One of these days a carrier will actually send us a review unit. Until then, we will continue to post our review roundups to see what other sites are saying.
The Samsung Moment is the second Android phone available from Sprint. It offers an alternative to the Sprint Hero for customers who are looking for a phone with a full qwerty keyboard. The Moment also offers other advantages over the Hero like a faster 800 MHz ARM11 processor and 3.2 inch AMOLED display. Unfortunately, the Moment is currently shipping with the outdated Android 1.5 (like the Hero) and we have yet to hear from Sprint how they handle updates for Android phones.
Reviews are up at:
- Engadget -”Thing is, the Moment still feels like a first-generation device — and for a platform that launched commercially a solid year ago, that’s not really acceptable.”
- Gizmodo – “It’s massive, has theoretically superior firepower, and runs marginally faster than the Android competition. But in the end, it’s clearly stuck in the past.”
- PC World – “The Moment impresses with a vivid AMOLED display and a roomy QWERTY keyboard, but the software is quirky and the touchscreen can be slow.”
- SlashGear – “While its AMOLED display is bright and clear and its keyboard pleasantly expansive, its stock Android 1.5 OS pales in comparison to what other manufacturers are doing to distinguish their rival handsets.“
- InfoSync – “The Samsung Moment is a solid piece of Android hardware with some specs that put it at the top of the pack.”
- MobileBurn – “With a Sprint contract price only $20 less than the HTC Hero, somebody is going to really, really need a hardware keyboard to choose the Moment over the Hero.”
- CNET – “With its full keyboard and bright display, the Samsung Moment successfully rounds out Sprint’s Android offerings.”
- Phone Scoop – “The Samsung Moment feels like it is Samsung’s first Android phone. Samsung took the stock Android operating system and matched it with a form factor that Samsung knows is popular with messaging fanatics — and then didn’t do anything else with it.”
Video reviews have also been posted:
We also posted a quick hands on from CTIA:
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Taylor Wimberly
Taylor is the founder of Android and Me. He loves playing with all kinds of gadgets, but most importantly cell phones. His other hobbies include cooking (BBQ hero!), politics, football, and watching every MMA event possible.
22 Comments
Didn’t u hear about last week’s conference call where they briefly talked about it? The most important thing they said was that both phones will get an OTA update. currently looks like in the Spring.
There was a conference call? Is there a link to a place where I can read what they talked about?
I’m still not convinced Android will be a commercially dominant platform, either now or in the future. This is a nice phone, but nothing special or new over what’s out already, or was out a year ago.
the phone itself may not convince you…but the platform should…Android has a lot of buzz right now because its got so much potential. Every major carrier has plans for android phones. I would bet that by this time next year, you’ll find Android phones….and other devices…all over the place!
In last weeks Web Chat David Owens said the Hero and Moment won’t be getting OTA updates for 2.0, they’ll both be wired.
If this is just as big a POS as the Samsung Galaxy, then don’t bother! It seems to run the same crappy custom OS (yes, it looks the same as the default Android OS, but it isn’t a With Google experience phone).
Got one over the weekend despite the bland reviews. Work email, gmail, viewing websites work well. The keyboard is very spacious and easy to use. I had an instinct before and was tired of the on-screen keyboard. I have loaded it with many apps from the store and am happy with it so far.
It has a Google logo behind it. So, it is still not a google experience phone?
Got mine yesterday! And I really love it. Most of the complaints I read seem to come from folks that live in a mobile phone utopia. This Samsung phone is solid – the keyboard is the best I have ever used, and I do a lot of texting, the phone overall is not very big or thick (the reviewers above must be dwarfs), and has a very fine rubber feel on the back for a nice grippy feeling. The O/S is a light year ahead of anything Microsoft even has planned much less already available, and Sprint put the icing on the cake for me by letting me trade-in an awful HTC Touch Pro, which really paled in comparison to the Moment in every way. I spent an hour downloading free apps from the Marketplace and basically filled all the holes software wise that I needed.
The reviews posted above that I read seem to be from folks that either expect too much from a phone (use a laptop and shut up already) or have been playing with so many phones their brains are fried – if the thing doesn’t sprout legs and walk around the room they are ready to label it as inferior technology. I find this phone fast, solid, and I am glad Samsung and Sprint decided to leave the O/S vanilla. Let me customize it how I like because right now I really just need a phone that works, and that is what I got. Yeah maybe the HTC phone was so bad (had to replace it twice due to keyboard failures) I was willing to see anything as better, but this phone is the best mobile phone I have ever had.
Thank you to Sprint and Samsung!
I agree with everything that Vin Carrillo said.
The HTC Phones were a piece of CRAP and I felt the same regarding the Blackberry Curve. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, the NEW Sprint Samsung Moment. In my honest opinion the Sprint Samsung Moment is the BEST phone that Sprint has put out since the Sprint Palm Treo 755P.
