Sorry for the long delay since my last post – real life got in the way of the online world. Anyway, I’m back with more info on the Samsung r810c Finesse from Straight Talk, which I’ve been reviewing in detail. Here’s the next installment:

General Phone Function

I’ve been slightly disappointed with the reception on the r810. I’ve been comparing it to the LG 290c and LG 100c, and it seems like the LG models are a little better at pulling in a signal. In fact, as I’m writing this very portion of the review, I’m a passenger in a car traveling through a very rural area of Wisconsin. I just now tried making a test call from both the LG 100c and the Samsung r810c. The LG was able to complete the call, despite showing no bars on the signal meter. The Finesse, however, could not complete the call. I received a message “CDMA service not available.”

Further, while traveling through that same area of spotty coverage, I experience dropped calls with the Finesse, but not with the LG models. Again, this was in an area with very poor coverage, but it’s still worth mentioning in terms of the comparison.

I found this poor reception to be very disappointing, especially on a device this expensive. Interestingly, however, I was able to access the web via EVDO within seconds of a failed test call, and indeed while the phone was still showing no signal for voice calls. So I guess if web browsing is more important to you than voice calls, the reception issue might be a little less important to you.

Samsung r810c Finesse - Straight Talk

On the other hand, I thought voice calls sounded pretty good, when I was able to make them. This was dependent upon the signal strength, though, as spotty coverage unsurprisingly resulted in choppy audio. I felt that the normal audio quality on the Finesse sounded a little better than the Samsung r451c, but not as clear as the LG 290c and LG 220c, which are all available from Straight Talk as well.

I also noticed something rather interesting when comparing the call volume on these models – the Samsung Finesse produced better volume while in speaker phone mode, but the LG 290c was louder and clearer using the normal earpiece. The Finesse also produced very loud ringtones. However, it does have the annoying Samsung standard of ringtones starting out low, then gradually increasing in volume until the call is answered.

Another nice feature is that the phone can be set to announce the name or number of the person calling, followed by the ringtone. If the caller is in your contact list, the phone will announce their name, otherwise it will read off the number from which the call is coming. To activate this feature, go to Menu>Settings>Call Settings>Call Alert.

The r810c also allows for a specific ringtone to be assigned to a contact. Alternatively, you can place a contact within a group (i.e. Family, Friends, Colleagues, Business), and assign a separate tone to each group.

Battery life was an admirable 48 hours of heavy use. I used the phone for maybe 15 minutes of voice calls, did a lot of web browsing, some bluetooth use, some picture messaging, and a lot of general playing with the menus. Considering that usage, I thought 48 hours was a decent, but not great, battery life for this kind of device. This, as well as other Samsung phones, seem to charge very quickly. Mine charged in about an hour on the car charger and took about the same on the 110 volt wall charger to charge completely from nearly dead.

Internal display/keypad

I really like Finesse’s display, which measures 3.2 inches diagonally. I found it to be bright and vibrant, and very readable, even outdoors. The brightness and backlight time can be adjusted by the user. The touch-screen function gives a vibration feedback, but you can turn if off or adjust the intensity if you want to.

The menus are very nice, in my opinion. The large, bright screen makes navigation easy, and the menu layout is reasonably well-designed and similar to other Samsungs. There are also a range of customization options, starting with a shortcut bar across the top of the home screen. There you’ll find one-touch shortcuts to your message inbox, web browser, music player and bluetooth settings.

Along the left side of the home screen is the widget bar. These “widgets” are really just more shortcuts – in some cases they’ll open a specific web page such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc., and other widgets are menu shortcuts like music player, contacts, alarms, etc. I could not find anyway to create my own widget, which would be nice to create a shortcut to my favorite site(s).

The touch interface was very interesting. I have to admit I’m not coming into this review unbiased – I have an iPod Touch that I use every day, so it’s hard not to compare the Samsung r810 to the iPod Touch. The Finesse fell a little short of the iPod in terms of ease of touch, I thought. The iPod is a little more sensitive to the touch. The biggest thing I missed was the “multi-touch” capabilities of the iPod. I love using the “pinch to zoom” function. Aside from that, the Finesse compared reasonably well, and I am happy with the Finesse as far as phones go.

The Samsung’s touch screen worked fine for me for texting and dialing, especially once I got used to it. One thing that I really like on the Finesse is handwriting recognition – it’s a nice feature that not even the iPod offers (natively). I should also point out here that, while the phone does not include a stylus, most generic stylus devices will work with this phone and may help with menu navigation and especially hand-written input. I definitely don’t need one for the menus or dialing, but it is nice for the handwriting feature.

I’ve got a lot more to cover with this phone, so stick around and I’ll get to it soon. I’ll definitely have at least a couple more posts published by the end of the week, and hopefully wrap up the review in the first week of the new year.

Please note that this review pertains specifically to the Straight Talk version of the Samsung Finesse r810c, although in most respects the phone will be identical to the r810c offered for other carriers. Read on for the review.

General Overview

The Samsung Finesse is now available from Straight Talk for $329, and when you buy it directly from Straight Talk you’ll have the choice of buying it bundled with either an “All you need” $30 monthly card, or an unlimited $45 card. This model is also available in some Walmart stores, though it seems to be scarce in stores right now. It’s also not currently listed on Walmart’s website.

Like all Straight Talk phones, the Samsung Finesse uses Verizon’s CDMA network. Unlike all other Straight Talk handsets, however, the r810c uses the high-speed EVDO data network.

Another first for Straight Talk phones is the Finesse’s touch-screen function. The phone has just three buttons on it’s face; the rest of the navigation is accomplished through the touch screen.

