SMix713
04-07-2007, 11:28 AM
This is obviously my opinion. First post will have the full review, followed by some pics and video links. Check it out!
Overall the unit is amazing. At first comparison the phone is an amazing size. I will agree with everyone else that the size is extremely small when taking into note that this is a candybar form factor. I came from using the A900 which I flashed to A900M. The phone is much larger to hold when flipped open and feels more so like a phone. This feels like taking a literal candy bar to your ear. Very lightweight yet stable and firmly built. The touchpad as everyone says feels odd as there is no real feedback feel. Obviously it is not perfect, but pretty accurate.
First object was charging and battery life. I am a once a day kind of charging person. Unless I am running some heavy internet through it (Unlocking NAI), I usually don't charge my phone (the A900 that is). The drawback I see to this phone is a different charger. I used to have two chargers. Used to work for a Sprint store so we had an extra A900 charger show up one day, so I yanked it. So no extra charger, and now I have to buy a new car charger. The connection is a little nicer as you don't need those two pesky buttons on the side to unlock it. It's a pretty sturdy connection. The battery wallet is a great invention. In fact not sure if anyone else decided to do the same, but I use the wallet to make the phone stand upright on the table, desk, etc. The drawback I see to it is two things. One when connected, using the phone portion is not difficult with the wallet half closed (aka snapped into place. When switching to the music side however and keeping it in the wallet, I find it necessary to fold both flaps down and hold the base of the phone. The other drawback I see to it is the lack of an ability to charge the wallet by itself. I would like to be able to say go to work, where I won't be playing music or tethering, and let the wallet charge by itself. Just a nit pick I guess. Outside of this the wallet is an awesome idea, I will be testing the battery life as well with and without the wallet. One thing I do notice that will happen from snapping into the wallet is major wear marks on the top of the phone. And I feel awkward snapping it out as I feel like I'm going to break the phone or the wallet. Something I would have also liked to see is the ability for the wallet, to charge the phone. Since I like to keep the phone out of the wallet and maybe start tethering. Later it would be nice when the battery gets low to pop it in the wallet for a bit and have the wallet actually charge the phone. Oh well. Next time Samsung, next time. In terms of runtime, I have been playing the MP3 non-stop since about 9AM, it is now 12PM and there is not even one bar missing. Mind you the phone has not been in the wallet all morning. I have also sent about 10 text messages, made 3 phone calls (short), and obviously been playing music.
Next I moved onto unlocking the NAI and getting my old stuff transferred over. This was a breeze. Anyone migrating from a bluetooth enabled samsung phone, will have no problem switching. The user interface is so much like other Samsungs, and the bluetooth makes it easy to just send all your contacts over. (As the Sprint Stores don't yet have the software to transfer phonebooks on these yet.) The NAI was solved in a hot second. Simply switch to large LCD, launch settings, display, then hold your finger down on the top left area for a softkey that doesn't exist. After 2 sconds it will pop into the virtual number pad. Enter MSL and welcome to the menu. Scroll down to Toggle NAI and Toggle DDTM. Turn both off. This will allow you to tether, and the DDTM will allow calls/texts/etc while in data. It's not perfect, but it helps considerably. Ringtones and wallpapers are just the same as usual. Send em up to an uploader and download em.
The phone side of things. This side is quite simple. The main drawback I see here is there are no real options. There are simply Contacts, Call History, Find Contacts, Send Text Message, and Add New Entry. The size of the font on the screen is quite clear despite it's size. I must say my major fear was viewing on the small LCD. This fear has been largely diminished. You also have the camera button which will prompt you to flip the phone for viewfinding. There is also no customization for the directional keys or softkeys. The right softkey is set at contacts and the left is blank. The up direction brings up send a quick text message, and the down shows missed alerts. I wish they would have added function to see recent calls as this was a menu I used a lot on my A900. One thing I find myself often doing (probably since I am still new to it) is trying to touch the controls on the phone side. Surprisingly most everything is operable and is operated on the music side. Many times I flip to phone side and try to do menu but I only touch it not press it. Wierd. Also being an A900 user with frequent texting, I am so used to how the menus and buttons are setup. I often am stumbled by the move of the back button not being directly over the keypad. Just a nit pick again. The ringer and the vibrate are pretty good too. I agree that the escalating ringing things sucks, but oh well. I guess maybe we can complain and Sprint will make a fix for that to customize.
