Customer Reviews

Samsung i760 Black Phone (Verizon Wireless, Phone Only, No Service)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Well, finally a windows based phone, with real key-dialpad outside, full qwerty keyboard, big touch screen... Feature wise this phone has it all that I've ever wanted... real dialing keys were a must for me (hate the soft keys on phones like XV6700, you can never "feel" them and always have to look on the phone to know where to press), full keyboard that you can operate with two thumbs, touch screen (lately there has been a slew of smart phones without touch screens). Everything else typical windows mobile phones usually have by virtue of being windows phones or by virtue of Verizon service (calendar, tasks, office, games, auto-syncing, etc).

To me, its all about hardware of the phone, its useability and performance. Because on the inside, all windows phones are created mostly equal.

This phone has a few minor and major annoyances.
Annoyances:
1) Inability to charge the phone when connected via USB cable. This is annoying two-fold. First of all, because battery is drained faster when the phone is connected to PC, 2nd of all, because phone constantly goes to sleep when its not being charged and thus installation of software can fail unless you keep the phone active (or change power settings temporarely). Obviously, using the phone as a modem for your laptop aint gonna work for long periods of time either.
Thankfully, this major annoyance can be resolved with about $30-40 bucks extra, where one can buy a special crade to charge battery and sync at the same time.
2) No standard mini-USB connectors. A modern phone w/o mini-USB interface in this day and age? I had to buy all new cables for my car, for my work, etc. Annoying!
3) Button placement and stylus placement. One definately has to get used to this. Some of the button placed tend to get pushed more often than they should be...
4) A flap on the power connection. It's bad enough that the connection is not mini-USB, its yet more annoying that the connection is covered with a flimsy-feeling flap that needs to be unhooked and rehooked everytime.
5) Lack of carrying case or pouch or clip. Once again, this can be fixed with extra $$$.

Now, on to the good stuff about this phone, which by a landslide overwhelms the bad:
1) Windows Mobile 6 fixes alot of annoying things that were available in WM5 with older phones. No more random turn-ons, less lockups, alot more options in various software components, etc.
2) Phone is fast.
3) Opening of the sliding keyboard feels solid, snappy, well made.
4) Keyboard has been thought thru well. Keypad works in both states (with opened and unopened keyboard), reset button is easy to reach when needed, keys are easy to press. Overall, nice!
5) Standard and extended batteries are both included! I guess this makes up for the lack of charging usb connection. Extended battery lasts long time. I typically get to the half of the extended battery after 3 days of moderate useage (wireless syncing every 60 minutes, 20 mins of conversation per day, and few hours of playing Bubbles per day)
6) As a phone it performs much better than my previoux XV6700. Obviously, WM6 software is better, but also it definately has better reception vs XV6700.

Overall, my biggest complain with XV6700 and other phones like it, that they were a PDA first and a phone second. Samsung has finally made a PDA Phone that works equilly well as both.

I replaced my Audiovox XV6700 PDA Phone and couldn't be happier. The XV6700 was a good PDA but a lousy phone. With the i760 I get the best of both plus a decent MP3 player and camera. I like the ergonomics with the combination of keyboard, phone number pad and the Start / OK / Call / End Call buttons. I have found it easy to adapt to and can do a lot of common actions without ever using the keyboard or touch screen. The Bluetooth and wireless work great. I don't use the keyboard a lot, but when I have found it more than adequate. All in all I am very satisfied.

Here are the things I don't like: 1. No charging through USB (what were they thinking???); 2. 2 GB limit on the micro SD card (which I've been told is a limit of WM 6); 3. I had to upgrade several of my applications to run on WM 6 (Pocket Quicken and Splashdata); 4. I initially had a problem using ActiveSync with USB (worked fine with Bluetooth). It took me a while to find out that I had to disable `Enable Advanced Network functionality' in the USB to PC setting.

All right, I get to be the first to review this! I was lucky enough to be the first in this area to have this phone. It's been about 4 weeks now, living with this device. I've put up with the i-730 for almost three years, what a breath of fresh air. WM6 is great, the device is fantastic with one huge exception (Samsung, hope you read this)... The "end" button to hang up the phone is exactly your thumb rests when you naturally hold the phone with your right hand. I don't know how many times I've hung up on people so far. Please give us a software option to shut this button off. You really don't need it anyway. Otherwise, it's a great phone for people who require/want all the stuff WM6 allows you. Besides the pesky button, I love the phone. (PS, the camera really sucks, but it's a PHONE!)

