Vodafone 360 H1 review

Another well addressed simple issue we have seen that's let down some H1's rivals is the screen flip. The Sony Ericsson Satio, for example, looked like it had crashed when turned from vertical to horizontal. The H1, on the other hand, uses a neat flip of the graphics on screen. Imagine you were turning a playing card over and the horizontal display was on the reverse of the card. This both looks good and works perfectly.

The virtual keyboard also deserves mention. In the H1's case, Samsung have effectively copied the iPhone's tried and tested typing method. Each letter pops-up enlarged above each "key" as it is pressed. Having said this though, the H1 lacks Apple's intelligent text and instead uses T9, with the word selection displayed above the on-screen keyboard. Not as good as Blackberry’s Suretype or Apple’s intelligent keyboard, but functional and easy to use nonetheless.

The H1 runs a the LiMo operating system and both the OS and Vodafone 360 on a touch screen phone should add up to an winning combination. But sadly, the H1 is definitely not the finished article at the moment. Not just that it currently lacks the ever-popular Twitter in 360’s repertoire, but also email syncing is hit and miss. Like the H1’s other weaknesses, we hope this could be fixed by firmware updates sooner rather than later.

All-in-all, Samsung H1's is a very capable phone and, had it lived up to its potential, would have been an excellent choice for business users and those who enjoy the ever-growing number of ways one can inform those you know, and even those you don't, of your every move.

In the H1, Samsung and Vodafone have tried to provide almost everything one would expect and want from a touch screen handset in the current mobile phone market. We certainly wouldn't go as far as to use the somewhat trite "iPhone killer" bracket that seems to be the benchmark for all such devices, but the H1 should be serious contender for your money and affections. And, once the teething troubles are sorted, we're confident that will happen.