Samsung X246 - Big Phone Function in a Pocket Size
Written: Feb 18 '04 (Updated Feb 18 '04)
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Pros: small, light and very versatile phone with great sound and functionality.
Cons: Be sure to talk to your sales rep closely about what you get for $50.
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for a mobile phone that is small and functional, this is a great choice.
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| martytdx's Full Review: Samsung SGH-X426 |
I’ve never been a huge cell/mobile phone nut. I’ve had one because I think that they are necessary for someone who does a lot of driving, and I like the convenience when we are out. But I am not their top market – I don’t need a camera on my phone, I don’t need to have a keyboard attached, and I’m not willing to spend $500 to have the latest styles. So, when the battery on my old Nokia started giving me about an hour of standby use per charge, I went in to get a new battery. When I found out that the battery was $45, I decided it was time for a new phone.
My wife and I went to the local AT&T Wireless store (since we’ve had AT&T service for years) to see what they had out there. I looked around, steering clear of the Nokia’s because of the problems we have both had recently with our Nokia phones. I was only looking a short while when we stumbled on a mac-daddy Motorola and the Samsung SGH-X426. The Motorola was too much phone for me (although my wife ended up getting it since she was due for an upgrade, too), but the Samsung looked just right. First, for you specification-readers:
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[ • SPECIFICATIONS • ]
Modes GSM 800 / GSM 1900
Weight 2.80 oz (79g)
Dimensions 3.30" x 1.80" x 0.80” clamshell, about 5.9” open
Battery Type LiIon
Battery Life Talk: 7.00 hours Standby: 216 hours (9 days)
Antenna Type Stub
Display Type: 65,000 color 128x160 pixel Color LCD
Phone Book Capacity 500
• Features •
• Alarm auto-power mode enables alarm when phone is off
• Calculator plus currency converter
• Calender/To-Do List
• Custom Graphics
• Custom Ringtones (including 40 polyphonic)
• Picture Messaging/EMS – yes, but there is not camera on the phone.
• Games – 3, but can download other Java games
• Uses GPRS high-speed data technology (class 8)
• Multiple language support
• Allows up to 3 numbers per name
• T9 Predictive Text Entry Technology
• Side volume keys
• 2-way text messaging, including templates
• Vibrate Mode
• Wireless Internet
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[ • FUNCTIONALITY • ]
Navigation is fairly simple, and is accomplished in 2 ways. A directional pad allows you to navigate through the menus on the phone or connect with 1-touch to certain functions from the main menu. In other words, if you open your phone and click to the left with the directional button, you get the calendar. Click right, you get the to do list. Down is your address book, and up gives you the messaging screen. The mMode button is in the center to give you one touch access to mMode and the WAP features it offers.
Soft buttons on either side of the directional pads give you on-screen navigation based on screen prompts at the bottom of the display. One of the nice features is that instead of having to scroll down to the choice you want, once you see the choices, you can simply hit the appropriate number key to enter that sub-menu or access that function. Another nice features is that your directional pad in the middle gives you the ability to set specific functions for each of the directions when you are at your main screen.
• Phone Functions •
The phone has 7 main functional menus: Messages, Call Records, Sound Settings, Phone Settings, Organizer, Network Services and Funbox. Working your way through the menus is pretty simple.
Messages gives you access to your text/SMS messaging – inbox, outbox, etc. You can write and read text messages you receive here, or emails if you have the capability on your network. The phone offers a nice feature in its Templates menu – 9 preset messages including “Call me when you get this message”, “Where are you?” and “I am late and will be there in ____ minutes”. I don’t know how much I will use these, but it is a nice feature to have when you want to send a quick message. You can also edit any of the messages to create one that you will use more often.
Call Records is pretty self-explanatory. See what calls you’ve received, missed, made, etc. It also offers your call times in a variety of options such as last call time, total incoming, life time, etc.
Sound Settings gives you control of how your phone will sound when it rings, an alarm goes off, etc. Your options:
• ringtones: select the ring tone you want. Although my phone supposedly comes with 40 tones, I only see 30 on mine. They vary greatly in style with selections such as “bird”, “cat’s meow”, “jazzy”, . Overall, I’m not impressed with most of the selections.
