Customer Reviews

PCS Phone Samsung i500 (Sprint)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have owned many cell phones and pdas over the last 10 years, and have been searching for a phone that combines the two. After extensive research on the treo 600, kyocera, smartphones, and pocket pc pda phones, i chose the i500 and am quite impressed with the unit. This phone is great for someone who wants to have a decent pda integrated into the phone and not for someone trying to do spreadsheets and mp3s with the phone. To me, I realized that having too many things on the phone will eventually lead to running down the battery quickly and I did not want to sacrifice battery life. Most of my friends with the kyocera or treo do not use the mp3 player or much of the added functionality (after the inital 1 - 2 mo honeymoon period) so as to conserve battery life - so i felt this phone is the best. You have to go to the store to see how small this phone is in comparison to the kyocera 7135 and the treo. This looks, feels and operates like an ordinary cell phone with a heckuva nice pda built in to it, nice color screen to boot! The sprint service has been nice and the vision web browsing has been excellent in my mind - it is comparable to or faster than 56k dialup, which is excellent on a cell phone.

Some observations on the models I evaluated.
Did not like the bulkiness of the treo - also felt awkward talking into it.
I didn't care much for a 640x480 camera which i may only occasionally need anyway. Given a choice, I would go for less weight over the low res camera.
I Wanted a clamshell design to protect the screen - this also provides the best ergonomics for phone conversations.
The graffiti is a nice input mechanism in my view - I personally like it much more than typing on the mini keyboard.
Smartphones do not have good input mechanism - you can't enter a web address in efficiently if you have to tap the 2 button 3 tiumes to get a "c".

Samsung did a great job with the tradeoffs coming up with a very compact pda phone which when closed looks like an ordinary phone - not an easy feat. Quite Impressive, Samsung!

Things that would have made this the ultimate phone:
A high res 320x320 screen (even the larger treo 600 doesnt offer that so we'll have to live with this limitation for now).
64 mb of memory would have been nice - I'm not exactly sure why samsung skimped on the memory with memory being so cheap - may have been a size thing...
A faster processor may have helped with web browsing - not sure of this one - the transmission speed may be the limiting factor. For most applications, the i500 is plenty fast.

Here's what I needed and spent a year waiting/searching for. A PHONE (not a paperback book stuck to my head) that also allowed me to 1) Ditch my separate PDA, 2) access the web, 3) have reliable text messaging and e-mail.

The SPH-I500 does all of these well. I am already comfortable with Graffiti, so the text input is managable for short messages. If I really want to write an essay, I'll attach a keyboard or find a PC. Stylus input works best for "sure, I'll be there in five minutes" or "here's the address" messages. Much better than SMS keypad typing, not quite as easy as thumbtyping on a Treo or Blackberry. A workable compromise.

The phone is good, although it lacks some of the spiffy things you might want in a high end phone (such as speakerphone). However, after listening to a call at work where the remote side was on a Treo 600 speakerphone, I'm not certain I've missed much.

Blazer web browser is decent for images, Eudora web good for text only. Yahoo and Avant Go bundle decent content, many traditional websites are clunky.

SMS limitations mentioned above by others can be addressed by getting i500 SMS from www.pdaapps.com (also see their mark-n-dial utility for dialing phone numbers from webpages, and Verichat (solid AIM/MSN/Yahoo chat client).

Sprint recommends Eudora for e-mail. I found it to crash reliably on "reply" messages and have switched to Snapper, although it's more expensive.

Voice dialing works well - On my previous Motorola phone it was unusable, on the i500 it works 90+% of the time. I have no complaints about battery life, especially with the standard battery.

Things I'd take issue with:

1) Sprint Customer Service and Technical Support via phone. (2 on a 1-5 scale, and I'm being nice). In the Sprint store, they were great. Over the phone, I wanted to commit mayhem, and I'm a pretty patient person. My favorite (?) Sprint tech support quote, "they don't actually train us on these things, so you probably know as much as I do..."

2) MacOSX support. Mac support for this device is apparently an open secret. Samsung will help some with this, but I haven't yet had time to track all the bits and pieces down. It works just fine on my XP box at home, but I'd love to connect to my iBook, and not feel like I'm living on the edge! (hint, hint if anyone's watching). I've installed the version of Palm Desktop recommended by Samsung for MacOS, but it's not working - at least not yet. In searching the web, I see varying reports of success/reliability. Sad to say, try at your own risk, and be prepared for it to be a project.

