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Samsung Moment
Photo source: Sprint
Performance
You would think that a phone with an 800 MHZ processor would run more smoothly. The Samsung Moment is sluggish when moving between widgets. There is often a delay when starting tasks, especially with the web browser. The Samsung Moment isn't especially slow, but it doesn't feel like an 800 MHz machine.
Multimedia
The Samsung Moment comes equipped with a very good 3.2MP camera with flash. It works very well, even in darker situations. Overall, it's a much better camera than the blurry 5MP camera on the HTC Hero. Besides the camera, both music and videos play very well on the Samsung Moment. Videos recorded at high bitrate rates play very smoothly while the Moment's stock Android music player is more than adequate for playing songs.
Phone
The Samsung Moment works well as a phone, even though there is some distortion at high levels. People on the other line say I sound perfect. However, when I am in more noisy situations, such as in a crowded restaurant, people say they have a hard time differentiating between me and the background noise.
The reception on the phone is good, although I do get one less bar than usual in places where I usually test my phones. This may not mean much since reception readings are rarely perfect. In any case, there have been no dropped calls.
Battery Life
The Samsung Moment has the worst battery life out of any phone I have ever tested. With moderate Internet and multimedia use, the phone lasts four hours at most. When trying to charge the phone, it won't allow a complete, one-hundred percent charge. At one point, taking the phone off the charger for five minutes revealed a 70 percent charge, although the phone had been supposedly charging for six hours.
The battery life problem isn't unique to the phone I tested. Several Internet forums have long threads about what I am experiencing. Perhaps the battery is okay and the Samsung Moment incorrectly reads the battery life. Whatever the problem, this is one of the worst quality control issues ever on a smartphone.
Overall impressions
The Samsung Moment looks promising, but fails to deliver. Those on Sprint who want an Android phone are better off checking out the excellent HTC Hero.
Click here for first part of this review
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Comments
Wow, maybe you should stop reviewing phones if you're going to be so indecisive with your scores. Or maybe I should come back in two weeks and you'll give the Moment a rave review, like you did with the Hero...
I have this phone and love it for all its features. Not noticing any lag, and battery life is on par with other smartphones. 1 day heavy usage, 3 days light use. No issue in charging the battery to 100% either... you got a defective unit or you are not using it right.
Are you sure you have the correct phone. Seems like you must have had a bad day and taking it out on the phone. I think most people who actually have the phone seem to like it a lot and the battery last at least a day with heavy use? I think its not the phone with the problem but you!
you must have a defective Moment because mine works very well.... I love it!
Many people on the Android forums have complained about the battery life
This is the most obsurd review ever. It seems to be written by someone who just doesn't like Android at all and won't rest untill everyone is on the iPhone. Have you used the HTC? It just feels like a bunch of cheap plastic. The moment is solid. I just wish it had Android 2.0
I did have the Hero and returned it in favor of the Samsung Moment. Hardware-wise, there is no comparison. The 800mhz processor makes a huge difference in the performance of the device vs. that of the Hero and many other Android devices. The HTC Sense UI on the Hero is nice but it's hardware is significantly underpowered. The Moment is a fantastic device with a vanilla Android interface. That's why the Android Market is so amazing! The battery life is no different than any other device I've used with this feature set and a big, bright screen. It is better than the Hero however. Using it is a real pleasure. I highly recommend it - unless you just love that device from the folks in Cupertino. The Android device "family" and the Android market is the REAL iPhone killer.
Just to let you know, there's a known issue with the battery metering system on the Samsung Moment. It will display a lower voltage than what is actually retained in the battery. For example, if the phone displays 15% charge, the battery will actually be at maybe 50%.
I exchanged the Hero for the Moment and for the most part I've been pretty happy. I do have to say the battery life on my phone is horrendous though. I had an 80% charge before leaving the house and 20 minutes later the battery died and the phone shut off (i.e., not a battery meter issue). I have been playing around with the settings but I still don't think I can get a full day out of it. I'll probably bring it to the store and exchange it and see if the new one works any better.
