Samsung SCH-i760 (Verizon Wireless)

October 19, 2007 07:51

4.5/5
I have had this phone for a month now (was on of "the 40") and i love it. one handed operation is a little tough--T9 would have been useful on the front numeric keyboard, however, the front does feature auto complete.

The only annoying thing about the phone is that when typing on the keyboard, it is easy to hit the green call button, which brings up a different menu. i would also like to have a up and down scroll button for web browsing with one hand.

this phone is capable with media--i can watch youtube via tcpmp and flashbundle. i can listen to MP3s and even set them to be my ring tone. it has the standard 2.5 mm jack, so you need a converter for regular headphones.

WM6 could use a few updates on this phone. there is no snooze button on the alarm. mobile office does not yet open office 2007 document--though i hear an update is coming. there is no native zip support, and the close button doesn't close the applications. after downloading a few mobile apps, i am pretty satisfied.

there could be more memory on the phone. when using PIE, it can get sluggish depending on the site and my memory drops. if you want a more desktop like browsing experience, you can use the included picsel browser, however, none of these have flash support.

the phone works well, though it is not the most comfortable when holding it up to my ear...and i get ear smudges on the screen. i can hear the callers fine, though they sound tinny. with my jawbone callers sound better.

the form factor is perfect for me. some complained that the phone is too big...but if it were any smaller, the buttons would not accommodate my hands. the construction feels solid and the slider is sturdy. i have dropped it once and i held up fine.

the phone comes with two batteries. i only use the extended battery, which usually lasts a day and a half depending on use. the desktop charger on the vzw website does not seem to sync the phone, which seems a little dumb, but it only came out today and accessories may be added.

all in all, i love this phone. it is dependable, and most of my issues are desired tweaks to the OS and not the phone. so far, it is the best pda offering from Verizon, and as they only seem to come only with one PDA a year, we are fortunate this is a good one.

- drakefantastic

November 6, 2007 02:16

3.5/5
Just coming off a T-Mobile Dash and I already miss it's UI. However, I'm happy to be back on the Verizon network! The i760 has everything: Touch screen, full keyboard, Wi-Fi, bill screen and more. But, they missed the mark on the UI. For example, you often get to a screen where in order to close it, you need to either use the stylus to hit the tiny "X", or use the OK key. The problem is; the OK key is only on the slider keyboard. Why didn't they just make the OK the center button on the navigation wheel or use the "CLR" key? (Note: you can use the Red END Key on the side of the phone to go back to the HOME screen, but that doesn't close the application.) Next, the keyboard doesn't have a num-lock function, so you either have to use the key pad or have to keep hitting the num function. The keyboard is also missing the apostrophe character. You can only get to it from a special symbol list and pick from the screen. Lastly, the # key defaults to a space, even when you are in a form that requires numbers.

Also, when you press a key for a short period of time on other Smartphone and the Blackberry, it gives you the shifted character, not on this phone.

I also found keyboard very tight, especially when pressing the Y or U key, which often resulted in me press the green call key on the side of the phone!

Now, this may sound like I'm being picky, but I'm a "power user" and expect these obvious UI functions on a expensive Smartphone as i760.

It also missing Profiles, which I found to be very useful on the Q and Dash.

I found the phone slippery. Because of it's weight, I'm affraid that I may drop it. I wish it had a "sticky" finish like the Dash.

Lastly, the USB cable that comes with phone, won't charge the battery! I called Samsung and they said they plan to have a USB data/charging cable in the future. Also, the audio jack is not standard.

Now, you may ask why I gave this phone a 7. The phone is powerful, fast, battery life is good and the touch screen (with a stylus) is nice, especially with cut & paste features.

Being on the Verizon network, and having WiFi moved my rating from a 5 to 7. So, being that I disliked the Q for many reasons, moved to the T-Mobile Dash because it is best Smartphone for its size and price, but couldn't get service inside my home, I'm left to with the i760 on the Verizon network. So, I'll have to get used to this un-intuitive UI. Hopefully, they read these posts.

- erok210

October 24, 2007 10:42

5.0/5
I know it's a little early to review this phone since I have only been using it for 24 hours now, but this isn't my first Smartphone so I am able to get a good idea as to whether or not I will like this phone and I will have to say that I LOVE it! I previously had a Verizon 6700 and a Q.

Right out of the box the phone feels well made. The sliding keyboard pops out in a snappy way. Transition from vertical to horizontal viewing is quick. The keyboard is not slippery at all. Very roomy and quick to respond. I have had no trouble with the amount of room on the top row either.

I charged it and began using it right away. So far I have been using the phone on the extended battery for 24 hours and I still have over 1/2 a charge. In the first 24 hours, I have used it tons. Synching with my PC, WiFi internet browsing, playing videos and listening to music. Heck, I was even browsing the internet WHILE I listened to tunes with absolutely no lag time!

Call quality has been excellent. Right off the bat my husband said I sounded clearer than I had on my previous 2 phones. I used the phone in a hilly area that is notorious for dropped calls and did not lose my call. The speakerphone and earphone are quite loud. My WMA ringtones are VERY loud. I have no problems hearing anyone or hearing the phone ring.

I will also say that it is the best sounding mp3 playing phone I have ever heard. I can actually use this phone to listen to music and it sounds very good. I tend to be anti-Ipod and all my devices run WMP for the convenience. I am also a Napster To Go subscriber and love the fact that I can use that service with this phone. I can synchronize with Napster and use the phone just like I would my Gigabeat. I curretly have a 1gb card but I will be getting a larger card because I can really see myself using this phone to listen to music.

Touch screen is quick to respond. I love the external keypad for phone dialing. I found on the 6700 I had issues pushing screen buttons and what not and find the external dial pad much easier to use.

The phone has a 'sleep' feature that turns the touch screen off until you press the on/off button. I will have to say I love this feature. I can throw the phone in my purse and not have to worry about who my phone is randomly calling.

I have played with the camera and video recorder and I personally find the quality very good for a cell phone camera. I am usually pretty shaky when I take a picture and I had no issues with the clarity of the picture or video. Flash is a little bright and tends to wash things out if you are too close, but I am not using this for a camera and that feature to me is just a convenience in case I'm out and feel the need to capture a moment.

I have been trying to find CONS and really cannot. I'm trying to get used to the Send/End buttons being on the side of the phone. I will have to say that I have ended a call because of the button placement but I am guessing it is just a learning curve and I will have to learn how to hold this phone.

Verizon doesn't offer Vcast and the ringtone features on their Smartphones and frankly I could care less. I make my own ringtones and download my own video content.

I would recommend getting a screen protector. I personally love the Invisible Shield protectors. I don't work for them! I had a leftover 6700 screen protector that I used on my Samsung and it fit perfectly. Their website doesn't have a protector for the i760 yet so if you are interested just order the protector for the 6700.

I would recommend this phone to anyone that is in the market for Smartphone!

- lauraruff

October 22, 2007 02:11

4.5/5
Frankly, I am sick and tired of seeing 6.5 - 7.3 ratings from CNET on pretty much all windows mobile or for that matter any non-apple product. It is so obvious that the people at CNET have a huge bias towards apple products. The very same things that they complain about on other phones seems to have not been a problem on the iphone (for example they say the i760 has a "slippery" keyboard - its not i've used a blackberry, treo, and a Q and this is by far the best keyboard so far, yet the iphone which is completely touchscreen keyboard they dont have a problem with??)

about the i760:

this phone is great, i dont know why CNET mentions that they were "scared" of the phone and show how "big" it is next to that palm unit. i just replaced my treo with the i760 and its both smaller and thinner than the treo!!!

pros: everything seems great on this phone - although i only have it a day so far.

cons: wish it was out 6 months ago, stylus is a little wierd, and some times when pressing the talk button the keyboard will start to slide out.

- i0sandman0i

October 25, 2007 04:03

5.0/5
This phone has real world usability. I came from a Samsung SCH-i730 which was a good design, however this model is better in nearly every way. I wasn't sold with the horizontal slide out at first (the i730 was vertical slide), but I quickly became accustomed to it and now like it better.

I've owned a lot of phones in my time and this one proves to have that special touch of extreme, meticulous thought put into it before it was built.

Example of niceness:
I don't have to lock the phone anymore. While it's easy to do so, the buttons are arranged in a way that hasn't triggered an accidental miss-dial yet. It goes into a battery saving standby mode after about 10 seconds and no key will turn it on except for the top "wake-up" button which would be just about impossible to accidentally hit, but is easy and convenient to use regularly.

All the sounds (thanks to MS) have been tuned to be so pleasing now. I left it on the stock ring tone because it's actually really pleasant to hear, but not annoying (hard combo to find).

Samsung's design makes nice use of the WM6 software. There are no buttons on the phone that do not make sense or are "extra".

The phone is easy to hold w/out hitting a ton of buttons accidentally (a big issue with the i730).

I can't believe how good the batt life is. I easily use it hard all day on the slim battery. I use the slighly larger battery that it comes with as my back-up. I have the data plan so I'm constantly picking up large and frequent e-mails (full download, not just headers) and it doesn't miss a beat.

This thing is truly a work-horse phone for the mobile professional. If you like PDA phones (Treo, i730, ...maybe blackberry user), then you'll assuredly love this phone.

PS. Judging by CNET's weak review, they didn't give it enough time to really learn it's groove. It's not like other phones. It doesn't need a scroll wheel (there's so many other ways to access data including your voice). If they are going to write a review, they should work on being less biased towards the norm and open to change. Quite possibly the best phone currently for this market segment. A+ overall Samsung...when are you going to joing the NYSE so us loyal Americans can start investing in your company?!?!

- michalscheck

October 18, 2007 09:00

4.5/5
Interesting that CNET compares this size wise to that little palm, not quite fair imo. Verizon accidentally released about 50 of these phones in September and I got one. Those of you who had a i730 will be pleased with how much smaller this model is. It's very pocketable. It's solidly built, I lost my temper with someone on the phone and spiked it onto a carpeted floor HARD. It didn't even need soft reset. You will need more than 48 hours to get used to the side buttons, I did and now it's second nature. I will definitely call this phone a keeper. You folks still milking a 730 or a Treo 700wx will find this to be a nice upgrade.

