Samsung SGH-T809 / SGH-D820
Phone Scoop Review
Feb 1, 2006 by Jesse Lewin
In-depth review of the razor-thin Samsung T809 slider for T-Mobile. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Good Phone
I've had this phone for a little over a week and couldn't be happier.
Comming from a Motorola V360, I was getting tired of the "plasticy" feel of it, seemed almost like a toy.
Got the t809, and I am enjoying every minute of it. I only have 2 complaints:
No "Ring & Viberate" option
Have to go through 3+ screens to delete a txt msg.
Other than that, I love it.
Love it!!!
If you are reading this and your getting ready to buy this phone but aren't sure because of all the bad reviews people give it. don't listen to them most of it is ridiculous about bluetooth and what not the phone is awesome it has great features and the thing with the battery life, just make sure that you don't play with the phone right away let it charge completely and hey just in case buy a car charger. I'm the type of kid that is constantly playing with their cell pone and texing 24/7. but yet i still have full battery life at the end of the day.
MY PROS:
big screen
INSANELY clear camera
+ it swivels
mp3 player
tex/video/instant/picture messaging
loud speakers
video caller ID.
and speaker phone
MY ONLY CONS:
if you close the phone while your sending a TeX message it automatically puts it under drafts don't get me wrong it still sends (minor thing though)
Hope this helps you
oh and when your receiving a call the ring-tone does ascend you cant change this but i owned the nokia 6101 now there is a loud phone too loud it scared me or people around whenever it rang so i do like the ascending thing
sincerely
-Anthony Meza
Best Phone T-Mobile Sells...Love It!
This phone is amazing...everything a high end user would want in a small razr thin phone!
Pros
-Expandable Memory Card is awesome, easily transfer mp3's (3gps) to the phone for nice mp3 ringtones
-Screen is the best i have ever seen
-Speakerphone loud and clear as well as mp3's.
-UI up to date.phonebook great, u just need to copy the #'s to the phone to take advantage of picture caller id and ringtones.
-Very Thin and comfortable when holding
-Gets the "wow" expression when ppl see it.
-Text messages are sent
Cons
-ppl say the battery life is horrible. i havent had it long enough to tell...only used it for a day now, but so far its not as bad as ppl are saying..still 3/3 bars and used it for 2 hours straight playing w/ the mp3 player and internet. IMO i dont need a great battery cause i will charge it every night.
Thats All...overall a great phone and at $20 at compusa, Cant Beat the Price!
any questions just ask on the forum, ill be happy to help.
T809 works ok for me.
I got my t809 about 8 weeks ago. Before, I had a Motorola V3. So, based on that, I would say.
Pros:
1 Large and bright menu and fonts
2 Large and bright LCD
3 speakerphone is nice and loud
4 Pictures look nice.
5 Calls: sound quality is fine (1-10,is
an 8) Tmobile Bx, NY
6 You can play your own mp3s as ringtones
if you try really hard to set that up.
cons
1 Signal could be better. The signal is about 10% lower than the Motorola V3
2 Tmobile or Samsung will not tell you how to set your own mp3s as ringtones.
I have not use the bluethooth as of now. The video and mp3 player, I really can't say much. I haven't bother with it. I could see my menu and messages 10 times better than I did with the Motorola V3 and that is what I care about.
SGH-D820 vs. SGH-T809
A long standing fan of Nokia, the D820 grabbed my attention while I was vacationing in Europe. I purchased one and brought it home to Colorado. After reading many of the reviews on this phone, I realized the drastic differences between the sister phones D820 and T809.
Unlike on the T809, the D820 is fully customizable. You can change the shortcuts, there is a ring & vibrate option, and many other missing things on the T809 can be easily found on the D820. Common MP3 issues when trying to apply them as a ringtone and not being allowed to due to DRM (Digital Rights Management) issues are also cleared up, but be sure to remove any ID3 tags or there may be some issues. I have also not had any issues with service, using Cingular in the middle of Colorado.
While almost my favorite phone, there are flaws. While none of them are huge, they are little bothers. As with the T809, the ring does ascend while ringing. It would be nice to have the option to turn this off, but no biggie. The slide mechanism is a little stiff. If you aim to use the small ridge they provide to open it, you will most likely also press the up button on the four-way keypad. I have found the best way to open it is place your thumb on the right side of the screen and push. The only other flaw I have found so far is the automatic time and update feature. In the UK and Europe, the carrier networks do not have the ability to provide your phone with this information, so you have to do it manually, which is quite easy to do.
