In the past I used to write reviews of phones always in a certain way: First, the unboxing, than assembling, than functionality. Today I will do it in a different way, for two reasons: First, hardly anyone will judge a phone by the box (not even iPhone users), and second, I had the opportunity to get a preview model. Guys, this thing has been announced last week, so what do you expect? So, these are my impressions of the Samsung Jet S8000:

1.    Look and feel
The Jet (or better Jét, as this is the official name) really is a sleek phone. Quite small, quite thin, even thinner than the iPhone 3G, although I doubt that anyone will make a buying decision based on 0,4 mm. It has the standard piano finish, very well known for many of Samsungs phones, and a display made from glass that is supposed to be scratch resistant. Haptics are really good, but due to the finish you will leave fingerprints on the surface. Whoever buys it, bring a box of tissues.

The phone is even light weight, which is, considering the size, not such a big surprise. I would not say too light, feel free to use it in stormy weather, it will not fly away.

2.    The screen itself
Once you switch the Jét on, you will see what you will probably love the most: The screen is gorgeous. The 3,1-inch AMOLED display Samsung is currently exclusivly using for their phones is crystal clear, the colors look amazing, and even the viewing angle is astonishing. Whats even better: Although the resolution is quite high, it does not look as crappy as a 480×800 Windows Screen.

What about the usage of the screen? Of course it is a touch screen phone, of course it can be used with fingers. What else can you still sell in 2009? The screen rotates to either left or right, so the motion sensor does not limit you to one direction. Neat.

3.    Main menu / Usage
Before telling you anything about what is on the screen, one word in advance about the operating system. Yes, it is proprietary. This means probably few apps to extend what you get. But: It fully supports Flash. Any kind of Flash, no matter if movies, games or youtube. This is way better than the „light“ Flash versions Adobe usually licenses to phone manufacturers.

The start screen has kind of two bars: One on the left, one on the bottom. The bottom navigation looks pretty familiar, just like on the F480. What is much more interesting is the navigation on the left hand side. It is like a status bar giving you access to time, time zone, sync and the calendar.

Insprired by Android ist he only logical assumption I can make when looking at the desktop functionality. Not because it is crowded (which it really is), rather because of the fact that you have three screens and you can move to them with a fingertip. Here you can probably place some more widgets, unfortunately I could not give this a try.

Samsung works with Widgets that have been preproduced, but the question is if they will really find supporters for programming for a proprietary operating system. I guess not.

4.    Use of the interface
Well, of course most of what you can see really reminds one of a „standard“ Samsung. No real surprise, unless you figure out a.) how to use the 3D menu or b.) the alternative to multitouch. One after another:

a.)    The 3D menu. I opened this by using a button on the right side of  the S8000, but there is probably another option using the menu somewhere. The 3D menu is supposed to be a quick access interface for phone, music, movies and so on. Ist his the answer to the LG Arena? If you ask me, it is. This is just another „me-too“-product, and what makes it worse: It is not as fast as the rest of the phone. It would rather make sense to have all six functions on one single (unfortunately 2D) site.

b.)    Much better is Samsung’s answer to multitouch. Because they are not allowed to use it, they had to think of a workaround. The solution is this: Put your finger on the screen, leave it there. Moving it up enlarges the picture, the other direction causes the opposite function. (Do I mix this up?) This is something quite intuitive on a screen that size. Good idea, well done.

c.)   All the rest. Well, it is a touchscreen phone and works pretty much like most of them: You see something, you put your finger on it and it does something. I think there have been enough reviews about them, and this is not so different. But what is usually interesting to users is the keyboard. There are in fact two of them: One small phone-ish keypad holding the Jét in the upright position

5.    Speed
If someone would ask me to say one single word about the S8000, it clearly is: speed. Honestly, I am trying out a lot of phones, but this one is much faster tahn anything I used before. The microsecond you press a button, there is your function. When turning the phone by 90 degrees, the OS follows really really quick. This is so amazing that you may call me biased. Well, call me biased anyway. This is a blog, it is about opinions.

Of course the speed does not come out of nowhere: The Koreans have built in a 800 MHz processor, which may suck energy out of the 1500 mAh battery like hell.

6.    Battery
Unfortunately, not a subject I can actually talk about or that I even should talk about. Usually the last thing that is optimizied in phone development is the battery. And: I could only use the S8000 for about 15 minutes, so it would be ridiculous to even make a suggestion.

7.    My opinion
So, let us make a short summary of the pro’s: A quite good body, great screen, Flash support, quite good camera, connectivity, additional multimedia as much as you can ask for. So why should the phone not sell like sliced bread? One word: Apps. If you are considering to buy a phone at this price level, you ask for expandability. You want more than just a phone. The best example for lack of support for single-system-solutions is the Sony Ericsson X1: Panels are a really nice idea, but if noone spends time on programming them, bad luck.

So if you are happy with whats in the box, go for it. If you are not, look for a different option. There are plenty out there in the market.

(I would like to excuse myself for possible mistakes I made. I am not a native speaker.)