Regardless of what one might find online, this phone is beautifully made and it looks good, with some odd irritations.

The slanted dialing keys take some getting used to, but are intuitive. They are a welcome sight compared with many PDAs that have their dialing features incorporated into the QWERTY keyboard or in a touchscreen.

The SEND/END buttons are on the sides and are easily pressed at the wrong times.

The MicroSD memory card has me baffled. The phone will only recognize 2MB cards and will run much slower if you use a larger capacity card. This is a limitation of the phone and not Windows Mobile Pro 6. There are Windows smartphones out there that will handle 8MB cards. There are clumsy hacks that will make the device recognize a 4MB card, if you have the stomach and savvy to pull it off. To top out the memory debaucle, there is plenty of phone here - a standard SD card slot should have been designed into the device. The built-in device RAM/ROM is also substandard. Think of the MicroSD card as the harddrive, the RAM as the equivalent to your desktop/laptop RAM and the ROM as the BIOS. There are phones with twice as much RAM/ROM for similar money.

There is no trackball or trackwheel. You are instead forced to use the directional pad on the front cover.

The slide-out QWERTY keyboard has nice rubberized keys that feel great to use, but the top row is rather cramped. If Samsung had only designed the slider to come out another ¼ inch or so, it would be better, but not perfect as there are still not enough keys. Too many buttons are multi-function, but not intuitive in their operation. You will find yourself staring at the keyboard too often, trying to figure out which key combination will give you the desired results.

The camera is only 1.3 megapixels and isn't all that good for a 1.3MP camera. There are LG flip-phones that take better shots.

As a phone, this unit excels. The screen is bright and the touchscreen works well. The speakerphone is loud and crisp. The look is impressive, with a sophisticated, high-tech appearance. It feels good in your hand, but not so good in your pocket - but being a PDA smartphone, one shouldn't expect a small form-factor. About the only PDAs that are thinner come with the Blackberry label attached.

If you can tolerate a substandard camera, limited memory and some issues with controls, you won't be unhappy with this phone. If you're with Verizon, a far better option would be the HTC XV6800, a phone that is much more capable, similarly sized and priced, although not as flashy in appearance. Better yet, you can wait a month or two for the (rumored) CDMA Blackberry Curve or an updated version of this very attractive line of Samsung SCH phones. With the memory limitations and odd ergonomics of the i760, I just can't see being stuck with this phone for two years.

Ok I had mine for a couple of weeks now and probably only used 1/2 of all the cool options and features. Before buying this phone I narrowed my choices between the i760 and Verizon Voyager (LG's version of the I-phone). As a an lawyer, I had been using a Blackberry for years but what it finally came down to for me was getting the integrated Windows Mobile 6 system on the i760. My Blackberry was only capable of opening my MS Word docs (most times ) but I really needed and wanted a phone that I could use to not only read but also create and email Word and Excel docs to/from my office and clients while killing time in Court. For someone with big hands the full slide-out Querty keyboard is so intuitive and comfortable to use. I've only used the camera a couple of times but from when I did it felt like a real camera and has many of the features of one. The screen resolution is so very clear and bright. Even with my big hands I'm able to access many of the phone's menu options using the touch screen. I probably use the stylus 50% of the time. What's even cooler is the built-in Wi-Fi. I don't think i've been to a Court house or a mall where it didn't located, lock, and connect to a free wireless network. Pulling up Ebay, Yahoo and Mapquest has been nice and quick. Text Messaging: What's really cool is that when you're in the middle of sending a text msg and a new one arrives that new msg is display below the one ur working on. Very cool! There are too many other good things I can say about this phone but it would take all night and I still haven't started my xmas shopping:( Oh yeah, what's also nice is that the Amazon price of $199 is $100 below the Verizon store's price. I was also pleasantly surprised when I found they included two batteries - a standard and a extended life battery(which Verizon charges $69.00 for). As for the Verizon Voyager, the i760 wins hands down. Plus if I had went for the Voyager I really would have settled for less while at the same feeling I was carrying around a Iphone wannabe. Compared to the Voyager the i760 felt well built and solid not to mention cosmetically pleasing (it's been an eye-magnet;) Whatever complaints I may have with the phone are so few & insequential that they're not worth mentioning).
Phone Features: 5+ Stars
Ease of Use: 5 Stars (Don't get it if you just want to use it as phone and not a PDA cuz
Phone Price + extra Battery: 5 Stars
Quality: 5 Stars

I bought the i760 to be a true convergence device and it has delivered on all fronts. If you are willing to invest time in finding the right software (usually free) to customize the device, you will find yourself with a very nice windows alternative to the all-powerful you-know-what.

