This hefty Windows Mobile-powered smartphone features a slide-out keypad, GSM/CDMA network access, a brilliant screen, and dial-up networking at EV-DO speeds. Is it worth the jaw-dropping price tag?
If you're a globe-trotting road warrior looking for top-notch productivity and messaging in a handheld, the dual-mode IP-830w might be just the ticket -- albeit an expensive one. Messaging options on this hefty smartphone are impressive, and the phone's CDMA/GSM capabilities mean you can chat and surf almost anywhere in the world. Samsung has gone the extra mile including Picsel Browser, which is an improvement over IE Mobile, and we're big fans of the MITs launcher window and the long, crisp display. However, we were disappointed by the IP-830w's iffy call quality, and the problematic thumbboard combined with the tricky Windows Mobile menus means one-handed operation is practically out of the question. Release: October 2006. Price: $500.
Pros: Dual-mode functionality. Great document viewer and Web browser in Picsel Browser. Very large screen. Fast load times on EV-DO network.
Cons: Expensive. Little multimedia content offered. Windows Mobile requires frequent use of the stylus. Phone feels very large, though not heavy.
Poor
Mediocre
65% GOOD
Very good
Excellent
Full review of the Samsung IP-830w:
Design
The Samsung IP-830w feels like a large phone thanks to its signature feature: the QWERTY keypad that slides out vertically from the bottom. However, it is only a tenth of an inch deeper than the Palm Treo 700p, a bit narrower, and just a tenth of an ounce heavier. With its nearly unbroken lines, the 830w has sharper angles and bulges on the back of the case, giving it a slightly utilitarian, though not unattractive, look. The dark metallic blue shell is slimming, and the tall screen makes the phone easy to use when closed. Buttons are a little small, especially the five-way button, and it is too easy to press the "Back" key when you mean to press down. Additionally, using the touch screen and the keypad at the same time is a two-handed affair, as the phone is simply too long to comfortably navigate with one hand. As with most slider phones, the top row of keys tends to butt up against the top half of the device. The slide itself is spring-loaded, but not as tight as we felt on smaller Samsung sliders, such as the diminutive U420 Nimbus. The screen, 2.8 inches diagonally and capable of 262,000 colors, reflects a shortcoming of Windows Mobile, as its resolution is stuck at 320 by 240 pixels. Thus, phones with smaller screens, such as the Cingular 3125, will look sharper, as they have the same number of pixels. Hopefully, future iterations of the Windows Mobile OS will allow for higher resolution on these larger screens.
Messaging - Very good
Messaging on the IP-830w is as good as most Windows Mobile devices, but for the premium you will pay for this phone, it should be better. Outlook handles multiple e-mail accounts well through ActiveSync, and the phone will access corporate Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino accounts, complete with push e-mail capabilities. However, switching between accounts requires some menu manipulation. SMS messaging is fine, with a full 160 characters on screen at once, but threading, a feature on the Palm OS Treo, is not available on Windows Mobile. Instant messaging, only available through MSN messenger, is a strange affair, as half the screen is left blank. Additionally, while messages that are longer than the top portion of the screen require scrolling, the phone will not allow you to scroll through IM chats using the five-way button. Instead, you must break out the stylus. Individually, the keys on the QWERTY keyboard are nicely raised, with a clear gap between letters, though they feel a bit stiff, and require a good hard depression to activate. Beyond our issues with the top row of keys near the top half of the phone, the IP-830w has a ridge around the bottom of the slide, which causes difficulty in pressing the keys on the edges, including the "Fn" key, used frequently to create symbols. We wish this phone, and every QWERTY smartphone, would adopt the method of the T-Mobile Dash, whose symbols activate on a long keystroke, instead of requiring two keys at once.
Scheduling - Very good
Compared with the Windows Mobile-powered Treo 700wx, the Samsung IP-830w shows some minor improvements in scheduling. Appointment subjects and locations can be automatically completed, helping with one-handed use. The same familiar Outlook style is present, though it does not have the more lush and colorful look found in the same application on Cingular's 3125. The tall screen helps view an entire business day's appointments at once, and then some. Synchronizing schedules is seamless with ActiveSync over the network, USB 2.0 connection, or Bluetooth. We would have liked an "undo" feature in the calendar application, especially considering how many steps it takes to change and rearrange appointments, but this is a minor complaint.
