Samsung's latest consumer phone, the SGH-T100 is a great consumer phone. But as Oliver Thylmann discovers, a consumer phone is all it is.
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Samsung increased it's 2nd quarter mobile phones sales by 46.4%, according to Gartner Dataquest, and is strengthening its position as the number three seller of mobile terminals. Playing with the Samsung SGH-T100 tells me that this is not totally undeserved.
 | The T100 is a good phone, but only a phone
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The SGH-T100 is a dual band (900/1800) GSM clam-shell phone with a 4,096 color screen (128x160 pixels) on the inside and a second smaller non-color screen on the outside, which shows the time, SMS messages received and who is calling, among other things. The phone weighs 94g with a slim battery and measures 88 x 55 x 23 mm when closed. It comes with a second thicker standard battery for longer standby-by (110 hours) and call time (4 hours). Even though it has a color screen it held up well over a three-day period with good usage with the standard battery, which is good enough for taking it with you on a short trip over the weekend. The slim included battery holds up well, and gives the phone a very nice form factor.
The phone also features 16-voice polyphonic ring tones that sound wonderful and are, as always, something that will make you an instant attraction on a train. The keys have very good tactile feedback and SMS typing and T9 implementation is well implemented. On top of that I have to admit that clamshell models start to grow on me for usage as a phone, because it feels much more like a phone when you place or receive a call than with some of the tiny phones that disappear in your hand.
The internal phonebook holds 500 contacts. Besides other standard features the phone has a WAP 1.1 browser, EMS support, voice control, recording and dialing, an alarm, a calendar, memo function, to-do list and vibration. It also includes three games that are wonderful to play with the color screen and keypad.
The beauty of the color screen is visible right from the start when your phone is searching for a network. At that time, you will see a full color image of a watch tower including the revolving light. This animation type background image is possible because you can choose several images from the ones stored on your phone to be shown one after the other, giving you the animation effect. One of the default animations is a set of five pictures with sunflowers or a wonderful skyline at night.There is not much else to say, not that this is not enough. With the power of this phone, I was wondering where the GPRS access is, why there is no e-mail client, why it does not synchronize with my Desktop PIM and if I am just overlooking the IR port. All of these things are nowhere to be found, which feels weird taking the rest of the features into account. When thinking about it some more, you simply realize that this is not a business phone, and it was never meant to be. It is a "basic" consumer phone and at that, it is very good and makes for a very personal connection the phone.
This is also where the general packaging comes in. When you open the package you do not see the phone. First, you see a big CD-ROM and a nice square case, similar to those used for good watches or jewelry. To find the phone you need to pull the case out of the box and open it, revealing your new treasure (yes this is really how it feels). You will also find the two batteries mentioned about above, the charger, and a hands free set.
The Japanese influence becomes apparent with this hands free set because it allows you to wear the phone as a necklace, which is actually very comfortable, even though here in Europe some people might think it to be a bit pretentious to wear your phone around your neck. If you use that feature though, you can also set the phone to accept voice commands when closed (which it normally doesn't). In this case, you can simply press a button on the cord of the earplug, say the name of the person you want to call (which you would have recorded in the contact entry previously) and the phone dials. Simply wonderful.
Sadly, if you set it to accept voice commands when closed, opening the lid will also have it go directly into the voice command mode, meaning that when you open it, it asks you to say a name. This means you really need to switch that feature on and off dependant on how you want to operate the phone.
The CD that comes with the phone includes special software, which allows you to connect to the phone via the Serial cable that is also included in the package. While I thought it would allow me to synchronize the phone with the desktop, the cable is for putting new images and ring tones on the phone. The CD comes with well over 200 ring tones, which should be enough variety to please almost anyone. The application also allows you to scale photos to fit nicely on the phone.
Conclusion
Overall, I have to say that I really like this phone ... as a phone. Anyone who does not need business type features or does not use a lot of WAP can safely go with this one and have a phone that they will enjoy. However, it is nothing more than a phone, even though a very good one. I would have given it 5 or even 6 out of 6 stars if it were not for the lack of business features and GPRS, which are starting to be standard for a phone in this price range, namely 600 EURs without a contract.
- What's positive: Good Quality, Polyphony, Color, Voice Control, Lots of accessories included
- What's negative: No business features, No GPRS
| Features | 5/10 |
| Exterior | 6/10 |
| Ergonomics | 6/10 |
| Performance | 7/10 |
| Value: | 5/10 |
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iSW Score:
5.8/10 |
Price and availability
The will start selling for TBA () in November 1999.
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