Samsung SGH I710 Cell Phone

I got this phone when my dad got Nextel's family plan about a year ago. We have 4 of these phones, so we've seen the best and worst of them.

My absolute biggest concern with this phone is the battery life and service coverage. Battery life is absolutely too short. Now, I think this has more to do with the area I live rather than a design flaw, but it is very important to mention. Let me explain: when you're in an area with weak service, the phone will automatically adjust the power output in order to maintain contact with the tower. If it's not in service, it'll spend all the time it's not in service looking for a tower (all the time using precious battery power). When it's in an area that's well covered, it doesn't have to put as much juice into contacting base, and will in turn use less battery power.

Coverage is pretty poor in my area of Northern New Jersey. I get zero coverage in places where verizon users can get enough power to carry a clear call. I find that unacceptable, especially since most of the places where I need to use it are places that I don't have coverage. An important point here- it's not just roaming calls, it's no coverage. Nextel doesn't use or support GSM with its phones, so you won't find coverage in areas where other cells would find roaming coverage.

Just so that I'm not speaking in generalities, I'll give some estimates. I'd say that this phone gives me maybe 10 hours standby. This seems pretty decent, except that if I put it on the top of my dresser at night and leave it there, it'll be dead in the morning. And since I don't have time to wait a half hour for it to charge, I have to leave for school without it.

Since I never spend more than a minute or so on any given time, I cannot comment on talk time, other than to say that the battery has died when talking in someone's basement.

In terms of raw features, I am fairly satisfied with this phone. It's java compatible, and web enabled, and in fact it's possible to connect to WAP-enabled web sites for free using a Net Alert hack. One such site that allows you to do this is http://www.teknidude.com/wap/alert.asp. I've used it to get free AIM, news, directions, etc. right on my phone. VERY convenient, and if you're savvy enough to figure all of it out, it can save you a lot of money in services that you don't have to pay for but are not technically a violation because the feature you're exploiting is built into the phone. It's not a guarantee that this'll continue to work in the future, but I'm guessing it's a safe bet, since it's been published for a while now, and I guess Nextel doesn't see it as a threat because it still works.

Direct Connect- it's a mixed bag. Most, if not all of my friends use a carrier other than Nextel, so it's kind of useless to me; I don't use it. That may change pretty soon, as Sprint has just merged with Nextel, and I would expect that sprint will come out with a comparable and probably compatible service in the near future, if they haven't already.

Sound Quality: Sound quality in good reception areas, like New York City, is pretty good. I've definitely heard better, and it seems that either it works, or it doesn't- there's really no middle ground like there was with analog phones; this thing will either stop sending data for a few seconds while it regains its bearings, or drop your call. It is rather frustrating to have to repeat things four or five times, but I don't really attribute that to this particular model- just cell phones in general. To sum it up, when it has service, the calls are of decent quality and I can get my message through without much grief.

On a similar subject, the built-in speaker phone functions surprisingly well- you would think that it would have trouble with the variances in the volume of one's voice, but it doesn't. I think it adjusts based on the distance your mouth is to the phone and how loud you're speaking. The speaker itself isn't perfect, and it tends to crackle under high volumes, but it's generally understandable and works well if you're in a police state like New Jersey where they don't let you hold a cell phone to your ear while you're in the car.

You won't really appreciate its support for java programs unless you have a PC interface cable for it. Downloading programs from nextel is expensive, and you'll quickly find yourself getting bored with what you download. GPS is still rudimentary and is not included with the basic plan. If you do choose to get the subscription plan for it, make absolutely sure that the GPS can get coordinates from the satellite (you can find this in the settings) by taking it outside and seeing if it can connect. If it can't (in my case), you'll be wasting time and money by investing in that service.

Physically, the phone has held up quite well. The screen isn't as nice as comparable phones that you'd get with verizon, cingular, etc., but it does the trick. Colors aren't exaggerated like those phones, but the screen isn't really bright, which isn't a problem unless you're using it as a flashlight.

You may want to be gentle with the charger dongle connector thing- it seems a little fragile. Hasn't broken on mine, but I could see it breaking pretty easily if you put vertical pressure on it.

One last disappointment with nextel and other carriers in general- It's a real shame that I can't unlock and take this phone to another carrier. Proprietary phones are just a waste of our money and the natural resources that it takes to make all these phones wholesale. It makes so much more sense to buy a quality built phone that is made to last and be able to take it to whichever provider I choose, and switch if I'm unhappy. In foresight, this is probably what I'll do when it comes time for me to pay for my own cell coverage.