Samsung Intercept (satin pink, Sprint)

Pros: The Navigation app is pretty cool.

Cons: Sluggish UI, with a tendency to freeze.
The absence of a proximity sensor, so that you're cheek is accidentally pushing buttons when you're on the phone.
General sluggishness.

Summary: When something is great, we say that it "defies superlatives". What is a parallel way of explaining that something is inexpressibly awful? Because that's what the Samsung Intercept is.

Don't get me wrong. As a mode of communication, it's better than any Windows Mobile device. But then, so is a ham radio. Or two cups attached by a length of string. Or merely yelling off the porch.

But that's where the concessions stop and the horrors begin. So, to begin.

When you are dealing with a touchscreen device, and you press a button, and the user interface does not respond, what is the most natural thing in the world to do? Press the button again -- right? Try that with this horrid device, and all kinds of crazy things can happen. Let's suppose, for example, that Button B is behind Button A, but is only one of the options behind Button A. On this device, click Button A twice, and the first click will be routed to Button A, the second to Button B. The results can be catastrophic.

For example, in the Navigation application, the Exit Navigation button occupies the same screen coordinates as the Join Latitude button -- Latitude being the Google program by which you can opt to apprise your friends as to your every waking move. So what happens if you click Exit Navigation twice? You join Latitude. Undoing this decision requires a trip to the online documentation.

It gets worse. The proximity sensor, a critical feature in any touch-based phones that disables the touch screen when your face is near the phone, either does not exist in the Android, or simply does not function. When you attempt to listen to your voice message, brushing your cheek even slightly against the screen causes the phone to scroll to the next message; I've found that I cannot listen to voice messages at all without holding the phone a few inches away from my ear. It gets worse. The other day, I was on the phone with a client, and someone called in. When someone calls in during an existing call, the Android activates a button that enables the in-calling party to be joined to the party that's already on the line, initiating a three-way call. Accidentally press that button with your cheek, and you have two wholly unrelated clients on the same call. That's not just dangerous. That's actionable.

You should avoid this device. It is a misconceived, dangerous, and poorly designed.