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Reviewing this phone has been a pleasure. I passed on reviewing the HTC Hero on Sprint because of the absence of a physical keyboard. That and the fact that Marilyn was looking forward to reviewing it too. The Hero was a great phone, but I had my eyes set on this Sprint Android powered phone. The nice looking keyboard lured me in, I admit it.

The Samsung Moment is an Android powered smartphone on the Sprint network that features a slide out QWERTY keyboard, an AMOLED screen, and all the other things that you’d expect from a modern smartphone. Maybe I should mention that it’s got one of the fastest non-Snapdragon processors out there, an 800mhz speedster.

So, we have all these features packed into an affordable phone, why have you never heard of it? Simple, there was so much buzz with the HTC HD2, the DROID, and others that it was launched with little fanfare. Even the much anticipated Blackberry Storm 2 was drowned out with all the DROID madness. Well, I noticed this one and decided to take if for a test drive. How did it perform? Read on…

Before I get started with sharing my opinions on the hardware, software, and other stuff most of us care about, let me state this for the record… I don’t review carriers, I review phones. With the next few reviews I have planned, there will be a newer audience of readers that aren’t used to my review style and I want to put this out there for those readers. (ps. If you are one of them, Welcome!!!) Carriers vary from city to city with their coverage and quality. Just because carrier a or b are strong in my town, doesn’t mean that they won’t be as good in your area. Carrier prices and plans are important, but signal strength, data coverage, and those types of tests are better suited for your own research in your area.  That said, let’s move on to the good stuff!

WHAT’S IN THE BOX

• Samsung Moment
• Standard Battery
• AC Charger
• MicroSD Memory Card (2GB) and adapter
• 3.5mm Stereo Headset

Unboxing and Hardware Tour

THE DESIGN
The design of the Samsung Moment is very similar to the Touch Pro 2 or earlier QWERTY sliders. Slightly rounded and thick.  The keyboard is nice, but has some drawbacks. Everything the hardware lacks in is made up for with the screen though.

 
On the right side of the Samsung Moment, you have  2 buttons. The one closest to the bottom of the device is the camera button and the other activates the speech recognition software, Nuance. Towards the top of the device on this side, is a cover that protects the Micro-USB connector used to charge and sync the phone.

 
The top of the device only houses the lanyard loop and the 3.5mm audio jack that has a rubber cover to protect it from dust and other impurities when not in use. I like the reasons, but I really don’t like those type covers. You can also see the metal finish speaker grill for the front speaker.

The left side houses a lonely volume rocker.

On the bottom edge of the device, there is only a microphone hole. Looking at the front controls, you have 3 software buttons. The menu button is just below the Samsung logo and the home button and back buttons are to the left and right of the logo. You have a physical talk and hang up button and a trackpad-like/Optical Mouse navigation solution in the middle.

Here is where many others colleagues and I disagree, the keyboard. The keyboard is nice overall in my opinion. The keys are nice and easy to type on for the most part. There are a couple little gothchas though. The space bar is so small and sometimes doesn’t even register the key press. Another is the dedicated number row. This is something that I like personally, but I am learning fast that many others don’t. If you zoom in on the image on the right above, you can get a good luck at the slightly raised keys. Other than the gotchas mentioned, the keyboard is pretty solid.

The back cover slides down to reveal the batter and MicroSD slot. Sprint has a 2gb card preinstalled in this slot.

Phone
Sprint’s service is spotty in my area, so it’s not fair to really comment on the network. When I was in town, the call quality was exceptional. Very good signal and call quality you’d expect from a solid feature phone. The Android dialer, call history, and contacts are all simple and straightforward.

Bluetooth and WiFi
With Sprint’s coverage being on the weak side on the outskirts of town, I relied heavily on the Wi-Fi at home. In town was a different story, I got adequate coverage out there. Page loads, software downloads, and social networking were pretty fast on my Wi-Fi network. The only Bluetooth testing I did was pairing my Blueant Q1 with the phone. No trouble there at all. We are to the point in the development of smartphones where these features are “just expected to work” and commenting on them might be passed over in the future, unless there are issues with them.