3) I'm seeing an uncomfortable number of apps produce "fatal exceptions" including Eudora, Avant Go, and some ASL tutoring apps that were rock solid on my IIIx. I'm not used to saying "Sorry, my phone just crashed."

4) Don't know how you'd make it different, but teeny phones have teeny buttons. I keep hitting the wrong ones on the side of the phone. I have very small hands for a guy, so if you're big fingered, you might want to try it out first.

5) Likewise, a bit more of a margin on the screen. If trying to not use the stylus because I'm in a hurry (which for me is most of the time), it's hard to hit icons in the corner of the screen when using a finger or non-stylus pen, pencil, chopstick, whatever's-at-hand.

6) While the PalmOS integration with the phone is about the best I've seen, there are still some glitches, "huh" moments and things that don't work quite as they should - especially when switching between apps or some of the dialing features. I'd love to know why it doesn't ship with Palm OS5.

7) The cradle/charger needs to have the travel charger plugged in to function. This is both expensive (if you need more than one setup, it'll be an additional $80.00/per) and stupid design.

8) When powering off/on, haven't found a way to make the phone quiet. This results in a lot of head-turning at the beginning/ending of meetings. May be a way to fix this, but I haven't found it.

I'd love to have:

1) Expansion slot
2) Bluetooth!!
3) More memory
4) Palm OS5

I'll let other people complain about:

1) limited ringtones
2) camera (what *exactly* are you needing this for??)
3) weak vibrate mode

Overall, I'm really happy with the phone, especially now that I've gotten Sprint to provision it correctly (long, annoying story) and installed the applications and utilities that allow it to function the way an (ahem!) $600 retail phone should. Overall, in the past few weeks I've probably spent another $100-120 to get the applications I needed to really make this thing sing. But, having done that, it's been great. I'm sure that in the future, there will be devices that take this further, but - for me - this is device I've been looking and waiting for.

Take what ya want from these reviews...but don't make the mistake of assuming half of them are worth a dime, makes me wonder if some of ya'll even own the phone...whatever.

That said, You can't go wrong with this phone. You can't go wrong with a Treo 600 either, I own both. I don't really think you can compare the two, they are totally different concepts and given apples to apples, one will always dominate the area you set out to compare. IE: I'm still waiting on that *5 star* phone that DOES smoke 'em all, it's not out there...yet. (the i550 due out in Jan 05 might get there)

Anyhow, i500 Pros: 98 voice dial tags, Flip design (I like the way the flip opens, keeps it off my cheek so the screen doesn't get all greasy), Size (same size as my wife's Star Tac), Voice memo/converstion record, Screen clearly visable in direct sunlight! (try that with your Treo 600), Unlimited battery power, Quality of build, Tri-band w/analog roam, 3G internet speed, Loud Loud Loud ringer and earpiece (earpiece is loud enough to use as speakerphone and I can hear the ringer while I'm riding my motorcycle!)

Cons: It has 'em like everything else, read about 'em in other reviews.

If ya need a phone with a PDA get a i500, if ya want a PDA with a built-in phone, get a Treo 600, if ya want a perfect combo, wait about 6 months...They are getting real close now.

I don't where that last reviewer is coming from--this is the coolest electronic device I have ever owned! I have had a variety of Palm/Handspring PDAs including a Treo 300 which was very nice but huge by comparison to this little guy--this is only 4 and a half ounces and fits in my pocket without me noticing. I have been very pleased with Sprint; it has been much better for me than Verizon. I cannot believe anyone would call the I500 old technology. Let's get something straight: this device is a PDA, phone and web browser in one unit and is smaller and lighter than most cell phones on the market. In fact, there isn't a PDA on the market smaller than this. Wouldn't size count as a technological advance? What it lacks: a card slot, but I can live without it for now. It is fast, has a beautiful screen, and does everything I need in a gorgeous small package. I have had it for a month and no problems. It sold out immediately and has been very hard to get until recently. The price has come down and will continue to drop--check it out!

