Basic Features

Released for Cingular, the Samsung SGH-D307 has tri-band GSM (850 / 1800 / 1900 MHz) network support, allowing international roaming between most countries in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific; provided the device is network unlocked.

Allowing users to choose between a Grid, Page, or Bar menu layout, the D307 also supports English, Spanish, or French languages.

Rating the D307's 960 Li-Ion battery at 5 hours and 8.3 days (200 hours) of talk and standby times, actual times will be slightly less. Handset manufacturers and carriers often list talk-time and standby-time ratings with disclaimers about variable performance and often refer to the times they publish as maximum times.

Screen

The front of the D307 features an external 4-level grayscale LCD. Measuring 96 x 96 px, the screen shows common information such as battery level, network status, and date and time. Users can choose between digital or analog clock formats.

While most devices are progressing to color outer LCDs, the D307's grayscale screen does have a silver lining, the display is not as energy-intensive. And since external displays are typically used for quick access to static text, prolonged battery life is often times preferred over high-resolution, battery-draining LCDs.

But when used for text messaging, the main display needs to be bright and sizeable to ward off fatigue, and fortunately, the D307 comes with a brilliant 262K-color 176 x 200 px screen. Contrary to the outer screen, the internal LCD is built from TFT (Thin Film Transistor) technology, allowing for vibrant and colorful images.

Having advantages over STN, TFT screens have circuit transistors placed directly on the glass. Not requiring each pixel location to be scanned, as STN would, TFT allows faster response and refresh rates; achieving noticeably quicker response times, and higher contrast resolutions.

Audio

The D307 plays polyphonic ringtones beautifully. Overlaying up to 64 chords simultaneously, much like instruments in an orchestra, the D307 utilize the MIDI file format to play "musical notes" through a local synthesizer. The more simultaneous chords that can be overlaid, the more realistic sounding the ringtones, and the D307 is superb.

Growing in popularity, MP3s are fast becoming the new standard in ringtone technology, which the D307 also supports. Unlike polyphonic ringtones, MP3s are direct recordings from an audio source, not a recreating. The result is an exact duplicate, so consumers can use CD audio or recorded voice as their ringtone; anything that can be recorded can be turned into a ringtone. Since the D307 does not support a MP3 Player, only MP3 ringtones, file limitations of 300K are imposed. Ringtone and speakerphone volumes are sufficiently loud and clear.

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