Samsung Beat for T-Mobile Cell Phone Review - Messaging
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Mark Brezinski Published on February 21, 2008 Comment on this |
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Supported Email Services (0.0)
There is no email client on the Beat, which we tend to prefer to the typical entry-level alternative: web-based email clients. At least the Beat isn't lying to itself and its consumers by pretending it's a BlackBerry. Regardless, the Beat will get a few zeroes in this section for the lack of an on-board email client.
Push Email (0.0)
N/A: doesn't have an email client.
Multiple Email Accounts (0.0)
N/A: doesn't have an email client.
HTML and Attachments (0.0)
N/A: doesn't have an email client.
Email Customizations (0.0)
N/A: doesn't have an email client.
Time to a New Message (0.0)
N/A: doesn't have an email client.
Email Usability (0.0)
N/A: doesn't have an email client.
Supported IM Services (0.0)
The Beat does have an IM client, which supports AOL, ICQ, Windows Live, and Yahoo! messaging services. Unfortunately, this service charges each message you send as it would a text message, and it also charges you for the data transfer. Many unlocked or higher-end phones have IM clients that will only bill you for the data transfer, which is what we believe is an appropriate charge. Since we dislike this policy of double charging for such a basic service, we award it no points.
MMS Support (8.0)
MMS messages receive excellent support on the Beat: they're fully integrated into SMS messages. If you want to write either a text or picture message, you use the same "Create Message" application. You can also send an MMS from either camera application or album. Just about the only criticism we have is the "Create message" application is a bit confusing. It has three options: message, share picture, and voice note. Just glancing at these options, it's easy to assume these three refer to SMS, MMS, and voice-embedded texts respectively. "Share picture" simply lets you take a picture, go to your album, set your myFaves icons, or check out your downloaded images. In spite of this confusion, MMS messages are still supported well on the Beat.
SMS Smiley Face Interpretation (5.0)
The Beat is one of the few phones that gives a nod to everyone's favorite yellow face. The nod, however, is a bit half-hearted. While it does have a wide array of graphical representations you can insert into your text messages, it has trouble replacing your text with the appropriate graphic. For starters, you'll need to put noses on all your smiley faces: a colon-parenthesis combo won't cut it. Also, some of the smiley faces don't parse correctly. For example, :-) for some inexplicable reason will come out as a sad, profoundly defeated face.
SMS/MMS Ease of Use (7.0)
The Beat is a great little messaging device. SMS and MMS messages are one in the same: all you have to do does messaging about the same as most phones. It separates SMS and MMS messages, although you can attach calendar items, contacts, and other organizational material on either. It does give you an option to include some simple pictures or a melody in your SMS, but no photos like MMS is capable of handling. A nice bonus is you have some control over the font. You can set the text to small, medium, or large, bold or italicize text, or add a strikethrough. There is also an option to control the timing at which the video or message load, but unless you're aiming to surprise or scare your recipient, this doesn't have any real use. Though it falls short in some categories, the Blast makes up for its deficits in other areas, bringing you solidly average messaging capabilities.
Time to a New SMS Message (3.76)
It took us about 2.66 seconds to get a new text message up. As you can see in the table below, this is slow. The Beat doesn't have a default messaging shortcut, and it takes four button presses to navigate to a new message. If you're a frequent texter, we'd recommend setting this application to the shortcut button, since we can definitely see the navigation getting on your nerves after a while.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| Samsung Beat | 2.66 | 3.76 |
| Razr2 V8 | 1.99 | 5.03 |
| Samsung Blast | 1.35 | 7.41 |
| Samsung SLM | 0.74 | 13.51 |
| Motorola W385 | 2.78 | 3.60 |
| Samsung Juke | 0.75 | 13.30 |
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