Samsung Moment for Sprint

by Antonio Wells Mar 22, 2010 9:00 AM – 6 Comments

After having the Samsung Moment on Sprint‘s network for a few months, I wanted to summarize my thoughts on the Android phone in a review.

Hardware Form Factor

The Samsung Moment is a side slider with full QWERTY keyboard similar to the T-Mobile G1. It feels thick and bulky because honestly it is, yet feels firm like a Blackberry. It has dedicated volume buttons, 3.5mm audio jack, camera and dedicated speaker phone button.

The keyboard has nice domed feel to the keys. They are large enough but my personal opinion has gripes with placement and response. For example, the “Space” button disrupts the natural flow of a QWERTY keyboard and has to be adjusted to slightly. Regarding response, there was often lag in typing in some text fields which made me wonder whether I was typing adequately.

The 3.2 megapixel camera on back with LED flash is a decent boost. The flash truly helps photo quality. As a bonus the LED flash beams continuously for video too, making for better YouTube vids shot from the nightclub.

The display is bright and brilliant due to the AMOLED 3.2 inch capacitive display. There was an immediate difference between this display and the G1.

It has proximity sensors so when you’re on a call the touch screen disables preventing “face button dialing”. When you move the phone away it activates again.

I’m fortunate to be in a metropolitan area where every U.S. carrier offers high speed data plans. I experienced Sprint’s EVDO network (comparable to 3G) which offers blazing mobile speed downs. The results performed with SpeedTest.net for Android were not as fast as T-Mobile’s network… actually less than half the speeds. (See comparison below; Sprint on left and T-Mobile on right)

Nevertheless, I’m really excited about Sprint’s 4G products Overdrive and U301 4G USB Modem (which we’ll have a hand-ons review of soon).

Android OS Software

Debuts with Android operating system 1.5. Therefore not capable of some of the newer OS features like Google Maps Navigation extension of normal maps, experience the new Android Market navigation, Voice Search, multiple Gmail accounts and more.

This will also affect availability of some Android apps as they are targeted at higher versions of Google’s Android software. There have been many rumors of an upgrade to the latest firmware but nothing solid from Sprint. However it is reported the phone is capable of handling the latest firmware.

I was impressed with the internal memory for app storage was 256MB, whereas my Nexus One was 172MB.

Sprint Android Apps

Sprint preloads some of their software; Sprint TV, NFL Mobile Live, NASCAR Sprint Cup, and Sprint Navigation powered by TeleNav.

Sprint TV features a slew of full length TV shows to watch with monthly subscription. Additionally you can rent full length movies and watch on your phone. The video quality was not the greatest, and you cannot watch Sprint TV over Wifi… only on cellular connection.

Sprint Navigator doesn’t listen to “Speak It” directions yet calls a voice activated number where you dictate navigation destinations. This limitation exists because of the Android firmware version, had it been 1.6 or higher the app could record your response and send it to the server for processing as do many speech recognition Android apps.

Sprint IM has AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger. Google talk is a seperate IM app.

Photos: Samsung Moment for Sprint

: Samsung Moment for Sprint

: Samsung Moment for Sprint Angle 1

: Samsung Moment for Sprint Angle 2

: Samsung Moment for Sprint Fromt Keyboard Open

: Samsung Moment for Sprint Angle Keyboard Open

: Samsung Moment for Sprint Side

Videos: Samsung Moment for Sprint

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsWM1-2zvWM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RQOQH2sUAY

Conclusion

Overall the Samsung Moment is a decent entry level smartphone for Sprint customers interested in Google Android. It’s packed with hardware better than the first ever Android phone, however lacking the latest software update for Android. Once the phone is updated, it will be a serious Android smartphone!

Have a Samsung Moment, tell us what you like best about your phone in the comments!

Tags: Android Phones, Samsung Moment, Sprint, Sprint Android Apps

Categorised in: Android Phones

6 Comments

By Decalex on March 23, 2010 at 11:51 pm:

Nice review — actually, the Moment (according to sprint) will be getting 2.1 in “early Q2″.. so hopefully within weeks. I’ve seen rumors that it might come on March 26, and although I’m pretty sure it’ll be a letdown, I’ve marked it on my Calendar. It’s better than my evil checklist of apps that we can’t get, being on 1.5.

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By Decalex on March 23, 2010 at 11:56 pm:

Screen cap of the Sprint Twitter announcement:

http://www.androidcentral.com/sites/androidcentral.com/files/articleimage/Phil%20Nickinson/2010/02/thumb_400_Moment%20Twitter.PNG

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By Brian Honey on March 24, 2010 at 7:39 pm:

Good review, I just picked up my Moment about a week ago. After 5 years of Treos, I’m liking it very very much. Android definitely an improvement over Palm and Windows Mobile.

I’ve heard that Sprint will be porting Android 2.1 to the Moment, hoping this is true.

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By Aldo Valadez on March 29, 2010 at 3:07 am:

Hi, Im new to sprint. I’ve been with At&T for ten years. And had the iPhone from day one. I hate at&t coverage and pricing was getting to high. So i switched two weeks ago. I first got the HTC hero and ran Speed Test and was getting up to 1.4mb/s + and 870 kb/s, I switched to the Samsung Moment because the HTC Hero reponse was slow. But now when I ran Speed Test with the Moment the max upload is 137 kb/s. and 800kb/p download. Not sure but something is capping or not allowing the Moment to perform faster. Will post pic soon.

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By cyberflash007 on June 1, 2010 at 9:15 pm:

The Android 2.1 update is available. Just go to the following link and follow the directions there. The page there does not specify whether rooting is required.

http://shop.sprint.com/en/software_downloads/pda_smartphone/samsung_moment.shtml

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By Bluesigner on October 2, 2010 at 11:48 am:

Ok first who ever did the speed test should have stayed with one location the only reason t-mobile is faster the spring on these pictures id because the location was different. so he pick a place where is t is faster for him using t-mobile and slower using sprint. And the samsung moment is not for T-mobile at all even if you unlock it there is not room for the Sim card what so ever. This person who placed it up did not think i tech person will come to conform it. the person in question is wrong

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