Samsung SPH-M620 UpStage: Flip this phone?

Below please find my review of the new Samsung SPH-M620 UpStage for Sprint.
I have used the M-620 UpStage for 1 month now.
Here are my impressions:

Construction/Design:

Measuring 4.07" x 1.73" x 0.37" the Samsung M-620 is a small and thin wireless phone.
Comprised of mostly plastic, the phone has a light (2.57 oz) but solid feel.
There is nothing super shiny or reflective about this phone, unlike that of the
Sprint Motorola K1m Krazr which I also recently reviewed:
http://www.epinions.com/content_310377090692
The design of this phone is a simple rectangular candy bar like shape.
This phone is not a “Flip” phone in the classical sense (you don’t flip it open).
But more on that a little later.
Because this phone is so small and light it is suited towards those with average to small hands.
Beveled edges make the phone easier to grip when using it as a phone.

Ergonomics:

The M-620 UpStage features a two sided design.
The ideas is that you flip the phone over to use either the music player side or the phone side.
To accomplish this task you must press a button located on the side of the phone.
This takes some time to getting used to.
The music side features an electrostatic touch control D-pad with a button in the middle.
The D-pad also takes a while to get used to.
Also, with the D-pad, only horizontal and vertical motions are allowed on this control pad.
If you attempt to use the control as you would an ipod (in a circular motion) it will behave erratically.
This can be very frustrating, and is counterintuitive to me.
On the phone side, the number keys are somewhat small (but well lit) and there is no dedicated speaker phone button.
There are two soft keys at the top of the key pad on the phone side (Soft keys change their function as you move thru the menus).

The Displays:

Phone Side:

Here is where the bad news comes in.
The screen on the phone side of the UpStage displays only 3 lines!
And thats counting the signal and battery indicators to the left and time/date.
1.4" display displaying 65k colors.
A very small screen to be sure.
Only 4 menu items on this side - find a contact, enter a contact, send text, and call logs.
You must press the “Flip” button on the side of the phone to access all other functions.

Music/Video Player Side:

The music side sports a 2.1” TFT display displaying 262k colors.
It is the larger of the two displays and definitely a high point.
Bright and clear display, with the D-pad control mentioned previously.

Music Playback/Multimedia:

The music player application has playlists, repeat tracks and different skins available.
I found the music player to be very slow compared to that of an ipod.
Some applications require that you flip the phone to use the key pad.
This is kind of annoying to me.
The internal media player supports MP3, AAC, MIDI, M4A, MP4 and 3GP and of course streaming video with audio.
The phone comes with sprint software so you can transfer your music back and forth from your computer & phone.

Sound Quality:

Sound quality during phone calls was good overall.
As for the music side I do wish this phone had dual external speakers.
Sadly, it used the phones ear piece as the only external speaker.
Included with the phone was a Samsung headphones adaptor.
This is needed as the headphone plug on the phone is proprietary
You can plug regular headphones into the adaptor.
Sound quality via headphones (not included) using the adaptor was good.

Reception:

Signal strength was good overall.
The phone also features a built in antenna.
No external antenna required. I like this a lot.
I did not experienced any dropped calls.

The Network:

The M-620 Upstage operates on the Sprint's 3G EV-DO network Power Vision Network.
The network allows users to access music news and other content at near broad-like speeds.
The content for this phone (Sprint TV, Sprint Music Store, Online Streaming Music etc) is all heavily integrated into this phone.
And of course additional fees can and do apply.
Overall my experience with the network has been good.
You must, however, upgrade to a power vision plan to use these features.

The 1.3 megapixel Camera and Video Camcorder:

The M-620 offers a 1.3 megapixel camera which is located on the phone side.
There is no flash or movie light on this phone.
The camera lens can also be used to record live video.
Videos length is dependant upon available memory
(which is expandable via a micro SD slot on the side)
Videos over 512 k cannot be uploaded or sent.
The video quality is actually pretty good, the best I have seen on a cell phone in the US.

Mass Storage/Memory:

It comes with 128 MB of ROM and 64 MB of RAM.
The max available storage memory is 53 MB.
Thank goodness there is external memory expandable via a MicroSD card slot located on the side of the phone
(My phone came with a 64MB micro SD card).

Battery:

Sprint rates this phone at up to 2.5 hours continuous digital talk time.
In reality, the battery lasted me about a day with average use.
That is to say I got about 2.5 hours talk time, with a few texts a couple of pics.
Slim small phones are not known for their long battery life.
The quoted above usage time is of course dependant on how often some features (mp3, web, camera etc.) are used.
And your location on the network (e.g. fringe coverage areas etc.) makes a difference also.

Here are some power saving tricks Samsung phones that have proven useful to me:
-Get the latest, over the air free software updates.
-Turn off the GPS locator. (Sprint doesn’t need to know where you are anyway:)
-Turn down the display brightness to its lowest setting and the key pad backlit time.
This last step will significantly improve battery life.
The Blue Tooth wireless is also a bit of power hog. Speaking of Bluetooth...

Bluetooth Wireless Technology:

The Bluetooth allows a user to talk wirelessly via a Bluetooth-enabled headset or compatible car kit.
In my experience using a Bluetooth headset with this phone, sound quality was decent.
And is also bit of a power drain.
This has been the case with every bluetooth phone I have used.
As a result talk time was reduced.
In my opinion this technology has still yet to be perfected for the cell phone market.
Bluetooth also allows data transfer of files between other Bluetooth enabled devices such as a computer.
I transferred some pics and music files to my Bluetooth enabled computer.
Once the devices was recognized, and paired, it worked quite well. No cables were needed.

Messaging:

The M-620 Supports SMS (Short Messaging Service),
EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service) and MMS (Multimedia Message Service) standards.
And of course real time real-time instant messaging is preinstalled AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), MSN Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger clients.
I text a lot. And the T9 predictive text is about as easy as it gets for typing text messages fast.
Too bad the display and keys are so small and you have to flip this phone over so often.

Menu/GUI (graphic user interface):

The menu is well laid out and typical Samsung intuitive, and fast on the phone side.
However, as previously mentioned, some functions and applications require that you flip the phone to use the reverse side.
This is kind of annoying to me.
There is also some menu lag on the music side (likely due to the d-pad), but definitely not as slow as say the Motorola K1m Krazr, which has significant menu lag:
http://www.epinions.com/content_310377090692

Summary/Thoughts:

This is a unique double sided phone.
But its not for everyone.
I did not like flipping it over all the time.
And the D-pad on the music side was counterintuitive.

I suspect Sprint will sell the majority of these phones to the youth market.
Good thing kids tends to have good vision, they will need that vision to see this phones (phone side) display!
The idea of a phone and music player all in one may also pull strong with the youth market.
Just don’t expect the controls to work like an ipod.
An ipod, it is not.
The M-620 UpStage is more of a compromise.
Incidentally, rumor is Sprint branded the M-620 the “UpStage” as a dig at the soon to be released Apple iphone on the AT&T (formerly Cingular) network.
After a not so great experience with two Samsung M-610's recently,
http://www.epinions.com/content_319845207684
I returned to Samsung to try out this, their latest sprint phone.
After all, Samsung did create my all time favorite phone the Samsung A-900, which I reviewed here March of last year: http://www.epinions.com/content_223059021444
The Samsung A-900, (now called the A-900M) is still my phone of choice, as I continue to use it daily.

Sadly, the Samsung M-620 UpStage just kinda “Flipped” me the wrong way.


Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 150.00
Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy