Samsung Moment review
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Oct 26th 2009 5:30PM
posted Oct 26th 2009 5:30PM
Being able to stuff Android, AMOLED, QWERTY, and 800MHz all into one sentence certainly sounds like a winning combination, but does the Moment deliver? Let's find out.
Hardware
In the year since the first Android-powered device came to market, there's been virtually no effort on the part of any manufacturer to release beautiful, solid hardware that captures the imagination of an aspirational, high-end audience the same way that an iPhone or -- dare we say it -- many modern BlackBerrys do. That seems poised to change with the Sholes, granted, but for the time being, Android has left users stuck with a higher ratio of wobbly plastic than perhaps any other platform (some might actually contend that webOS takes the cake there thanks to the Pre's questionable build quality, but for the sake of argument, let's restrict ourselves to platforms with more than one released device). The Moment doesn't make a lot of upward progress in this regard, but that's not necessarily a bad thing -- yes, it's all plastic and it's not particularly sleek, but what is there feels tightly manufactured. When the display is closed, there's less play between the two halves of the phone than there is on the CLIQ; pressing hard on the left edge gives you just a little creaking, but it's not a continual "tap tap tap" as the halves clank together when you're touching the display like we've seen on both the G1 and the CLIQ.
We observed something interesting in the course of fiddling with the Moment in our hands: even though it's no thicker than the CLIQ and only marginally wider and taller, it somehow feels significantly more imposing. We think we can chalk that up to three things. One, the Moment is a very square device -- a little like the G1 in that regard -- which means that it's more likely to take on a brick-like feel sitting in your hand than a large phone with more deeply curved edges. Two, it's got a soft-touch back, causing it to stick a little more in your pocket and contribute to the sensation of it being too thick; don't get us wrong, soft-touch plastic is almost always preferred to its hard, cold, unforgiving alternative, but it's just a little food for thought. Finally, the Moment's screen slides a bit higher than the CLIQ's, giving it pretty massive footprint when open. Put simply, we didn't find the phone to be too big by any stretch of the imagination -- but if you're on Sprint and you're upgrading from something like a Centro, the Moment's large-and-in-charge presence might come as a bit of a shock.
Turning our attention to controls and ports, the Moment mixes it up a bit by adding in an optical pad (instead of the usual trackball or d-pad) and using touch-sensitive Home, Menu, and Back buttons. The optical pad was a bit finicky -- we generally like the technology and the fact that it's more robust than a trackball, but we never quite mastered control of the on-screen highlight using the pad to our complete satisfaction. We're sure we would've been just fine with a few days' more practice, and naturally, you don't need the pad whatsoever to navigate the interface. The Moment features real micro-USB and 3.5mm headphone jacks, welcome additions from a company still trying to shake a reputation for using wacky proprietary connectors; unfortunately, both are hindered by fiddly tethered port covers. Considering that micro-USB and 3.5mm stereo are both fairly robust ports and countless portable devices do just fine with 'em permanently exposed, we would've preferred them that way here, too.
The keyboard on this device is a series of contradictions. Actually, it really all boils down to one: it's generously large, hampered by a somewhat strange layout that makes mistypes a more frequent occurrence than they should be. On the left side, for example, Samsung has elected to make room for the Function key by pushing the letter keys to the right, meaning that A is further right than Z -- something that takes some getting used to. The space bar interrupts the lower row, placed between V and B, and the Enter key is to the right of the Up key, which is next to P in the top letter row. We're sure we could get used to all of these quirks, but why should we have to? Why couldn't have Samsung just come up with a more typical layout? Anyhow, once you get past that, the keys are generally easy to type on -- they're not particularly three-dimensional, but they're spaced far enough apart (and each one is large enough) so that finding them and hitting only the one you intend to is a pretty straightforward process, they're very clicky, and the dedicated numeric row is certainly a plus.
Call quality on the Moment is... well, in a word, loud. The earpiece was both loud and very clear, while the speakerphone may very well be the loudest we've ever heard on any cellphone, period -- we found that we could crank it high enough to actually be ear-splitting if held within a foot or so of your face. Voices started to get a little muddy at the top end of the volume range, but still recognizable -- good to know in case you've got to hold a conference call from your handset at a mile-long table surrounded by fifty people.
Picture quality (above) was about as good as we could hope for from a 3.2 megapixel autofocus lens accompanied by an LED flash, but the setup is hampered by ultra-bare-bones software that Samsung made no attempt to customize. We would've appreciated an on-screen autofocus indicator -- not a huge deal -- but what really blew our mind is that there's no automatic flash setting. It's either on or off, and you've got to dig into the app's Setting menus to toggle it. We can't remember the last time we used a flash-equipped handset without automatic control.
Software
We're of two minds on Android: one says that we want the same experience delivered to us in as many form factors and styles as possible, and the other says that we're excited to see what sorts of crazy skins and customizations top-tier manufacturers like Samsung and HTC can dream up. We can see the justification for both philosophies, and so can these guys, apparently -- Sammy and Sprint have elected to deliver a very stock so-called "Google Experience" with the Moment, while Sprint is pursuing the customization angle with the Hero and Samsung's doing it on the upcoming Behold II for T-Mobile. Unfortunately, this multi-pronged strategy is liable to confuse customers at a critical time in Android's history where market share wins are particularly important to its long-term success, but on the other hand, at least we have options.
So, to reiterate: the Moment runs plain-vanilla Android -- currently Cupcake, to be specific -- with the typical Sprint add-ins like Sprint TV, Sprint Navigation, NFL, and NASCAR just like you find on the Pre. In practical terms, that means you won't have the revamped Android Market, Power widget, or battery usage screen that G1 and myTouch 3G owners have been enjoying for a few weeks now, but it's not the end of the world. The phone (thankfully) does support over-the-air firmware updates and we believe that Google Experience devices will be liable to get updated faster and more frequently than their customized counterparts (like the CLIQ and Hero, for example) in the long term, so we're at least hopeful that it'll be seeing Donut sooner rather than later.
Interestingly, there were a couple things missing from the Moment's firmware that belie its Google Experience roots -- nothing big, but we still found it a bit odd. First off, like the Dream and Magic found on Rogers, the Google search widget lacks a voice search button -- possibly because Sprint and Samsung have replaced Android's in-built voice search functionality with a Nuance-powered app and the fact that Sammy has provided a dedicated voice search button next to the camera button on the right side of the phone, but it'd still be nice to have. Secondly, the charging status screen lacks a battery percentage indication, something that we find surprisingly useful for deciding whether we've pumped in enough juice to take our phone off charge and head off. We really don't have an explanation for why that might be missing.
One of the biggest selling points of the Moment is its speedy 800MHz processor, and in general, it delivers on the promise of a faster, more pleasant Android experience. Most striking was our boot time showdown against the CLIQ: 41 seconds versus a staggering 1 minute, 22 seconds for Moto's machine. Of course, the CLIQ's got the additional hindrance of BLUR to worry about while booting, but that actually raises a good point: a fast core plus a bone-stock Android build are always going to deliver the smoothest user experience possible. Once you've booted, the processor boost is still noticeable -- animated window transitions are smoother, you can move between menus faster, and there's generally less drama as you try to move between applications. One area where we saw disappointingly little improvement was in the browser -- as you'll notice in our video, scrolling may have been marginally better, but not enough so to have a major positive impact, and rendering speeds weren't noticeably improved. Indeed, the browser's still very much a weak spot for Android 1.5 and 1.6, so we're hoping 2.0 knocks it out of the park -- and if not, we suppose that downloading Steel is always an option.
