Samsung U940 Glyde
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Consumer electronics, Telecommunications |
| Founded | March 1, 1938 in Daegu, South Korea |
| Founder | Lee Byung-chul |
| Headquarters | Suwon , South Korea |
| Products | Smartphones, mobile phones, consumer electronics |
| Owner | Samsung Group |
| Website | www |
Samsung SCH-U940 (also known as the Samsung Glyde) is a touchscreen smartphone manufactured by Samsung and offered through Verizon Wireless. This model was derived from the popular European Croix device but was modified specifically for the United States market. It became available in Verizon retail outlets in late May 2008. By August 2009, the handset was removed from Verizon's official sales listings. Key features include touchscreen navigation, a 2.0-megapixel camera and camcorder equipped with flash, customizable shortcut menus, and a full-featured HTML web browser. The Glyde was succeeded by the newer Samsung Rogue.
Design and Dimensions
The Glyde incorporates a touchscreen interface combined with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The front panel contains only essential physical controls: a home button, screen lock button, camera/camcorder button, and a rocker switch. When the device is used without sliding out the keyboard, the main touchscreen displays the dial pad, menu options, contacts, quick navigation shortcuts, and taskbar icons. Sliding out the keyboard rotates the display to landscape orientation and adds a messaging icon to the lower left corner of the screen. Audio features include stereo speakers positioned on top of the device and a 2.5 mm headphone jack. The rear houses a 2.0-megapixel camera. Beneath the removable back cover are the battery compartment and a microSD card slot for expandable storage. The phone measures approximately 4.09 inches tall, 1.97 inches wide, and 0.7 inches thick, weighing in at about 4.13 ounces.
Specifications and Functionality
Primary interaction with the Glyde is via its touchscreen that covers most of the front face; however, it supports only single-touch input and cannot accurately process multiple simultaneous touches—often interpreting multi-touch as an intermediate point between inputs. Activating the slide-out keyboard automatically switches the display to landscape mode since there is no built-in accelerometer to enable automatic rotation otherwise. The main menu features eight tiles including access to Media Center—which provides viewing options for photos, ringtones, videos, games, and downloadable applications via "Browse and Download." Other tiles include Messaging, Contacts, Recent Calls, Settings & Tools, My Music, Browser, and VZ Navigator. Selecting VZ Navigator without purchasing it launches an informational video highlighting Verizon's GPS service capabilities.
The integrated camera offers photo capture at 2.0 megapixels with an LED flash and supports video recording up to ten minutes in length. Camera settings include three quality levels (Fine, Normal, Economy), various color effects, white balance adjustments, ISO control, autofocus capability, self-timer function, multishot mode, six resolution options ranging from 1600x1200 down to 176x144 pixels, and digital zoom—though zoom is disabled at the highest resolution (1600x1200). Video recording is limited to two resolutions: 320x240 and 176x144 pixels. Recording duration options vary depending on purpose: "Limit for Send" restricts videos to thirty seconds at economy quality with fixed resolution of 176x144 pixels; longer recordings can be saved without these constraints.
Music playback supports files stored internally or on an inserted microSD card with browsing available by genres, artists, albums, or track titles as well as general search functionality. Users can create playlists or opt to play all tracks sequentially or shuffled. Notably, while music is playing, accessing other menus is disabled—any incoming calls or text messages will interrupt audio playback entirely.
Known Issues
When Samsung launched the Glyde in May 2008, it was positioned as a premium device intended to rival the Apple iPhone 3G and HTC Dream. It quickly became one of the top-selling handsets of that year. However, by November 2008, users reported that the Glyde's capacitive touch screen often failed to register touch inputs reliably. As a result, Verizon Wireless halted all sales of the Glyde until Samsung re-released the device later that month, this time equipped with a resistive touch screen. Despite these efforts, early 2009 saw continued User Interface malfunctions, prompting Verizon Wireless to distribute multiple OTA software updates aimed at resolving these issues, including improvements to the |UI. Ultimately, in September 2009, the Glyde was discontinued due to persistent problems and was succeeded by the Samsung SCH-u960, also known as the Samsung Rogue.
Specifications
| Feature | Availability |
|---|---|
| 3G Connectivity | Yes |
| Camera | Yes |
| HTML Browser | Yes |
| microSD Card Slot | Yes |
| Touchscreen Navigation | Yes |
| Mobile Instant Messaging | Yes |
| Mobile Email Support | Yes |
| QWERTY Keyboard | Yes |
| Bluetooth Support | Yes |
| Antenna Type | Internal |
| Vibration Alert | Yes |
| Music Playback | Yes |
| VCAST Service | Yes |
Sources
References
This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2008) |
