Samsung Moment
Phone Scoop Review
Oct 27, 2009 by Eric M. Zeman
Samsung steps into the Android fray with its Moment. This bulky phone has a touch screen, real QWERTY keyboard and Wi-Fi. It earns passing marks on most fronts but we found a few low points, too. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Simply Functional Samsung Android
Pros:
Blinding Flash (could be a con)
Crisp Display
Decently Laid Out Hardware QWERTY keypad
Swift Processor
Basic Android (no sluggish HTC UI crap)
Solid Feel to hardware
Hardware shortcuts for camera, voice-dial, volume, call and end
Battery Life
Large OLED screen-Virtual QWERTY board is not difficult due to this large-sized screen.
Cons:
Battery Indicator (something is wrong with the indicator. It says it's 15% left for hours). In actuality, the battery lasts quite a long time with above average data, voice, text, and bluetooth usage
No visual indicator of missed alerts when phone is in stand-by. Thus, if you don't hear the alert nor see it the first time. The only way to know if you've missed something is to wake it up. Blackberry and HTC traditionally do a good job in this regard.
Proximity Sensor (dimming while on calls) doesn't work as smoothly as one would expect. I've "muted" quite a bit of people on accident with my face.
Overall:
This being my first Android OS handset, I am very pleased with the functionality of the OS. I can see that google and Android have put much thought into such a system. The Samsung Moment, though bulky, is perfect for those transitioning from consumer to business. Perfect for a person with larger hands. May not fit very well in a pocket. No sluggish moments with this phone. IT SIMPLY WORKS as designed. Wasn't a huge fan of Samsung; but this handset feels well designed and sturdy!
Very impressed so far
I have only had this phone for about a week, so my experience is limited to that.
Another reviewer made comments about battery life. In my opinion it is not the battery but rather the way the phone reads the battery condition. My phone will drop off rather quickly but then it will stop and sit for long periods of time at certain points. It will stay on 15% charge for hours, even using it heavily. I am hoping the phone just needs to learn the patterns of the battery yet. I tried my best to kill the battery yesterday evening after work and couldn't do it, I used it heavily from about 6:30PM to 11:00PM after a day of regular use at work and it was still going at 11:00PM when I put it on the chager.
Beyond battery questions, the phone seems to be rock solid! Build quality is fantastic, and the screen is beautiful. As mentioned in many reviews the keyboard layout is a bit odd, but I quickly learned it and the keys have a great feel to them. It seems to do a good job of holding onto a signal and actually seems to hand off a call from the Sprint Airave to the outside tower better than any phone I have had in the past. Sprint coverage in this area is sad to say the least, but you just can't beat the price and features with the service. In the past with other Sprint phones I have had to carry a Nextel iDEN based BlackBerry for email and voice calls and the Sprint cdma phone for everything else. The Samsung Moment may just change all that, it seems to be a great performer in all regards so far!
Google has done a great job with Android, it is very versatile and stable at the same time. I had not found that combination in the past with anything but a BlackBerry.
I have recently had the Palm Pre, HTC Touch Pro, Samsung Instinct, Palm Centro, BlackBerry Curve 8350i (fantastic phone), and a BlackBerry Curve 8330. The Samsung Moment seems to be on track to be at least as good a phone if not better than any I have had!
Great phone with even greater potential
First off, battery life. Samsung/Google did a horrible job for displaying an accurate read of battery life. You'll have to kill and fully charge your battery a couple times before you start seeing more accurate readings. The fastest way to drain your battery is to download an app called "strobe light" and leave it running so that it's flipping though all the colors nonstop; leave wifi, gps, and bluetooth enabled; and open a ton of apps and let them run in the backround. Once dead, fully charge your battery, and repeat.
The phone is snappier than the Hero because of the faster cpu. However, the Hero has multitouch because the Hero is on Android 1.6 whereas the Moment ships out with 1.5. Both are scheduled to receive OTA to 2.1 in the first half of 2010 (read: June 30th).