The screen is 1.9 inches by 3.2 inches, or a diagonal measurement of about 3.7 inches. The device in total is 4.6” x 2.3″ x .5.” It’s roughly the same size as an iPod Touch – a little longer, a little narrower, and maybe .15″ or .2″ thicker. The Touch definitely feels sleeker due to its rounded corners and convex back, but the Finesse is an acceptable size. I think Samsung did a pretty good job of making the device as slim as possible while packing in the large screen and necessary hardware.

The features on the Finesse are so numerous that I’m sure I’ll miss one or two, but I’ll give it a try:

• Touch screen
• EVDO data access
• Web browser capable of displaying HTML (though many sites detect the browser and redirect to a WAP version of the site designed specifically to be viewed on small devices)
• 2.0 megapixel camera
• Video Recording
• mp3 player
• Expansion memory card slot
• Voice Dialing
• Voice Commands
• Full Bluetooth – including data transfer
• Hands-Free speaker

I’ll cover each of these in future review segments, but for now I’ll get to my assessment of the appearance of the device.

External/Appearance

I don’t think it’s any surprise that this is the most advanced-looking phone we’ve ever seen from America Movil. Granted, Net10 and TracFone don’t have anything even remotely in this price range, so that makes sense. The large touch screen takes up most of the front of the screen and the phone looks like most other smart phones these days.

I prefer a clean, simple look in my electronic devices, and the Finesse meets that standard. Just three buttons adorn the front of the phone, below the touch screen. Additional controls are on the various edges of the device, including the power/lock key, a volume rocker switch that also functions as a zoom control in some applications, a camera shortcut key, and a voice command shortcut key.

Samsung stamped it’s name on the r810c in a couple of places, but there is no visible indication that this is a prepaid phone, even when viewing the menus. And considering the same devices is used on other providers, including Sprint and US Cellular, I think it’s safe to say that no one will suspect this of being a prepaid phone.

In general, I think the Finesse is constructed of quality materials, and the design seems solid. However, I do have one concern. I’ve noticed that when I tap the device along the right side, there’s a vibrating sensation in the phone. I believe this is caused by the vibrating mechanism within the phone resonating with the tap of my finger. The vibration is less noticeable when tapping other portions of the phone, but it’s definitely there. I hope this is a normal function of the phone, but I’m a little worried that shaking inside might affect the function of the vibration mechanism over time.

I’ll do my best to keep up with posting segments of this review through all the holiday bustle, but I have to admit I definitely won’t get it all posted before Christmas. I’ll probably also be hard-pressed to wrap it all up before the new year, but that’s mainly because I want to be so thorough. I’ll try to get the general review wrapped up ASAP, then address more specifics after that. Please let me know what you want to know!

This might be my shortest blog post ever, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve posted a short video about the Finesse on YouTube. Check it out here:

I haven’t had a lot of time to play with the Finesse yet, but so far I’ve noticed a few noteworthy pros and cons. The internet seems really fast on EDGE, but the audio quality is not as good as I would like. I’m still getting used to the touch screen, but it seems pretty nice so far. I have a LOT to talk about with this phone, so this will definitely be my shortest post about it!

I apologize for taking so long to get going on this, but I promise the wait will be over soon. I ordered my very own Samsung Finesse from Straight Talk last Friday morning, and I’m now waiting on the shipment. I’m a little disappointed with Straight Talk on this – I paid for “overnight” shipping, but the phone didn’t even leave the warehouse until the fourth business day after I placed my order. That’s not the type of customer service I’d like to see when I pay over $400 for a phone (including the service time, overnight shipping, and sales tax).

I have seen a couple of other people online talking about slowing shipping from Straight Talk in the last week, so I guess maybe we can cut them a little slack as this is probably their busiest few weeks of the year between the debut of the Samsung r810c and the normal holiday rush. Still, if it becomes a pattern with them I will definitely not be impressed.

Anyway, I wanted to let you know that I’ll be updating this blog as soon as I receive the new phone, hopefully with a short review video as I open the Finesse for the first time. Of course,I also plan to do an in-depth review soon after I receive the phone, so watch for that as well. Stay tuned…

It’s official – The Samsung r810 Finesse is now available directly from Straight Talk. It debuted a bit higher than was expected, with a price of $328.99.

I’ve been following the news on this model very closely, and the few people who’ve already purchased one seem to be pleased. I personally couldn’t make up my mind at first about whether there would be sufficient interest in this model to warrant me plunking down $300+ of my own money, but the combination of the initial positive user reviews, keen interest from readers of my main blog, and my own “gadget lust” got the better of me. I’ve ordered my own r810 Finesse from Straight Talk, and soon I’ll have it in my hot little hands to begin my review.

Stay tuned to this site, or my main blog, to stay up-to-date as I try to answer as many questions about this phone as I can. For now, you can check it out on Straight Talk’s website.

The Samsung r810, also known as the r810 finesse, is coming soon to the Straight Talk prepaid wireless service. This phone has been rumored for a few months now, and there is finally concrete evidence to substantiate those rumors.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be gathering information about this model and sharing it here. I’ll try to get my hands on one for a review as soon as I can. For now, here’s a list of some of the features:

• 3.2 inch touch-screen display
• Full HTML web browser with 3G EVDO connectivity
• Mp3 player
• 2.0 megapixel camera
• Video recorder
• MicroSD memory card slot
• Voice Commands and voice-dialing
• Full Bluetooth support
• Battery life – 3.5 hours talk time, 300h standby
• Expected selling price for Straight Talk – $299

Those are a few of the features I expect to see on this phone. There’s no word yet on when it might be available, but I’ve been checking the Straight Talk site regularly. It seems there has been some movement regarding this phone during the last week of November, so I expect Straight Talk is preparing to release it soon.