Great Gadget; Not Very User Friendly
Written: Nov 05 '01 (Updated Nov 15 '01)
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Pros: Compact; MP3 Player; Great battery life; Voice dialing
Cons: Non-intuitive menus; VERY small buttons; Side buttons are obtrusive
The Bottom Line: Despite the strong scores in clarity, battery life and portability - I cannot recommend the phone because of its dismal usability. Hopefully, Samsung will work on its user functionality.
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| rcruz321's Full Review: Samsung SGH M100 Cell Phone |
I purchased my Samsung Uproar about 4 months ago from a vendor on Ebay for about half of what it costs in the stores. The unit was brand new and I had no problem activating it on my existing Sprint PCS service (just a little FYI if you're in the market for one).
I switched from my Motorola Startac to the Uproar because my Startac was getting old and the batter was just dying out on me so I figured it was a perfect time to replace my trusty mobile phone.
After much deliberation, I settled on the Samsung Uproar because of the gadgets, size, reviews and price. Plus, the other phones offered by Sprint at the time were very poor to say the least.
So, after 4 months of use what do I think?
PROS:
-Great battery life - I've talked a few hours on the phone with at least a week of travel without having to charge it. It’s nice to know I don't have to lug around a charger every time I go on a trip.
-Clear reception, my Startac was notorious for dropping calls in San Francisco - but with my Uproar, I have had MUCH fewer dropped calls and the reception is very clear. Hard to say if it was the phone or Sprint coverage at the time because it sounded like many of my friends had similar problems. So I'll give Motorola the benefit of the doubt and say it was due to the poor Sprint coverage at the time.
-MP3 Player - need I say more? This feature itself is worth at least $100. The 64mb hold at least an hours worth of music at a sampling rate of 96kbs - perfect when you need some tunes while on the road and it doesn't put a massive drain on the battery.
-Compact - one of the smallest phones in the Sprint PCS lineup and constructed pretty solidly so you don't have to worry if you drop it a couple of times (which I have done many times already)
-Great dialing options - the phone has voice activated dialing for those times when you can't dial a number (eg. driving) or you can even dial your stored numbers by just entering 4 out of the 10 digits! I usually pick the last 4 digits to make sure I don't have to select from a few telephone numbers that share the same area code or prefix.
-Bright and clear screen - the screen is illuminated with a clear green glow that is bright enough in any situation and allow you to see a lot of information at a time (useful for reading messages and scanning phone #s)
CONS:
-A very big con which penalizes the Samsung quite a bit is its VERY poor menu system. In order to find, a name in my phone book requires way too many button presses. This should be much more easily accessible than say ringer options
-The buttons on the side of the phone are very obtrusive and are often depressed by accident and wastes valuable battery life. Not to mention these buttons only control volume - so often time the volume is accidentally changed while jostling around in your pocket and when you finally get a call the volume is either too loud or too soft.
-The buttons on the keypad are way too small making it very difficult to perform simple tasks
All in all, the Samsung has some great gadget concepts but the overall design and execution of the features is very poor. If they merged the design/functionality of my Startac with the features of the Samsung it would have truly been a great phone. Otherwise, at least for myself, I think the imporatnce of a phone's usability outweighs the importance of its gadget features because I don't have the luxury of playing with my phone trying to adjust the volume or dialing a number while I'm driving or running around town.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 150
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Epinions.com ID:
rcruz321
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Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 0 members
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