Samsung is always successful on slider designs. They come out well, always original, and use fancy materials which give the phones their own look. Everything is always different: the camera cover, keypad, front housing, back housing, slots, and ports.

Let's start with the box design: the retail package of the G800 is thin, just like of many other Samsung phones, and includes the following:

• Samsung SGH-G800 handset
• Charger
• USB cable
• Stereo headset
• PC Studio CD
• User manual
• Warranty Card
• Fun Club brochure

The tagline used on the front of the box is “Photographer's Choice”. We are curious to find out whether it is a photographer's choice or not. It is obvious that from here one can assume that the only focus of the phone is its camera.

Just like we noticed on the i450 review, the G800's box also has a primary flap. Under it, the phone is shown through a hole. The material covering the rest of the box has 3D dots. Having little space to play with didn't mean that Samsung was going to let style go.

A light-grey charger is included on the phone, and unfortunately it does not charge through a USB port, but Samsung's proprietary port. Same goes to the USB cable and earphones which are compatible with the same port. This basically means that it won't allow a 3.5mm audio connector, and you cannot charge, connect to a computer, and listen to music at the same time.

The TV-out function is missing, and so is the cable. Having a camera focused phone could mean that a user would want to display the images captured on a TV, Samsung for an unknown reason missed out this detail.

The mobile phone looks like a metal brick with buttons and a display. It feels like that too. It feels serious and well-built, nothing like a fun device. It's better to have a well-built device than a phone that feels plastic, leaks light, and feels like it's going to fall apart. There should be a balance between both actually, and that's what Samsung perhaps missed.

The front panel keys don't have backlighting. There is a d-pad, two soft keys inside the display compartment, and two call keys and clear key just below the display compartment. The soft keys are actually hard to press and aren't comfortable at all.

As we open the sliding platform, we see a one-piece numeric keypad. That isn't good news at all. There are line divisions between the keys, but everything is practically flat. You might be able to type fast, but it's tiring for the fingers.

Besides the keys on the front, there is a 2.4” display with QVGA resolution (240x320), that has low visibility under the sunlight. There is also a camera for 3G video calls and an ear speaker.

The bottom side of the device is kept simple with no function whatsoever.

The left side of the device has an earphones/charger/USB port, a memory card slot, and a lanyard hole.

The top side has stereo speakers, which are very soft unfortunately.

The right side contains the camera capture and autofocus button, as well as the volume rocker or zoom keys.

The back side of the device contains the camera cover, camera, Xenon flash, and autofocus assist lamp.

The battery compartment stores a 1000mAh battery which should be enough for most of us. The battery is easy to remove from the compartment, and there is no need for fingernails.

The camera button is rather small, but it's in circular shape, and like the N93's one, it's closer to real cameras, which might be more attractive and comfortable to users.

The USB port opening and memory card slot are well built, as it is usual with Samsung phones, and you won't need any fingernails to get them opened.

The biggest problem of the G800 is its camera cover. It's a massive metal block that has to be slid to the right to uncover the camera and flash. This adds weight to the device, which weights 139g), and you can't keep it lying down on the table, it becomes inclined.

So does the G800 have an appealing design? Its cube design that feels like a brick isn't attractive at all, the same goes to the discomfort from the keys. The metal shine might counteract the ergonomical problem, but the lack of visibility from direct sunlight does not help either. The speakers are too soft to add to the problem, but the memory cards slot, USB port, and battery are easy to remove and to insert.

Our judgement for now is that the design of the G800 is very disappointing, but we hope that the following sections can prove us wrong.

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