It is hard to write a good review without using a device for an amount of time. I had the HTC hero and it was a great phone but I couldn't get used to the virtual keyboard. I traded for the Moment and am very pleased with the outcome. The Moment is extremely well built and solid. It's large but definitely not too large. The battery meter does not register correctly but after a few charge cycles you will see 100% charge and it should last an entire day of moderate usage. The physical keyboard is a dream once you get used to it. The HTC Sense UI is extremely well done but the stock Android 1.5 is very customizable from the Google Market and hopefully will be faster getting the upgrade to Android 2.0. Both the Hero and Moment are great phones from Sprint and it depends on personal preference of keyboards and UI as to which one I would recommend.
How the heck do you have a job reviewing phones?
Ok going on 15 hour of normal use and still alive. I think that almost great!!! Just have to get past the useless battery gauge!
Is this guy a sprint rep? Traded in my Hero for a Moment and it's turned out to be one of the rare things in my life that are so perfect for me that I'll be getting another at some point and tucking it away somewhere...It is superior to the Hero in every aspect...Well maybe except i liked the mini usb charger/data port over the micro on the Moment...& I preferred the charger placement on the bottom of the Hero over the side of the Moment...Overall I'd give the hero a 1 of 5 and the Moment a 5 of 5...I'm at 70% at the end of a work day with light to moderate use...I agree that the 3rd party apps have show some strange numbers sometimes...It will go from 100 to 70 quick sometimes...Last night I did a test and get it down to 5% and was able to play 2 hours of robo wars...So 5 is probably like 20...Anyway...It's battery life is better than the Hero's and the real bar to test it against is the iphone which it is superior to as well. Finally a phone we non iphone users can be proud of...
Is this guy a sprint rep? Traded in my Hero for a Moment and it's turned out to be one of the rare things in my life that are so perfect for me that I'll be getting another at some point and tucking it away somewhere...It is superior to the Hero in every aspect...Well maybe except i liked the mini usb charger/data port over the micro on the Moment...& I preferred the charger placement on the bottom of the Hero over the side of the Moment...Overall I'd give the hero a 1 of 5 and the Moment a 5 of 5...I'm at 70% at the end of a work day with light to moderate use...I agree that the 3rd party apps have show some strange numbers sometimes...It will go from 100 to 70 quick sometimes...Last night I did a test and get it down to 5% and was able to play 2 hours of robo wars...So 5 is probably like 20...Anyway...It's battery life is better than the Hero's and the real bar to test it against is the iphone which it is superior to as well. Finally a phone we non iphone users can be proud of...
you're certainly getting a lot of backlash for your review, though it is not surprising considering how solidly you came down on the phone after minimal use. after a few days with the phone, it has become obvious that the problem is in battery reporting, not battery life itself. if you had paid more attention to those same internet forums, you'd find that almost all the truly tech-savvy users have realized that the phone will sit at 5-15% for more than half its actual battery life time.
so, get over the battery gauge. you let that bias you so much, you're complaining about a slight bluish hue to the screen. using some images and reference material (rather than an annoyed bias), and the bluish hue you mention is actual a very natural light coloration... the Moment's color reproduction is quite impressive.
you (reluctantly) admitted to several advantages the Moment has over the Hero, but in most ways, it is a far better phone. a truly impressive Android offering.
Get Advanced Task Killer!!!! After installing and using this program to kill off the useless apps that run in the background my battery life has increased significantly. it is a must for this phone since there is no stock way to kill off apps that keep running in the background after you are finished using them.
Are you a professional reviewer? Just about the only thing that are cons about this phone are the battery and the practically useless trackball or whatever they call it. Other than those two items I'm OVERWHELMED with this phone. You say it seems slow for an 800mhz machine, so what other 800mhz phones have you tested that were quicker? I played with the G1 instore and the HTC and this phone is much snappier. The battery issue becomes less of an issue if you install a process manager and don't have a ton of apps that use bluetooth or GPS features you can certainly get a full days charge. I do think most people who end up with this phone in the future won't want to do that much micromanagement of their battery power so a stronger battery or an alert about GPS/Wifi/Bluetooth being on for an extended time would be a huge help. However, overall, I get this distinct feeling that you were paid off by HTC... I'm just sayin'.
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