Welcome to my Samsung Finesse r810c Review site! I’ve done an in-depth review of the Straight Talk version of the Finesse, and posted my opinions on this site. I really got into a lot of detail on this phone, so I broke it out into several different pages.

It’s probably a little overwhelming if this is your first time visiting this site, so I’ve created an index here to help you find your way. Below are links to the relevant posts from the archives, along with a brief explanation of what’s contained on each page.

Samsung r810c video review preview on Youtube – follow along as I open the package for the first time.

Samsung r810c Finesse Review Part 1 – The intro to the review. Here, I discuss the basic phone specs and the external appearance of the Finesse.

Straight Talk Samsung Finesse Review Part 2 – This page covers the general phone function – call quality, battery life, display, etc.

Samsung Finesse Review – Connectivity – In this segment, I discuss the various ways the Finesse can be connected to a computer and other devices.

Straight Talk r810c Browser Review – A discussion of the web browser, including some sites that it can and cannot access.

Samsung Finesse Camera Review – Here I review the function of the camera feature on this phone, complete with sample pictures and a video taken with the phone.

Samsung Finesse Review – Demo Videos – This page consists of a few short videos designed to demonstrate the touch-screen on the Finesse as well as few other features that work well on video.

Samsung Finesse r810c Browser Review Video – Another video, this time demonstrating the web browser.

Straight Talk Samsung Finesse Features and Tools – A discussion of the remaining features of the phone, including mp3 player, organizational tools, and voice-activated dialing.

Samsung Finesse r810c Review Summary -  In this post, I wrap up the review. I break it down into the pros and cons of the device, and give my final recommendation.

Here are a few other posts that I wrote before I actually had the phone in my hand. They aren’t relevant now that I’ve actually used the phone, but might be of interest:

Samsung r810c Straight Talk review coming soon!

Samsung r810 Finesse – Now available from Straight Talk

Samsung r810 Finesse Coming SOON to Straight Talk

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I’ve spent the last month working (and playing) with Straight Talk’s Samsung Finesse r810c (available for $329 from Straight Talk, here). I’ve written up my final conclusion about the phone, below. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments section at the end of this or any post. Now, on to my review summary.

First, let’s start with the Pros of the Finesse:

• The screen is big (3.2 inches diagonally), bright, and very attractive. Indeed, the phone as a whole is sleek and pleasant to look at.
• The phone includes EVDO data access, a full html browser, and large screen make the browsing experience much faster and more usable than the other Straight Talk phones.
• The camera is better than that of the LG 290c or the Samsung r451c, and includes video recording ability.
• Battery life is good for a phone with so many features, and the phone charges quickly.
• It’s easy to transfer files to/form Finesse using USB cable or bluetooth.
• Email access on Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo is fast (mobile versions work best).
• Audio quality is very good.
• Expansion memory card slot allows you to carry a lot of pictures, songs, and even videos.
• Straight Talk offers very affordable plans.

And now, for the Cons:

• It’s expensive – currently $329 for the phone alone.
• You cannot “tether” a laptop to this phone for internet access on your laptop.
• YouTube, and other streaming video sites I tried, do not work on the Finesse.
• There’s no ability to add applications from other sources.
• The contact list does not have fields for your contact’s address or other note sections such as birthday, etc.
• The mp3 player sounds great, but navigation and organization in the player is poorly designed.
• Signal reception is poorer than the LG 290c and 220c, and I experienced a couple of dropped calls with the Finesse but not the LG models.
• It doesn’t seem to support syncing of contacts or calendars from Outlook.
• The Samsung Finesse lacks wi-fi support.

Conclusion:

I think that Straight Talk made a wise decision when they decided to offer the Samsung Finesse. It’s much more expensive than any of the other models offered by Straight Talk, but offers features not available on those other models. I think they really needed to have a phone like this to get the attention of people who might have had contracts and, therefore, better phones in the past. The large screen, full html browser, and EVDO access are very helpful, perhaps even necessary, to take full advantage of the unlimited data access offered with the $45 monthly plan.

That being said, I can’t say that I fully recommend this phone. It’s probably a good bet for people that are always on the go and want constant access to their email and occasional web browsing. But true business users will probably be disappointed by the limited address book features and lack of Outlook syncing.

