iscripter
06-11-2003, 09:40 AM
Well I was in need of a new cell-phone and PDA because I had just gotten a new job so I decided to get a combo device to see what it was like. Like everybody else I wanted the Samsung i500 (at the time was still not yet released). So I decided to go with the i330 instead after learning that the Handspring Treo 300 did not have any voice dial capabilities and did not have a removable battery (built in battery only).
The Good Stuff:
The i330 comes with a USB docking cradle, carrying case, extra battery and extra stylus. I was very surprised to see all this included in the box. You can download phone and graffiti skins from http://i330.nopdesign.com/ to customize the look of your phone. Phone reception was very good I was able to send/receive a phone call in areas where signal strength is low (1-2 bars). Sound quality was very good I am able to hear everything clearly and the speaker phone works good too. The size of the phone is alot smaller than it looks in pictures, and it has a very ergonomic design. The i330 is only slightly bigger than your average candy bar style phone. The phone software is well integrated with the Palm OS, it is very easy to select a phone number from your address book and call it with out using the stylus (this is done with the up/down and voice dial buttons on the side). The browser software (Blazer) is much better than what you get with Sprints other vision capable phones and actually gives you a decent web experience. You are able to access a lot more web sites than you could with a regular phone, but you still can’t access everything. The overall speed of everything on the phone is pretty fast considering it is using a 33mhz processor.
The Bad Stuff:
Well the first thing that I noticed was the overall lacking of software features that are available on regular Sprint vision phones but not the Samsung i330. First access to Sprints ShortMail (SMS), which we all know is not perfect but it did allow me to send text messages to my friends. Second no picture Caller ID, this is a color vision phone come on Samsung. If I can have picture caller ID on my old N400 then my brand new $400 i330 should be able to do the same thing. Third the ability to download different ringers to the phone, your stuck with the ringers that come with the phone. Fourth no built in email application allowing me to access all my email accounts at once.
Fortunately most of these bad things are solved by third party software developers but still they should have been included with the phone in the beginning. Check out http://www.pdaapps.com they have software available that allows you to have access to SMS and picture caller id. Also there are plenty of palm email applications available currently I am using Eudora which is free and works very well.
Overall score: 8 on a scale of (1-10)
The Good Stuff:
The i330 comes with a USB docking cradle, carrying case, extra battery and extra stylus. I was very surprised to see all this included in the box. You can download phone and graffiti skins from http://i330.nopdesign.com/ to customize the look of your phone. Phone reception was very good I was able to send/receive a phone call in areas where signal strength is low (1-2 bars). Sound quality was very good I am able to hear everything clearly and the speaker phone works good too. The size of the phone is alot smaller than it looks in pictures, and it has a very ergonomic design. The i330 is only slightly bigger than your average candy bar style phone. The phone software is well integrated with the Palm OS, it is very easy to select a phone number from your address book and call it with out using the stylus (this is done with the up/down and voice dial buttons on the side). The browser software (Blazer) is much better than what you get with Sprints other vision capable phones and actually gives you a decent web experience. You are able to access a lot more web sites than you could with a regular phone, but you still can’t access everything. The overall speed of everything on the phone is pretty fast considering it is using a 33mhz processor.
The Bad Stuff:
Well the first thing that I noticed was the overall lacking of software features that are available on regular Sprint vision phones but not the Samsung i330. First access to Sprints ShortMail (SMS), which we all know is not perfect but it did allow me to send text messages to my friends. Second no picture Caller ID, this is a color vision phone come on Samsung. If I can have picture caller ID on my old N400 then my brand new $400 i330 should be able to do the same thing. Third the ability to download different ringers to the phone, your stuck with the ringers that come with the phone. Fourth no built in email application allowing me to access all my email accounts at once.
Fortunately most of these bad things are solved by third party software developers but still they should have been included with the phone in the beginning. Check out http://www.pdaapps.com they have software available that allows you to have access to SMS and picture caller id. Also there are plenty of palm email applications available currently I am using Eudora which is free and works very well.
Overall score: 8 on a scale of (1-10)