David Flynn04 May 2009, 4:44 PM
What other phone lets you fake an incoming call, complete with pre-recorded dialogue, so you can escape from a boring meeting or social situation?
Touchscreens, souped-up digital cameras and GPS receivers are all becoming a bit ‘me too’ in the mobile phone market. But Samsung’s new UltraTouch sports a feature so cool that we reckon every phone should add it to their feature list.
It’s called Fake Call, and it does pretty much what the name suggests – it simulates an incoming call which provides you with the means to extricate yourself from almost any undesirable situation (except perhaps a mugging, unless your robber is exceptionally courteous).
Hold down the key on the side of the UltraTouch and within seconds the UltraTouch rings. If you’ve thought ahead you (or someone else) can record a slab of dialogue on the phone, which will be played back through the earpiece to make it seem you’re taking part in a conversation.
Then you make your apologies and scamper off, trying hard not to smile as you leave.
That said, we’d suggest a further finesse to Samsung: add a time delay so you can subtly swipe the button before putting your hands back in plain sight before the phone rings. Maybe the delay should be a random period anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute to help you feign surprise.
The UltraTouch has some more honest attractions – a touchscreen-slider combo design, 8 megapixel camera with face and smile detection plus dual LED lights, and an FM radio.
DivX playback on the 2.8 inch screen is enhanced by the blacker blacks you get from the AMOLED (active matrix organic light emitting diode) display. The lack of Wi-Fi will disappoint the smartphone elite, however.
The UltraTouch is available in two dual-band modes – 2100MHz and 900MHz for Optus and Vodafone networks, and a 2100MHz/850MHz model for Telstra and 3, in line with their recent national roaming agreement.