Others will be disappointed with the inability to add third-party applications. That’s not to say that there aren’t any such apps that should work on this model; it’s just that Samsung (or maybe it was Straight Talk) decided to prevent this phone from installing them. Samsung touts the “widgets” as a way to make the phone more useful, but in reality those widgets are just shortcuts.

Activating the Facebook widget, for example, simply loads the web browser and opens it to your Facebook home page. Sure, it will save you a few seconds clicking through the menus, but it’s a far cry from the Facebook application available for other platforms such as the iPhone/iPod touch.

If you’re looking for a device that can do what the iPhone does, this isn’t it. The Finesse falls short of the iPhone in so many ways, I doubt you’ll be happy with this phone if you’re comparing it to Apple’s phone. That being said, you’d be saving a LOT of money over the course of the two-year contract you’d be required to sign with AT&T to get an iPhone.

Indeed, the low-cost plans offered by Straight Talk are the main attraction of this phone. As I said above, I think the Finesse r810c is probably a good bet for prepaid users that are always on the go and want to stay connected. If that describes you, don’t be too hesitant to buy this phone. Just be sure to read through my review and know what to expect. If you don’t expect too much, you won’t be let down.

But if you want more flexibility and functionality, here’s what I’d suggest:

Instead of forking out $329 for the Finesse, go with the Samsung r451c (if you want a qwerty keyboard) for $100 or, better yet, the LG 290c for $80. You might even consider going with the $30/month plan, as you won’t be using the web as much on the smaller screen and slower connection offered by these alternatives. Then take the money you’re saving, and buy yourself an iPod Touch.

You can get the 8GB iPod Touch for $185or quadruple the memory andget the 32GB version for $270. The Touch is basically an iPhone, minus the phone and 3G data connection. You can install iPhone apps on the phone, and it’s great for web browsing, email, Facebook, and much, much more especially when on a wi-fi connection. Granted, this plan will force you to carry an extra device with you, but the Touch does so many things so incredibly well, it’s very well worth it in my opinion.

After covering the camera and the web browser in separate posts, the biggest “extra feature” left for me to review is the mp3 player. I was happy with the sound quality on this model. Despite the very limited equalizer options, music sounded very good. It’s not quite as good as an iPod in my opinion, but it’s pretty close. It’s also a big plus that you can use standard headphones to listen to mp3s, since some other models require an adapter or special headphones.

However, I was once again disappointed with the navigation and organization of the mp3 player software. It appears to be the same software as on the Samsung r451c, which is also available for Straight Talk. The problem with this music player software is that I could not find any easy way to setup playlists to play in a specific order. All songs played in alphabetic order, as determined by the file name. Even when songs were added to a playlist, the songs were sorted by filename rather than any custom order determined by the user.

The music player can be shifted to the background while you do other things such as take pictures, browse your photo gallery, or compose text messages, but NOT while you browse the web, which is unfortunate. Incoming phone calls will interrupt your music, but the music then resumes automatically when the call is either rejected or ended.

Another feature that is sadly lacking is the ability to add your own apps. There are a few different sites that advertise as offering free downloadable applications for the Finesse. I tried two different sites that I found, and in each case the r810 failed to even download the applications I chose, let alone install them. And in the case of the Opera mini browser, I attempted to download directly from the opera site. In this case, the downloaded completed, but then the phone said the filetype was unsupported. This lack of application support really limits the functionality of this device.

The organizational tools are pretty standard, although I must say that the qwerty keyboard makes entering appointments into the calendar a breeze. The notepad is also nice, especially if you use the handwriting entry method I showed in the text messaging video. The alarm clock works fine as well, and I like that it allows to set the volume of the alert tone, as well as the snooze duration and number of snoozes for each separate alarm. This can be very helpful if you use the alarm function a lot, as you don’t need the same settings for all of your alarms/ reminders. The alarm has a limit of 4 alarms; after that you’ll need to use the calendar instead.

Voice service is a very nice feature on this phone. I found that it was quite accurate in deciphering my spoken commands, even when I was using my bluetooth headset. I used it both for calling people from my contact list (for example, “Call Bob Smith”), and for directly dialing a number (such as “Call 9-8-7-5-5-5-1-2-3-4″). This could be very helpful if you’re using your phone while driving (in which case, remember, safety first – you’re navigating a potential deadly weapon down the highway!)

