"What?! No 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame?!'"
Written: Oct 05 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
| Clarity: |
 |
|
| Portability: |
|
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
|
Pros: Tiny, extremely lightweight, feature-packed
Cons: Not many different ring tones, all the features could be confusing for a first-time user
|
|
|
| basilisk4's Full Review: Samsung SCH 8500 CDMA / AMPS Cellular Phone |
I bought a Samsung 8500 Sprint PCS phone last weekend from a Sprint store in Atlanta, GA. Beforehand, while I was debating which phone and which cellular service to purchase, I asked both my father and my uncle, who was in town for the weekend, about their opinions on their current phones. My uncle's response when I asked him whether or not he liked his phone (a Samsung 8500) was, "Well, my old one played 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame,' and this one doesn't." I think he mentioned that about a dozen more times in the next day or so before I left.
Okay, I feel that I owe you a little bit more detailed list of pros and cons than just that. The Samsung 8500 is really more like a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) than it is a mere phone; there are so many features and options that sometimes I can't remember where a particular one is located.
The main thing that everyone raves about with respect to the more expensive Samsung models is their voice dialing capability. Yes, you really can program the phone to dial a particular person's number just by saying their name. It's fast and easy to program, and it actually works quite well (except in crowded rooms or other loud places, for obvious reasons).
While at first I thought this was just a frivolous extravagance of little use, I've since realized that it can be very useful indeed. For example, if you want to make a call while you're driving, the combination of use of a headset and use of the voice-activated dialing means that you can call someone without ever taking your eyes off of whatever you're doing (e.g., driving, which most people aren't good enough at with perfect concentration anyway).
The three features with which I was primarily concerned in shopping for a cell phone, however, were size, paging/messaging capabilities, and durability.
1. Size
Had I wanted to use a trite catch-phrase which has already been tremendously overused (and which was never all that funny in the first place), I would have titled this section, "Size DOES Matter." Fortunately, I elected not to do that. Even so, it's true. What I wanted from my new cell phone was the ability to carry it around in my pocket like I've done with my pager for the past several years. Weighing in at only about ten ounces including a standard battery, this phone is certainly light enough to carry in a pants pocket, or even a front shirt pocket; and, at a tiny size of about 3 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 3/4", it won't feel like there's something growing inside of you which is about to burst out, like Sigourney Weaver in Alien.
2. Paging and Messaging Capabilities
As I mentioned before, I've had a pager for several years. It is rather unsurprising, then, that I have gotten used to having people page me. The only downside of this aspect of the phone's capabilities is its apparent inability to have the ringer for text and voice mail messages to remain on while the primary ringer is off. (If anyone knows how to do this, please leave a comment -- I'd be very interested in knowing how, if it's possible. The instruction manual didn't say.) Ideally, since I only have so many minutes per month, I'd like to turn the ringer off, let all calls (unless I'm expecting a particular one) roll through to voice mail/paging, and then call back those whom I please.
Fortunately, however, this phone does have caller ID, so I can still screen my calls in that way. The Samsung 8500 has both numeric and text paging capabilities as well as the ability to receive voice mail messages. When you receive a new message, you can read it immediately if it's text or numeric, and you can listen to any voicemail message with a single touch of a button.
3. Durability
The first question I had for the salesman at the Sprint Store with regard to the Samsung 8500 was, "Is it durable?" He responded to my question by saying, "Oh, yeh, of course," while slamming the model phone against the display table extremely hard, several times. To my surprise, there was not a single scratch on the phone after all that abuse. Always wary of a trick, however, I asked to make a call on the phone afterwards -- and believe it or not, I was actually able to do so!
Of course, the Samsung 8500 also has the ability of connecting to the Sprint PCS Wireless Web, but I have yet to do so. In all likelihood, I won't ever try it, or at the very least not until my contract changes. While it's high in "Look what my phone can do that yours can't!" value, it has little practical use. The wireless versions of those website companies whom have chosen to create one are usually difficult to navigate and it seems to just end up being a huge waste of time. If you don't believe me, just think about trying to browse the web with a four-line, dot-matrix display. Yeh, you see what I'm saying now.
So far, my overall impression of the Samsung 8500 has been that it's basically like a far sturdier version of the Motorola StarTac. The Samsung 8500 appears to be very sturdy, and I would recommend it to any prospective cell phone buyer who wants the latest and greatest and can shell out the cash for it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
basilisk4
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Location: Atlanta, GA
Reviews written: 233
Trusted by: 214 members
About Me:
Soon-to-be married 26-year-old lawyer who likes electronics, computers, and cars.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.