Samsung Array review

Samsung and Sprint offer an unremarkable QWERTY slider for the talk and text crowd

Samsung Array
Samsung Array

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Without a touchscreen or flip cover, Samsung Array owners have to resort to Auto Key Guard to prevent accidental key presses, or a traditional four-digit PIN code. Auto Key Guard requires users to press the star and back buttons to access the device, which can also be unlocked by sliding out the QWERTY keyboard.

Samsung Array

By default, two option keys below the screen bring you to Messages or Contacts, respectively. There's no way to assign other shortcuts to these keys, but thankfully the rest of the features are available with a press of the red-ringed selection button while on the home screen.

Samsung Array review

That takes you immediately to a grid of 12 icons ranging from Web to Missed Alerts, Photos & Videos and Messages (this grid can also be viewed as a list). Tools include an alarm clock, calculator, calendar, Bluetooth settings and mass storage for connecting to a computer via USB, which requires a microSD card to be inserted.

Samsung Array

Some categories – like Social Networking or Shopping – are little more than WAP-based web portals offering pint-sized mobile versions of Facebook, Twitter or Sprint's own branded store, which offers a variety of "applications" including The Weather Channel, eBay and Pandora, all of which are as painful to use as you might imagine.

While the 286 ppi display is serviceable for viewing straight on, the screen gets much harder to read the moment you turn the handset at even a slight angle. Given the meager size of the display, users aren't likely to invite loved ones to crowd around them very often to get a peek at something.