First Impressions:

Out of the box, it is apparent that Samsung and Verizon created a phone that prefers function to sexiness. It has a heavy, grounded feel, as if every bit of space inside the case is jammed with electronics. The sliding keyboard is spring loaded and is very sturdy, as are the raised rubberized keys. With the added dialer and D-Pad, one can tell this phone was created for heavy business use and is meant to survive abuse that most touch-screen phones would rather avoid.

Upon turning it on, you will quickly see this is a pure Windows Mobile 6 device. There is no sluggish performance to be seen when navigating the device and screen rotation is usually handled smoothly. While Verizon was nice enough to include ZERO bloatware on the phone, it is also a very bland experience. Included are a few basic themes, Pocket IE, and Windows Media Player. All menus and features on the phone are meant to be used with the stylus. There are no finger-friendly nifty programs included, no finger-scrolling contact menus or anything of the sort. Just plain old Windows Mobile. Fast, but plain.

Everyday Use:

I got the i760 to be a do-all device. It needed to be an MP3 player, portable movie player, internet radio player, game player, web surfer, and package it all in a finger-friendly device with easy access to news, weather, messaging, contacts, and all that wonderful media. Basically a laptop in my pocket.

Out of the box... the i760 does little of this. Pocket IE is sluggish and best used with a stylus, Windows MP can't play mobile youtube and stinks as an MP3 player, and there is no ease-of-use experience to speak of.

However, if you are willing to invest a few nights a week for a few weeks into finding the right software, the device is VERY willing to provide this experience. WM6 has a multitude of freeware options for customized today plugins, media players, iPhone-wannabe apps (love those finger apps), game emulators... you name it, it's available, and the i760 handles it all with relative ease.

On a typical day, I listen to internet radio on the way to and from work, mix in some mp3 playing, watch some youtube videos, visit full-version websites like espn and cnn (minus flash... sad), play some emulated video games, check my email, make some calls, and send some text messages all from the i760. Win.

The best part is, once you find the right mix of software and customizations to provide your desired functionality, you can simply sync up your device with your desktop PC and never worry about it again. I've had a static set of programs for about a week and I do not imagine spending much more time customizing this phone.

Battery life is okay on the slim battery and a little better on the extended battery. I typically use the slim battery and charge it while I'm at my desk or at home. If you're going on a day-trip or a plane flight, the extended battery seems to be sufficient for a day of use.

IMPORTANT to note is that you WILL have to "customize" this device for it to accept 4gb minisd cards. This is extremely easy to do, but understand it only accepts 2gb out of the box.

Performance:

While it is barebones out of the box, this device shines if you put in some elbow grease and hunt out the right apps for it - and the i760 handles everything you can reasonably expect. This is thanks to a combination of a proven chipset (put in production in 2003 by Samsung) and the addition of a 400mhz CPU, which is standard on most high-end WM6 devices. Although is has less RAM than some competitors (only 64mb) and lacks 3D hardware acceleration, Samsung has put together a very peppy device. There are no weaknesses in any areas of performance, including multitasking. You can listen to music, surf the web, and handle incoming calls with ease.

Video performance is above average. Properly formatted divx (320x240) plays without issue in high quality. Mobile YouTube runs quite well. Music plays great too. The integrated speakers are loud enough to fill a small car with sound on a roadtrip, but plug the device to the aux port on your car stereo and enjoy your movies with full, high-quality sound.

16-bit console emulation also performs quite well, with sound, but expect some occassional slowdown.

Finally, above all, call quality is good on the phone. Unlike a certain competitor with fancy commercials, this phone makes no sacrifice of voice quality on either end.

There are some issues with the device:

*Touchscreen Sensitivity - the device doesn't work so well with fingers. It will work, but not consistently. Use the back of your fingernail instead.

*Sleep Functionality - once asleep, only a tiny button on the top of the device can wake it up. Most devices seem to allow customization on how to wake the device up.

