Battery = Dead (Samsung SGH-i780)

Member Name: 87degrees

Product:	Samsung SGH-i780
Date:	14/02/09 (210 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: touch screen, screen size, email, voice quality, operating system

Disadvantages: key size, battery life

I started a new job last year and my manager got me kitted up with the tools I'd need to do my job - including a shiny new mobile phone. I needed a phone capable of receiving and sending emails.

Before now, I've not cared much about my mobile. My personal phone is the same one I've had since before I started university. I don't demand much from my phone. I have never cared for the fancy features that now come as standard. Still, I sat down with my manager and went through a list of the various phones that the company would be willing to buy for me. We settled on the Samsung i780.

The phone arrived and I (and the two other new starters on the team) excitedly opened the box to look inside. I found the phone, plug adapter, a charger, a USB connector that can hook to either the phone or the charger, and two batteries. That last one worried me. My personal phone has excellent battery life (combined with the fact I don't use it that much) and it seemed that my new work phone was equipped so that one battery would be constantly charging while the other was being used in the phone.

It turns out I was right in my doubts. Once I started using the phone, it became apparent that the battery life sucks. I've done what I can with changing the power settings and the background display but the battery still only lasts about a day. I can work with this. I start each day with a fully charged battery (while recharging the spare) and I can be reasonably sure my phone won't die on me in the middle of a call to a partner. It also means that the battery will run out on Friday evening and I have a wonderful excuse for not checking my calls or emails all weekend.

The keys are tiny. This is a fault of almost all phones that come with a keyboard. It's very difficult to type messages or enter phone numbers. Typing messages is a horrible chore and writing even a sentence probably takes me five times as long as on my personal phone. When making calls, you can bring up a keypad on the screen which makes it considerably easier if you're making a call to an automated system and need to enter numbers.

Occasionally, I have an issue if I've locked the screen and someone calls me. Sometimes the phone automatically hangs up on the person when I try to answer. This doesn't happen often, but just enough to be irritating.
Before it sounds like I detest this phone, I should probably talk about some of the things I like.

It has good sound quality on the calls. This is one of the most important things about the phone and I've not had any problems at all. When I'm making a phone call, I can clearly hear the person I'm talking to and I've never had any complaints about the quality of my voice.

The screen is a good size. I can easily read my emails or view websites without having to squint or find a magnifying glass.

It has good connectivity. I expect this is as much to do with network coverage as the phone, but I've never had difficulty getting a signal for either calls or internet connection.

I like the operating system. It has Windows Mobile installed and this is a very easy to use operating system and extremely simple to navigate. It's easy for me to find the functions I need.

When I start to enter a phone number, the phone brings up a list of the contacts and recently called numbers that start with that combination of keys. So I don't have to dial the whole number every time if I call the same number more than once, even if I don't add them to my contact list.

It was very easy to set up and is now connected to my work contact list. This means I don't have to enter contact details for everyone, I just enter their name and the phone searches the work database.

I can use it to store files. I haven't used this feature much but it's useful to know in case I ever forget my USB drive.

The touch screen interface is nice and responsive. The phone comes with a little stylus which tucks into a slot in the back, but I tend to use the phone by tapping the screen with my thumbnail. There are also buttons and a little mouse control. The interface is all I would expect it to be.

However, there are a lot of features about this phone I don't use. I don't need it to have blue tooth connectivity. I've never used the camera. I don't expect to want to use media player to watch videos on a screen that size. I'm not going to use it as an alarm clock if I can't be sure the battery will last the night. I don't need a pocket calculator. I don't see the appeal of playing solitaire on the phone. The phone comes with quite a lot of functionality that I don't expect I will ever use. I sometimes wonder if it would have been better if they stripped out have the functions and put that effort into better battery life.

Overall, I'm happy with this phone. I can use it for making calls on and checking my emails which is what I need it for. The only things I particularly dislike about it are the size of the keyboard and the battery life.

I will be using this phone for the foreseeable future and it will suit my needs well enough, but it's probably not the best phone on the market.

Summary: Small keys and appalling battery life, but otherwise a good phone