Samsung G400 Soul review: Fold and touch

All right then, Samsung and Soul know better than simply recasting a slider as a bar. Samsung G400 Soul is the one Soul family member that easily gets singled out. The clamshell phone pulls off near RAZR size and style (save for the thickness), and boasts the unique dual screen setup and a 5 megapixel autofocus camera. Actually, this is the first 5 MP clamshell ever, though for some reason Samsung chose not to pitch that in their promos. Anyway, the G400 is one heavy piece of skill and style. And even if it's the odd one in terms of looks, it seems set to live up to that Soul pedigree.

    
Key features:
5 megapixel autofocus camera (face detection, wide dynamic range and image stabilization)
Identical external and internal screens: 2.2" 256K-color TFT LCD of QVGA resolution
Touch-sensitive external display with ,multimedia interface and haptics
3G with HSDPA (7.2Mbps) support, video call
FM radio with RDS
120MB of shared memory and microSD slot
Bluetooth (with A2DP) and USB v2.0
User-friendly keypad
Relatively fast user interface
Fully customizable themes
Dedicated settings for each of the displays
The main display doesn't get key prints in closed position 
Main disadvantages:
Tri-band only 
Only LED flash 
Display legibility suffers under direct sunlight, external screen is hardly usable
Limited browser capabilities 
QVGA video recording at most 

Some may claim the G400 Soul design is too old school for a Samsung. OK, it's inconsistent with the Soul looks and quite akin to the well aged Moto RAZR concept. In fact the G400 has almost the same design as the Samsung Z560, which was set to compete with the Motorola RAZR V6 maxx.

Still, the G400 rounds off the form factor supply within the Soul lineup and tries to meet some demand for full-featured flips. But so much for vintage vs. vantage - even if 5MP and HSDPA are nothing radical these days, it takes a flip to show off that sweet dual screen combo. For one of the most intriguing specs is the huge (in clamshell terms) touchscreen external display.