- sixftunda

December 4, 2007 06:24
Good
1.5/5
1. The "call" and "end call" buttons are on the sides of the phone. As you press the "call" button you also are placing pressure on the side of the phone that opens the slider keyboard. As a result, it is not always clear whether the call has actually been answered or placed.

2. The touch screen frequently does not register stylus taps when using the pop-up keyboard. As a result, you must constantly check spelling and continually go back to enter missed letters.

3. The stylus is retractable and very small. Makes using it tedious.

4. The phone does not consistently switch from profile to landscape and back. I could not identify a consistent pattern for when this feature would activate itself.

5. The touch screen became unstable after 25 days use, a pop-up menu would appear when the sides of the phone were pressed, the "3" key would not work, and assigned number keys for short-cut dialing to friends and associates stopped working.

I just returned this phone and got a different brand.

- meisty

November 5, 2007 11:10

3.5/5
Ive had the i760 for about two weeks now. Let me say I was extremely excited to receive it after owning many smartphones and pocket pcs before including a few from Kyocera and Palm (Treo 650, 700p, and 700wx). Based on many of the reviews on CNET my expectations were high.

I can say that I am moderately impressed. The phone is sturdy and is well constructed. Ill agree with other posts and say that the button design (ok, windows, etc.) takes some time to get used to. Windows Mobile 6 is a drastic improvement upon 5. Mobile 6 also allows the user to manually shut down programs that otherwise stay open jamming up the 64 MB of Ram. While Im on the topic of Ram, let me say that there is not enough. The phone is slow to respond, especially when turning it on after an idle period. The change from portrait to landscape can also be quite sluggish as well. Even after shutting down all running programs the phone uses 33.77 MB. Dont be fooled by the phones speed when you get it out of the box. Upload all your information onto it then start a few programs and youll see what I mean.

So far the Wi-Fi works great and the phone hasnt reset on me once. The call quality has been fine (I havent noticed any difference from my Treos). However, the reception does not seem to be as good as the Treos I have owned (I live in a somewhat rural area) maybe due to the internal antenna

Synching data with Microsofts Activesync program is a breeze and is much easier than with any Palm Ive ever owned.

The phone would have scored better with me had the ram been improved to 96 MB and the signal quality been better. Its definitely not a 9 or 10 as many others have described but very good nonetheless.

- Luey81

October 23, 2007 05:48

5.0/5
I'll start with the cons since there are so few of them. First off, when using the pull out keyboard, the top row of keys is very close to the "bottom" of the face of the device so your thumbs really have to work to get at that top row of keys but I think it's more a things you just have to get used to. Other than that I love this phone. WM6 is a joy to use so far. Voice command is a great feature for hands free use. I like having the option of using the front keys to send off a quick message of look up a contact without having to either pull out the keyboard or smudge up a hard to use touch screen with a finger. The device is snappy and comes in a great looking package. Even the extended battery is nice and small. I have no problems with the battery life with this phone - I can get through a day of heavy use just fine. At first the send/end buttons were annoying because they are on the side of the phone but once again it's just something that takes some getting used to. I personally like the fact that when the screen goes dark from non-use you have to press the button on the top to activate anything. This prevents accidentally calling people from your pocket or accidentally turning up your ringer when you're in a quiet place. I personally did have some trouble with my handset in that I could not receive picture messages even though my plan allows for it, though that seems more like a glitch with Verizon than anything else and they are overnighting me a new handset rather than having me waste time troubleshooting so I give them a pat on the back for good customer service in this case. So I rank this phone the highest I can due to A) The great features this device packs in and B) the lack of any real substantial "cons".

- bigballs1927

October 25, 2007 11:20

4.5/5
I am moving from the Samsung U-740 to the SCH-I760 and I am extremely happy with the change. This isn't my first time using a PDA/smartphone, my friend had a HTC Wizard for Verizon that I have used. Like I said this phone is great not only for the business savy, but as well the trapper-keeper impaired. For those of you who can't lug around a planner and laptop this is for you. The phone has a great interface that is customizable down to what is on your start menu. I like the speaker phone the quality is great however, with the alarms I am sadly not as impressed as with my U-740. It probably isn't necessarily the speaker but the actual alarm sounds that suck, and you can't change them to ones you download. They last for about 3 seconds and they do pop up every 5 mins however aren't loud enough to wake even the tired of businessman or college student. Besides the alarm my complaints are very few, the editors for CNet obviously touched on the talk button and pressing will accidentally open the screen, however if you brace the screen with your thumb it shouldnt be a problem. As for every other feature on the phone active sync is pretty amazing, the mobile office is definitely a nice feature to have and media player is also nice even if it looks like WMP6. One thing I would like to see on future PDAs is when you press the OK button to cancel out of a program I wish it actually did so, rather than hiding the program in the background having us go to the task manager to close them out. In the end this phone is amazing for its price and with Mobile OS6 it makes it that much better. I would say if you love PDAs this is a must have!

- jdm2nr