Samsung Blast for T-Mobile Cell Phone Review - Conclusion
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Mark Brezinski Published on August 30, 2007 Comment on this |
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Who It's For
Business User
While the Blast has slightly more organizational functionality than most non-business devices, it doesn't offer the software a business user would need. For one thing, its e-mail client can't compare to a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile device.
Budget Callers
This phone is only budget in construction, not in cost. At $100, budget callers give the Blast a wide berth as they walk toward the phones that are free with contract.
Chatty Teenager
Chatty teenagers aren't going to like this phone because it feels more like a toy than a texting device. The Blast isn't even that solid a texting handset given the problems we had with its keypad, despite what Samsung's marketing would have you believe.
Media Maven
Media mavens should treat the Blast as a sad, sad joke. The 5 MB is enough for about one and a half songs and maybe two thirds of a picture; there's no way they're fitting songs on this device without a microSD card. Also, the phone doesn't come with a USB cable or a usable headset. The final blow against the Blast is its inability to play music in the background while doing other things.
Conclusion
The Blast seems to be a very confused handset. It's being marketed as a hip, youth-friendly text machine. This is all well and good, but its unresponsive keypad means texting is sometimes frustrating, its cheap plastic design isn't really hip, and its media player is limited. In fact, the strongest software on the Blast are its organizational tools. It's more of a jack-of-all-trades phone that falls shorter in some categories than others, but only one of its facets is anything more than lackluster.
The Blast's low points are pretty low, at times appearing as though great chunks of functionality have somehow just fallen off and drifted away. A good example of this would be its media player. It looks really well designed, with a nice looking interface and some advanced functionality. It has no organizational tools for songs, though, doesn't support music interruption, and doesn't play music in the background. With the more advanced inclusions of playlist support and visualizations, we don't understand why it doesn't have the more basic functionality. In the same vein, shouldn't a youth-oriented handset value multimedia playback and support over organizational software? It provides tasks and fairly in-depth scheduling options, but again, can't play music in the background. Further, the video capture is far from adequate, yet instead of tweaking the camera, you're provided with faux-editing software that can turn your friends into bunny rabbits. It just doesn't make sense to have the gravy without the turkey, yet the Blast ladles out tons of it in lieu of the main course.
The Blast also has a really bad alert system. It will only sound its little alarm once, which means if you don't hear it, you won't be reminded until you pick up your phone again. Also, if you're using an application, such as a game, and the alarm goes off, it won't give you a pop-up or boot you back to the home screen. If you're not in a Java application, then a tiny icon will appear in the top right corner. We don't understand why some phones these days relish you missing your appointments.
We can't forget the design, either. Never before has aesthetics affected our phone experience so greatly. The Blast seems more like a disposible phone than a durable handset. Using it didn't feel like using a phone, despite its rather wide (albiet shallow) span of functionality. It really feels more like a fast food giveaway than a $100 handset. Also, the exposed spring design is a huge durability liability. If we could trap a dime inside the phone, just imagine all the other things that could fit down the Blast's gaping maw. Even the Blast's much-advertised keypad has its flaws, as double-tapping has spotty responses. It makes using T9 essential, which some people may not like.
We therefore don't know who exactly we should recommend this phone to. We suppose you might like the Blast if you're looking for a relatively cheap does-it-all device, but aren't looking for depth in any particular area. The problem is, for the same price you could probably get a cheaper mid-range handset that offers better multifunctionality.
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