Glyde resembles the iPhone, but to do so neglects the fact that the Glyde's GSM cousin, the Samsung F700, was born before Apple's device. But even so, the similarities between the handsets are obvious. At 4.09 inches by 1.97 inches by 0.7 inch and at 4.13 ounces, the Glyde is slightly smaller than the F700, but they both rely on a touch screen with a single button just below.

Touch screen handsets certainly are "in" these days in the past year we've seen not only the iPhone and the Voyager, but also the LG Prada, the LG Glimmer, the HTC Touch, and the LG Vu. And coming up shortly, Sprint will start selling its attractive Samsung Instinct. Though the Glyde has the added benefit of a full alphabetic keyboard, when you compare it with the rival handsets listed above, it's the least successful at integrating its touch interface.

Though the 262,000 color display is bright and beautiful, it measures only 2.75 inches, which is pretty small as touch screens go. It left us feeling a bit cramped, and at times we had to take care to avoid hitting the wrong selection.

Nimble fingered users and those with small hands probably won't have a problem, but anyone with decently sized digits will need to practice. Normally we hate a big clunky cell phone, but bigger really is better on a touch screen device.

On the upside, we were glad to see that the Glyde's touch screen offers haptic vibrating feedback, and we like that you can adjust the length of the vibration.

The adjustable touch sensitivity is another plus, but even on its highest setting, the display felt a little sluggish. It wasn't a huge problem, but on a few occasions we needed to press a selection twice. Also, there were other times, particularly when we were touching the edge of the display, where the display wouldn't register our choice correctly.

From the home screen you're offered a few selections. At the top of the display are three touch controls for the dialpad, the main menu, and your contacts list. The dial-pad has a traditional 12 button design, plus dedicated Talk and End controls, a clear button, and shortcuts for your contacts and recent calls lists. This is the best way to dial numbers, as the QWERTY keyboard lacks dedicated numeric keys. Fortunately, the touch dial-pad is easy to use.

You also can use it to type messages, but we're not sure why you'd want to. The main menu shows the new Verizon design that uses icons instead of the confusing tabs seen on other Verizon handsets. Unfortunately, the convoluted organizational system remains. We still don't get why the camera is under the "Get it Now" menu. On the other hand, we like that on the main menu page, intersecting blue bars show where you're pressing.

And even better, the bars will follow your finger around the display as you swipe. In the center of the Glyde's display is a small blue square. Though it's not marked as such, it takes you to a shortcuts menu with 12 user programmable icons. Though we like having everything at our fingertips, this is one menu where we felt a little crowded. You can choose from a variety of wallpaper including two options that are interactive.

One allows you to move stars in constellations around the sky, while the other lets you interact with a two dimensional graphic of a Rubik's Cube. The former is fun, but the latter is enough to drive you crazy. At the bottom of the display is another shortcut bar that takes you to seven set functions including the speaker phone, the message inbox, the missed calls list, the calendar, and the alarm clock. It's a nice feature, but we wish that the bar was a little bigger.