*Weight - your hand(s) will fatigue after a lot of continuous use.

*D-Pad - the D-Pad is okay, but may not live through a lot of gaming.

*No GPS - and the Google Maps "My Location" feature does not seem to work, either.

Conclusion:

With some extra love and care, a tech savvy consumer can turn this device into a do-it-all powerhouse with no apparent limitations. The dated chipset may show some age in the next generation of mobile apps, but with the way the mobile market is accelerating, this is unavoidable.

All in all, this is likely the best all around Pocket PC available and thankfully it's on Verizon's excellent network. If you can get past the pragmatic feel and appearance of the phone, you will find this phone to be a real winner.

KB

After suffering for 15 long months with the sluggish Motorola Q, I decided to purchase Samsung's i760 at my local Verizon store. The large screen is great for viewing web pages and the QWERTY keyboard is very responsive, which comes in handy for composing those long-winded emails. Windows Mobile 6 peforms much, MUCH better on the i760 than version 5 did on the Q. Having built-in wifi is a nice feature, though I rarely use it because of my broadband data package. Images captured by the 1.3 MP camera may not win you any photography contests, but I think the overall quality is better than most similarly-equipped smartphones. Also, I used to dislike touch-screen based PDA phones, but since owning the i760 I've had to rethink that position. In summary, this phone is about as close to perfect as a Windows-based smartphone could be. There are a few minor irritations, but since they're basically nit-picky criticisms I've chosen to omit them from this review. If you want a PDA phone that can do it all, the Samsung i760 is your phone.

In a lot of ways, I really like this phone. Great volume, people tell me that the sound quality of my voice is really good.

BUT there are some serious issues with this phone:

1. The send / end buttons are on the side. This makes it really difficult to use when cradled in the car.

2. The touch key lights go off really quick, and there doesn't appear to be a way to light them up when you need to use them in the dark, without actually touching them. So for the first input, I have to turn on a light.

3. This one is the worst: the phone does not charge when plugged into a USB port. I contacted technical support about this. They say that charging from a USB port "isn't a true charge". I have no idea what they mean by this - I have had other smart phones that could truly charge from a USB port. This means that I have to sync the phone, then go plug it into a charger. Even worse, when using it as a modem for my laptop, I can only stay online for as long as I have battery life, which means I only get about an hour or two online before I have to unplug everything and let it charge (which takes about two or three hours).

I think that pretty much covers most of everything. I hope that Samsung comes out with a charging USB cable soon. If they did that, then I could give it a much better rating, but as it is right now - the phone's inability to be used and charged at the same time is a real serious problem.

I'm a smartphone-aholic. I currently own and have lived with in the last year alone:

AT&T 8525 -- Cingular Service
Helio Ocean -- Dual slider
Blackberry 8800 -- Cingular Service

I even was using both the Helio Ocean and the AT&T at the same time for several months not being able to bring myself to commit fully to one or the other despite paying 2 wireless bills of over 100 bucks each month. I used the Helio because I prefered the form factor for making calls -- having 2 distinct keyboards is a definate plus.

However, the Helio lacked the functionality and compatibility of the AT&T windows device and the screen size. But the relatively poor voice quality of the AT&T network in my area (service cutting out at my house, choppy sound etc) combined with the touch screen constantly getting in the way while talking on it as a telephone drove me bonkers.

Having over 1000.00 in high-end phones sitting in my desk, however, couldn't stop me from purchasing the Samsung SCH-i760 through Verizon. And after nearly 6 weeks, I won't be changing back to the others anytime soon.

The form factor of the phone -- with a separate numeric and qwerty keyboard is outstanding. I really like having the numeric keyboard because it allows me to use the device as a phone more quickly than having to tap-touch-type my way using the qwerty keyboard. Qwerty is great -- unless you are on the phone. At first, I didn't think I would like the touch screen on the Samsung because the touchscreen of the AT&T was always getting in the way (I ALWAYS got this infuriating "PTT -- Charges will apply. Ok?" message when I used the phone as a phone because my cheek would touch I don't know what). However, the touch screen on the Samsung is recessed ever so slightly to where I don't have that problem with this phone.

What I *really love* is the ability to access both the numeric and QWERTY keyboard at the same time. When I'm typing an email I almost always wind up typing numbers in it and the separate numeric keyboard allows me to do this without having to constantly type "num" "2" "num" "3" "num" "2"... just type the letters on the qwerty and when you want to enter your phone number, enter those using the numeric keyboard without having to close or reorient the phone.