Wrap-up
If there's one thing Android's in desperate need of right now, it's choices -- choice of carriers, choice of manufacturers, choice of form factors, choice of skins, and so on, because no single Android device is going to capture whole percentage points of market share the same way the iPhone has. On that level, we applaud Sprint for staying on the ball and recognizing that the keyboardless Hero wasn't enough to satisfy every last subscriber who'd like to get in on Android. Thing is, the Moment still feels like a first-generation device -- and for a platform that launched commercially a solid year ago, that's not really acceptable. We would've liked to have seen Samsung come to the table with a phone that was sleeker, prettier, more thought-out, and -- if nothing else -- ran the latest and greatest version of Android that Google and the OHA have to offer. Devices like the Behold II suggest that Sammy's going to be an open-source force to be reckoned with in the long term, but for its first outing on Sprint, it's a swing and a miss.
I think this phone is pretty good, and I wish the Droid on Verizon had the processor. But oh well.
remember that the droid is using a cortext A8 architecture which is vastly superiour to the old and widely used Arm11. So the slower clock speed does not mean a slower product...just better battery life. Think Pentium 4 vs Core 2 duo.
I'm pretty sure that the Droid's processor is way better than this one. According to most sources like BGR, Droid has that 550MHz Cortex A8 processor, which kicks the crap out of the ARM11 the Moment is using, even clocked to 800MHz.
Archos uses the 800mhz ARM Cortex A8 in the Archos 5 Internet Tablet which is even more powerful than Droid.
SAMSUNG,
WHEN ARE WE GETTING DONUT OR ECLAIR ??????
Galaxy is few months old, and already can't run apps that use APIs brought in 1.6. Same goes for Moment.
Ahhhhhh! The comments on regualr Engadget do not work, please help us !
Other than that, this phone is Hawt
would love to have this phone on my sero plan, but sprint is not budging
Maybe it's a good thing cuz we might also get the HTC Dragon after Verizon. And it might also be like te Touch pro 2 allowed on SERO
Man I am hoping for the same
http://www.petitiononline.com/SERO/petition.html
This phone is awesome! my one gripe is the resolution, but I guess most people don't care.
Interesting, but I'll pass...
You never commented on the battery life...one of the big complaints about most Android devices...is it worse cause of the faster processor or does the AMOLED make up for it?
Haven't had a chance to run it down -- will follow up!
@Chris Ziegler - Wow! Two days later and the battery still hasn't run down :P
michael -- lots of stuff keeping me busy this week! Shooting to report my findings this weekend, promise.
@Chris Ziegler - Yeah, I heard something about another weird little android device being announced this week. No worries, my friend.
(I was secretly hoping the Moment would hold a charge for 2 days :)
this phone is sharp.
Shame about the keyboard being all funky...dunno why companies feel the need to screw with what works. I feel like the keyboard layout from the Samsung Impression would have been perfect for this implementation (a good picture is right here: http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/zoom.php?p=1966&g=2
I'm surprised the Android devices have a horizontal aligned keyboard.. I would love to see a model similar to the HTC Snap / Nokia E63 / most Blackberry's! Am I the only one who thinks a slide out keyboard is annoying? (In a perfect world I would have the SE P1i form-factor: screen in portrait with qwerty keyboard underneath..)
In the end, it's all about the UI and the software. There's no doubt in my mind that Sammy makes excellent hardware because the Instinct I just ditched for a Pre was a beaut. Trouble was that compared to the Pre, just about every aspect of using it was kludgy. If only the hardware quality of the Pre (except for the excellent touch screen/display) was on par with the Instinct. Nevertheless, using the Instinct was like hammmer and chisel compared to the outstanding WebOS on the Pre. To me, this proves that with smart phones, beauty is only skin deep.
I'm with Chris J: I'd like to hear about the battery life, especially compared to the Hero. I'd also like to know if the Moment has a digital compass for doing augmented reality (last I checked, there was still some confusion on that point).
It does -- Compass Mode is available in Google Maps Street View and works well.