The ONLY thing I HATE about the Samsung Moment is the battery drains too quickly while playing games or playing around with the phone, otherwise I give this phone a FULL 5 Stars. Also I will admit that I am used to the old Treo keyboard for typing and ALWAYS had felt that they were the easiest keyboard to use. I am surprised though that the Samsung Keyboard ain’t that difficult to use as well and they come in 2nd place after the old Treo’s keyboard.
I have had just about EVERY single Smartphone device Sprint has EVER put out in the past 6 years starting with the Palm Handspring Treo 300. I HATED thr Window Phones, Blackberry Phones, all HTC phones SUCKED!! I LOVED the Palm OS phones but the last good Palm Phone was the Treo 755p like I said before.
Anything that the Samsung Moment is lacking and a quick Android Search will find me what I need.
I honestly feel that it’s about DAMN time Sprint put out a GREAT phone and I wasn’t disappointed.
Thank you Sprint and Samsung!!
I got a Moment over the weekend and there is some good and some bad. Good is the display is great, the keyboard is the best yet, very easy to type and has number keys too, very fast, faster than my husband’s Hero. The bad, battery gets sucked up way to fast, some of the Android apps don’t work on the Moment that work on the Hero, the camera is crappy and that was one of the selling points was that it had a flash with the camera. Hero has a much better camera. Overall it is a good phone but still has room for improvement.
Sarah, have you drained the battery at least twice? I had the same issue with the phone until I drained and fully charged it twice. Apparently the Android battery meter does not initially read the correct charge in the battery (hopefully Sprint/Samsung patch this) – the battery last quite a long time and it was actually a challenge to drain it before going to sleep.
I found the camera resolutions very good and much better than the HTC phone I previously had – weird how yours is so bad.
I agree with everything that Vin Carrillo said.
The HTC Phones were a piece of CRAP and I felt the same regarding the Blackberry Curve. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, the NEW Sprint Samsung Moment. In my honest opinion the Sprint Samsung Moment is the BEST phone that Sprint has put out since the Sprint Palm Treo 755P.
The ONLY thing I HATE about the Samsung Moment is the battery drains too quickly while playing games or playing around with the phone, otherwise I give this phone a FULL 5 Stars. Also I will admit that I am used to the old Treo keyboard for typing and ALWAYS had felt that they were the easiest keyboard to use. I am surprised though that the Samsung Keyboard ain’t that difficult to use as well and they come in 2nd place after the old Treo’s keyboard.
I have had just about EVERY single Smartphone device Sprint has EVER put out in the past 6 years starting with the Palm Handspring Treo 300. I HATED *the* Window Phones, Blackberry Phones, all HTC phones SUCKED!! I LOVED the Palm OS phones but the last good Palm Phone was the Treo 755p like I said before.
Anything that the Samsung Moment is lacking and a quick Android Search will find me what I need.
I honestly feel that it’s about DAMN time Sprint put out a GREAT phone and I wasn’t disappointed.
Thank you Sprint and Samsung!!
I got the moment, not impressed. It is very basic, nothing special, I do like the touch screen and the keyboard options. The phone programs are generic and blahs-ay. Nothing about this phone really impresses me compared to whats out there now, or has been. Google on the main screen is just a convenient icon for the web browser.
@Vin Carrillo
The battery guage is wrong? Really because everyday I only get 3 hours of use (emails & txting) and it dies on me. I have bluetooth & gps off.
Also the camera is great but hte LED is too damn bright. I noticed that if I take 8 pics w/ the flash I see the drastic change to my battery life.
Sorry for all u Samsung fans but there is no better brand than Blackberry. Noone can compete with the battery life, the OS is amazing, especially when u can update it constantly. Blackberry in my opinion is the brand to beat. May not have lightning fast internet or all that but like someone said earlier if u want something that fast and speedy get on a laptop or desktop. Blackberry is the phone leader. I believe I’ve read that the Blackberry Curve is also one of highest selling phones EVER!!
I’m still using a flip phone nextel i880 and am looking to upgrade to the cat’s meow, full qwerty with a good os and can record video. I will be staying with sprint so was looking for any suggestions from all you. I actually was looking at a moment today and that’s why I on here. Would you wait a couple months?
If you can wait, Sprint should have some Android 2.0 phones in 2010. The Moment might get updated to Android 2.0, but there is no guarantee really.
Thanks Taylor, I think I’ll take your advice. Have a great Thanksgiving!
Why Moment Turns it self off and I have to taqke the battery out to reboot it. The battery wasnt drained. This was after I took it off the change then after about 45 min the phone is dead. until I take the battery out and put it back in. Is this a glitch? I had it replaces once!!!!!