Samsung Electronics Co.'s new Glyde mobile phone is one of the best deals you'll find for an iPhone- like device, as long as you're willing to trade the cool factor of Apple Inc.'s handset for the cheaper price.
The Glyde, sold in the U.S. exclusively by the wireless unit of Verizon Communications Inc., outshines the iPhone on a few points: its keyboard is easier to use for text messages and e-mails; it includes GPS navigation; and it connects with faster 3G data speeds, though not with Wi-Fi. It's less adroit than the iPhone for music and its software needs some improvement.
At $250, the Glyde is $149 cheaper than the iPhone and $100 less than the Voyager by LG Electronics Inc., another iPhone- like device sold by Verizon. Nokia Oyj and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. have announced new, more powerful devices with 3G and GPS navigation software to fend off competition from Apple. The Nokia N96, available this fall, also will let users watch TV in some European and Asian countries.
About the same size as the iPhone yet weighing 0.7 ounces less at 4.1 ounces, the Glyde mimics its design and icon-driven interface. It has a home button on the front and an LCD touch screen where you tap icons to access the dial pad, main menus and phone contacts. Slide the screen to the right and turn the phone sideways and you get to what differentiates the Glyde from the iPhone: a backlit keyboard that's almost as easy to use as a BlackBerry.
Turning the phone sideways automatically switches the screen to landscape view. That also happens when you launch applications such as the camera/video recorder, Internet browser and Verizon's VZ Navigator mapping service ($3 per day or $10 a month).
Blue Square
A pulsating blue square in the middle of the screen takes you to a customizable shortcuts menu, while the status bar at the bottom of the screen accesses applications such as calendar, alarm and voicemail.
Like the Safari browser on the iPhone, the Glyde's web browser, NetFront made by Access Co., Ltd., worked well with some sites, but not with others. Bloomberg.com and NYTimes.com were readable, for instance. CNN.com displayed a simpler version of the site. To view the full version required me to first click on the ``optimized web'' icon on the browser's Verizon home page -- very unintuitive.
I zoomed in and out of a page on the Glyde simply by pressing the volume button, although the phone's inability to show the entire width of a Web page was frustrating. Scrolling up and down worked okay, but it doesn't come close to the iPhone's responsiveness and precision. Like most mobile devices, the Glyde doesn't play videos embedded in Web sites. It can play podcasts in MP3 or WMA format, but not those using Apple's proprietary format.
Music Player
Music is another area where the Glyde falls short because of Verizon's music store. ITunes has twice the number of songs as Verizon's V Cast store and, although the Glyde can access some music from iTunes, much of it is off-limits to non-Apple devices due to copyright protection. The sound quality from the speaker on both the iPhone and Glyde is pretty lousy.
For phone storage, the Glyde provides a scanty 57 megabytes, expandable up to 8 gigabytes using an optional memory card. That compares to up to 16 gigabytes on the iPhone, two times as much capacity for storing music, phone numbers, photos and so on. Samsung says the Glyde's battery should last for up to 3.5 hours of talk time, fairly short compared with 8 hours on the iPhone and 4 hours on the Voyager.
Monthly service for the Glyde starts at $40, which includes calls and Internet access. Depending on the plan you choose, text messaging may cost extra.
The iPhone is available in the U.S. only on AT&T Inc.'s wireless network. The handsets are currently sold out at Apple's stores, though AT&T's Web site still shows them for sale. Apple will probably introduce a new version of the iPhone in June with faster Internet access and business functions such as office e- mail synchronization, analysts say.
For now, if you want a cheaper alternative to the iPhone that has GPS, a faster Web connection, and the ability to record video clips, the Glyde is a decent choice. You must also be willing to accept some of its flaws: clunky software, an erratic touch screen and short battery life.
Samsung Glyde $250