• ring volume: the ring volume on this phone is LOUD. Even at the lowest setting, I had to leave the room while setting my ring choice or my wife would have killed me. There are 5 levels of volume, and I have to say that the only time you will need to use the highest one is while listening to Metallica while sitting on the tarmac of an international airport during a heavy thunderstorm. And even then, they might ask you to turn your ringer down – the band can’t hear themselves think.
• alert type: The tones for alarms.
• keypad tone sets the tones that play every time you hit a key.
• message tone is the tone you hear when there is a message or voicemail waiting for you.
• folder tone: when you close the phone, it will play a tone for you. Kind of a useless feature, but what the heck – at least I didn’t pay for it. It sets up a two-part harmony: 1 when you open the phone, the other when you close it.
• power on/off sound: the tones for when you power down and power up. I can’t say that I use these, since they were fairly annoying, loud and useless.
• extra tones: tones for errors, call minutes or when you make a connection.
Phone Settings
• My Settings controls wallpaper and menu style, Greeting Message lets you set the message when you open your phone. Own Number gives you the chance to see your own number (why?). Language offers 3 set languages (English, Spanish, French) or an automatic setting, while Security gives you the chance to set a PIN number, lock your phone or SIM chip, or to restrict calls to only numbers in your phone book. Display Settings offers up control for the contrast, as well as back, auto and service lights; Extra Settings controls auto redial, active folder (whether your phone answers when you open it or not) and any key answer. Short Cuts is where you set the functions for the directional buttons on the phone).
Organizer
The Organizer menu gives you access to the Organizer functions: Calendar, To Do List, Time & Date, Alarm, Calculator and Currency Exchange. They are all pretty simple to use and set up, although I am not sure how much use the currency converter is.
Network Settings
Within Network Settings, you set your Call Forwarding, Call Waiting, Network Selection and Caller ID settings. The last one basically sets how you want your phone to show up on other phones with caller id (hide it or show it).
Funbox
The Funbox holds most of the ‘fun’ functions of the phone, including Games, the WAP Browser and Downloads (Games & More, Sounds, Pictures). This is where you will find most of the things you download through mMode.
[ • USE • ]
• Display •
The display on the X426 is pretty awesome – 65,000 colors and very clear. The phone offers up 12 animated wallpapers for you to use (I have on aquarium, but they also have lake, sunflower and night). If you get bored, you can download other wallpapers to add to your list. There are also specific graphics for each functional page, as well as special animated images for certain functions like making a call or receiving an email/SMS.
• Reception •
Early versions of this phone had a reputation for bad reception and echoes – and some early shipments do seem to have had some bad batches. However, my phone is crystal clear – at times as clear as a land line phone. This is a huge improvement over the Nokia, and almost makes up the purchase price in and of itself. The one reception problem I have seen is regarding the internet connectivity – however, most of those problems were while I was in our basement, so that might have been self-perpetuated.
• Games •
Although the phone is listed as having THREE games, my phone came with five: 2 in the GAMES section of the funbox, X-fighter and SpaceWar, and 3 in the downloads section. To be honest about the first 2 – they both suck. I would much rather have the matching game and/or snake that I had on my previous phones. They are in great color, but the gameplay is pretty boring and horrid. The 3 ‘download’ games are a mixed lot: BubbleSmile, Fun2Link and MobileChess. MobileChess is the best of the three, but not all that challenging. Luckily, you can download others since the phone will accept Java-based games. Some great choices are chess and Bejeweled, a game I’ve played more than a few times at Pop-Cap Games.
• Ringtones •
To be honest, I thought many of the Nokia’s monophonic rings were better than the polyphonic (read: MIDI) rings included with this phone. I did enjoy some of them (such as birds) but most were bad synthesized sounds that were fairly annoying. Again, ringtones are available for download from AT&T or partner Zingy but can get expensive (about $1.99 each). Other sites (such as MatrixM) offer up ringtones at better prices, but be sure to check that their network and your phone network (and phone) are compatible. More than one site I’ve visited doesn’t work with AT&T or Cingular.
That being said, I would check out the third-party sites, since I have found that they often have better quality ringtones than the ‘official’ versions. I downloaded the HALLOWEEN THEME, but found a much higher quality version later.