The physical keyboard is very nice. I didn't like the virtual keyboard, so I replaced it with the Hero's virtual keyboard which is WAY better. Check out this link for more info: http://www.samsungmomentforum.com/how-to/htc-hero-vk-on-moment/
Running stock, I found that my phone had about 35MB of free RAM or less because of the extra crapware that sprint put on the phone. Go to www.samsungmomentforum.com and read up on rooting your phone, and even installing Zeffeir's custom kernal (which has persistent root). You can then remove Sprint NFL, Nuance Voice Control, Youtube, Bejeweled Demo, Sprint Nascar, etc,.
Install "Taskpane" or "Toggle Settings" from the Market to keep other pesky apps from running and freeing up RAM.
One thing I don't like about the Moment is that when someone texts or emails you, and the display is turned off, the display won't turn on and show you who texted or emailed. This forces you to turn on the display, press "Menu" to unlock phone, and drag down the notification bar to see who texted or emailed you. Perhaps there's an app or setting I missed that address this problem.
Check out http://samsungmomentforum.com. There's tons of info on this phone!
DOPE!!
This phone is insane!!! First off is the screen, as some of you guys may know LED is the newest stuff in screen technology, just look at LED TV's vs. LCD TV's and you will see. Well this phone has a mini LED screen which is crazy crisp, I get comments like 3 times a day asking about this phone.
The phone is very responsive and I love the android market, now that its on most major carriers the market is getting really big with tons of free apps!!!! It has not caught up to the Iphone apps yet but in time it will!!
I love the large keyboard too!! I went in the store choosing between a BB and this phone and the keyboard played a large part. Im a big guy and my fingers just had a hard time with small BB buttons.
Pretty much I like everything about this phone because I mainly text, web browse, and use the GPS as I drive for my job and a large keyboard, big screen and Google maps is basically the perfect phone for me.
The battery life is a little lacking though, with regular use I get about 6 hrs., but thats with me tweeting and texting all day, when I leave it alone and just use it as a phone I can get a whole day.
Nothing wrong with the battery!!!
Do some research before slamming the phone for a "defective" battery. Yes it is frustrating initially, and Samsung and/or Sprint should have done better testing before releasing the phone, but the default Android Battery Meter is at fault, not the hardware battery. If you drain the battery to the point the phone turns off and then fully charge it, doing this at least twice, almost all battery related issues should be resolved and the meter should read the correct battery level. In fact on the first try most of you may find it difficult to kill the phone even when the meter reads 3%.
I had the same issue, did some research (nowadays it's Google), and I can now make several lengthy calls, send/receive emails, text, and even browse the Web, with 60% battery life remaining by late evening. In fact I can no longer kill the battery before going to sleep. Outside of the minor battery issue, the phone is absolutely top-shelf in every regard; solid, absolutely solid build, no flexing keyboard like many HTC models, no lag when flipping screens, the 800mhz processor pushes everything through fast, fast, fast, the OLED screen is hands-down the best I have seen in the last 3 months, and the camera/video are excellent even at 3 mega pixels.
Download a task killer, battery meter widget (after using my battery suggestions of course), a date widget, Shuffle, and Handcent SMS from the Marketplace, and those should fill in for what is missing on the vanilla Android.
Give it a chance and you will fall in love all over again!
hero to pre to moment
this phone is epic! the hero took my android virginity and even though sense ui was crap, i was in love with the underlying android... best buy didnt get the moment so after two weeks of loathing the hero more n more per day i bit the bullet and got the pre and webos was phenomenal (especially once i got preware installed)... but then a few days ago my friend GAVE ME her moment cuz she was with at&t now and said she was tired of it just laying around in her room.. and zomg it roxxorz my soxxorz! stock android with no sense ui to break apps after a reboot :P an 800mhz processor to go with it and to add the cherry to whipped cream... A HARDWARE KB! i am more than happy with this little gem and luckily i trust in samsungs build quality which i was weary of with the pre (yep i have a crack up top but none of the spiderweb stuff) i have no problems running emulators and theres no lag either :D buuuut there are some kinks and shortcomings unfortunately... ram is like wtf srsly? the processor is nearly moot... thank you task mgmt software in android market :P im sick of the nfl, nascar, and other sprint crap that sits there hogging my ram running bg processes when i never even plan on using it... and lastly is the most common complaint... the frickin whacky battery widget.. it doesnt know what its doin but my pre charger in my car wuurks with it so i constantly keep it juiced to it stops acting so retarded... all in all this has to be my favorite phone to date :D i look forward to see about that 2.1 update and flash 10.1
Samsung Moment - Sprint's Silent Jewel
I turned in my Touch Pro 2 for the Samsung Moment. I had a hardware issue with the TP2 andI didn't want to take the chance on getting another bad device. I am SO GLAD I decided on the Moment
Pros:
ANDROID OS IS THE SHIZNIT!!