I've had my phone for about 3 months now. So far, I love it. I was sick of carrying my phone and my Palm Pilot around. So, when Amazon had a great deal on the Samsung, I purchased it right away. I looked at other phones like the Treo, but I was looking for a flip phone that was still small and had the PDA bulit in. I've had no problems with the phone. It works great and is easy to use if you are a previous Plam owner. The screen is bright and colors are good in my opinion. The graffiti area is a little small but I got used to it after a week or two. Actually, I installed JOT and I can graffiti right on the screen, this makes inputing data a little easier. I really love the voice dial feature, calls are a breeze. Open the phone, push the button, say the name and the phone does the rest. Great when I'm driving. The internet works good, I changed the dispaly to grayscale (4 shades of gray) and the speeds seem faster. Works great for checking the weather, stock quotes, sports scores. I can even check my e-mail at Yahoo. If you need a good alarm clock, you'll need to download software for that. I installed BIGCLOCK and that has worked great for me. Wakes me up every morning.

I would give it five stars, but I wish it had an external caller ID and an expansion slot for more memory. A speakerphone would be nice, but I can live without it. One other thing, I wish the volume buttons and voice dial button were raised a little more. Maybe a rubber button? They are plastic and flush with the phone, I find it difficult to push when I'm trying to make a call with one hand and sometimes push the button above or below it on accident. Other than that, I love it.

Word of caution. If you order the phone and want to activate your SPRINT service, you might want to take it to a SPRINT store. I've had some problems with customer service, especially long hold times (30 minutes or more?). It took 2 months to get my number ported after repeated calls to find out what was going on. Sprint did refund my first month of service to try and compensate for the delay?

I've avoided the whole cellphone thing until just last month when I finally decided to take the plunge. I've been using this phone steadily since then and I'm quite happy with it (as well as Sprint's service). I was looking for a few key features, and this phone met them all:

1. I want a phone first and a PDA second. The Treos look nice and all, but I want a 12 button keypad to make my phone call. I don't want a mini qwerty keyboard where I have to decode which keys are the number keys.

2. I wanted a Palm Pilot phone. Even though my primary use is a phone, I still need it to be a PDA/organizer. Since I don't want a qwerty keyboard, I need another way to enter data quickly and switch to different programs. The Palm Pilot Graffiti interface and touch screen on this phone are perfect! I can quickly jot down a note with Graffiti or I can jump around the touch screen menus with the stylus (which fits neatly in the back of the phone when you're not using it). I've been using Palm Pilots on and off ever since they came out, so this just "feels" right.

3. I wanted to be able to HotSync to Linux. I use Linux at work and at home, so I need to be able to keep my calendar and address book up to date -- this phone does it all. Linux has pretty good support for Palm devices, and (sure enough) it recognizes the i500. All of the usual HotSync programs work: I prefer kpilot, but I can confirm that gpilot and jpilot work as well.

As for service, while Consumer Reports gives Sprint middling levels of customer satisfaction (not the best, but certainly not the worst), I've never had a problem with call quality, dropped calls or reception in my home area (Seattle) or when I went to the East Coast. I signed up for the "Fair and Flexible" plan, which seems like a pretty good deal to me. If I go over my minute allotment, it's just $5 more for another 100 minutes (0.05/minute -- like a good long distance plan). I also bought the $5/month no-roaming option just to be safe. After all, what good are prepaid minutes, if you spending $0.45/min to roam?

All in all, I'm VERY satisfied with this phone and with Sprint. FYI, you might want to buy directly from Sprint's website -- they seem to be having some sort of promotional price right now.

I love this phone, it's nearly perfect for what I was looking for and I agree with the top rated reviews, but there are a few things you should know before you drop the big money on it.

First, it really doesn't have text messaging, at least not the sort you might be used to if you came from another cell phone company like Cingular or Verizon. The only text messaging this phone supports is web based, i.e., you need to log on through your WAP browser and compose a message, which is so slow and tedious you may as well grab the pen and paper and send your message through the US Post Office. Not to mention, to send a WAP message you need to have a $15/month vision plan, or pay $.01/kb while you try to find the right web site. Sprint recently came out with "SMS" text messaging, which is what other companies refer to as simply "text messaging", but Sprint doesn't support the i500 with this despite numerous complaints from i500 owners (the phone only needs a software upgrade but Sprint won't support it). There are a couple of PDA apps out there that can provide SMS compatability for the i500, but they're flawed and cost $$.