Other tools include world time, calculator, stop watch, unit converter, and tip calculator. These are pretty commonplace, so I won’t take the time to explain them here other than to say that they function properly.

The Finesse comes with 150 mb of internal memory, but also includes the microSD memory card slot for tons of extra storage. The phone accepts memory cards of up to 32gb, which is a ton of space even if you’re loading up on mp3s and videos for mobile entertainment. If you’re looking for a starter memory card, though, I’d suggest 2 or 4gb, which are very reasonably priced. For example, check out this $10 4gb card from Amazon.

Here are a couple other random thoughts that I didn’t squeeze in elsewhere in the review, so I’m including them now in bullet-point form:

• I was able to transfer my contact list from one bluetooth-enabled phone to the Finesse.
• My iPod headset, which is also the same as used by the iPhone, worked extremely well with the Finesse both for listening to audio and for use during calls. Here’s the pair that I use.

Well, that’s pretty much the extent of my written content about this phone. I’ll be back soon with a conclusion to summarize it all.

Okay, I’ve got a couple of youtube videos posted to demonstrate some of the key elements of the phone. I put together a short video showing the menu navigation and touch screen on the phone. You can view that here:

If you’re having trouble viewing the video, try this link: Finesse Menu Demo.

The second video I’ve got is a demo on some of the different text messaging options for the phone:

Here’s a link if you can’t view the video on this page: Finesse Text Messaging Review

Finally, I’m working on putting out a video showing the web browser. I ran into some computer problems and don’t have it edited quite yet, but look for that in the next few days.

(Note: if for some reason the pictures on this post aren’t showing up correctly, try viewing the post here.)

The camera resolution is a robust 2.0 megapixels, or 1600 x 1200 pixels. This should product nice 4×6 prints. Other resolution options include 1.3mp, .8mp, .3mp, .1mp, and “Picture ID.” You also have the option of adjusting the Image Quality (High, Normal, Economy), ISO (100, 200, or 400), White Balance (Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, “Tungsten” or incandescent lighting, or flourescent), effects (normal, green, negative, sepia, black and white, aqua), and exposure metering (normal, center-weighted, spot). Further, the camera offers the option displaying a guideline grid to assist in centering a shot. Other features of the camera include multiple modes (single shot, multi-shot, mosaic, or clip-art framing), a timer, night shot mode, and brightness adjustment.

The camera is used while holding the phone horizontally, and this arrangement means that the placement of the camera button is on the right side of the top of the “camera,” the same as the shutter button would be on a standard camera. Also, as in the browser, the volume rocker on the left side of the phone (which is the bottom of the phone when held horizontally) controls the zoom. This is pretty handy, although I noted that the zoom did not work on the 2.0 MP setting. I don’t know if this is how the phone is supposed to work, but it’s a little disappointing.

There is a feature that allows for some editing after the picture is taken, allowing the user to draw or use a stamp tool to mark up the original picture, then save it. While this might be a fun novelty occasionally, I can’t really see any good use for it.

I also have a complaint about the picture gallery functionality. While viewing pictures, I couldn’t figure out a way to easily move between images. I had to use the “back” button on the phone to get back to the file list, then select the one I wanted to view. On every other camera phone I’ve tried, the left and right arrows navigated through a gallery rather easily. Nothing on the Finesse allowed me to scroll from one picture to the next. I thought the volume rocker might do the trick, but not so.

There is a decent slideshow function on the Finesse, even going so far as to use interesting screen transitions between images. However, there is no way to adjust the speed of slideshow, and it goes through every picture on the phone. I couldn’t figure out a way to limit the slideshow to only a selected batch of images. (EDIT: I figured it out: swipe from side to side in order to navigate through a picture gallery.)

As for image quality, I was impressed with the outdoor shots I tested, but disappointed with blurring on indoor shots. This is probably due somewhat to low lighting, as there is no flash on the camera, and it’s possible that I could have done better had I manually adjusted the ISO and white balance settings. But the images below are what I got using the “auto” settings. The outdoor shots were also done using the auto settings, and they came out looking pretty nice despite the white-wash effect of snow cover and an overcast sky.

(Note: if for some reason the pictures on this post aren’t showing up correctly, try viewing the post here.)

