Sprint Upstage (Samsung SPH-m620) Review - Conclusion
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Alfredo Padilla Published on April 10, 2007 Comment on this |
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Who's It For
Business User
The Sprint Upstage is probably not a good choice for business users who need a simple and functional handset. The two sided flip design makes for frustrating access to some features and the touch controls on the back of the phone can also be annoying. The lack of a built in email client makes it even less useful to business users.
Budget Callers
Budget callers should probably look elsewhere as the Upstage carries a hefty price tag, even with a 2-year contract. You can get a lot of the functionality of the Upstage out of a phone like the Razr V3m, for one third the price, and still look pretty good.
Chatty Teenager
The Sprint Upstage is a good choice for a chatty teenager who wants a device that will stand out. They better make sure to use the battery wallet however otherwise they won't be chatting for too long.
Media Maven
Media Maven't may be attracted to the Upstage as it is marketed as a music phone, however we found the music functionality to be only average. The sup par camera and the lack of support for your own video files should seal the deal. You would be better off with a phone like the T-Mobile Dash at a similar price point, which provides much more multimedia functionality.
Conclusion
The Sprint Upstage is a mid range phone with stylish good looks, a solid feature set and an innovative design. The phone does not bring too much new to the table under the hood, but the two sided flip design is certainly going to turn heads.
Unfortunately, this design has some serious drawbacks in use, as the Upstage constantly forces you to flip the device back and forth as you navigate through the interface, make phone calls and take photos. We also didn't like the touch controls on the back of the device, as they were difficult to use and prone to errors.
The battery life on the Upstage is either excellent or abhovery poor, depending on whether you want to use the included battery wallet. 25+ hours of music playback with the wallet is certainly impressive, but without the wallet we didn't reach 3 hours of talk time. We feel that the wallet seriously detracts from the Upstage's best point, its stylish good looks, and it also makes navigating the two sided interface much more difficult.
We applaud Samsung for their innovation with the Upstage in bringing a new form factor to the market, but overall we can't say we were impressed by much beyond the good looks. If you are looking for a small, stylish phone to impress people on an evening out, it might work. But if you're away from the charger for anything more than a day, you'll need the battery wallet, which ruins the good looks of the phone and makes it nearly as big and bulky as the rest. So, the Upshot is a rather cool, but ultimately disappointing phone.
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