Samsung P300: The Ultimate Small Phone?

Samsung's new P300 credit card sized cell phone.

Much more than meets the eye. Although it looks a lot like a calculator you'd get for free when opening a bank account, the Samsung P300 can do a lot more than just help you balance your check book. Samsung's is now into thin, it took them a while to jump on the bandwagon but now they’re here and as good, if not better, than the rest. The new P300 super small, super slim phone is their first Faure into the market and it’s not a bad job for their first time, but does it stand up to the competition?

Is it easy to use?

Depends on who you ask, the P300 runs on Samsungs classic user interface which is generic throughout its range, you either love it or hate it. One thing which I will note is that they changed the positions of some of the keys slightly which is extremely frustrating, even after nearly two weeks of use. The actual user interface is very clean and self explanatory. One thing which Samsung has got right which most other ultra small and slim phones have forgotten is the features, this little phone has it all, an MP3 Player (which has a dedicated button), a 1.3 Megapixel Camera, a surprisingly decent calendar, Bluetooth and the list just goes on.

Does it deliver on its promise?

You have to wonder exactly what Samsung was thinking when it designed the P300. In the ever-growing frenzy to shrink the cell phone, the company produced an eye-catching yet somewhat polarizing handset. On one hand, it is one of the smallest phones we've seen to date, and Samsung gets credit for not churning out another blatant RAZR imitation, as it did with the Samsung Z540.

Yet on the other hand, the resulting silver and black design is far from flashy, if not downright dull, and it does not give that feeling of great pleasure you get from using something really cool. It makes you feel like your using an overpriced calculator. Despite our gripes, however, the story here is the diminutive size, and it's in that area where the P300 blows other phones out of the water.

Is it value for money?

For about R2 600 this phone is not bad value as it competes with the Motorola V3i and LG's Chocolate which are both in the same price range.

So all in all, if ultimate style is not that important to you this is one very competitive phone in the ultra small market.

Steven Ambrose