evil04

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my 2 cents worth

May 16, 2008

Rating: 7 out of 10 (Very good)
Pros: Everything about it; light, fast, good software, excellent value for money, great design, looks expensive.
Cons: Cons – If you have an old piece of software, the 320 x 320 resolution may cause you a problem, not very stable
Opinion:
Got a black colour one on 1 May, replacing my 3 yrs old Palm Treo 650. Why I decide to switch from Palm OS to M$ OS, even though, M$ os is often the “bugging” type, when I must admit, I choose the phone form factor rather than the OS.

Well, since I took the plunge, let’s focus on my 2 cent worth of experience. First the specifications. This is what you get when u open the black box. The design of the box is simple and nice.
First the key specifications:-
• The Samsung SGH-i780 ( 1 unit)
• Getting started disc
• Quick reference guide
• USB sync and charge cable
• Mains adaptor
• Headphones
• 2 standard batteries
• Battery charging caddy
• Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 Professional
• 624 MHz Marvell CPU
• 256 MB ROM / 128MB RAM
• 2.5 " 320x320 TFT Touchscreen
• GSM900, GSM1800, GSM1900, UMTS2100
• CSD, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA
• Built-in QWERTY-type keyboard, 37 keys
• microSD card slot (support up to 8G)
• Bluetooth 2.0
• WiFi: 802.11b/g
• Built in NMEA 0183 A-GPS
• 2.0mp camera
• 61.3 x 115.9 x 12.9 mm
• 122g
Opening the Samsung i780 box reveals the handset, 2 batteries, a separate charging module for the battery, AC charger, USB cable, a CD with the manual, 1G microSD, the micro SD contains the Agis Maps and the GPS software, Navfone Activation Card, A quick start up guide , the earphone, piece of info on Ultramessaging hotline, screen protector and last by not least, some Maroon 5 Adv.

I am quite impress, that’s with the extra battery which samsung provides as a standard feature, but then, are they telling consumer, their battery so not last ??? I find it strange why they left out the detail manual, maybe they are going green too… lol.

As for the rest of the items, they are standard issues, if samsung fails to provide, they must be stingy.
That’s all for my comments when opening the box.
Ok, now for the review, I have been using the phone (aka Pocket PC phone) running on MS Windows Mobile 6 professional for the past 2 wks. I prefer a qwerty pda phone with touchscreen, as I used the phone as my mobile office. Work on it on everything, checking emails, schedule, taking short notes , doing some engineering works( there some engineering program available), multi-media applications too.

As mention before, my previous device is a Treo 650, the form factor is acceptable but the big external antenna is an eye sore. This is an area i780 won. The weight of Treo 650 is abt 178g vs i780 122g, the thick is 22mm vs 12.9mm. And finally, the holding feeling on my palm is as good as the treo 650, just on the wt and thick, i780 win me over.
Of course the both devices has 320 x 320 screen, this is one area Treo 650 win. Such screen resolution has been around for 4 yrs and only now, PPC phone manufacturer decide to come up such a screen. Anyway congrat samsung to be the first to does so.

Overall on the physical phone form factor allow one phone operation easily, I will say I give it a 8.5 score out of 10, the only problem is the glossy finish left a lot of marks and the non-standard connector samsung used (why can they use the mini-usb).

Here come the interesting parts, Software and stability issues.

One think I do not like about M$ os is the tight integration with their own sister OS. To backup your contact, you need MS outlook.. damn, dun like this arrangement. Anyway, there a saying, when in rome, do as the roman does.

The setup of the phone is fairly easy, you got to hold the on button and after which, there will be a series of set up an once its done, you are in. Do remember to install ur sim card.

The installation of the sim card requires some skill, the back cover is not easy to open. Anyway, there a stick to instruct you how to do it.