Onto the best part of all. As I said most of the phone actually operates from the music side. The main menu to the phone to setting up ringers, viewing pics, and most anything is on the music side of things. The main screen icons are kind of annoying. They are not necessary though. The music player is the only reason they should be there. Nothing special here again. The same old menu you should be used to on a Samsung. One thing to take note of is there is not a lot of room for usual customization. No banner name, no fun clocks, and no re-ordering of menu items or anything. One noticeable new feature is wireless backup for your contacts. This option is in the list and upon checking it out, if it's worth $2/month to ya, then giddyup, otherwise, stick with ye old methods. The web is pretty good. The one drawback to navigating the menu system is the lack of numbers to press. I know the numbers for most my menus so it sucks not being able to just press a number. I did also notice many people were talking about the virtual keyboard. So far I have yet to be able to have it show up for me on anything other than naming my bluetooth device. I don't think I would be that excited by the virtual keyboard anyhow.
Some other things to note. About SprintTV and I'm betting movies as well, you can make them full screen. This turns the display widescreen style. Some more hotness is the GMail app. I downloaded the GMail app this morning and it works like a breeze. Another point to notice is the 45MB of space for ringers this time around. I think I had like 10MB on the A900. This makes me happy to be able to throw in a lot of ringtones. Overall navigation though is pretty good. I am overly impressed. Also to note the flipping action is not bothersome at all. It's pretty easy and comes pretty naturally. The only thing I think would have been nice for everyone was a flip button on both sides. That way you can always use the same finger. There is no ability to make your songs your ringtone either. This means no easy transfer of ringtones and a feature I'm sure everyone would like to have. The camera is very impressive as well. I never had problems with the A900 camera, and this one steps it up a notch with a little more customization in your shots. The menus are pretty easy to navigate as well. Funky to notice as well, no keys work on the phone side when using music side, however the camera button starts up the camera. Another feature about the camera that is nice, the pictures actually load semi-quick. Also if you had an A900 you know how you couldn't scroll through the pages knowing where a picture was, you had to wait for the page to load, well this little guy lets you scroll through while loading the pictures, and as I said loads them pretty swiftly. The lock switch is pretty efficient as well. As someone stated you can change the volume while it is locked if you are playing music, and you can press the button to see the time.
Overall the unit is amazing. At first comparison the phone is an amazing size. I will agree with everyone else that the size is extremely small when taking into note that this is a candybar form factor. I came from using the A900 which I flashed to A900M. The phone is much larger to hold when flipped open and feels more so like a phone. This feels like taking a literal candy bar to your ear. Very lightweight yet stable and firmly built. The touchpad as everyone says feels odd as there is no real feedback feel. Obviously it is not perfect, but pretty accurate.
First object was charging and battery life. I am a once a day kind of charging person. Unless I am running some heavy internet through it (Unlocking NAI), I usually don't charge my phone (the A900 that is). The drawback I see to this phone is a different charger. I used to have two chargers. Used to work for a Sprint store so we had an extra A900 charger show up one day, so I yanked it. So no extra charger, and now I have to buy a new car charger. The connection is a little nicer as you don't need those two pesky buttons on the side to unlock it. It's a pretty sturdy connection. The battery wallet is a great invention. In fact not sure if anyone else decided to do the same, but I use the wallet to make the phone stand upright on the table, desk, etc. The drawback I see to it is two things. One when connected, using the phone portion is not difficult with the wallet half closed (aka snapped into place. When switching to the music side however and keeping it in the wallet, I find it necessary to fold both flaps down and hold the base of the phone. The other drawback I see to it is the lack of an ability to charge the wallet by itself. I would like to be able to say go to work, where I won't be playing music or tethering, and let the wallet charge by itself. Just a nit pick I guess. Outside of this the wallet is an awesome idea, I will be testing the battery life as well with and without the wallet. One thing I do notice that will happen from snapping into the wallet is major wear marks on the top of the phone. And I feel awkward snapping it out as I feel like I'm going to break the phone or the wallet. Something I would have also liked to see is the ability for the wallet, to charge the phone. Since I like to keep the phone out of the wallet and maybe start tethering. Later it would be nice when the battery gets low to pop it in the wallet for a bit and have the wallet actually charge the phone. Oh well. Next time Samsung, next time. In terms of runtime, I have been playing the MP3 non-stop since about 9AM, it is now 12PM and there is not even one bar missing. Mind you the phone has not been in the wallet all morning. I have also sent about 10 text messages, made 3 phone calls (short), and obviously been playing music.
