Cause an Uproar...
Written: Sep 14 '01 (Updated Sep 14 '01)
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Pros: MP3, Great Quality, Excellent Clarity, and quite the looker!
Cons: Battery life, and people who always want to play with it.
The Bottom Line: Don't expect to get much use out of it the first two weeks or so, it will always be in someone else's hands.
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| turboglow's Full Review: Samsung SGH M100 Cell Phone |
The Samsung Uproar. Not to be confused with the Samsung SGH-M100. While both phones carry the M100 model number, only the Uproar has the updated features and memory, and it's the phone you will get from Sprint if you order one. Epinions might want to separate the two because I don't think the SGH is sold in the States anymore. The Uproar has 64mb of memory to the SGH's 32mb. The Uproar also has a slightly different look to it than the one pictured on Epinions.
The Look and Feel:
A truly stunning phone, well built and with a solid feel. It doesn't have any one side that is particularly heavier than the other so it stays very well balanced just about any way you hold it. You might describe this phone as retro compared to the new phones on the market. Not because it looks old or outdated, but because it is a sleek technological masterpiece wrapped in an almost 50ish looking skin. How, you ask, can a cell phone be from the 50's? Well, that's just how I see it. Squared sides and corners with brushed aluminum make this phone an real looker, you'll catch people staring at it, I assure you.
Phone Operation and Menus::
When you first turn on the phone, ignoring the recommended charging time of course, you will notice that the backlight isn't that bright on this phone. But then you'll notice that it doesn't matter, the letters are incredibly clear from any angle you look at it. Once you open the flip (like you haven't already) you'll notice that the numbers are a bit on the small side. But unlike most phones, they are raised off the surface rather than being flush with it. I prefer this design, it makes it easier to dial by feel. The menu design takes a good day to get used too, I came from a Nokia 8260 and I'm still a little jumpy when I do things. But it is easy once you get the hang of how everything works. I like the idea of storing multiple numbers under the same name. This makes phone book organization easy and simple to use. Setting up voice dial is easy, but I would prefer if you could attach it directly to the phone book entry. This phone has it as a separate system where you record the name and then type the number in, regardless of if it's in your phone book or not. Not really a problem, just a little redundant. The whole menu system layout is a bit odd, but only because I came from Nokia. You use the side buttons to navigate the menus, not the center button under the screen. That is only for MP3's, you'll make that mistake tens of times before you get mad enough at yourself to remember it. It's pretty straight forward, no-nonsense, and logical. Nokia sort of babied you with menus that could be access from many different places inside the phone depending on what you were doing, not Samsung. If I had to have a gripe about this phone, it would be the menu system. But like all things, practice makes perfect and this phone just makes you want to practice until the battery dies. On to bigger and better things, for once you get it activated the real pleasure begins.
Clarity, Quality, and Quantity:
The first thing I did was play MP3's. Yeah, yeah, it's a PHONE. But it also plays MP3's, now can you honestly tell me that you aren't going to try that first thing? Given the fact that Sprint provides 4 MP3's on the phone already, I highly doubt it. :) So you unwrap your headphone/microphone/remote combo and stick it in your ears. Earbuds can get annoying but they don't bother me as much as having to lug around a set of headphones wherever I go. These I can stick in my pocket. The built on remote is handy and very well thought out. A button in the center provides access to voice dialing and call answering. If you want to make a call just hold it down and the phone will ask, "Who would you like to call?" If you get a call, the music gets softer automatically and pauses when you answer the call. Once you hang up, the music picks up from where you left off. Very convenient.
Sound Clarity is excellent on this phone. The mic on the headset gets knocked around by wind noise, but otherwise is very well positioned. As long as you stick inside Sprint's coverage you should be all right. I'm not really a fan of Sprint's service, but in my area it was Sprint or Cingular and Sprint had a better deal at the time. Calls are very clear and crisp, with no sound echo or static. I am very impressed with the ability of the phone to keep up with the signal as I move in and out of buildings. I think a lot of it has to do with the real antenna attached. My 8260 didn't have one so I couldn't do anything to boost the signal. I just had to hope and pray. Not with this phone, it hasn't dropped a call yet. Not that it won't, just not yet.
Quantity. The one other gripe I have with this phone is the memory usage. The 64mb of MP3 storage is also tied with the phone book and calendar storage. So if you store many appointments and contacts, you won't have very much room left over for MP3's. I suppose this could go either way, if you need lots of space for those things then this phone would be a space hog's dream. But for me, I would have preferred dedicated memory for that storage.
MP3:
I've touched on it in the epinion, so you've probably surmised by now that this phone can play MP3's. Well, it does, and very well I might add. The quality of the sound is controlled by the bit rate at which you download the MP3, but the phone doesn't do anything to degrade that. It comes with an equalizer so you can adjust it to the type of sound you want, Rock, Jazz, Classical, or Vocal. The earbuds are fairly high quality and don't have any raspy sounds or booming problems. Transferring songs from your computer to Uproar is fairly easy, although I don't much care for anything from RealPlayer or RealNetworks, the software does it's job. About 20 seconds for an average song, about 2 minutes for the entire 1812 Overture, all 18 minutes of it. Pretty fast. USB only, although you can sign up for MyMusic from Sprint at an extra $10 per month. That gives you the ability to download songs through the cell network from Sprint's servers. You upload them from home and then download them anytime you want. Sprint gives you 2GB there, but the downloads aren't that spectacular. Fairly slow compared to a modem, lethargic compared to the USB connection.
64mb is about an hours worth at CD quality, or close anyway. If you drop your bitrate to 96 or lower you can probably squeeze another 4 or 5 songs in, but at the sacrifice of sound quality. I like it, I use it, and I don't plan to tire of it any time soon. I sit at work and listen away while everyone gives me strange looks. Which brings me to battery life. I've found it to be below average for a phone compared to others like it. About 3 days with intermittent use is about all your going to get out of it. Intermittent use is defined as a phone call every hour or so, music every hour or so for about 30 minutes. If you can live with that then you're set, but me, I'm ordering the extended life battery from Sprint. Should be here soon, I'll update this when I get it tested.
All in all, this phone is a very good buy for music lovers and those on the go. Be forewarned, this phone will attract no small amount of attention once you drop the hint that it plays MP3's.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 149.99
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Epinions.com ID:
turboglow
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Reviews written: 8
Trusted by: 0 members
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