My advice is that if you (like me) enjoy the aesthetic appeal of the T809, but want a phone that you can do what you want with, spring for the extra cost and purchase the D820 from the UK. I purchased mine on eBay, and it came from France. While the manual was in French, you can download all language manuals at samsung.com. I paid $300 for mine, but you can expect to pay $100 - $400. It is unlocked and Quad-Band, so it should work with any service carrier in any country.
Thanks!
T809 for a holdout...
After being a fossil and holding out in wait for an "affordable" metal phone I finally caved in when I saw the T809. It's sleek lines, it's HUGE screen and the possibility to store loads of stuff (music, video, documents etc) on it convinced me that this was the phone to get.
But... I must say I am a tad disappointed. Here's my list of pros and cons:
PRO:
- Light: slips into your shirt or pants pocket without making the garment wrinkle too much nor make it feel like you drag around a brick.
- HUGE screen; You can really use this screen for lazy watching of video, I wish I could landscape things though...
- Easy interface: I found after many years of Nokia use the interface was easy to learn as they to me were quite similar in philosophy.
- Impresses people and not yet common like the RAZR: Ok, silly but works for me especially as I personally hate to have the same gear as everybody else.
- Easy to load files (docs, audio, video): Just drag and drop with data connection.
CONS:
Battery life: Samsung says on their site it should last ~130hrs (dep on netwk cond etc) 50% of that is more likely to expect with normal usage. If you get loads of phone-calls, have vibrator on & an mp3 as your ring-tone, phone will run out before 24hrs has passed. And if you expect to use this instead of an iPod expect to have to recharge it during the day. Seems like the mp3 player sucks power out of it like nothing else.
Dust sensitive: In less than 2-3 days I had dust under the main cover for the screen. I stored the phone in my pocket so maybe that was a contributing factor but still. The dust is mainly in the upper left corner so there may be some poor gluing process at work. If you don't want dust, the best is probably to have an external cover from the very beginning.
With hopes this helps someone...
/Lindus
Got PC Sync to work
I also, had an issue with sync the Phone via the USB cable with my PC. I called Samsung (1-888-987-4357) and got the answer straight from them.
First you need to go into settings menu. Then into your phone settings menu and under this menu you will find USB settings on the phone. Then change your phone from âMass Storageâ to âModemâ this now will allow you PC to pickup on your phone as a connected Samsung Phone instead of a mass USB storage device.
And for you old school Nokia fans, like myself here is the shortcut key.
Menu > 9 > 2 > 5
Also, while I was on the phone with Samsung I found out how to figure out what version of T809 is your phone. Type this in to your dial pad: *#9999# and you should get a popup window. I am not sure what these number mean, however they were valube to tech support at Samsung. I am gueess it is firmware and software build.
I have a
ET809.02
T809UVEJ9
Excellent Phone But Needs Some Work
I upgrade this phone online at my-tmobile got it the next day Ive test the phone for hours i have to say i own the Sony Ericsson s710 and the diffrence is video capture samsung great video then s710. camera awesome on both phones but my Ericsson mp3s can be downloaded as ringtones now samsung mp3s are there but some how tmobile locked the feature on this phone it does support mp3s if you download for mp3player but for ringtones it is locked tmobile rather have costomers spend 2.49 per mp3s on there website instead getting them for free on other websites. you can download mp3s on your phone but to set it as ringtones its locked some how i will unlocked this phone complete to see if this feature would work other then this. otherwise the phone is great for pictures and videos and mp4s is great...
T809 What a phone
First thing you'll notice about the Samsung T809 is the large screen. Quality of the screen is very clear. Coupled with the 1.3m pixel camera, this is by far the best camera phone under five hundred. However, because of the size of the screen, it does smudge easily.
The buttons behind the slide is smaller but not at all too cumbersome. I found it easy to use (easier compared to the RAZR). T-mobile packaged 64mb transflash with a SD adapter so making music loading a lot easier.
Overall, great phone. Loaded with many features such as EDGE.
Pros: Edge, 1.3m pixel camera, large screen, small form factor.
Cons: USB not standard, maybe a bit too pricey.
t809 is a great phone
dont get me wrong this phone is not without its faults but i have had great luck with this phone thus far.The color screen is great and the reception is awsome. i love the memory card feature. yes some dust does get under the screen but its not that bad. overall the phone is well worth the purchase.