I think this phone is the one to get in 2009, and probably will get it next week. Physical keyboard, OLED screen, and 800 MHZ, that is quite good. I almost went for the HTC Hero and waited for this keyboard upgrade.
You guys give a hard time to stock Android, but it's the only way to get higher boot speed, overall faster handling, consistent UI across devices and a fully tested stack. Reliability lovers know that not every device should be unique, and at some point the Android guys (and users) are going to realize that. V2.0 would be good, but is it beta-ish or ready for prime at this point? No one can tell until a lot of users test it out.
This isn't the phone to get in 2009. The Droid has better specs, bigger screen, better cam, physical qwerty, Android 2.0 etc...
The HTC Passion is also supposed to come out in Q4 and that thing has a snapdragon processor(a bit faster than the omap, but with lesser graphic capabilities).
Those are the 2 phones to get in 2009. Which performs the best has yet to be seen, but keep your eyes peeled. Other than that, I'm with Engadget on this one. It's too late to come out with a phone running this kind of hardware. Sure, the phone runs well itself, but we're going to be seeing phones with snapdragon, omap 3430, and tegra chipsets, and the performance increase in those are just too good to pass up. The Omnia 2 is going to suffer a similar fate. Samsung should have tried to push these phones out sooner, or waited to put in better hardware.
Yeah, but if I'm not on Verizon (Droid/Eris/whatever) then this IS the CDMA phone to get in 2009.
I'm getting the distinct impression that these Android phones are heading into a complete mess.
You have multiple versions of Android itself shipping to multiple carriers for optional branding on multiple handsets. And naturally absolutely no incentive for any carrier to provide after-sales software updates.
Some might argue that channeling software this way provides consumers with choice, I say it creates confusion. Is there even a guaranteed way on every Android handset to download and install the latest unbranded version of the O/S without carrier dependance? If so there may be some hope for those savvy-enough to keep up-to-date but the other scenarios sound rather limiting.
this confusion is resolved the same way all purchasing confusion is resolved in the gadget world... buy the best-reviewed model.
For the vast majority of people, it is not going to amount to a hill of beans. For the gadget geeks... sure... but they are the same one's that can run off to grab a mod from somebody to get the latest and greatest.
I'm more concerned with the (IMNSHO) stupid skins. While I understood their purpose on WinMo 6.1... now it makes far less Sense (pun only slightly intended), especially on Android that has no problems with being touch ready. Let these skins be sold as a add-on in the marketplace (along with the others that are already there like aHome), rather than these manufacturers throwing their own faces on them. It is these faces that are also going to keep things out of whack version wise, as devices build for MotoBlur, Sense, TouchWiz, et. al. are going to be the ones that lag behind in Android version updates, as these skins will need to be modified first each time to ensure they work with the newer versions Android before they are released.
Carriers largest incentive to offer software upgrade to phones is already in place and has been for years. Every time they sell you a phone they are expected to subsidze it. If they do not want to pay for your new phone it is better for them to have it upgraded so it will last a bit longer. By adding new features or keeping up with the latest software they can keep you in that old clunker a bit longer. Just a few months per user would save them millions in new phone costs. Its the hardware manufacturers you have to be worried about. They make no money on free software upgrades espically when they have to customize the UI each time.
Anytime an opensource platform is launched there will be lots of modifications. The market will cover any customizations that need to happen for each device both adding and removing any UI that a carrier or phone manufacturer has added to the device. My concern is how the market will handle all the different hardware specs.
Sounds to me like engadget will not be happy with anything short of a netbook to their ear. Good luck carrying that and the cord to that thing around guys and maybe next time include battery life information since that is usually a users number one concern. It is a phone and cannot be plugged in all day.
hmm...so they don't like the hero or the moment. nice.
The reviewer for this phone sucks..he has the browser open and GPS is active, I wonder how many other stuff is going on while he runs the browser...and judges the speed. I like his "benmark for android" when my device is only 400mhz arm11 and my doesnt lag on a standard cupcake build...android has a app for that..called benchmark.
