Pretty AND Functional
Written: Sep 27 '02 (Updated Oct 28 '02)
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Pros: Color screen, PCS Vision capable, polyphonic ringer, speakerphone, flip style.
Cons: Not the greatest battery life.
The Bottom Line: This is my favorite of the new PCS Vision phones. It has great style combined with easy of use, nice features, and the perfect size. Go get it today.
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| Guildencrantz's Full Review: Samsung SPH-N400 |
When I originally decided to buy a cell phone in October 2001 I had spent some time looking at the Samsung N200, but was drawn to the battery life of the 4700. Well my beloved 4700 was lost in July. I again spent some time looking at the N200. Unfortunately I couldn't find it in stock and so decided to get another 4700.
Now I'm in a position where I get to play with cell phones all the time, and I even get a discount on buying specific models. One of the models I can get is the N400. I know that my new phone is only about two months old, but I have been blown away by the N400.
There are very few differences between the N200 and the N400 other than the enhanced screen and internet features of the N400. Both phones are relatively the same size and form factor, with very slight differences. One of the great things about the N400 is that they kept the joystick style navigation. For those unfamiliar with the N200: there is a small joystick in the center of the phone just below the screen that is used to navigate the menus and activate the features of the phone (pressing the joystick in is the "OK" button).
The menus on the phone have been changed, and updated. Instead of the basic black and "white" menus the user is now treated to a menu system that displays three options on the bottom half of the screen and an animated image for each option on the top half of the display. This is the exact same menu system as appears on the Samsung A500 (imagine that: same company, same software).
Besides looking good and having a great navigational system this phone has a great form factor. It fits very nicely in my hand, with my thumb falling very nicely on the joystick. I can grab the N400, flip the phone open with my thumb and then use nothing more than that same thumb to do everything on the phone (okay, for volume control and speakerphone I use my index finger and middle finger on that same hand). It's wonderfully easy to use, and it looks good. Besides it fits better into my pocket than the 4700 did (even so I like to use the belt clip).
As for features that are new and improved the big thing is the PCS Vision capabilities. I can access the internet at up to 144 k/sec (that's ten times faster than the 14.4 k/sec that the N200, or the 4700, got). I can also go to just about any website. The built in browser fully parses HTML so you can go just about anywhere. Heck, the default browser is Google (www.google.com). The new web features make the vision phones. I can do without the color display, but that really helps too.
No longer is the web experience two toned. You now get the full experience of the internet. You get to see the images, the icons, and the colors. You can even use the optional camera attachment for this phone (an additional $100) and take color pictures with this phone so that you can email them or upload them directly to Sprint's site where you can access them from your computer (or another Vision phone).
You can also use the Vision network to download games, screen savers, and ringers. This means that you can customize your phone and make it just the way you want it. You can also put on games for those times when you have nothing better to do and don’t want to waist your minutes. Of course Sprint will charge you extra for the downloads (The price of each download is stated before you make the download and it is added to your next bill. You can choose to password protect the download feature so that random people can’t just grab the phone and charge downloads to your account).
The tie-in here is that you can download ringers from the internet and apply different ones to each phone number in your phonebook. In this way you can tell who’s calling without even looking at your phone (unfortunately there is no way of changing the vibrate style, so you would have to have the audible ringer on to take advantage of this feature).
There is even a built in personal organizer with this phone. It has a calendar that you can program to remind you of important dates or events. This is a really nice feature for remembering birthdays. While I’ve never actually used it to remind me of a birthday I do find that it makes a great alarm clock.
If you are just interested in a phone for making calls then the N400 is still a great phone. As mentioned earlier it fits well into my hand and is a relatively light phone, but not so light it feels like a toy. It also has great reception. One of the nicest features, though, is that it is a kind of cross between the flip phones and the straight phones. The earpiece flips down to cover the keys, but the phone doesn't flip completely in half. This allows the phone to cover the keys, remain relatively small, and have the sturdy nature of the larger straight phones.
While this phone does not have voice-activated dialing, it is TTY compatible. This means that you can use it to call TTY services, which is great for people that are hard of hearing, or deaf, and want to have the convenience of a cell phone. Combine this with the ability to send and receive text messages and this is a great phone for anybody who needs to use text for communicating.
One last standard feature that the N400 offers is the speakerphone. I have become addicted to my speakerphone. I hate being on hold and being forced to hold the phone to my ear. With the speakerphone I don't have to worry about that. Of course I mostly use this feature when I'm just checking my voicemail, but I use in constantly and I don't know if I could go to a phone which didn't have this wonderful feature.
The one real complaint that I have about this phone is the battery life. It has a battery life of about 2.9 hours of talk time (that’s what the manual says, and it seems to be about right from my usage). Unfortunately I have become spoiled by the 4 hours of talk time that is standard for the 4700. However there is an easy (albeit monetarily backed) solution to this: Samsung sells an extended life battery that should kick the battery life of the phone up to 4 hours (I haven’t tried the extended life battery myself, but I trust Samsung).
So if you are currently a Sprint customer then you should definitely look into upgrading to a Vision phone. If you do this you should most certainly at least take a look at the N400. If don't have Sprint then you should probably compare your service to theirs and have a look at what you can get from the crystal clear PCS digital network. My suggestion is to go down to a RadioShack, grab the N400 and play with it. Then buy it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199.99
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Epinions.com ID:
Guildencrantz
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: Boulder, CO
Reviews written: 405
Trusted by: 160 members
About Me:
My coffee cup has Smurf escape instructions in it.
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