Camera
The 3.2 Megapixel Camera did the job, but that’s about it. Nothing special. The software was average and the photos taken are good enough for social media and blog photos, but not really memory saving shot worthy. One big gripe about the camera is in it’s software though. The initial loading of the camera app is slow, but once loaded, the actual picture taking is decent. After pressing the button to snap the photo, it take a second or two for the autofocus to happen then the image is captured. The menu for sharing the photos is laggy too. The following samples are shot as configured strait out of the box.

Software
Here is the part I’ve dreaded discussing with an Android device. Unless something has changed very recently, there is no way to get good screenshots from an Android phone. You can hack the OS and gain the ability to do so, but a) It’s not my phone to hack and b) I prefer phones in their unmodified state… Well, with the exception of the iPhone. Since I don’t really want to post photos of the screen, I am going to embed my short software tour video instead of screenies.

As for the software loaded, this device is running a basic Cupcake release (1.5) of Android. There is almost zero customization to the OS, if any. Other than the standard apps that Sprint always puts on their smartphones, there are very few added apps.

Social Networking
This is pretty much nonexistent out of the box. The Palm Pre, the Moto Cliq, and some other devices are attempting to go after the market as “social phones”, but this one left it all out with it’s plain Jane OS version.  The only app for social networking that is preloaded is the decent Facebook app and widget. That’s no issue though, you can download all you want, mostly free, in the Android Market. They included Moxier mail for exchange support for people like me. You also have all the Google connected services that make the Android experience a nice, connected one. If you are a heavy user of Google services, you will be at home here.

PERFORMANCE
The performance was great. Powered by that 800mhz processor, I noticed no real hang ups. Switching through the home screens and menus was almost instant with no lag at all. The camera start up time was the only issue I encountered during my testing.

 Battery Life
The battery life was pretty good with this one. A typical day (7am – 6pm) would take the phone down from 100% to about 30-40%. For a smartphone, a full day is a good thing. A couple days that I didn’t carry the phone, I noticed that the battery life in standby was excellent. A very mild usage could see 2 days between charges easily. Be very careful with background apps running when you are not using the phone though. A twitter client like Twitdroid or email with push can eat the battery in no time. I don’t recommend running a twitter app unless you are actively using it. The 1440mah battery should be plenty to get the average user through the day. Just be smart with background apps and if you aren’t using Wi-Fi, make sure it’s turned off.

Conclusion
Overall, I am was pretty impressed with the Moment despite it’s pretty basic software package. The size that many have complained about it not an issue for me coming from someone that loves slide out keyboard devices. Until I held the Motorola Droid, I expected any slider to have that extra heft that the Moment carries. The good news is that the Samsung Moment is pretty light weight compared to other similarly sized phones.

Bottom line, if you are a Sprint customer or plan to be and want an Android powered phone, you can choose between the HTC Hero or the Samsung Moment currently. If you want a physical keyboard, the Moment is you choice. If a physical keyboard is not a concern, the HTC Hero offers a more feature rich experience.

PROS

• AMOLED Screen is beautiful
• Full Keyboard (Other than the space bar, I loved the keyboard)
• 3.5 headphone jack
• The moment is an Affordable Android Phone

CONS

• Size
• Lack of Multi-touch
• Keyboard Issues (space bar and a couple layout issue)

Price and Availability
The Samsung Moment is available from Sprint for $179 with contract after rebates. Radio Shack, or “The Shack” as they are calling it now, has it for $79 after rebates and all for new customers too.

Comparison Shots

 
Motorola Droid vs. Samsung Moment

HTC Touch Pro 2 vs. Samsung Moment

iPhone 3GS vs. Samsung Moment