The flip phone looks like the long-lost twin of the Samsung SGH-T619, but it trumps its brother with its 3G capabilities and microSD memory expansion. Jennifer Hooker puts the M500 through its paces.
Review summary of the Samsung SPH-M500:
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 The Samsung SPH-M500 packs some impressive features into its rather ordinary shell, including support for speedy EV-DO networks and Sprint Power Vision video and music, a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth and a handy dictionary. The flip phone boasts great call quality and a variety of calling features, including speaker-independent voice dialing, a speakerphone and conference calling. However, we were disappointed by the phone's sub-par messaging and tricky three-way calling. Release: November 2006. Price: $1.
Pros: Great call quality; instant messaging; stereo Bluetooth; comfortable keypad
Cons: Hard-to-read messaging interface; time lag for phonebook's while-you-type searching; confusing conference calling; limited camera controls
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Full review of the Samsung SPH-M500:
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Design
We did a double-take when we first saw the Samsung SPH-M500, seeing as it looks so similar to the Samsung SGH-T619 on T-Mobile (read our full review). Like the T619, the M500 isn't a stunning clamshell, although we still admired its sleek, understated look and its slim profile (0.7 inches). The M500 also shares the same 262,000-color screen as the T619, but the M500's wide, flat keypad has a glossy finish compared to the matte finish on the T619's keys, and more importantly, the M500 adds a microSD expansion slot on its right side.
Multimedia - Good
The EV-DO-enabled M500 features the entire Sprint Power Vision lineup, including access to Sprint TV and the Sprint Music Store. We were able to browse through news clips and movie trailers with ease, although the relatively blocky image quality was about average. Unfortunately, our review unit couldn't purchase any tunes from the carrier's music store (PR reps assured us that this won't be a problem once the phone is released), but we checked out the Sirius and Sprint radio offerings, and we were particularly pleased with the handset's support for stereo Bluetooth. The clamshell's Web browser also performed well, loading most URLs without a hitch; it even loaded up The New York Times site without crashing, albeit sans photos.
Camera - Mediocre
The M500's 1.3-megapixel camera isn't spectacular, but takes average photos and features many ways to get your pictures to your pals, including MMS, Bluetooth, and PictBridge. Image clarity is decent, as is the color balance, but we were annoyed by the lack of a zoom unless we used a "fun frame." Once you snap your shot, there's not much you can do to jazz them up, but the phone does offer frames and color adjustments that you can add to your snapshots.
Calling - Very good
Call quality was surprisingly good on the M500. Calls were clear with no static or ambient noise, and reception in Manhattan and suburbs of Northern New Jersey was strong, never dipping below three bars. The M500 also packs in the usual suspects in terms of calling features, including Bluetooth, a speakerphone, three-way calling and speaker-independent voice dialing. Each of the easy-to-use features functioned smoothly, although the conference calling menus were a little unclear in terms of joining separate calls. The clamshell's three-way calling also lacked the ability to maneuver between calls or end one without hanging up completely (a standard problem with CDMA phones). The M500's phonebook is attractive and clear with several entry fields per contact. The contact list also supports while-you-type searching, but there is about a four-second lag between tapping a key and getting the correct name.
Messaging - Good
Messaging was a weak spot on the M500. The phone's texting interface only fit about 109 characters on the screen, well short of our preferred 160. However, our main complaint was the light gray font color that makes messages rather difficult to read. There were also a few more steps than we appreciated to send messages. That said, we typed with ease on the M500's smooth, glossy keypad, thanks to its slightly raised, backlit buttons, and the included dictionary is a nice touch. The phone also has instant messaging with support for AIM, MSN and Yahoo, and includes tabs in its menu for WAP e-mail.
Price and availability
The Samsung SPH-M500 will start selling for Free ((Sprint)) in November 2006.
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