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I got one of the first smartphones when it came out. These are my blogs from that period: Phlog, Xanga, 20six. The P900 was one of the first camera/internet phones and I had a lot of fun with it. I haven’t had a real phone since. Last week I finally got fed up. Mili and I went down the street and got these Rs 35,000 Samsung smartphones, by grace of our lord and Mastercard. I don’t have the money, but my life is better. The thing is designed for engineers, but once you hack it into submission it’s all right. It’s more powerful than some PCs I’ve had and the Internet (HSPA) is the same speed as my laptop connection. Plus I can check my email all the time, which gives the semblance of activity, if not productivity.

Suddenly having Outlook and Gmail instantly accessible makes me wonder if this is a good thing. Like, do I actually need to have my attention diverted every 30 minutes? Some day they’ll invent some communications butler to sort through the piles of data we are compiling on ourselves.

But I like it. I’m a writer by inclination and having a full keyboard (albeit thumb, nay, pinkie sized) and always-on Internet is teh hotness. If anyone’s looking for a review there’s a link up there, but this is what I think.

The Samsung SGH-i600 is not an iPhone. If this was high school, the iPhone would be shoving the i600 into a locker. The User Interface is Windows Mobile and generally sucks. However, it has all the right acronyms – 3G, HSPA, WiFi. And it integrates clean with Microsoft Exchange and Gmail. Which is what I need. Plus I can afford it whereas iPhones are smuggled into the country via body cavities and priced accordingly.

Exchange

Microsoft Exchange and Outlook suck balls but they’re what the office uses. Microsoft is always about building shitty places where everyone you know happens to hang out (like Colombo). I can hit one button and access the company directory, which gives me access to like over 4,000 people (lost count). Which is actually pretty dem useful. It also syncs with my Calendar (which I’ve been ignoring) and Tasks (wtf?). And the thing gives me push mail, so I can be constantly distracted and give inadequate attention to many things at once. This shit is like corporate cocaine. You talk a lot and it’s mostly nonse.

Gmail

It connects to Gmail pretty cleanly. That’s about it.

Feeds

The thing has a feedreader built in, which is pretty cool for keeping a mainline of US political news going. I read about five sites, and now I can read through most of them much faster. Which makes me much smarter, and a better lover.

Meat

To me the most important thing is how quickly you can go from zero to SMS, or phone call. The i600 is OK. You can type someones name, the contact will appear, and then it’s two clicks to call. It’s three clicks to SMS. Meh.

The battery life is pants – about a day of OG use – but the thing comes with two batteries. So I never leave it to charge effectively. I just charge the dead battery at my desk and swap in the new one. Which is cool. Also gives me four things to lose (two batteries, two covers). Need a purse.

Etc

It has a pooptastic camera and pretty functional 3G video calling. I tried a few video calls and they’re just awkward. Like talking to someone’s nose. The only person I could think of who would enjoy a video call is 3 years old and doesn’t have a compatible phone.

What Sucks

The thing doesn’t connect to Dialog’s MyTV or our 3G portal, which sucks. I used to watch Al Jazeera on the toilet which, to me, is the epitome of modern technology. I really want to hook that up cause I’m that addicted to news. MyTV over 3G/HSPA is pretty high qual streaming video. I used to watch it till my phone heated up. And then I tried to take a picture of a jellyfish and dropped that phone in the ocean.

Vs. Blackberry

Blackberry is a bigger, better standard, and standards are always good. You get better tech support and more software. However, few Blackberries have 3G, and most of those are mara expensive. I simply can’t afford one, and I don’t want a phone without 3G.

Conclusion

The UI is just cludgy and over-complicated, the usability isn’t very good. I can hack and work these things, but it needs to improve for a mass market device. As a consumer I mainly bought this cause it has HSPA and costs about $350 compared to about $500-$1000 for similar competitors. Those acronyms really do make me happy and I can use them, but I can’t say that I’d recommend the phone per se. The new wave in tech – per Pogue’s commentary on the Flip and Peek – is towards simple, usable devices that do one thing and do it well. Video and Email for example. However, for the feature creeps who still like their gadgets muscular and socially awkward, the i600 is a dem good value. I care about 3G/HSPA, QWERTY and Email and I don’t have that much money, so this works for me.