Even the feel of the Samsung is superior to all the other phones. Again, I loved the slightly rubberized feeling of the Helio Ocean -- wasn't slippery. But the Ocean's screen and keyboard layout was just a bit too small.

The Ocean was not stable enough. While the Helio screen is gorgeous, I really never could get comfortable with the non-standard interface.

The AT&T was a bit too big and a HUGE powersuck. If you got the extended battery, it was much better -- but then the extended battery physical size was such that it prevented the AT&T from fitting in a standard size holster.

With the Samsung you can purchase the extended battery and it only adds very slightly to the physical device size -- virtually unnoticeable. I can go for 3 full days off the charger without having to recharge -- and that is with all the data services etc enabled.

Very minor things I would change on the Samsung if I could:
1. Side button layout is a bit confusing and I'm having to actually sit and practice what keys to press to do certain items.
2. Documentation is poor -- would it be so wrong to have a quick reference diagram that explicitly states what each button is in both Samsung's language and Windows Mobile language? Which one is button 1?
3. Given the expense of this device and the fact that it is very much the contemporary of AT&T, Helio and the like, a 1.3 MP camera is pretty week compared to the competition.
4. The look of the device is not very appealing. I still like it better than the AT&T but the Helio Ocean is just one very cool looking device.

Other than that, I'm now a very happy customer. Verizon Wireless has been far superior for me in terms of coverage and customer service. The device has made me content and happy to put away my other devices since I now feel like I have the best combination of the AT&T features and functionality along with the Helio design and tactile gratification. This is the perfect phone that balances business needs (Exchange email, windows platform) with the desire for a cool toy gadget thing.

Pros: Solid keyboard, quality construction, very functional voice operated features, bright clear screen, external alphanumeric keypad, inclusion in basic package of both regular and extended battery

Cons: Call quality at other end is sometimes choppy, particularly when I am using the speaker phone; no dock included

Review

I've had my i760 for about a month. I use the unit primarily as a combination PDA/Phone on which I keep 5000+ Contacts and my calendar, although I occasionally use the unit to check email or web sites.

The size is comfortable in my pocket, about the depth of most flip phones, only slightly wider and longer, and a bit heavier. It is not fair to compare the size and weight of this unit to a regular flip phone, because it has a quality slide-out keyboard. The unit is definitely portable. It would be wise to purchase and apply screen saver film, as the screen could otherwise be scratched by other items in your pocket.

Voice operated features are logical and handy, an improvement over the software on earlier models such as the Samsung i700 that I used for several years.

Bright, clear screen makes up for smaller screen size than i700. I do miss the longer list of Contacts that I could see on the i700 screen, but a smaller screen is an unavoidable result of making the unit smaller.

For some reason the unit takes longer to search my Contacts when I enter a text string than my i700 did, but with 5,000+ entries there is a lot to search. The wait is only a few seconds.

The unit synchronizes well with Outlook on my PC, although I had to purchase my own dock.

The slide-out keyboard works well, and having the option of using the external alphanumeric keypad is very handy.

It is necessary to use the stylus for many functions, because of the small size of many of the on-screen clickable buttons and menus. The stylus is not necessary to operate the on-screen phone buttons and commands, which are large enough to operate with a finger.

Contrary to another user's comment, I don't miss the track ball at all. The combination of select and arrow/direction buttons works very well.

I don't miss the GPS feature, because I own a Garmin Nuvi, but recommend that the manufacturer or Verizon make appropriate software available for GPS use.

Battery life is very adequate, far superior to my old i700, even with the regular (non-extended life) battery.

The sound is consistently clear on my end during phone calls. Occasionally users at the other end of conversations have complained about the sound breaking up.

On those rare occasions when I use the camera or video features, they produce surprisingly adequate results.

I purchased and installed a 2 gb microSD card for about $20, of which thus far I've made only limited use, but I have added family photos that look good on the screen.

The tech at our local Verizon store advised me to choose this phone over the XV6800, because of the i760's superior quality of construction. I didn't choose the Voyager because it couldn't handle all of my Contacts or synchronize with my computer. Had I needed a GPS device I might have gone with the 6800 instead, but I'm very happy with this unit. I highly recommend it to professionals and others who want a pocket pc.