Productivity - Very good
In addition to a full suite of Windows Mobile Office applications, Samsung has included the Picsel Browser application, which is a simple, yet powerful viewer-only app for Word and Excel documents and web pages. This was our first experience with Picsel Browser, but hopefully it won't be our last, as the program was a joy to use. Though it relies on stylus input, navigating documents was a snap with Picsel, which allows you to drag around the page and zoom in or out with a simple gesture. Documents looked clean and clear, and complicated Web pages were almost completely viewable in the Picsel Browser window. You can assign various document types to open in Picsel or their Office Mobile counterparts, and if you don't need to do any editing on your document, we highly recommend you opt for Picsel. Otherwise, the Mobile Office suite offers some powerful editing features, though not quite complete compared to their desktop versions. In addition to the standard Windows Mobile PocketPC edition Start Menu and Today screen, Samsung has included a special launcher called the Mobile Intelligent Terminal (MITs). This small pop-up window corresponds to a button on the top half of the slider, and allows one-touch switching between various categories of applications and control panels. In practice, it was only slightly more convenient than the Start menu, cutting down on some scrolling and a few menu levels to reach the program you need.
Laptop sidekick - Very good
Connecting your laptop to the high-speed EV-DO network is simple with Sprint's connection manager. Speeds were good, averaging around 500kbps, and we occasional saw megabit speeds. The phone includes a USB cable for tethered modem support in addition Bluetooth dial-up networking, but you cannot charge the phone via the USB cable. Instead, there is a junction on the USB cable into which you must plug the charger, which means you'll have to bring along an extra cable.
Calling - Good
The IP-830w benefits from the excellent contact list of Windows Mobile PPC Edition. Finding numbers is quick with live searching, and dialing is easy. Keys on the touch screen, useful when dialing with the slide closed, were a little small, so you will probably be opening the phone to dial new numbers. Call quality was not so good, unfortunately. Testing the phone on a relatively quiet New York street and in a halfway-full restaurant, calls were so muddy as to be unintelligible. If you speak loudly, you will beat the noise, but risk becoming a nuisance yourself. Even calls made under optimal conditions suffered from reception issues, though the phone showed full signal strength. Rings were loud enough to hear from a pocket. When the phone vibrates, the shaking is so strong that it creates an audible buzz, especially when the bottom is slid open. The phone supports Bluetooth, speaker-independent voice recognition, and MP3 ringtones. Conference calling isn't documented in the manual or menus, but it is there, and is pretty intuitive once you've figured it out (hint: press the green call button to join the calls).
Multimedia - Good
Browsing the web on the Samsung IP-830w is second only to Nokia's S60 operating system, thanks to speedy page-loading and the Picsel Browser app. With its scaled zoom feature and variable speed scrolling, all controlled through simple gestures with the stylus, browsing with Picsel is a great experience. Complicated pages, such as the New York Times home page, load completely, though some layout comes through a bit muddy. More complicated AJAX sites such as YouTube will not function, but Flickr gave us no problems. Unfortunately, the device does not come with Sprint's TV options -- too bad, as we would have liked to see their performance on the large screen. Windows Media player handles all popular music formats and video files. The device includes an option to activate built-in GPS, but no software for this function is currently being offered. There is no camera on the phone, but many power users in sensitive work environments may not miss the feature. The phone accepts SD cards.
Odds and ends
The quad-band designation for this phone only tells half the story. In fact, those are two CDMA bands and two GSM bands, allowing for dual-mode capabilities and worldwide usage. Sprint includes a SIM card that you can activate should you travel abroad and want to roam on a foreign GSM network. Unfortunately, UMTS is not supported, so you won't get high-speed networking abroad, but we commend the CDMA carrier offering GSM at all, a rarity in the market.
Price and availability
Available now on Sprint, the Samsung IP-830w retails for $750, or $600 with a two-year service agreement.
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