Next I moved onto unlocking the NAI and getting my old stuff transferred over. This was a breeze. Anyone migrating from a bluetooth enabled samsung phone, will have no problem switching. The user interface is so much like other Samsungs, and the bluetooth makes it easy to just send all your contacts over. (As the Sprint Stores don't yet have the software to transfer phonebooks on these yet.) The NAI was solved in a hot second. Simply switch to large LCD, launch settings, display, then hold your finger down on the top left area for a softkey that doesn't exist. After 2 sconds it will pop into the virtual number pad. Enter MSL and welcome to the menu. Scroll down to Toggle NAI and Toggle DDTM. Turn both off. This will allow you to tether, and the DDTM will allow calls/texts/etc while in data. It's not perfect, but it helps considerably. Ringtones and wallpapers are just the same as usual. Send em up to an uploader and download em.
The phone side of things. This side is quite simple. The main drawback I see here is there are no real options. There are simply Contacts, Call History, Find Contacts, Send Text Message, and Add New Entry. The size of the font on the screen is quite clear despite it's size. I must say my major fear was viewing on the small LCD. This fear has been largely diminished. You also have the camera button which will prompt you to flip the phone for viewfinding. There is also no customization for the directional keys or softkeys. The right softkey is set at contacts and the left is blank. The up direction brings up send a quick text message, and the down shows missed alerts. I wish they would have added function to see recent calls as this was a menu I used a lot on my A900. One thing I find myself often doing (probably since I am still new to it) is trying to touch the controls on the phone side. Surprisingly most everything is operable and is operated on the music side. Many times I flip to phone side and try to do menu but I only touch it not press it. Wierd. Also being an A900 user with frequent texting, I am so used to how the menus and buttons are setup. I often am stumbled by the move of the back button not being directly over the keypad. Just a nit pick again. The ringer and the vibrate are pretty good too. I agree that the escalating ringing things sucks, but oh well. I guess maybe we can complain and Sprint will make a fix for that to customize.
Onto the best part of all. As I said most of the phone actually operates from the music side. The main menu to the phone to setting up ringers, viewing pics, and most anything is on the music side of things. The main screen icons are kind of annoying. They are not necessary though. The music player is the only reason they should be there. Nothing special here again. The same old menu you should be used to on a Samsung. One thing to take note of is there is not a lot of room for usual customization. No banner name, no fun clocks, and no re-ordering of menu items or anything. One noticeable new feature is wireless backup for your contacts. This option is in the list and upon checking it out, if it's worth $2/month to ya, then giddyup, otherwise, stick with ye old methods. The web is pretty good. The one drawback to navigating the menu system is the lack of numbers to press. I know the numbers for most my menus so it sucks not being able to just press a number. I did also notice many people were talking about the virtual keyboard. So far I have yet to be able to have it show up for me on anything other than naming my bluetooth device. I don't think I would be that excited by the virtual keyboard anyhow.
Some other things to note. About SprintTV and I'm betting movies as well, you can make them full screen. This turns the display widescreen style. Some more hotness is the GMail app. I downloaded the GMail app this morning and it works like a breeze. Another point to notice is the 45MB of space for ringers this time around. I think I had like 10MB on the A900. This makes me happy to be able to throw in a lot of ringtones. Overall navigation though is pretty good. I am overly impressed. Also to note the flipping action is not bothersome at all. It's pretty easy and comes pretty naturally. The only thing I think would have been nice for everyone was a flip button on both sides. That way you can always use the same finger. There is no ability to make your songs your ringtone either. This means no easy transfer of ringtones and a feature I'm sure everyone would like to have. The camera is very impressive as well. I never had problems with the A900 camera, and this one steps it up a notch with a little more customization in your shots. The menus are pretty easy to navigate as well. Funky to notice as well, no keys work on the phone side when using music side, however the camera button starts up the camera. Another feature about the camera that is nice, the pictures actually load semi-quick. Also if you had an A900 you know how you couldn't scroll through the pages knowing where a picture was, you had to wait for the page to load, well this little guy lets you scroll through while loading the pictures, and as I said loads them pretty swiftly. The lock switch is pretty efficient as well. As someone stated you can change the volume while it is locked if you are playing music, and you can press the button to see the time.