I turned on the phone, enabled WiFi, and tried to browse. You don't think that's a fair real-world use case?
they give you these options to disable services and settings that use hardware(= slowing your machine) for a reason..while you use other hardware features on the phone. I think the iphone has dumb you ppl down with no multi-tasking..bleek hardware design, and brain-less or nothing we haven't seen before apps. Sure it's faster but your doing 1 thing at a time basically...doing more comes with a price. I expected you to know that..maybe not so much the readers ;) Also I like how the new features for the iphone end up being things you can do on old none "smartphones". It's like apple moves backwards when upgrading products, only upgrading core design..which is kinda bad for a consumer when it happens often..
BATTERY--LIFE. What is it, where's dem details. This tells us little we didn't already know from watching Youtube.
Not that I'm giving up my Hero anyway :-P
we need a standard benchmark for android battery life tests, to make this a mindless task for reviewers. i am now willing BatteryMark 2009 into existence on android market ;) please go download it, engadget.
Chris, thanks for the review. Any chance you can fill us in on the presence or absence of a digital compass?
He already replied in the comments that it does have a digital compass... and that it works rather well!
Thanks, though that reply was about 7 hours after I asked my question ;) I'm very happy to hear this!
no SD expansion slot?...how much onboard storage?
Yes, it supports up to 32GB Micro SD cards, comes with a 2GB installed.
as far as i know if you are willing to hack it you could even put the Hero's sense UI on this phone giving you a faster Hero with a keyboard and flash i am checking with the guys at android central but i'm pretty sure you could also push Donut and soon 2.0 onto the phone to me this looks to be a great phone as long as i can confirm the software hacking
You will NOT be running Sense on this phone until it is rooted, which has not happened yet, and is not likely to happen before the phone is even released. There have been conflicting reports about whether Samsung will be supporting 2.0 on the unit natively, so you better hope it does get rooted if you're itching to run Eclair.
I am glad I found this review. I was all set to get this thing on launch. I will not be getting it now. Thanks for the review. Samsung has always seemed to be right behind everyone else. i have even had 2 of their phones. Looking at the hardware here I would say that all but out of the cell phone game.
Hey good review dude...Couple questions...
Anyway to make the main screen go landscape on rotate without opening the keyboard? That an option? Annoys me driving with the GPS landscape and then going to the main screen and it's portrait...
& Battery life vs hero...
I think this phone's browser is SUPERIOR to the hero...Hero's browser is nearly unusable...I use a task manager so I know it's not me...Steel seems to be a lean browser alternative...
Nice phone, but not nice enough to make me change my beloved Hero; the Moto Shloes (or Droid) on the other hand side( or maybe the SE Experia X3, or the fabled HTC Dragon) will force me to put my glorious Hero on Craigslist.
Looks like I'll definitely take the plunge and switch to Big Red for the Sholes/Droid.
Man, I wish I could slap that processor (or the Droid's... or a snapdragon) into my Hero.
does the fact that the GPS was searching while running the internet test matter,could it slow it down even a bit? you can see that in the video. anyway this phone is good for rooting IMO, because i would raise the cpu speed to 1ghtz,and put the moto blur rom or the hero rom and it would be great for snes and gb advanced emulators. but i really like sprint and i want a phone with either a snapdragon core or the omap3430 anything less would leave you regretting it for as long as you have the phone,this will hopefully be the last of the arm11 528's that well see and be on our way towards snapdragons and omaps beyond,so anyone thinking about this phone should really hold out just one more month at least. trust me your gonna regret it if you do.
one thing i'm still confused about with android phones: if we buy a phone like this, will all future OS versions compatible with its hardware be made available as free upgrades from samsung/google?
i find it puzzling that the same that was universally regarded so highly two weeks ago at ctia is now being treated as mediocre in reviews. i also don't understand why samsung is criticized, but motorola is praised, for launching a phone with vanilla android.