Samsung did a fairly good job in install basic and value for $$ software, if you are not particular, that’s all you every needs. The i780 includes the following software: Alarms (Samsung’s alarm app offering a lot more options and sounds), Java, Media Album (for viewing pics, videos, ringtones etc), Mini Player, Opera 8.65, Photo Slides (a brilliant photo app), Podcasts, RSS Reader, Smart Converter, Mobile Office, and Video Player. The 2MP camera is quite good and takes reasonable shots only in the day, at night, can not make it la. Also you can easily switch from the front VGA to the rear camera. But everyone want to be a power user and soon you will want more options and that’s where you go out the internet to get some interesting software.

Installing of the 3 party software is fairly straight forward, its can be done either thru the Activesync for program ending with .exe or for cab program, just download to the main memory or SD card and just click and install.
The interesting software will be Today Plus, not as good as spbmobileshell, but good enough. Its enhance you front screen and give you sufficient information on your device performance.

Next let talk about the front keyboard, it is superb to use. There are buttons on the front for the Windows start menu, OK, phone red/green, messaging and GPS. The beauty of the keyboard is the shortcuts. For example, pressing the start menu reveals a host of programs. One letter from the name is underlined. Press this key on the keyboard, and the app opens. Also, pressing the start menu, “P” for Programs and “G” goes to the Games Folder icon. But if I wanted Google Maps (you must first input Googles Maps into the start menu), I press “G” again and Google Maps is selected. If I had several apps beginning with a g, all you have to do is keep pressing the letter g and it scrolls through. Also in most application menus, a shortcut is available to use with the keyboard.

Next the hot topic is the optical mouse, at first, I am not used to it, I am 4 way direction key user. Sometime the optical mouse is not sensitive enough especially when your thumb is sweaty, well you got an option to switch to 4 way direction key.

Next, let talk about the GRPS, its outdate and expensive and yet, somehow Samsung tied the usage of MSN live with it, if you do not use GRPS for connection, you can never connect up, alternative use pocket MSN to get around this problem. For user who do not use to accidentally activate GPRS, use the simple program call noData (google it). Also do you know if you press and hold the satellite key, the data call manager will pop up and you can disconnect your data session anything. If you want a better management of your data, download SPB GPRS monitor (must pay after trial).
As for the built in GPS, samsung is using the A-GPS system and thus its took a while to get a lock on. I wrote about the comments on Agis and thus decide to try out Garmin XT (aka Samsung Mobile Navigator in Europe, in fact, this GPS software is a standard feature for europe set). The lock on test on a open sky area takes less than 40s. If you want a faster and solid lock on, you got to activate the enhanced GPS, this cost $ due to data downloading. Also beware, the i780 heat up considerable when using GPS.

The screen resolution is 128 dpi provides a very clear and readable screen. Presently is impossible too reduce the screen font size so the emails/SMS look a little large. O, did not mention, its can write chinese and input is no no. Get a chinese SIP if you wan to input chinese char. As for the letter font, after a while I realised this was a bonus as it was easier to read everything. If you are thinking getting a 96 dpi, go and get realvga.. There is a problem though in that the screen is difficult to see in bright sunlight, can not resolve this.

The Phone function. All of these functions are performed effortlessly and reliably apart from one bug. The notification LEDs only work when the device screen is on and turn off once the device goes into sleep mode. Hopefully Samsung will release a fix for this soon A workaround for the led problem is to use a piece of software called dontforget. Also one point to note, when you change sim card, all your call history will be erase. Keke. I also install funcontact which is a much cool contact listing as compare to the default one.

Guess, my 2 cent worth is kind of long, lastly, stability, as with any new OS, there often a need to do reset, what I am unhappy, is the OS hang and the only way to recovery is to do a soft reset. Currently, there no hard reset is your OS play you out and you need a complete installation, even thought for version D ROM, there a way for hard reset (google it). Hard reset wipe out all your data and give you a clean installation.

For the past 2 weeks of using this phone, I need to reset at least 30% of the time, this is abit unacceptable. Most of the time, the OS hang when its need to do multi tasking.
Ok, will stop there. My overall score for software and feature will be 7.0 out of 10. If samsung can do something about the OS keep hanging, I will give it a 9 out of 10.
Cheers.