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Sample Pictures

Moving on to the camcorder, it’s about what I expected from a camcorder built in to a prepaid phone; that is, it’s adequate but not great. Video recorded with the Finesse is certainly better than the quality from the Samsung t401g Net10 phone, but it’s no replacement for the video shot with something like a flip cam or the video setting on most recent digital cameras. The options in camcorder are pretty limited, with the option of recording at 320×240 or 176×144. The latter resolution can be used for sending video messages, which actually might come in rather handy especially if you’re on Straight Talk’s unlimited plan.

To demonstrate the video capabilities of this phone, here’s a video I recorded at the highest quality settings on the r810c:

If for some reason the video doesn’t display for you, view it directly on YouTube using the following link:

Samung Finesse r810c Straight Talk Sample Video

In the case of both video and pictures taken with the Finesse, I was easily able to transfer them to my computer using a USB cable. Other options for transferring files off this device include bluetooth, MMS message (though videos must be at the lower resolution), or simply removing the memory card and transferring directly from the card to your computer.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. I’ll report back again with more details about the other extras on this phone, as well as some more videos for you.

First off, I need to apologize. I meant to get this published a few days earlier, but was unable to do so because of a change in plans at home, but I’ll do my best to answer your questions about the web browsing capabilities of the Samsung Finesse Straight Talk version. (Please click here to view this phone on Straight Talk’s site.) Here’s what I’ve learned so far:
The biggest question has been weather the r810c is capable of doing full HTML web pages, or is limited to the more limited WAP protocol. The good news is that it is a full HTML browser. However, many sites with mobile versions will automatically detect that you are browsing on a mobile device and direct you to the mobile version of their site. Facebook, for example, loads the mobile version but presents a link to get to the “full” version. For sites with no designated mobile version, or for those where the site doesn’t detect that you’re using a mobile phone to access it, the full HTML version will display.
I was satisfied, but not thrilled, with the page load times over the EVDO network. For example, I loaded the full html version of priceline.com, which has several pictures, lots of graphics, and dozens and dozens of links on the page, in a little over a minute. For the sake of comparison, I tried visiting Priceline on my LG 290c, which uses the slower 1xRTT network instead of EVDO, and it took about the same amount of time to load the mobile version. So clearly, the EVDO is faster than other cellular access, but it still falls far short of broadband speeds.
Another thing worth considering is that if you frequently visit the same sites, the browser will cache some of the images and graphics that need to be loaded on those sites. This way, on subsequent visits to the same site it will pull the images out of memory rather than over the network, resulting in a faster page load time.
Still, when possible, you’ll want to view the mobile-optimized sites in order to improve load times and navigability. I found this particularly handy for checking Facebook. I was already logged in, and it took less than 15 seconds to load my current news feed so I could see what my friends were up to.
The second most-asked question was whether YouTube or other streaming video sites work with the Finesse r810c. Unfortunately, the answer seems to be “no.” I tried to access YouTube both by typing in “youtube.com” as well as “m.youtube.com” for the mobile site. In each cases, I ended up viewing the YouTube mobile site, where I could see thumbnail clips of popular videos as well as a search box to find the videos of my choice. When I clicked on a video, it looked as though the phone was going to play it, as the internal video player launched. However, just a few seconds later I received the error message “Unsupported.” From what I’ve seen, other owners of the Straight Talk r810c had a similar problem, and no one has been able to get YouTube to work.
I also tried online video site blip.tv. In this case I was a little more optimistic, as the site offers a drop-down box with the option of viewing the video in the “Mobile Phone Third Generation Platform (3gp)” format. I thought this might work, as 3gp is the same format used by the phone’s camcorder. Unfortunately, blip.tv did not play on my Finesse either, even in the 3gp format.
So it seems there is no way to view streaming video over the internet on the Samsung Finesse. I did find one VERY minor consolation, however. I use a Firefox browser extension, called download helper, on my computer that allows me to download YouTube videos for later offline viewing. This extension also supports file conversion, allowing you to select the file type it will be saved as. I used download helper to get a YouTube video in 3gp format, which I then transferred to my phone using bluetooth. I was then able to watch it there. Of course, this is a lot of work to watch a short video, and is no substitute for streaming directly to the phone. As I said, it’s a small consolation and the lack of flash video on the r810c is a disappointment, if not a surprise.
The third question I’ve heard a lot is how it works with web-based email applications. I thought it worked very well for Gmail, loading extremely fast (less than 30 seconds). I was also able to use Google Calendar, thought it wasn’t quite as fast as I would like. Still, if you’re entering most of your appointments while at a computer, and need mobile access only to view your calendar and occasionally add/edit appointments, the Finesse should be fine.
On Yahoo! mail, there are two versions – the newer version displays more like an outlook desktop application, while the older version looks more like a web page. If you’re a Yahoo user, you know what I mean. Anyway, the Finesse cannot display the newer version, but the old version looks just fine.

