Samsung i600 Smartphone
August 2004. Chris Sacksteder, cjs<removethis>@psu.edu
Device decommissioned on 7/5/06.
I received this phone with Verizon CDMA service on 8/16/04 to replace an aging Nokia 6162 with ATT TDMA service. It was easy to setup up and figure out how to use. It came with Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone. I already had ActiveSync 3.7.1 on my desktop, so just plugging in the USB cable was all that was needed to load my notes and contacts. The choice between a Pocket PC and a Smartphone is a hard one. After carrying the Siemens Pocket PC for a month, I decided I didn't want something that size hanging on my belt, and it is a bit too large for the pocket. But I do miss the larger touch screen. There is no Terminal Services client.Pages
- Things Done — details of what was done to test the device
- Details — longer discussion of the device
- Problems — things that didn't work
- Wish List — things I wish it had or could do (or haven't figure out how to do yet)
Features
- Dimensions: 3.5" x 2.1" x .9", weight: 5.0 oz.
- Processor: 200MHz PXA250 XScale
- Memory 32MB ROM, 32MB RAM
- Display 176x220x65k TFT; monochrome external display
- Audio: two speakers and a headset
- Expansion: 1 MMC/SD slot, supports SDIO (but the OS doesn't)
- Batteries: 900mAh and 1700mAh lithium ion
- Speech recognition for dialing and other commands
Plusses
- Fairly good size and weight compared to a Pocket PC (but rather big compared to some of those little teeny tiny phones).
- Bright, clear display.
- Cool looking.
- Does many things.
- Stereo headphones sound great; plays music well.
- Lot's of third-party software.
Minuses
- Battery life is very short; presumably the fast processor and bright screen take a lot of juice. Screen brightness can be adjusted and turned off. It would be nice to be able to turn off the backlight for the keys, but maybe that doesn't take much power.
- Character input is difficult, as expected. It would be nice if you could somehow use your computer's keyboard as an input device when it is docked (Pocket PC Controller will do this). There is an optional external keyboard that doesn't work too well.
- No text notes -- Outlook Notes are not sync'ed to the phone.
- SDIO (e.g., for a Bluetooth card) not supported (12/5/04, saw posting of a beta driver)
- Turns off radio ("Flight mode" on) when it can't get a signal for a while; doesn't turn back on automatically if you are in a better area. It also turns off the radio when the battery is low (good), but won't turn it on when you plug in the charger until the battery is charged a bit.
- Crashes/hangs too often (depending on what you are running on it, I haven't had much trouble lately).
- Backup via ActiveSync not supported.
Other Reviews
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This page was last modified: 12/18/2006 3:03:46 PM.