Samsung Memoir Cell Phone Review - Making/Receiving Calls
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Marianne Schultz Published on April 10, 2009 Comment on this |
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| The Memoir offers good call management features and is very fast to dial despite its lack of a physical keypad. Ringtone volume is pretty loud and its vibrate function offers a number of settings to suit your taste and needs. The only thing we wish for is some on-device ringtone editing or creation, but we're happy that you're not limited to the included ringtones only. | |
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Dialing Speed (6.58)
To see how easy it is to dial, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen in the unlocked state to the moment the Send button is pressed after dialing test numbers. Without a physical key pad to start dialing on immediately, you must first go to the Memoir's phone application, to which there's a shortcut in the bottom left corner of the home screen by default, adding a little bit of time compared to devices with physical key pads.
Dialing a number
It took an average of 3.04 seconds to dial our test numbers on the Memoir, earning it a score in the middle of the pack of our comparison phones behind the only 2 devices on the list with physical keypads. We found the Memoir to keep up well with quick inputs on the virtual keypad. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Send and End Buttons (7.0)
The Memoir's Send and End buttons are in a single horizontal strip of plastic below the screen. There are no raised markings on them to help find them by feel alone, but once you know their location and recall that the back button resides between them, you'll have no problem finding them without needing to look at the phone. While they're not very tall, the buttons are wide and have very good travel and tactile feedback.
The Memoir's Send & End buttons
On phones with large touchscreens, we find it nice to have on-screen Send and End buttons even if physical ones are available since they're usually easier to get to. When dialing a number in the Memoir's phone application, the on-screen equivalent to the Send button is a small icon that looks like a cell phone, which doesn't accurately represent its function at all. Ending an active call can be done with the physical End button or a tiny on-screen one.
Call Management (7.0)
The quickest way to get to the call log is to press the Send button, which is a shortcut by default. The default view is a list of All Calls, which you can change using a drop-down menu in the top left to show missed, outgoing, or incoming calls. According to the user guide, the last 90 call records in the All Calls list and the last 30 calls in the missed, outgoing, or incoming calls views are available. Selecting an individual entry brings you to a screen showing you the time, date, and duration of that call, as well button shortcuts to call, send a message to, or take a picture with the camera to assign to the number. A button at the bottom of the screen labeled Call Time shows the last call, total outgoing, total incoming, and life time call times.
The call log showing all calls
One odd thing in the call log is that there is no shortcut to go to the virtual keypad or contacts list to make a call - this application appears to be completely separate from the phone application in this respect. If you are looking at the log and decide you want to call someone else not in the log, you'll need to back out to go to the phone application.
After searching through the user guide and every menu to no avail, it appears the Memoir does not have any data counter to see how much data has been transferred between the phone and T-Mobile's network. If you select one of T-Mobile's unlimited internet plans, this won't be an issue for you, but be careful if you're on a limited plan and want to avoid overage charges.
During a call, 6 on-screen buttons offer the ability to switch to speaker phone, connect to a Bluetooth headset, mute the microphone, go to the call log, put the call on hold, or go to the contacts list. At the bottom of the screen, additional buttons allow you to make a new call, which can then be joined to the first call which goes to hold status automatically when you dial, or to go to the keypad in case you need to enter an extension. The last button, More, offers a bunch of options to save the current contact to the phone book, send a message or go to the message inbox, go to the web browser, write a memo, and more. Beyond the application access allowed in this More menu, you can't go back to the home screen to access other applications and multi-task more. There is no voice recorder functionality in the phone application.
Overall, the Memoir offers good call management features on par with most of our comparison phones. As a feature phone, it lacks the ability to multi-task fully, meaning that you can't go to the home screen or main menu to access all the available applications, while on a call as you could on a smartphone like the Nokia N96 or HTC Touch Diamond.
Startup to Call (3.36)
Not everyone keeps their cell phone on 24/7 and one of the first things you may do when you turn it on is to make a call. We time how long it takes to turn on the phone and dial a number, stopping when the call is initiated with the Send key. On the Memoir, this took an average of 29.77 seconds, a time beaten only by the Motorola ZINE among our comparison phones. For more information on how we conduct this test see this article.
Ring Volume (9.05)
To test ring volume, we use a sound pressure meter to measure a phone's output at the highest volume setting. The Memoir rings out at a respectable 90.5 dB here, making it louder than the Motorola ZINE and the iPhone 3G. We wouldn't expect anyone except those in very loud settings to use the highest volume setting all the time, but with 7 volume levels, you have a wide enough range to choose the right level for your conditions, and the Memoir should be audible in most.
Ringtones (6.0)
To check ringtone flexibility, we load test music files in DRM-free MP3, AAC, and WMA formats and check to see if they can be used as ringtones. The Memoir had no problems with this task, allowing us to choose any of these files as ringtones. There is no on-device ringtone editor nor a way to choose a specific part of the song to use as a ringtone, so any song ringtone you choose will always start at the very beginning.
There is no voice recorder on the Memoir and you cannot record your own sounds to use as ringtones on the phone directly.
Non-Audio Alerts (7.0)
The vibrate mode on a cell phone can be a life-saver, notifying you of an incoming call or message when your phone is in silent mode or if you can't hear the ring above the noise around you. The Memoir offers 5 different vibration modes so you can choose which vibration pattern will be best to get your attention or simply tickles your fancy, and you can choose the vibration intensity from 7 levels (the default is 4). We found the vibration intensity at level 1 to be unsurprisingly weak but quiet enough on a desk to be only a minor distraction in an office setting. At level 7, the Memoir was a small juggernaut in our pockets and on a desk. With this amount of vibrate mode customizability, every Memoir user should be able to find a setting that's right for them.
The Memoir's vibrate mode settings
With an incoming call, the Memoir's screen lights up with the caller ID information and a small animated phone in the middle. The Memoir has no LED lights to flash at you at the same time, but the screen is large enough that it should catch your eye if it's within your field of view.
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