Samsung SGH-T329 user reviews (T-Mobile)

4.0 stars

"Great for those who want to forget they have a phone!" on May 20, 2007 by Delmarco

Pros: Truly Pocketable. Good Deal. Works fast and perfect with Bluetooth headsets. Tip Calculator & World Clock features!

Cons: Quiet Ringer. Sketchy Speakerphone and Handset sound. Useless Airplane mode. T-Zones Overkill.

Summary: PROS: 1. Small, Pocketable. Not square and edgy like the Razor so it is more pocket friendly than those square-style phones.
2. Easy as cake to use out of the box. Simcard in, charge phone, and you are good to go.
3. Camera takes good pictures (better than other VGA flips I've seen like the Razor and older model samsung flips). Also the camera has a ton of features and modes like Sepia, Black and White etc...
4. Works well with Samsung WEP-200 Bluetooth headset(connects fast). You will NEED a bluetooth headset to enjoy this phone as the speakerphone and sound quality of the handset are sketchy.
5. Phone turns on and off fast. Not sure why, but I like this.
6. Has a really cool World Time zone feature, a Calender that rivals any Blackberry and a Tip Calculator. If this phone didn't have these it would have gotten a 5 from my review!

CONS:
1. Phone comes with no ring tones, backgrounds, or decent games. The first thing the phone does when you turn it on for the first time is basically take you to T-Zones so you can spend the rest of the day buying ringtones, wallpapers and decent games for it. Unless you really dig the basics then get ready to spend about $30 on the fun pretty stuff you get for free with pricier phones.
2. Get ready to miss alot of phone calls. I work in NYC and usually carry my Blackberry 8700g mon-fri and only use the Stripe on weekends when I'm in the quiet suburbs of Westchester or in the park relaxing. Even in these muted environments I still tend to not hear the Stripe ringing when I have it in my pocket or cup holder of my car. Where as my Blackberry would get me pulled over by the cops for disturbing the peace. Compared to the other samsung flips (the e335 and e715) I've owned in the past this one rings and vibrates really low. I've already spend a small fortune on the loudest most annoying ringtones out there and I still barely hear my calls. This can be remedied by wearing the bluetooth headset and waiting for the headset to buzz you when you have an incoming call.

3. Another gripe on the sound, is the call clarity is very sketchy; With the samsung WEP-200 bluetooth headset on people hear me either fine or it seems like my voice is going thru extra loud when I'm in a noisy environment. On the otherhand, with just the phone to my ear in the same loud environment(or in the wind) I usually can't hear clearly or the person needs me to speak up to hear me over the background. I'm still not too sure about that but I wear the bluetooth headset all the time and keep my voice low so it sort of remedies it for me.

4. Speakerphone! I'm still trying to figure out how to use the speakerphone with the shell closed. On all Samsung phones I've owned in the past (going back to 2003), once you put the call onto speakerphone you can close the shell and keep the call. The Stripe even when on speakerphone mode hangs up when you close the shell. This means you have to carry the open phone or lay it open on the table (by the way, it rocks and doesn't sit still when opened) which is sort of stupid in my opinion. But once again, I wear the bluetooth headset all the time now and no longer use speakerphone so it sort of remedies it for me.

5. T-Zones Overkill: I have nothing against T-Mobile raking in billions of dollars a year off of kids buying $3 ringtones, but there is way too much access to T-Zones on this phone for buying ringtones and wallpapers that it gets in the way of using the actual phone. Granted the phone comes with nothing on it out of the box and you will eventually wonder onto to T-Zones to add some flavor to your Stripe, but do we really need like 3 or 4 T-Zone shortcuts hidden on the keypad. I don't like that every other button I press takes me to T-Zones. Maybe your kids and T-Mobile's accountants would, but it takes away from the phone's function as a phone.

6. Camera shortcut controls: They are some odd controls that allow the camera to take an upside down picture or reverse picture. Not sure why these rarely, if ever used, functions would be shortcutted on the easy to reach side keys where as a Zoom shortcut would be more practical.

7. KeyPad Navigation: After a month and half with this thing I'm still trying to figure out if I can or can't reset shortcut keys on the Navi-Pad. I swore the manuals hint that you could custom reset it and I remember older Samsung phones had this and someone at the T-Mobile store told me how but I'm still stratching my head on it.

8. Signal/Reception: In the same areas and at the same time of day my T-Mobile 8700g Blackberry would get all reception bars, when the Stripe would say "no-signal-found". Not sure of why this is, but it happens all the time. It could be that the unit I own is faulty or a inherent difference in antenna strength between Blackberries and Samsung flips. At any rate, it is a flaw of this phone.

9. Airplane Mode: ***!? This is the most useless idea ever and it angers me, because I would have prefered a much practical "Profile" mode instead.
Of all the things on the Stripe about 30 to 40 percent of the modes and goodies (Airplaine mode and Voice Record being the top two) are as useless as a two legged chair to me.

BOTTOM LINE: I ONLY got this phone (I paid $40) to take the place my hefty Blackberry on the weekends when I'm out playing or driving around and don't need email and internet updates every 5 minutes. Although the Stripe has alot of features to both improve on, and borrow from older models, I'm happy with the simplicity it brings me as my second phone(and when I want to forget I'm carrying a phone).
I definately DO NOT recommend this as main or primary everyday phone to someone that wants all the fancy features. If that is what you want the Stripe will either bore you to death or bankrupt you, since you will be on T-Zones every minute looking for decent ringtones, wallpaper, games and other stuff that come free with more expensive flips.

If you are like me and desire a second or a modest cellphone that you want to forget you have on you because you dont want to be too connected then this is the perfect phone. Just get a bluetooth headset and it will be alright as rain!