sophiesdad's Full Review: Samsung SGH i900 Cell Phone
After using my UT Starcomm XV6700 for a couple of years, I was hooked on Windows Mobile-based phones. However, hauling that "brick" around became a bit tedious. Plus, I wanted to add more apps which slowed the phone down considerably. so, I decided to upgrade to a new Pocket PC.
I'm not a huge fan of Blackberries. They're fine for folks who need corporate email connection, but they still run on Rim's own OS. The UT Starcomm XV6800, which was an updated version of my old phone, felt really cheap and really only added a bit more of memory and a brighter screen - not great reasons to plunk down money on an upgrade phone.
I read a bunch of reviews on the Pocket PCs offered by Verizon and my interest was peaked by the Samsung Omnia i900 phone. Some of the features that drew my attention immediately were the addition of 8GB of built-in storage (you can add an additional 8GB with a micro SD card), a light, thin phone much the style of the apple I-Phone. So, I decided to take the plunge and upgraded for $199 (2-year contract required).
First Impressions: In order to save on space and avoid making another brick, Samsung had to come up with a solution for a stylus. So, they decided to hang it on the side dangling from the phone - a rather stupid design as it sometimes gets in the way. It does, however, collapse to about half the size of a normal stylus. Samsung designed a widget-based today screen for this phone. Though, at first glance, it is a slick design feature, the widgets are limited to the few that are installed with the phone. You can't add more, you can't tweak the existing widgets (i.e., the Internet Browser MUST use Opera instead of Internet Explorer. Proprietary connectors: This has always been my complaint with the technology industry. I guess that they try to do this so that consumers will only purchase their products, but then this necessitates that the consumer drag cables around if you want to connect your phone to any other place than home. I miss the mini-USB connector of my old phone which enabled me to charge and sync with any PC that had a USB connector. Phone: The call quality of this phone is excellent. The generously-proportioned speaker allows the user to hear phone calls even in the most noisy of environments. Everyone that I called from this phone told me that they could hear me clearly without any echoes or muffling.
Voice Command is bundled with the phone (a Microsoft app that I had to purchase for my previous phone). Push a button and the voice recognition software provides a plethora of features without any training. It announces appointments in your calendar, dials contacts without looking at the phone, and opens various applications such as the camera, windows Media player, and others. For a tour of the product, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/microsoft/voice-command-features.mspx
Talktime on the battery is rated at up to 346 minutes. I hate rating batteries because there are so many variables that can save or drain the battery life. This is especially crucial with PDA phones because there are many available apps and the longer the screen is illluminated, the shorter the battery time.
Want to add a contact from a business card? This phone has an app that opens the camera and you center a business card inside a frame. Once it's recognized, the shutter clicks, optical character recognition opens and the contact is added to your list automatically. To be fair, if the business card is full of graphics and weird fonts, the software has trouble. But for a simple business card, recognition is a snap.
Other features: The phone comes pre-installed with Windows Mobile 6.1 professional. This includes Mobile Word, Excel and Powerpoint. I was delighted to see that Samsung included a pdf reader.
As I stated before, the standard screen is a Samsung Widget-based today screen. I was disappointed to find that you cannot add widgets, and the ones that are provided cannot be "tweaked". Basically, it's a useless piece of glamor aimed at attracting people who like glitz. I ended up downloading SBP Mobile Shell (can be purchased from Handango) which is a much more intuitive and friendly overlay.
Though I miss my pull out QWERTY keyboard, Samsung added a software-based touch version which, in landscape mode, is fairly comfortable. I have never been a fan of XT9 and am slightly annoyed that Samsung placed the button for that option next to the space bar, so I am constantly hitting it by accident and having to cancel its weird recognitions of words.
The 5.0 megapixel camera takes excellent shots as phone cameras are concerned. It does a decent job of balancing out the ambient lighting and deciding when to implement the flash. By no means, though, does it rival a real camera. But in a pinch, it takes good pictures with realistic flesh tones and focused well.
Bluetooth setup was a snap. It immediately recognized my headset and quickly connects when the set is turned on.
Wi-fi: the phone comes with a wi-fi adapter, so if you need to connect to a wireless network, you have this option. Recognition of access points and routers is excellent and the software supports WAP and WPA-SBK encryption keys.
There is also an optical mouse located between the two phone keys. It can be set for 4-way navigation or a traditional mouse pointer - great feature!
The sensor for rotating the screen is very responsive and quick - it is another feature that can be adjusted for sensitivity.. The phone also comes set with vibrating feedback every time a button is pushed on the screen. The intensity of this vibration can be adjusted, but remember that the more vibration that occurs, the quicker the battery is drained.
GPS is included with the phone, so you can subscribe to VZ navigator for $9.99/month or $2.99 for 24 hours usage. I particularly like this app over the GPS in my car because this is software-based and always upgraded. Verizon has also enhanced the program to route you around traffic delays and accidents in real-time.
Final thoughts: Compared to other similar Pocket PC phones, I feel that this is a decent choice for the price range and features included. The real selling points on this phone to me are its size and weight, more than ample storage, and a host of applications.
If I were to choose one complaint it would be the proprietary connectors. You MUST use Samsung's cables to connect to headphones, PCs for sync, and chargers.
Samsung has done a credible job of balancing price/value with lots of features. It would have been nice to have a slot for the stylus, but most applications can be easily accessed by using your fingers on the touch screen.
I would recommend this phone for someone who wants the advantage of having Windows Mobile along with a modest group of professional tools. If you're an exec who needs heavy email connection to Outlook Exchange, then get a Blackberry.
Factory Specs (from Verizon's website):
Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional Rev. A Capable Microsoft® Office Word Mobile, Excel® Mobile, and PowerPoint® Mobile; Adobe® Reader® LE PDF viewer View, edit, create Word and Excel files; view only PowerPoint and PDF files; view, extract, create ZIP files Opera™ Mobile browser Wi–Fi Capable Windows Media® Player Mobile Memory: 256MB Flash/128MB RAM (+ 8GB of additional internal memory) Bluetooth® Wireless Technology (v2.0) including A2DP for Stereo 3.2" Display: 240x400 pixel; 64K color TFT Optical Mouse Navigation Advanced touch screen with customizable Widgets 5.0 megapixel camera w/auto–focus, zoom and video capture microSD™ memory support (up to 16GB) Voice command capable Speakerphone Business Card Reader Security locking features Text, Picture and Video messaging (MMS) Wireless Sync capable ActiveSync® (v4.5) and Windows Mobile Device Center® BroadbandAccess Connect capable Specifications Dimensions: 4.4" (H) x 2.24" (W) x 0.52" (D) Weight: 4.34 oz Processor: MSM6800A Standard Battery – 1440 mAh Usage: Up to 346 minutes OR Standby: Up to 464 hours SAR information: Head: 1.31 W/kg; Body: 1.11 W/kg Hearing Aid Compatibility = M4
UPDATE 1/13/09 To be honest, I am really frustrated at the software QWERTY keyboards. Though the Samsung version is quite large (as large as possible without obscuring the ability to see what you're writing), I constantly find myself having to backspace and correct because my fingers hit the wrong keys.
Maybe I'm spoiled because I type 100WPM+ and the average consumer uses the hunt and pick method. I would much rather have a real keyboard, but I understand that it would make the phone a brick rather than its sleek, sophisticated style. Regardless of this issue, I intend to keep the phone because it is still the best rated (from what I've read) of the Windows Mobile-based phones that Verizon is offering at this time.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 199.00 Recommended for: Stylish Trendsetters - Hip and Trendy
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