Samsung SPH-M610
Average Ratings
If you liked the blade then you'll love the m610!
History:
I got the blade (A900) when it first came out. It has many bugs. Even with the bugs I was always drawn to it. I even tried other phones and then switched back to the blade. Now that the m610 came out I just had to try it because it's basically an upgrade to the a900.
Pros:
-Beautiful QVGA screen. It looks even better than the A900's screen.
-Dialing Font. Added a new one: LED. Looks so hot. Huge numbers!
-OLED external screen. Others may hate it. I love it. So bright and easy to read.
-Size. Really thin. I think it's the thinnest cell phone right now in the wireless industry.
-Soft Touch Rubberized Finish. Feels great in my hands and I dropped it the other day and guess what? No scratches!
-MicroSD slot. It's great they added this.
-Better battery life
-No lag! Even with power save on.
Cons:
-Headset and Charger use same port. This is a big con for me because I like using the headset and charging my phone at the same time.
-The speaker a bit tiny. Wish it was louder.
-When I have a missed alert/message I wish the outside lcd would stay on so if I'm away from my phone and came back to it I would know. (no status light)
Overall:
I wanted to add more but I've only had this phone for a week or so. I still have even tested out the bluetooth but I've heard it's good. I'd recommend this phone because it's stylish and is an upgrade to the A900.
for a slim phone....very nice
I've learned you can't have it all. Slim phones just can't have the battery life or speaker quality of other phones. At least not yet. So I will rate this phone in it's own class as a slim phone.
As a slim phone, I really like it. It looks nice, it feels great in your hand with the rubberized finish. The keypad is really nice to text on, the buttons easy to use with big hands like mine. They light up nice. The UI is really quick, no lags. Texting works great and easy to add words to t9. The screen is beautiful. You can flip the camera picture by hitting the volume button.. The outside display is bright, easy to see even in daylight. It's nice to see a name in big letters when someone calls. It's very light and easy to carry in your front pocket and the vibrate is strong enough to alert you to a call. It's easy to customize the launch pad as well as your favorites soft key. The clock can be moved around on the display to different positions to accommodate different screen savers. It was easy to move a bunch of screen savers onto the sd card. Mp3's still need to be sent over the air to be used as ringtones. For a slim phone this one really looks great and is a lot of fun. There are some cons but they pretty much go with all slim phones. The speaker is pretty lame and crackles with certain ringtones. Plenty loud if you use built in ringers or make your own with out all the bass. Playing Sprint tv it's pretty soft though. And battery life is adequate, I charge every night so not a problem. Not as good as the larger Sanyo phones. But again, for a slim phone, much nicer than the 900 or razr. I've gotten a lot of compliments on this phone and I love the fact I don't even know it is in my pocket. Very sturdy for a light phone. So by judging this as just a slim phone I give it 4.5, maybe even a 5.o because I think it is the nicest one out there right now.
Why to buy the 610
Buy the phone if the following pro's are for you;
1) excellent screen
2) nice interface
3) Excellent call reception and quality
4) slim factor
5) nice almost rubber feeling allows good grip, although so slim slightly awkward to hold
6) memory card
The following are items that are better than most phones but not excellent;
1) camera -no flash, a flash would make it excellent. Kills the M1 in pic quality!!
2) the external screen, although doesn't show pictures it does have caller id and shows all the info you'd want. actually pretty nice.
3) Battery is better than most CDMA phones but not great.
4) you change most option. I hacked the crap out of V3 to personalize it. Next to the sync from cingular this is second best for customization/
Cons:
1) haven't been able to sync to outlook yet.
2) capability of music isn't quite as good as other music phone. Can play but have to go through several menus to get there.
3) This is probably a sprint thing and for sure a verizon thing but can't simply use MP3's as ring tones. Have to go to another site to send them as message to your phone.
4) once again probably a sprint thing, but internet is slow, compared to cingular.
note: if your looking for a new phone and not under contract buy the SYNC a707 from cingular. Simply the BEST phone period!! Can customize EVERYTHING! It has the most simple and vast music player, best camera, fully featured and at $49 is a steal!! The sync is better than ALL sprint and ALL verizon phones phones at ANY price. I am now with sprint because of huge discount and have to settle for best phone which is the m610. Not 5 stars because it's not as good as the sync which is a 5 star. It is however, the best sprint has! The M1 has slighly more features but is ugly and bulky and cost more.
Cool inside, dull outside...
The new Samsung SPH-M610 is a very unique device. The user-interface is speedy and colorful. It does not lag at all when going through the menu. This phone is SO customizable! More than any other phone I have ever had! (and I have had alot!)
It has every top-notch feature I can think of... but the phone still feels awkward in my hand. It is super-slim, the thinnest in the U.S. It is wide and flat, and does not hold to my ear comfortably. I love Samsung, but wish this phone was designed better ergonomically. The buttons are easy to press though.
PROS: 2.0 Meg Pix Camera
30 Min Video Capture
Bluetooth
"THIN" form
3G
CONS: Size
Reception
"THIN" again
P.S. Try it out for yourself, you might like it. I love the phone, just not how it looks or feels.
Sweet!!
