Samsung Memoir t929

Amazon refuse to send replacement phone when the package was lost during delivery (amazon delivery the order without signature required). It's way too much trouble when dealing with amazon cell phone department compared to other deals. They don't have live person to talk to on the phone when there is a problem with the phone activation and lost. And only email is available when you stuck in a situation like I did, while the CSR who sending the email does not even response to your question/request, what they did was just putting more burden on their customers after all the trouble. They even require you to fill police report on order you never received before process your refund.

Terrible. I'll cancel the order and service. NOT RECOMMEND CUSTOMER SERVICE.

not a good phone, too good for just phone users(take and accept calls).
and too bad for those who browse on the phones. touch sensitivity is not that great.
battery life is not that good. it discharges in a day, have to charge everyday.
there are good features in call register, phone book, camera. etc..but those are basics.
I got it for $50 with contract, good for that price. but if you putting anything more than that is not worth.

I bought this phone a couple of weeks ago, but returned it last week. This phone is being marketed as a smartphone, which is actually devoid of features like wi-fi, built-in modem to be used with laptops, and lack of downloadable applications (both from Samsung, and T-mobile).
Its not worthy of a smartphone based only on 8MP camera. Hopefully, Samsung should make better phones in coming months with better all-round phone performance, and can increase downloadable applications to provide a better experience while using the phones.
Camera is good, but lack of wi-fi is short-sighted. Overall, the phone should be nothing but a free phone.

Was anticipating this phone for some time with it's 8 megapixel camera, stylish exterior,etc. With some time under my belt I can say that it does have some serious flaws which are not compatible with my needs. I use this phone on the TMobile network along with my hacked Iphone3G which in itself is a truly incredible piece of hardware.

Sound/Music quality:
Excellent. Phone exhibits great sound quality on both sides of the call. Music sounds good and on par with my Iphone. Speakerphone works decent if a little pitchy.

Reception: After having almost 10 phones with TMobile I can say this is on par with the best of them. No issues with reception and better than most of the phones I have had. TMobile generally has pretty decent reception where I am located. Far better than ATT, at least in Southern California.

Aesthetics:
Stylish and very portable. Fits nicely in my palm and though not the best for texting, it certainly can get the job done.

Touch screen:
Horrible touch screen interface. Now keep in mind I also use my Iphone often and can say this Samsung is not even in the same ball park in terms of touch screen interface. The Samsung is clunky and often times you will end up opening an application instead of just scrolling. Even when it does scroll it lacks any polish/smoothness that most phones have. This alone would have me return the phone. This is hardware, not software, as the Memoir uses resistive screen technology vs capacitive in other phones such as the Iphone.

Applications:
Extremely limited. Even Samsung's own PC Studio does not offer the full set of features. The Telenav GPS that comes with the phone will cost you $9.99 a month. Other phones offer free GPS without the annoyingly long start up time of this GPS. Also, nope, Google maps cannot be used on this phone. Not only that, to cancel this GPS you have to call and not only get transferred several times, the wait time is ridiculous.
Email, forget about it. You have to hack it to do POP3 email accounts, otherwise it converts your emails to Text and you get billed for them!!!! Even then you cannot give the POP3 accounts their specific names to identify them. You can use provider email services such as yahoo,gmail, etc.

Camera
Keep in mind one thing. Megapixels does not determine the quality of a picture just the same as magnification does not indicate the true resolve of a telescope. That stated, for a cel phone the images are good. They are not breath taking, they certainly do not compare to my pro equipment or even a cheap 5 megapixel $60 camera. Noise level is significant. Any motion will be captured as a blur even if the camera is placed in the action shot mode. Again, for a cel phone it is very good, as a camera it is not. EDIT: The Nokia N85 takes just as good if not better quality pictures even though it is 5mp which again proves it's the glass and sensor that count, not megapixels. The photos are certainly better than my new phone-HTC Touch Pro 2.

Battery:
Good, does hold a charge a while which is nice, and in usual Samsung behavior they placed the charging port behind a little silver door (another for the SDcard also) which must be pried out with your fingernails every time just to plug it in. Yes, this causes chips and wear on the door as my practically new unit is already exhibiting this.

Outlook compatibility/MS Exchange Service.
Ok, so this is where we separate the boys from the men and this is where this phone just falls on its face.

NO MS Exchange service to check corporate email accounts.

Outlook? Excel? Nope, PC Studio is NOT compatible with Office-any version-with this phone. I tried Outlook 2007, forget about it. What use is the software if contacts cannot be synchronized with the most popular email software on the planet? A search will review the countless complaints about this very issue. If you want to sync Contacts from Outlook your only option is to simply type them in. Now if your a hermit or someone with bad hygiene with only a couple of friends-fine, but if you have a list of contacts.......

Some would try to argue that this is not a SmartPhone even though it is priced above most SmartPhones and it requires the $25.00 data plan for internet use. I say that even cheapo $50 cel phones are available that offer real POP3 email and sync contacts with Outlook-not this phone.

That sums it up, if you are looking for a nice quality phone with a decent camera (for a phone) then this is for you.

If you are a road warrior of any kind and require your contacts to be sync'd with Outlook, and also require Exchange access, get an Iphone ,Nokia , or Blackberry, as this phone is not geared for the professional.

I am a busy mother of two young children, work full-time, take online classes, and do freelance graphic design. I upgraded to the Memoir as an alternative to carrying my phone, camera, and Palm handheld everywhere I go. Suprisingly, and despite other reviews, the camera is the best part about this phone. The color depth and clarity of pictures is comparable to my 12 MP Canon Powershot. Any that I have taken inside have turned out well, even though other reviews say otherwise. No, it doesn't take perfect shots of something 20 feet away in complete darkness, but neither does my Canon.

Call clarity is decent, but tends to get a little distorted if you are in a noisy area and have to use a high volume. The handset volume gets loud enough to hear in a crowded atmosphere, but just isn't as clear. The speakerphone is also loud enough to be useful in a car on the highway with the windows down, but oddly enough... the ringers lack that volume. Even on the highest setting, it is sometimes hard to hear the phone ringing.

The touch screen takes some adapting, but I haven't really experienced any problems navigating it or using the virtual QWERTY keyboard. The vibration feedback is a good tool for learning to use the phone in absence of physical keys, and can be turned off if so desired.

Mobile web and data applications are very slow to load. I loved using the TeleNav software on my previous phone - a Sony Ericsson - but have yet to get it to run correctly on the Memoir. Maybe this is due to the fact that I can only get half - or less - the signal that I got with the Sony. We live in an area with very strong T-Mobile coverage, but sometimes this phone still has zero bars, whereas the Sony always had a full signal.

What bothers me most is, for the $500+ retail price on this phone, I expect to be able to customize it anyway I please. The 'widgets' are functionable, but only programmed to a set group of features. The music player and alarm options cannot be removed from the widget bar at all! The calendar can be added to the home screen, but not the 'tasks' or 'memo' functions. To-do lists and memo notes are my best friends, but I have to scroll through the menu options to get to these functions, as well as many other features of the phone. There is no screensaver customization and I have had no luck finding useful additional applications for the Memoir.

The visual aspects of the large touchscreen aren't anything to write home to mom about, but it is still nice and clear.

Cosmetically, yes, it looks great. The best part is how people react when they think you are talking on a digital camera! Bottom-line, though...I can spend $500 on a nice pair of shoes and get about as much use from them.