Samsung Blast for T-Mobile Cell Phone Review - Organizer
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Mark Brezinski Published on August 30, 2007 Comment on this |
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Synchronization Ease of Use (0.0)
The Blast can't sync data with a PC or Mac out of the box, since it doesn't come with a USB cable. A USB cable is available for an additional $24.99, and you'll have to use this: the port on the Blast is a proprietary one that doesn't work with standard USB cables.
Alerts (1.0)
Alerts for calendar items are horrible. They initially seem to be fairly flexible. You are provided with an integer field and a field for how long said integer field should reflect, from minutes up to weeks. Anniversary items can only be given notice a matter of weeks or days before the event.
It's not until you actually witness an alert that you realize how bad they are. After sounding its alarm one time, it will stop. If you're in a menu, you won't receive the reminder dialogue until you go back to the home screen. It won't remind you again in a few minutes, either. One time is all you get. This is worse than the BlackBerry Curve's alert functionality -- which was the worse we'd seen until now -- since you can't set the number of rings/vibrations to a number higher than one. If you have a menu open, but miss the alarm, a small clock icon will be displayed somewhere near the top of the screen, but it's so tiny you'll miss it every time.
Over the Air PIM Sync (0.0)
The Blast doesn't support over the air PIM sync.
Address Book
Adding Contacts (5.14)
For this test we time how long it takes to add a simple contact consisting of just a name and a phone number. We input five different names and numbers, to better approximate real life use, and then average the time for each set. The Blast could add contacts in an average of 19.45 seconds, which is a relatively fast time. It is, however, nowhere near as fast as it could have been had the keypad not been so prone to errors. It seems the Blast has a huge problem with double-tapping a key too quickly, which led to many of our letter inputs being incorrect. We must note, though, that entering in a new contact through the menu involves more navigation than simply keying in the number and choosing to save it as a contact from there.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Samsung Blast | 19.45 | 5.14 |
| App le iPhone | 20.86 | 4.79 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 23.36 | 4.28 |
| Nokia N73 | 23.10 | 4.33 |
| Sprint Upstage | 21.30 | 4.69 |
| Motorola Razr | 27.90 | 3.58 |
Looking/Sorting/Search (3.0)
You can opt to sort contacts by either their first or last name In the Settings menu. There is also an active search function where you can use multi-tap to input fragments that occur within your contact's name, such as keying in "Bert" to search out "Albert".
Fields (2.4)
There are 12 fields on the Blast you can use to enter contacts. These include various numbers, a fax line, custom photo/ring, a group, and room for notes. This is a good number of fields for a basic phone, but nothing compared to most smart phones, which contain upward of 40 fields, some of which you can customize.
Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (5.0)
The Blast allows you to assign keys two through nine to a speed dial. It doesn't allow you to add a voice tag to your contacts, which means the paltry eight speed dial options are it. Most phones allow for more complex, multi-digit speed dialing. Also, the voice recognition software only recognized four out of our five test contact names, meaning it might have some problems with less common names.
Calendar
Adding Calendar Items (3.78)
For this test we try to add a simple calendar item: lunch, 12 p.m. tomorrow, reminder 15 minutes beforehand. We time how long it takes to enter this, starting at the home screen. The Blast took an incredibly lengthy 26.04 seconds to enter this in. The reason for this is the complex calendar system; you have to navigate through far more menus than most phones. Once you start to edit, you need to alter both the start and end time, and even change the a.m. to p.m., all of which take up time. Lastly, you need to activate the alarm before you can key in the 15 minute reminder. Quickness is not something the calendar is equipped to handle.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Samsung Blast | 26.04 | 3.78 |
| Apple iPhone | 18.92 | 5.29 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 15.22 | 6.57 |
| Nokia N73 | 18.96 | 5.27 |
| Sprint Upstage | 26.46 | 3.78 |
| Motorola Razr | 22.60 | 4.42 |
Calendar Views (6.33)
The Blast supports the typical month, week, and day views. The month view displays events as a small notch on the corner of a day. Highlighting said day shows a tally of the events at the bottom, next to an icon of their type: schedule, anniversary, miscellaneous, or task. This is about as detailed as it gets, but this is more than most month views will show you. Week mode shows the typical grid, with times on the left and days across the top. As with most week views, it highlights chunks of time you have things scheduled. We would've liked to see some sort of detail upon highlighting scheduled time, though. Day view is where you can view a list of all your daily events in list form. Each item in the list displays the title, time, and icons describing if it is a repeat event or if there was an alarm. Entering the item itself displays all filled-in fields.
