Samsung Impression Has Great Dumbphone Hardware, Less Perfect Software

For an entry level dumbphone, this Samsung Impression is a really nice piece of hardware. And while the the Software UI more or less gets the job done, it’s still a little bumpy.

The phone makes use of a 3.2-inch, capacitive-touch AMOLED screen that’s plenty bright and responsive…at times (more on that later). The sliding action is nice and springy, and the keyboard is both spacious and clicky, mostly because it’s a little bigger than most phones in its category.However, the native resolution doesn’t really do the screen justice, with visuals looking a little pedestrian. The 3 megapixel camera was also a bit underwhelming, but far from terrible.

On the software side, I was a little less impressed, especially with touch accuracy. The moments where the UI was particularly responsive means that the screen hardware itself is ok, but the that the OS is a little wonky. Being a capacitive screen, you shouldn’t have to press very hard for the hardware to register your finger. Some times the Impression required a decent amount of contact to really get into action. Other than that, the UI is standard AT&T fare once you get past the TouchWiz UI, but at this point it’s starting to look and feel bit dated.