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The F700 is pretty much where it all began for Samsung and large touchscreens. It was their first mobile phone to feature a three-and-above-inch touchscreen display while back in the day 3 megapixel autofocus cameras were still high-end stuff. As time went by Samsung F490 and the Samsung Armani phone loomed into prominence, and there are a few more coming up. And guess what, none of them has the bulky QWERTY underside. That should tell you something.

Samsung F700 official images

Anyway, we ended up reviewing the first full touch Samsung handset last among its kin. F700 packs the same touch user interface as the recently reviewed F490, but the old dog is clearly the underdog. Nevertheless, bear with us as we take on this slider for a ride.

Key features:

Stylish looks and high-quality build
Tri-band GSM and HSDPA support with video calls
Large 3.2" touchscreen TFT display of 240 x 440 pixel resolution
Comfortable QWERTY keyboard
3 megapixel autofocus camera
Touch haptic feedback is present
microSD memory card slot
Stereo Bluetooth
Standard 3.5mm audio jack
Office documents viewer
Snappy user interface
Intuitive music player
Fast screen autorotation when keyboard is revealed

Main disadvantages:

Bulky size
Awkward and slow web browser scrolling and panning
Video recording maxes out at QVGA@15fps
Unable to play widescreen user-encoded WMV and H.263 videos
Slow image zooming in the gallery
The three Java games are trial versions only
The microSD slot is accessible only with the back panel off

What we have here is another handset, which gets defined through how it handles the load of being an iPhone look-alike. We don't mean to say that every touch-operated handset wants to be iPhone when it grows up. It's just sometimes the comparison forces itself even on the most neutral observer.

The inevitable Apple iPhone two-shot

The quality construction and glossy finish can make you forgive the bulky size of Samsung F700, or sort of. The bodywork changes hues from violet through dark blue to black depending on how light falls on it. Once you have the Samsung F700 in your hand you can really tell it's an expensive high-end device. It didn't manage to win us over though. You can see why in the pages to come. Join us right after the jump.

We laid our hands on the Samsung F700