I love it but it has some problems - read on
Written: Mar 28 '02
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Pros: very small, MP3's, slick, PIM, durable, and fun.
Cons: bad phonebook and accessories.
The Bottom Line: Got the money? Need an MP3 player and planning to upgrade your phone? I'll throw in a PIM and you've got a deal!
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| wideiris's Full Review: Samsung SGH M100 Cell Phone |
Okay, no one is shelling out this kind of money for JUST a phone, so it's really a multi-functioning MP3 player, which is great if you love music and having fun toys. But I'm going to start out with the bad, and leave the good for the end. Please also note that this phone has every function that all the new phones have (web accessible, multi-rings, assigned ring tones, easy voice mail access, etc.) and that some of things I won't mention because they've become commonplace.
THE BAD:
There are really only two things I dislike about this phone, and both of them I can live with. The first is: the phone book. It is AWFUL. Accessing those in your list (which can store more than most will ever need) is such a nuisance. This is my fourth cell phone, and it's sad that after all this time, Samsung would come out with a phone that has a terrible accessing system. The names in the phonebook are stored alphabetically, not in the speed dial number you assigned to them, which you have to hit another button in the menu to access. And instead of everything being accessible through one button, you wind up using the 'clear' button to bring up the menu, then using another button to begin scrolling through the list, then ANOTHER button to call that number, or, if you don't want the Home number and maybe want their cell, hitting ANOTHER button to get that number to come up. It's so irritating. I know it's just a couple more buttons, but when you've seen the simpler versions, you realize how fatally awful this is.
the menu system that they offer is ENORMOUS, and doesn't fit on the screen, so your fingers are going all over the phone to scroll and access. Easily the most poorly thought out menus I have ever seen.
SECOND: The earbuds that come with the phone have so much dangling white cord that you wonder if you'll trip up on it. While the sound is exceptional on the earbuds, and the music controller that comes with it enables you to pause, fast forward, or rewind, and to also answer the phone is fantastic, the earbuds are somewhat annoying because you don't know where to put all that cord. With the controller hanging down (it comes with a clip) you are forced to clip it to a part of your clothing. If you're not wearing a jacket and can hide some of this --- hello dork-boy! You look like a walking spaghetti noodle.
THE GOOD!
The 64 megs that the phone has stores about 10-14 songs, depending on the size (and quality) of the MP3's. I've been using the lower bit rates and find the quality on the machine to be hardly noticeable in difference to the 192 bit rates, so i find the 64 megs works fine. It allows you to erase songs from your phone, see how much memory you have left, shuffle songs, repeat them. Full functionality, very solid. And if a call comes in when you're listening to tunes, it rings in your ear and you simply click the button on the middle of the phone and you're talking, thanks to the receiver on the ear buds that hangs down by your mouth --- excellent function. Many wonder why you'd want an MP3 player in your phone -- that's the answer - no missed calls, no swapping headsets.
All of the other functions work fine. The calculator, which i use quite a bit, is a nice option that not all phones have. The one I'm most impressed with though is the Personal Calendar. What a great idea. While it's not the greatest in that you can't store a lot of information in the note, I use this feature quite a bit to remind myself to do things on certain days, and the calendar goes months in advance so you can remember friends birthdays, etc. VERY GREAT IDEA.
It also has a voice memo recorder that allows you to store up to 5, one minute long memos, and you can also name them for accessing later. Unfortunately, the more you use of this, the less of the 64 megs of RAM you have for music, but a nice touch. You can also press the button (located on the side of the phone) while you're on a call to record a conversation (although doing so, as noted in the HUMUNGOUS USER GUIDE, is illegal without the other persons consent).
Of course, setting the different ringer tones for different things (ie. no caller ID gets a special ring, set your mom's phone number to ring different, voice mail notification different, etc.) is a great feature one should expect, unfortunately, there aren't a lot of different choices (i think 9), and i don't really like any of them, but that's just my opinion.
OVERALL
The phone is an MP3 player that you'll never leave at home because it's your cell phone. I love mine, and I'm glad I bought it. The menus I can get over, because I've set most of my calls to voice-dialing, which works very well, and the others I use the 4 digit dialing feature (enter the last four digits and hit send, it'll find it for you).
If you're looking to save some money and you need to buy both, this phone is a BRILLIANT companion. Flawlessly integrated phone into an MP3 player, but not the other way around. I view this as an MP3 player first, and phone second, because it's set up to make music easier to access than everything else.
It's very sleek, very thin, nice battery life, and oh so tiny. This phone is MUCH smaller than it looks, I was so pleasantly surprised when it arrived in the mail. The flip option works well, and when you close the flip you can set it to also return to keyguard.
Here's the test: if you're looking for an MP3 player, would like to upgrade your cellphone, and don't really want to every shell out $400 for a PIM but think they might be useful? THIS IS YOUR PHONE!
Not sure about MP3's, already own a PIM, and are just looking for a new phone? There are better ones out there. But for my money, this phone was well worth it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 200
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Epinions.com ID:
wideiris
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Location: Toronto, ON
Reviews written: 24
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
unconventional nightwriter
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