An Uproar! The Samsung M100 Creating a Stir...
Written: Nov 04 '00 (Updated Nov 05 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Standard PCS & wireless phone features, Voice Activated Dialing, 64 megs of memory, It Plays MP3s!
Cons: Not the strongest battery life, possibilities of "hereditary" structural and software flaws, a bit pricey.
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| dionymnia's Full Review: Samsung SGH M100 Cell Phone |
It is finally here. A straight wireless phone with the capabilities to play MP3s. Quite a judicious move, considering it can be said with an amount of certainty that MP3s are here to stay. Maybe not FREE, but definitely around. It is fitting that Samsung comes out with this first step into the meshing of wireless and MP3 technology. Samsung has a lineup of wireless phones that any company would envy, and if anyone is familiar with the Creative Nomad (the phenomenal MP3 player with gigs upon gigs of memory space), it was created (and sold to Creative Labs) by Samsung. So, here it is. There've been rumors about it for a while, but now it's here. Its actual launch date for sale was November 1, 2000.
This is an amazing phone. It has all of the features that standard Samsung wireless phones carry:
Voice Activated Dialing (VAD) Say the name, the phone recognizes it.
Standard Green Luminescent Display Same old lovely green backlight...
Voice Memo Record voice memos (up to 5 minutes).
Spanish Language Option Switches to Spanish text menu.
Wireless Web Capable Surf participating content providers on the mini-browser.
Personal Info Management Calendar, Contacts, Scheduler, To Do List, & Calculator.
9 Ringer Options + Vibrate Set the ringer to play music or just vibrate.
Security Lock Keep others from playing with your phone.
These are the standard features that one will find on the Samsung 3500 and 8500. And in addition, of course, it's an MP3 player. This brings with it several unique features, including a USB connection (to download MP3s from your computer), full control (play, pause, skip, repeat) of the MP3 play, a headphone set that includes a microphone on the line for double use to listen to music and take calls, and 64 meg storage space, about an hour's worth of MP3 music.
Now, it's great to know all of these features if you're considering purchasing a Samsung M100 (also known as the Samsung Uproar), but this is information that one could probably get from a website or the box of the phone. What needs to be know is what this all means. The actual positives and negatives the Uproar poses in use. First, the mere fact that this is a phone that has MP3 capabilities is great. It's the first to do so, and that alone gives me reason to enjoy this. MP3 players are great, and wireless phones are great, both for their mobility and technological aspects. Without an MP3 player, the only way for me to listen to all of the music that I have is on my computer (since I backed up all of my old CDs, tapes, and records in MP3 form and use those to preserve the originals). Without a wireless phone, my communications are tied to my home (or a payphone). But there is a limit to the little gadgets that I can carry around with me, and with a wireless in one pocket and an MP3 player in the other, where can I put my keys?!? Thus, enter the Uproar. I now have both my MP3 player and wireless, together, in one pocket.
This brings up the size of the Uproar. It measures in at 4.2 inches long, 1.8 inches wide, 0.9 inches deep. This is smaller than the Samsung 3500, which up to this point is the most popular Samsung wireless at 4.4 inches long. It's not the smallest PCS wireless phone to date, but it is one of the smallest. This is also an accomplishment considering it's an MP3 player as well. It holds the capabilities for both applications, phone and player, and remains so small. Also, even with the size of the phone and the included small size of the battery included, the Uproar boasts over 3 hours of talk time, nearly 6 days of standby, and over 10 hours of MP3 play. Each estimate is provided that you don't use the others, though, and after using about 2 hours of talk time, I found that it only played MP3s for about 2.5 hours. That's good, all the same, though! It can be noted, however, that this is hardly phenomenal battery life. The Sanyo 4500, for example, gives over 12 days of standby, and nearly 5 hours of talk time. With a standard battery. Considering it's the only one of its kind, I would be find with sacrificing a couple of centimeters more in the size of the Uproar for a stronger battery.
As I stated earlier, the Uproar carries pretty much the same features as the other current Samsung phones, so I will mainly focus on the player part of it. The controls are easy to maneuver, by the phone itself, as the controls appear on the screen with the song titles, or by the remote controller that comes with the stereo headset. One beauty of a feature that I personally love is the fact that when you're just listening to the MP3 player, and a call comes through for you, the player automatically pauses. After the call is done, the music automatically picks up where it left off. It provides for very seamless transitions between calls and music. It's great if you're on the road for a long time, due to road trips or just really bad traffic.
The clarity of the music is standard MP3 clarity, which you can find with any MP3 player of quality. It's good enough, nearly (if not) CD quality. I was able to store a little less than an hour's worth of music, but it should be noted that if you have a lot of phone numbers or tasks programmed in, or you've downloaded some extra games, it will cut into your available space for MP3s, and vice-versa. Personally, that's not a problem, considering I only have a few numbers programmed in and about an hour of music is fine for me.
Along with its great on-phone qualities, SprintPCS.com is also offering 2 gigs of online storage space for your MP3s, provided by HitHive.com. You can listen to the songs there, get new songs, upload songs, or download songs from your own storage space there. Thus, you don't have to have them all on your computer or scramble about for the CDs you burnt them onto.
Now, this is a great phone. There are some points, however, that I am wary of and can pose problems. First, this phone, like many of Samsung's others, is a flip-type wireless. However, the flip-part is not the earpiece, but instead the mouthpiece. There is a known flaw that both the Samsung 3500s and 8500s tend to have which is that the wires that are placed through the hinges of the flip-part tend to wear down after extended use, causing problems with hearing through the earpiece. This is a well-known structural flaw, and I am personally surprised that Samsung decided to reproduce it in the Uproar. Of course, there may have been an attempt to remedy this in the Uproar, but being a structural flaw, it is something that is very hard to fix without getting rid of that structural design completely, and going for a one-piece handset such as the Sanyo 4500 or any Nokia. But, it looks cool, and people seem to like "coolness" more than continued reliability. Personally, I considered it a sacrifice I had to take in turn to enjoy the Uproar's MP3 capabilities.
On top of this structural flaw, there are inherent software flaws that the Samsung 3500 and 8500 models occasionally have, ranging from the call timer and/or clock being off or completely wrong to key recognition issues. Usually these flaws don't exhibit themselves for a while, so it will be interesting to find out if they've been completely fixed in the Uproar. Whether they are in it or not, I highly suggest keeping an eye out for them, because some of the problems, like the call timer issues, can actually be expensive, as I know of several people who rely on the call timer to know how many minutes they have left available on their monthly service plan and have had to pay some severe overage charges (charges for minutes used over their paid-for allotted minute plans) before getting it taken care of. And, since it doesn't always show up, the company didn't think it important to make an all-around patch to fix it on all of the phones. Again, this is a risk I am willing to take in return for the MP3 player and wireless phone in one casing.
The only other con that one may find with this phone is that since it just came out, it is expensive, perhaps prohibitively expensive. At $400, every kid out on the street is not going to be able to afford this. But, if you're thinking of getting an MP3 player, and you're considering either getting your first wireless phone or getting a new one, it is well worth the expense.
All in all, this is a good phone. There are some things to look out for, like the structural and software flaws that appear in the other Samsung models, but it could be safe to say that the pros of this phone heavily outweigh the cons. Simply enough, it's a cool phone that plays MP3s! It's smaller than the current other Samsung models, and while it doesn't have the cool shape that the 3500s and 8500s have (it's a little boxy-shaped), it beats both models in technological advancements and strength in the wireless market.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
dionymnia
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Reviews written: 31
Trusted by: 27 members
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