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.

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!