800 MHz process
Crystal clear call clarity
Crystal clear speaker
Personal customization
OLED screen
Wi-FI
Touch screen keyboard with T-9 is easier than any touch screen you will ever use
Ability to program an annoying contact to where you can send them directly to voicemail without even having to deal with the call
Cons:
Battery life is fixable once you drain it so that the meter can reset itself. The meter is wrong when you first use the device.
Keyboard has a weird placement for keys but you'll get used to it.
Lock screen has the emergency call button in a bad place to where you can accidentally call 911
Overall this phone is one of the best I've ever used, and that's saying a lot considering that I've had a slew of phones with both AT&T and Sprint. Some may disagree but Id rather have this phone more than the Iphone or the Droid. It has proven to be able to hang with the big dawgs. Way to go Sprint!!
Great phone, some concerns
Preface: I am a longtime Blackberry user and I have very limited experience with Android-based phones. Blackberry's push email is one of a kind, however, I just feel that Blackberry is losing steam in such a competitive market. I also tried the Pre before buying the Moment. There were some things I really liked and some things I really hated with the Pre.
With that being said, I really like the Android platform. Some call it simple and dull. I call it useful. The customization and applications speak for themselves.
Pro's:
1. The screen is bright and sharp
2. Android based device, providing thousands of apps
3. Slideout keyboard - though it does take a little to get used to
4. Great call quality
5. Decent speakerphone
6. Solid physical build
Con's:
1. Battery indicator issues (battery show's 80% as soon as you take it off the charger)
2. Device is somewhat bulky and heavy
3. Concerns about whether it will support Android 2.0
Overall, I think the phone is a solid phone and I really like the Android platform. There is nothing glaringly wrong with the device. However, I have two big concerns: whether or not Sprint/Samsung will support Android 2.0 on this device. I am also frustrated with the battery indicator issue.
I have done a lot of research online and cannot get an resolve on either issue.
Pretty happy so far
I picked up the Moment to replace a Black Berry Curve. Initial setup was easy and the browser is light years ahead of what was on the Curve. Another huge plus is the apps available vs. those in the Black Berry app store.
Pros: Gorgeous display, app store, actual physical keyboard that is decent
Cons: Battery life isn't the best
Wow - Great Android Phone
I have had this phone since the day it came up and have not put it down. It's by far one of the best phones I have ever had (Exclaim, HTC Touch, Blackberry Curve, Rumor, Katana's..)
The great improvement in a smart-phone like this is the 800mhz processor. If you have ever had a WinMO device, you know it's WinSlow. Turning on the android cute the speed in half of half. Applications load faster, it's a great improvement.
Pro's:
Screen - the capacitive screen is very responsive and the OLED display is very bright, a little hard in direct sun.
Keyboard - get use to it after a couple message. Layout is pretty off, but effective. When do you need the Z anyways?
Con's:
Battery - overall talking is GREAT. You get lot's of battery. The only qualm is that when you watch YouTube vids or download applications... battery goes down.
Customization - No customization, it is just stock android.
I can happily recommend the Moment to any kind of user. It isn't very bulky and is very comfortable to hold. The speed of the device is great, especially on Sprint's large 3G network. Email is simple and intuitive and messaging threads are nicely organized. The Google applications and Sprint applications run well and loading time for TV is very, very fast. LOVE the device. I am very happy with my purchase.
