Electronics-Gadgets.info

I love the features on this phone. It is lightweight and thin. Colors are great. So far it works very good
Rating: 5 / 5

By M. Hajdasz on Feb 16, 2010

In an effort to save money, I ordered this phone when I renewed my contract with T-Mobile. I had been using a Blackberry Curve for some time now, but the discounted data plan I got with the phone originally no longer existed, so all the bells and whistles it would cost me nearly $35 in comparison to the $20 I had been paying along with my calling plan and text messaging services. With the Samsung Highlight, access to the web only costs $10 and so does the unlimited texting. With it being a touch phone, I was intrigued by it, so I decided to give it a try. Also financially, I came out of it pretty well.

However, using the Highlight turned out to be more frustrating than anything. First and foremost, texting is a pain in the neck. The phone is not very large; it’s a junior version of Samsung’s Behold. This particular phone must’ve been designed with a child’s hands in mind because each time I attempt to send a text, I end up tapping a different key. My hands are relatively small, but even with that being a fact, the virtual keyboard didn’t leave much room for me to strike the keys I wanted. I never had to go back and delete as many messages before I sent them as I have with this phone, because the texts end up looking like someone just banged on a keyboard indiscriminately if I try to type with my fingers. In order to send a legible message, I have to use a stylus or a pen.

I also dislike how IMs are displayed on the phone. Instead of being threaded messages, they come through as if they are separate emails and plus I had to tap the screen multiple times before I could even view one of them. The camera doesn’t have a flash, so pictures come out very dark unless you happen to be outside in sunlight or have lots of lighting indoors.

On the plus side, I haven’t had a problem with hearing the person on the other end, and ringtones are pretty audible. You can set the phone to give you repeated notifications for text messages or emails, just in case you might not have heard it the first time. I haven’t experienced any dropped calls, either. I don’t use the music player; I have an Ipod for that. Web browsing is okay. This phone has many of the functions that most smartphones have, but it also is missing ones that I frequently used with my Curve. The Samsung Highlight is a good choice if you’re looking for a cellphone for a child or a preteen, and because a data plan is not necessary for the phone to operate, it’s definitely a money saver.

As it stands, chances are I will go back to using my Blackberry in the near future. It has been the best phone I’ve ever used, so I guess the extra costs really are worth it. The Highlight is not a bad phone – it’s just not the phone for me.
Rating: 3 / 5

By The Fancy One on Feb 16, 2010

I bought this phone to replace my old Samsung phone and an iPod. Highlight has some nice features and it works well for browsing, texting and GPS navigation (you need a data plan for internet and GPS). The on-screen keyboard is small but I could get used to it. I experienced no dropped calls in past two weeks. The reason for the 1-star rating is the one major defect of its music player: it can only play songs in alphabetic order. It completely ignores track numbers. Even if you create a play list, it will still play a song starting with “A” first regardless of the position of the song in the playlist. I called Samsung and checked T-Mobile support forums and this is labeled as a “known normal behavior” so I am guessing they are not planning to fix this in the future. The bottom-line is that if you are just looking for the phone with good browsing and GPS, it may work for you. If you are looking to have a single device that does it all, this is not for you unless you like listening to your music in alphabetic order. I am returning this phone and going with something that can do what I consider a “normal behavior”: playing music in a track order.
Rating: 1 / 5

By Piotr Zupinski on Feb 16, 2010

Hmm, smartphone, dumbphone, what’s the difference? This phone can email, text, get RSS feeds, browse web, etc. etc. Runs any/all mobile websites + can run Mini Opera.

Big plus: only requires T-Mobile’s $10/month dataplan. Yes, the snobs may lust over their “smartphones”, but they also have to shell out $200 more per year for their dataplan. What’s so “smart” about that?

CONCLUSION: A great phone if you want to be connected and email-enabled on the go. Works great on $10/mo dataplan, quick response w/ pretty much any mobile website out there. Great (relatively) cheap phone to hold you over while newer/greater smartphones are introduced in 2010.

4 STARS: hey, nothings perfect. No flash on the camera. Can’t turn keytones off unless in silent mode. Headphone jack is proprietary.
Rating: 4 / 5

By One Hand Clapping on Feb 16, 2010

I got this phone because I broke my G1. I didn’t want to shell out 400 dollars to get a new one so I asked for phones that had real web browsing. I was in love with this phone. It’s cute and small compared to the G1. The on screen keyboard is actually very easy to use which was nice because I’m used to a solid keyboard. It’s touchscreen, which is great, is a bonus, I don’t know if I could even use a phone without a touchscreen again. It’s pretty easy to navigate as well. I was seriously thinking this phone was “the one”. Until I got online. I know that comparing this phone to a G1 is probably just asking too much anyway, but what I see on this phone I would not call real web browsing. Its like mobile web with the capability of viewing real websites in a crappy resolution. If you view a real website it starts to lag and struggle. Smartphone? probably not. I haven’t used the music player but what I’ve heard about playing songs in alphabetic order makes me not want to. It deeply saddens me that this phone doesn’t have better music playing and web browsing capabilities. I think that does it for me though because I’m paying more money a month for “smartphone” web browsing and this just does not qualify for me. *tears for my G1* This is just a fully touchscreen cellphone to me.
Rating: 3 / 5

By J. Brandon on Feb 16, 2010