Second, if you're into downloading ringtones, forget about it. You can't do it with the i500. You're stuck with the cheesy polyphonic tones it comes with. Not even the PDA app hackers have come up with a way around it.

Third, and least importantly, if your ringer is on the phone plays a polyphonic tone when you power on or off, and there's no way to disable it. This is pretty annoying if you want to turn your phone on or off discretely while in a meeting, a movie, or at a concert.

It did everything I ever needed or wanted a cellphone to do: be a good phone, be a Palm computer, and fit in my pocket.

Now it's discontinued and nothing exists that can do those three simple, useful things. Now they all want to sing and dance and rub your feet in the morning.

Then I read,"Samsung to Pay $300M Fine for Price Fixing." That might explain why Palm and Sprint seem to be distancing themselves from Samsung, but why abandon the concept?

If this is progess, I'm a Luddite.

I sorely needed a new phone to replace my trusty StarTac and my aging Palm V, but delayed doing so for a couple of years because I just didn't see anything out there that I thought would combine their functions effectively. I wanted a clamshell phone that wouldn't accidentally dial people from inside my bag. And the Treo phones and other stick-style smartphones just seemed too big. Although I'm fine with a thumb-board (I carry a RIM for work), I prefer Graffiti, so I wanted a phone that allowed me to input using Graffiti. I tried out my husband's Treo 300 and frankly missed the Graffiti functions. I also thought it was too clunky. I've found that the i500 is almost everything I wanted out of a Palm/phone combo.

The pros: Sleek clamshell design -- compact and stylish, even with the hefty extended-use battery. It's solidly built -- no flimsy flips like the Treo 300. The screen is surprisingly big for such a small phone. The color and resolution is quite good -- the photos I keep on my phone look good. I like the Graffiti writing space -- it's small, but easy to get used to. The Palm functions are well integrated. It's easy to call people from your address book, and it's easy to save phone numbers (like from incoming calls) into new or existing entries. With the extended battery, I can go for a few days without having to charge up -- even the slim battery gets decent performance. The cradle offers one-button syncing, and can charge a spare battery at the same time as the phone -- a nice touch. Using hacks easily found online, you can put just about any photo on your screen as your wallpaper. You can also set unique rings for different people (no photo ID, though).

The cons: No speakerphone! This is a really strange feature to leave out, since it makes it hard to use the Palm at the same time as the phone. You can always use a headset, but that's just another step you shouldn't have to take. I also think it would be nice to have a caller ID screen on the outside of the phone so you don't have to flip open the phone to see who's calling. And I miss the dual-function keys on the StarTac -- functions you can easily access just by pushing "FNC" and then one of the numeric keys. I used to be able to switch the phone to vibrate by hitting two keys -- now I need to ratchet down the ringer, which can take up to 10 button presses, depending on how loud you have your ringer volume cranked. I also used to be able to mute my phone easily using the FNC button -- I have no clue how to do it on the i500, but it's certainly not a one-button thing. The screen is sometimes hard to read outside in the sun. Minor quibble -- there's apparently no way to add to the polyphonic ringtones supplied with the phone. There are plenty of options, to be sure, but it would have been nice to be able to add to them to truly personalize the phone.

On the high price -- I bought the phone used, which brought the price down significantly for me. Would I have paid the full retail price? Maybe, especially since I probably would have paid more to buy a new Palm and a new phone. At the deeply discounted price, however, I definitely got my money's worth.

If you like the Palm OS and you just need a basic phone that includes it, this phone is a lightweight, attractive solution. HOWEVER, some moron at Samsung decided it would be a good idea to allow the user to RECEIVE text messages but NOT be able to reply or SEND them! I heard Samsung's reasoning was that the typical user of this phone wouldn't be a text-messager. So ignorant! Anyway, you can download a buggy third-party app that will let you send them but SPRINT--another bunch of idiots--has made it impossible for the user to determine who any of the incoming SMS messages are from if they are outside the PCS network! Thus, you can send text messages and receive text messages, but you cannot reply! If some one sends you a text that says, "What are you doing tonight?" and you are not expecting the message, you have to guess who sent it in order to send a message in response. It's absolutely the most asinine logic I have ever encountered in a piece of digital equipment. Otherwise, I like the design and the connectivity. The signal strength is so-so, and it's been discontinued so no one supports it. Too bad, because it could have really been something.