Samsung Tocco Ultra S8300

i JUST BOUGHT THIS PHONE AND THE BATTREY TIMINGS IS SO BAD THAT I USED IT FOR 2 WEEKS AND AFTER THAT I HAD TO SELL IT. REAL PIECE OF RUBBISH . MY ADVICE IS TO STAY AWAY FROM THIS PHONE

Worst phone I have ever used. It is so badly designed that even the most basic functions like texting are a frustrating experience. DO NOT BUY!

This phone is absolutely awful. The back of the phone scratches every time you put it down. All of the keys freeze whilst I am texting so that makes me take the battery out of the phone. I charge this phone up every night and during the day it goes down to two, one and sometimes it runs out! The camera will not take images at all. My mum had this phone for 1 week and barely used it, my old phone-Nokia 5220 X-press music, broke, so my mum kindly give the phone to me (relatively new.) The phone was great when i first got it but after 1 or two months i probably sent the phone back for repairs more than 3 times. This phone is absolutely dreadful, I wouldn't recommend this phone to anybody. Thanks to this phone, I am never buying a Samsung Mobile again...

It was great when i first got it but then it started getting slower and the love of the phone soon rubbed off . I actually swapped the battery for a different Samsung battery with a 800mha opposed to the 880mha in the phone and it seems to last alot longer! ( i almost had 3 days out of it!). the signal likes to make its mind up and sometimes messages will stay in your outbox waiting for you to resend it , When you resend it you will normally get a message back of your friend saying " you have just sent me that" . The phone has allot of scratches on the back now from placing it on a desk and makes the phone look really old . The screen was very clear and looked great but then one day i decided to dance , It fell out of my pocket on to someones stoned garden and now the screen has very deep scratches all over on it " scratch resistant screen" . The photos are not the best even with the 8mp camera and i have try ed many different firmwares on the phone finding the best to be 3's own firmware . ( one of the main reasons i like it is when scanning for networks it shows the networks name and 2g/3g availability , As the generic Samsung firmware only shows if the network is available ) Orange firmware was to heavily branded . Another problem i have found is the browser is rubbish , And always zooms in on websites to about 75%( even mobile websites!) I try ed to use opera browser on the phone but i just don't enjoy browsing the internet on that phone and liked it alot more on my old k800i or lg viewty . Touch screen keyboard does not seem to keep up with me so i always use the keypad that i like alot more :D.

absolutely rubbish, had it 24 hours and now charging it for a 4th time, from a full charge browsing the net for 45 mins will have your battery dead (seriously), also camera's not as good as my previous phone (n86) quite good result but actually processes the image a second after you take the shot, very frustrating, goes off on its own even when its locked, rubbish reception compared to other phones using same sim, internet works when it feels like it, capacitive touch screen but very unresponsive, already phoned network provider to say i dont want it, they offered me a spare battery...no thanks i'll have my knackered n86 back please

Samsung Tocco Ultra Black Addition on Orange Network

Ok so I got this phone on contract about 2 months ago, at first it everything seem quite neat, it's a very suave looking phone, and it comes with some interesting little apps, which become an annoyance later on.

So let's start with the positives:

It has a very good camera, 8.0 mega pixels. The only true redeemable feature on this phone, although the camera on the front of the phone can ONLY be used for video calls.

Its looks , this phone is no doubt stylish the design and paint finish is very nice, but this has now become so standard with most phones recently that it becomes just that, standard.

And the screen is quite durable (There's a reason for this).

.....

Now on to the negatives:

The battery life first is pitiful; if you make a lot of calls during the day, say more then 10. Then this phone isn't for you. The battery life is drained enormously by every application and feature this phone has to offer. Internet browsing will have the battery drained within an hour easily for example. Calls and texting alone will have you charging it at least twice a day.

The touch screen (i.e. half the phone) is sloppy and dull to respond, which is made worse by the fact that the setup for each menu and text/messaging applications is compact so much, you will often find yourself screaming at the screen as you have to press back up constantly. When you compare it to ... almost any other touch screen on the market you soon realise how bad it actually is.

The widgets: These are supposed to be useful for quick access to your favorite applications correct? Well not on this phone, all because of once again the touch technology. You can place these widgets on your screen for easy access and will soon find that this is just another annoyance as the phone constantly misreads your selection, quite often dragging the widgets instead of selecting them, oh and these widgets can also be accidently dragged off the screen never to be returned, seriously. To get these back you have to do a complete system restore. These are also set widgets; there is no way of adding new ones.

