Samsung SGH-T809

Call Quality

Calls and speakerphone: If the Samsung T809 excels at anything, it’s call clarity. We found calls to be extremely clear with little, if any, call distortion. For the most part we could hear callers just fine, but occasionally had to use the volume keys on the spine of the cell phone to turn it up a bit. We were particularly impressed with the quality of the speakerphone. However, we wish activating it was easier.

Audio Playback: In particular, the playback capability of MP3s using either the cell phone’s included stereo headphones or the speakerphone left us confident that we could leave the MP3 player (Apple iPod, Samsung Yepp, etc.) at home during short jaunts around town. (Note: Using the cell phone as a substitute MP3 player cuts battery life in half.)

Ease of Use

Menu/Phonebook: The Samsung T809 has a direct and easy to use, picture-based menu system. While some cell phones offer the option of viewing the menu as a list or in graphical form, that feature’s not available here. Staying in sync with the cell phone’s simple interface, entering, storing and accessing numbers is a cinch. Seriously, it takes just two steps to get started. You can include a picture, ringtone, email address, mobile, fax, and home numbers, but that’s it (no address slots).

Camera/Video: The 1.3-megapixel camera lens is on a hinge at the top of the Samsung cell phone, which you can swivel to take self-portraits. Snapping, sending and storing pics are easy to do – all steps are extremely intuitive and as long as you’re sending it to another cell phone that can receive camera phone pics you’ll be sharing photos in no time. However, we should mention if you want to use the included memory card to add pictures you have stored on your computer to your handset be aware that the cell phone won’t display bitmap (.bmp) images. But it will display JPEGs (.jpg), which is good since most digital cameras will store images in this setting.

As for the video feature, it too, was simple to use. We were even surprised to find downloaded videos were impressive to watch, with minimal frame delays. You wouldn’t want to watch VH1’s entire Top 20 Countdown on the small screen, but it’s a great display for watching trailers and short clips.

Music: As mentioned earlier the MP3 playback quality is impressive either via the included headphone or over the phone’s speakers. (FYI, the headphones plug into the same slot as the battery charger). In our tests, we were able to send music to the cell phone via Bluetooth or by storing it on the included 32MB TransFlash memory card (stores about 8 standard length songs). Once you have songs on the cell phone you can assign them as ringtones. (Note: The Samsung T809 will only playback MP3s and doesn’t recognize other audio formats such as Windows WMA format.) Since the cell phone shares memory between the photo, video and music apps, the amount of music you can store on the cell phone itself is dependent on how many pictures and videos are also stored in the memory.

Messaging: When sending text messages the cell phone automatically uses the T9 predicative text application. If you like T9, this is a plus. If you don’t, you can manually select another text mode or you might consider taking advantage of the Samsung T809’s canned message feature and storing some of your favorite responses in the cell phone’s memory. Heavy texters will likely take issue with the fact that the inbox maxes out at 25 messages. To continue to receive messages you’ll need to delete existing ones or move incoming messages off the cell phone.

Bluetooth: We tested the Bluetooth using the Motorola HS820. As expected, making a connection was simple and call quality endured.

Design

Look and Feel: There’s no denying the Samsung T809 is slick, thin and lightweight. It gets its fair share of looks when it’s pulled out of a pocket or a purse. Of course, therein lies the phone’s Achilles heal: it scratches easily. If you tend to carry your cell phone in a pocket filled with change or keys, be aware it’s going to get its share of scratches. And if you carry a black-lined purse, just keep the Samsung cell phone in a pocket. This will make it easier to find, as its black casing blends right into the background. But don’t worry; you won’t miss a call digging around for the cell phone in a dark purse, the bright and colorful screen lights up brightly when calls are received.

Keypad: The Samsung cell phone’s hidden keypad is just as slick as its exterior. Dialing numbers and typing text messages is fairly straightforward, but since the keys aren’t raised mastering the keypad without looking will take a little time. We particularly like how easily the cell phone slides open and shut, locking firmly into place with each maneuver.

Battery Life

On average, we found that if we used the cell phone mainly to make calls intermittently throughout the day we needed to charge the battery about every two days. If we used the Samsung more than that and threw loads of text messaging into the mix, we had to charge it nightly. But when we weren’t using the cell phone that much, maybe to make two to three 10 minute calls a day and light texting, the SamsungT809 could go at least a week without needing more juice.