Similarly, Hotmail worked great as well. I believe that Hotmail also allows users to choose between a ‘new’ and ‘old’ version of the site, but I only use the more static page-like layout, and that worked well on the Finesse.
One thing that I will say about the web mail services is that it can be slow to find contacts. When using a computer, you’ll usually just have to type the first few letters of a contact’s name or address and then select the correct entry from an auto-fill list. On the Samsung r810c browser, as with most mobile browsers, I suspect, you’ll have to look through your address book to select someone. This will add a few steps if you’re composing a new message from scratch. Reading messages and replying to those messages is easier than starting from scratch, of course.
Here are a couple of other thoughts about the browsing experience on the Straight Talk version of the Samsung Finesse:

• The browser is always in “landscape” display mode, regardless of how the phone is positioned. The main volume keys, on the left side of the phone, control the zoom function when in browser mode. It’s nice to have these easily accessible external keys, and makes for a smoother browsing experience vs. if the zoom control were a touch-screen function.
• Another thing that I noticed is, when clicking on a web link in the browser, there is no vibrate feedback. This can be a little confusing when all the controls within the phone’s operating system do provide such feedback.
• One complaint I had is that the browser doesn’t fit text to the screen width on most sites. So if you’re reading a lengthy article, it can get to be very annoying to read half a line of text, then scroll to the right, then back to the left to read the next line, and so on down the page.
• The browser does a nice job of displaying pictures.
• I enjoyed using the web browser to follow a football game on NFL.com’s mobile site. While traveling, I followed the play-by-play of a game that wasn’t on the TV or Radio in my area

That’s all I’ve got for now. Again, I apologize for not getting this out sooner. I’ll try to do a video soon so you can get a better feel for how the browser works. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please ask.

Connectivity
I used a generic Samsung data cable to connect this phone to my computer for data transfer. I could transfer music, ringtones, pictures and video between the Finesse and my computer. However, I noted that this was only possible when a memory card was installed in the phone. I was able to view only files that were stored on the memory card, not those on the phone’s internal memory. I could not find a way to access the phone’s internal memory through the USB cable.
This is important since the camcorder and camera default to storing videos and pictures in the internal memory. To change this setting, go to Menu>Settings>Memory Manager>Save Options. Unfortunately, I could not find a way to change the save location on the voice recorder, so bluetooth remains the best option for transferring audio recordings off the device. Alternatively, you could use the camcorder at the lowest quality setting for recording your audio.
Another option in the phone’s settings allow the user to switch the Phone-PC connection between “USB modem” and “USB Mass Storage” (see picture below). The mass storage option allows for the data transfer I described above.

Presumably, the USB modem function would allow the phone to be connected to a computer for use as a modem, thus allowing the computer to connect to the internet through the phone’s cellular connection. However, I was unable to get this to work. It’s also worth noting that the Straight Talk terms of service specifically prohibit this “tethering” and point out that service may be terminated for violating their terms of service. I don’t know enough about the technology to know whether Straight Talk might actually be able to detect whether you’ve been tethering your phone, but I’m not willing to risk it with my account.
From all that I’ve read, no one else has been able to tether this phone either, so it seems very unlikely that it’s possible. I’ll keep monitoring various forums to see if anyone makes it work, though, and post back here if I learn more.
I don’t have any GPS systems to test this phone with, so if anyone reading this can comment on how well that connection works, I would appreciate it. However, I was very happy with how the bluetooth connection worked with my regular old headset. Through the headset I was able to use voice commands to initiate calls. I assume that this is a good sign that it will work well with navigation systems.
Tomorrow I’ll post again with info about the web browser, and hopefully I’ll be able to put together a little video to demonstrate the internet experience.

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.

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.

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.

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!