The internet: This was supposed to be quite good according to the reviews, I'm not sure how they came to that conclusion, it may be fast but that's only when it actually responds! Often the internet will cut completely and the whole application has to be reset and restarted. The squeeze everything into one screen approach is applied here as well, add the god awful touch technology and you're in for a world of anger and annoyance. The browser will fail to acknowledge 70% of selections and as the unresponsive nature of the phone continues you will find yourself mashing at the screen. Then you will come to entering text, for some reason it believes it can fit this on the screen as well (note: If you struggle with reading small text this phone will not be forgiving).

The Applications: Now I can only speak for the orange customers out there. First

- Orange Messenger , what a crock, the expect you to pay for a messaging service that's slower in service and usage , more awkward and free with any other phone capable of downloading apps of the internet.

- Orange Maps, once again you are charged for this, this is exceptionally basic, to the point of it being completely useless. Any other map app would be preferable. But because of the operating system on the phone you are incapable of adding anything that may be of use.

-Games, these are not free, none of them. They give you several demos, one of which when downloaded will not even work because the phone isn't capable of running the full program! When you finally download the ones you want you will hit the brick wall that is the touch technology, it will make the games near impossible to use properly and you find yourself often returning to the keypad which because of its size can make things very difficult.

-Music Player , you would assume that something as basic as this couldn't go wrong and for the most part it doesn't, there's one little flaw that soon becomes much more noticeable through use, it will double up any track played . That's right every time you play a track it will double it and add it to your playlist , so even with 15 songs on your phone you can end up with it saying you have 30 tracks, then it will double them again giving you 45 and so on.

The Setting and Menu system: Samsungs poor quality shines through here, the simple features of the phone are still simple but as you find yourself wanting to change more you will spend days searching for the menu's to get to these settings, many things cannot be changed or altered, often coming up with a "More" or "Settings" option this will give you minimal to no control. This is made all the more difficult by once again the touch screen.

There are many more issues with this phone but I have left the main offender for last just to give you an idea of the terrible programming.

The Fake Call: This seems at first a nifty little app, you hit the volume button on the side while the phone is locked and it will set your ringtone off you can also add a voice message to be played so it appears that you are actually speaking to someone. I loved this at first, then I got tired of it and decided to switch it off. Went into the settings for it and found an "Off" setting but this isn't for the app, no this is for the voice that comes through. Perhaps I overlooked it? So I went through again, before finally reaching for the manual, no help there either. At last I finally caved and rang Samsung, and apparently there is absolutely no way of turning this feature off, your phone will continue to ring if the volume button is hit. Those that keep their phone in their pocket will have this happen to them numerous times during the day it becomes annoying very quickly and like Samsung have said it CAN NOT be switched off. To those that keep their phone in handbags/cases etc I can't say what this will be like, but if there is any pressure placed on the volume button it will ring. This may seem quite trivial but it isn't, this will cause great amounts of annoyance and for people like me who are on contract and have to put up with this phone for at least 12 months will soon discover what a moronic design it is.

The Tocco S8300 - Had this phone for 3 days and its going back in the box never to come out again. I was so looking forward to getting to use it. Texting is an absolute nightmate. The pad is so slow and you need to hang on to the phone to use the keypad. To make a space for a word is bottom right of pad so you are afraid of dropping the phone stupid place to put it. To delete a mistake well i have no idea manual is useless and to be honest i have given up. to do a simple task is so long winded and you have to hit 3 or 4 times to get it to respond on the screen. If you want a phone for just that and a good camera and texting get the Motorola RAZR v8 its an absolute dream to text on believe me and that is what i am going back to - get through amazon whilt they still last. Lovely phone trust me.

i love the phone b4 i bought it i was mad to buy it but i cant get rid of it now oh my god battery life on this phone i cant belive it its so rubbish i fully charge in the morning by evening time its 1 bar left and i dont use it much.im sure worse ever bettery life phonei cant wait 4 my contract to b end this samsung make me so upset hate u hate u

Had this a week and kinda getting used to it but its a pretty awful phone, impossible to use for anything while walking especially texting which is abysmal, touch screen is fairly accurate, but let down by a badly thought out interface. The phone does have some nice features but does none of them really well. Video looks fantastic but watch half hour of video and you'll need a full recharge. Battery life is truly appalling. I want another w810i!

Camera needs to be put on a lower mega pixel seting to take decent pictures and the screen is a little bit to small for accessing internet and other applications like Facebook. I do really like this phone though, it's easy to use.