• mMode •
mMode is AT&T’s mobile online service. It offers a WAP connection to the internet and numerous features a la an AOL or Earthlink – pre-packaged offerings you can tap into easily. You can also surf the web using your own destinations although I have found this tricky since a lot of sites don’t offer WAP-compatible coding. I have to admit that most of my web use will be for getting sports scores while I’m out, so I don’t think that I will use this that often – putting in URLs is very time consuming since you have to do it using the phone keyboard – not an easy task.
mMode does offer a My mMode section where you can save certain places you want to revisit, as well as Spotlight, Games & Tones, Mail and Messaging, Search and a guide. The Spotlight gives you the normal quick links to weather, latest & greatest, special offers, and popular sites. I’ve used it but found that many of their sites aren’t what I am looking for, although they found ESPN for me.
The Games & Tones section allows you to get the ringtones and games I spoke about earlier. Games usually run $2.99 to $3.99 and are downloaded directly into your phone. The 87k download of BEJEWELED - which I downloaded for you in the interest of research - did occur pretty quickly and flawlessly. Ditto for my download of my ringtone. Keep in mind that not only are you paying for the games/tones, but you will be paying for the bandwidth you use (and AT&T charges a premium for this – see below in my AT&T section).
And mMode is not cheap. Below is a quick synopsis:
No plan (pay as you go): $.06/kb &$149 1MB use = $60
MINI (pay as you go): $2.95 + $.02/kb &$149 1MB use = $22.95
MEGA (up to 1MB): $7.95 + .01/kb &$149 1MB use = $7.95
MAX (up to 4MB): $12.99 + $.008/kb &$149 1MB use = $12.99
ULTRA (up to 8MB): $14.99 + $.006/kb &$149 1MB use = $14.99
Obviously, if you are going to do any serious surfing, get one of the larger packages – or be prepared to pay a bundle for access.
[ • WHAT’S IT COME WITH • ]
The phone comes with a few accessories – nothing to write home about, but nice that they are included: the battery, a home charger, the hands-free ear-piece (required in New Jersey now), and a wrist strap. The ear-piece is actually fairly nice for an included item. The phone is available through both AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless (where it is known as the SGH-X427).
[ • AT&T – Attractive, Tempting and Terrible • ]
While I am enjoying my new phone, I have to say that I am less than pleased with the AT&T sales reps that we dealt with. There were several things that they told us that were either half-truths or inaccurate, and it really has soured me a bit on the company.
First of all, I was asking about voice dialing, since the rep mentioned it. He told me that through mMode, we could save up to 2,000 addresses and 100 that you can dial with voice. When I asked about the phone itself having voice dialing, in case we didn’t go with the mMode service, he told me “Well, the phone can only voice dial 10 names.” Unfortunately, without using the mMode service, you have NO voice dialing options. If you do sign up for mMode, you get the ability to voice dial – but only if you dial #121 first. Does that make sense?
They also told us that we could try out the mMode for the first month for free, so that we could “get an idea of how much downloading we do and pick the right plan.” Uh-uh. You get UP TO 1 MB in the first month, and you only get that if you sign up for mMode afterward. They give you a credit based on the program you sign up for – if you sign up for the cheapest one (pay as you go at $.02/kilobyte), they’ll give you a credit for the same amount of use, up to 1MB. If you sign up for the 1MB or higher levels, you get credit for 1 MB on your next bill. But you’ll still have to pay for that first month. We’re going to be arguing with them about that when we get the bill – the store told us a complete lie, and then encouraged us to use it as much as we want the first month to try it out. At $.03 per kilobyte ($30 per MB), I can imagine that they would love us to splurge, wouldn't they?
[ • Final Thoughts • ]
I like this phone – a lot. Although I don’t appreciate the misinformation I received from AT&T, the service has been perfect so far, and the phone is 10 steps up from my previous phone. The sound has been crystal clear, and the functionality has been nearly flawless. For $50, I don’t think I could have asked for a better phone (although I think they are offering them 2-for1 if you do a new activation). It’s light, it’s small and it’s functional – which is really all I would want in a phone – and the Samsung X426 does it with style.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 49.99
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
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Epinions.com ID:
martytdx
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Member: Marty
Location: New Jersey
Reviews written: 481
Trusted by: 179 members
About Me:
Doing what I can to try new places, restaurants, books and beers.
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