Samsung M340 (Mantra) Cell Phone Review

The Exterior

The Samsung M340 is an attractive clamshell phone, being well-shaped and well-sized to easily fit in your hand or pocket. Measuring 3.8" x 1.8" x 0.7" (97 x 47 x 18 mm) and weighing 3.35 ounces (95 g), it is very similar in size, shape, and weight to the LG Accolade VX5600 that we recently reviewed. Figure 4 shows the Samsung M340 next to the LG Accolade.

Figure 4: The Samsung M340 and the LG Accolade

In Figure 4 you can also see that each of these phones the camera near the top and a small, similarly-sized screen on the front. As with the LG phone, this display screen shows information such as phone numbers, call status, date and time, and signal and battery strength.

The Samsung is slightly more stylish than the LG, with a silver bezel around the camera opening. The top portion around the camera has a dull, soft finish, while the middle and bottom of the front has a shiny black finish, and the two areas are separated by a thin silver strip. The words “Samsung” and “Common Cents Mobile” are written in silver.

One of the differences between these two phones is that pressing any button on either side of the LG will light up this screen. On the Samsung only the volume buttons on the left side of the phone will turn on the outside screen. It is useful to be able to light up the screen from buttons on either side of the phone so that no matter which hand you hold it in, the screen can be turned on easily. The Volume up/down buttons can be seen in Figure 5.

Figure 5: The left side of the phone

On the right side of the phone are the camera button and the proprietary port, which acts as both the headphone and charging port. Unfortunately, you will have to purchase proprietary headset from Samsung if you want to add wired ear phones. Fortunately, because the phone has no MP3 player and has Bluetooth capabilities, you probably won’t need to buy them.

Figure 6: The right side of the phone

When viewing the side of the phone as shown in Figure 5 and 6, you can also see that there is a groove between the top and the bottom of the phone that extends all the way around the phone. This makes the phone easier to open than several other similar phones like the LG Accolade.

The back of the phone slides off easily to reveal the battery as shown in Figure 7. The phone is rated for 5.5 hours (330 minutes) of talk time and 300 hours (13 days) of stand-by time, so battery life is very good.

There is no memory card slot, but the phone itself has 64 MB of memory, which is fairly generous for a phone of this type.

Figure 7: Back of the phone