There are also three different agenda-esque views, where you can see all your scheduled items, anniversaries, and miscellaneous items in a list.
Fields (7.5)
There are basically seven fields to edit for a calendar entry item. We use the word "basically" because the Blast has a nasty tendency to split its start/end time into three fields; one for date, one for time, and one for AM/PM. The Blast does something similar with its alarm functionality. Apparently Samsung thought we score based on the quantity of fields, and thought it could beat our system. You can technically make an event be an all day event, but to do so requires you make an anniversary entry as opposed to checking a box in a field.
To Do/Tasks
Adding To Do/Task (6.88)
For this test we time how long it takes to enter in a simple task if you start with the phone closed and unlocked. We do five trials and average the scores. The Blast was able to enter in a simple task in 19.45 seconds, which is slightly better than average. Again, the Blast has a slightly convoluted menu system; you need to intermittently hit menu while using the keypad shortcuts, which slows down the phone's time. Also, tasks have a start date and a due date that must be set, as opposed to most phones which simply have a due date.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Samsung Blast | 19.45 | 6.88 |
| Apple iPhone | N/A: unable to create tasks. | 0.0 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | 17.96 | 5.57 |
| Nokia N73 | 13.16 | 7.60 |
| Sprint Upstage | 28.28 | 3.54 |
| Motorola Razr | N/A: unable to create tasks. | 0.0 |
To Do/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (0.0)
Tasks are sorted by due date. You can't sort them any other way. You can opt to give them a priority, but all that does is provide each one with a graphic depicting concentric circles; if you have all your concentric circles filled in, you're dealing with a high priority item. We really would have liked to see some sort of organizational functionality here.
Fields (5.0)
The task's fields are fairly sparse. All you can enter is a description of the task, a start/end date, a priority, and an alarm. The start and end dates can only handle days, not times. All in all, this is really limited task functionality, but for a phone not focusing on organizational software, that it has any at all is notable.
Notes
Adding Notes (4.28)
For this test we time how long it takes to open up the note application and jot down a simple entry: "Lunch 12 p.m. tomorrow". We begin with the phone in the closed, unlocked position, and end the timer as we save the note. The Blast completed this test in 11.69 seconds. This is actually fairly quick, mainly because there was a bit less menu navigation necessary to get to the note application than in other phones: it's right in the Organizer menu. Also, the word completion feature allowed us to only type in the first half of the last word. We were pleased with the Blast in this category.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Samsung Blast | 11.69 | 4.28 |
| App le iPhone | 12.66 | 3.95 |
| Sanyo Katana DLX | N/A: Unable to create notes. | 0.0 |
| Nokia N73 | 15.12 | 3.31 |
| Sprint Upstage | 29.72 | 1.68 |
| Motorola Razr | N/A: Unable to create notes. | 0.0 |
Note Interface (2.0)
Note Formatting (0.0)
You can't format your notes.
Voice Memo (5.0)
There is a voice note function, curiously given the number one as a shortcut key on the Main menu. The voice memo is really very standard. The interface is that of the media player, and gives you one minute to complete your note. While you record, the visualization in the background pulsates and morphs wildly, which is rather distracting. The left soft key is again the Options menu, and allows you to save, rerecord, or set your note as a ringtone or alarm. So, if the only way to wake you is to have yourself yelling "wake up!" you can do it with the Blast.
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