When I was looking to upgrade my phone, I started talking with my Sprint Rep and he mentioned the M610, when first looking at the phone, you might think that it would feel fragile but the phone is very comfortable. The matted finish, acts more like a grip.
Pros:
Old School External Display
Slim but solid
Screen is the best I've seen.
2.0 MP camera, you can scroll the full pic size.
Micro SD (I upgraded to a 1GB card, and will never have to remove the card again.)
Cons:
Who couldn't use a longer battery
SD card slot (I worked around it)
signal strength - one dropped call?
better than expected
i wasnt sure i was going to like the phone, but the more i use it the better it gets. the keypad on my 900m was the best id ever used, which is saying a lot, so i was a bit apprehensive about switching, but i figured the better battery life, 2mp camera and memory card justified the change. i was not disappointed. the phone styling takes some getting used to, but when you open it up its gorgeous. the screen is just so big and even more vibrant than the other qvga screens out there. the first words out of everyones mouth when they open it is 'wow.' the performance has been fantastic, much better than the m1 i carried for a month before getting this.
pros
-gorgeous screen
-respectable battery life all things considered
-pretty good camera
-functional bluetooth, i can transfer contacts, pictures and music
-this phone absolutely disappears in your pocket
-fantastically quick menu. very sharp looking, yet not at the expense of usability
-did i mention the screen?
cons
-still a slight lag when searching contacts, but its a s/w issue that samsung obviously wants there
-very heavy users will want an extra battery/charger
-some will have an issue with the flat keypad, but its been mostly a non-issue to me
-music doesnt play in the background like the m1 or chocolate
-no speakerphone with flip closed, though this is impossible based on the phones design (speaker touches mic when closed)
overall im very pleased with this phone and hope samsung will continue with the great fusion of design and function
Excellent phone
Awesome phone. UI is very user friendly. Inside screen is gorgeous and bright. Battery life is good. Phone is very light in weight. Speakerphone is nice and loud. Overall 4.5 stars.
Impressive
I really like it. I had a a900 and it was nice to. But this phone has a faster interface then the a900 and the screen is amazing! I actually like the oled outside screen. It gives the phone a different look. The speakers are good and clear. Internet seems to pop up quicker on this phone for some reason. Overall its great. It would be nice to have a 3.2 megapixel though. Hopefully samsung will do that soon!
Wanted the camera, got the complexity
I wanted the phone mostly for the 2mp camera. Everything else is a bonus, so my opinion is based on stuff I really didn't care about anyway. The Media Player is nice, but BTing files to it got to be a pain to figure out. The instruction book for the phone sucks.
This is the stuff that has affected me the most.
Cons:
- No iSync support from Apple with BlueTooth (BT).
- Camera doesn't flip picture when you rotate the lens inward. No menu item to rotate picture.
- Bad system for managing uploaded files, especially with BT.
- Can't BT files for ringers, images
- BT is really slow (1+ minute to transfer one 4.5mb mp3 file) with MacBook.
- Can't choose where to BT files to in the phone. Automatically go to one place (though you can change it in-between transfers).
- Two ways to play music. Media Player for your mp3s and Sprint "channels". Music player for Sprint Store downloads. Cannot interchange.
- If BT ftp folder isn't set to the right folder ("media") on memory card you can't play music from Media Player without browsing "Mass Storage" (but at least you can do it).
Pros:
- Free 64mb miniSD (with adapter), stereo earbuds.
- Good camera resolution, fast view finder
- Customizable backgrounds and foregrounds (my foreground is my calendar)
- Can set camera memory to miniSD instead of having to transfer after taking pictures
- Sprint Music player is fast, friendly. Plays while surfing music store.
- Media Player is easy to use.
- BT transfers while closed
Advice
- Music: Set BT FTP to "media" folder on sd card. It's created when you start the Media Player and choose card as source.
- Pics: Set memory to memory card
- BT: Pair to a computer. Create folder on computer for files to drop to phone. Use phone to "Get Files" from computer.
Style, But Lacking Substance
I got this phone from Sprint to upgrade from my basic, but bullet proof Sanyo SCP-200. I specifically wanted a Blue-Tooth MP3 player, compatibility with a location service so my wife could find me during my extensive bike riding and a plan with low minutes as I really don't actually talk on the phone much. This narrowed the field fairly quickly. I really wanted to like this phone but it unfortunately came up short. I found reception was a bit weaker than my previous phone, which I was willing to live with. When using this phone with the Motorola S9 Bluetooth headphones the signal was frequently interupted when the phone was in my short pockets or in the back pocket of my bike jersey. When I used the same headset with my wife's Nokia it worked great. Tried a different M610 at the store and had the same problem with reception. As far as GPS reception for the locator service, it worked okay but the Sanyo was usually more accurate and reliable. I have decided to live without a locator service for a while and get a phone
with a good bluetooth MP3 player. Told my wife she wasn't going to find me anyways if I had bounced the phone off the pavement in frustration.
Pros-Possibly the best internal sceen out there.
Light and thin, don't even notice in your pocket.
Camera takes great outdoor pics.
Cons- Weak Bluetooth. Easily blocked signal.
Battery life is short.
