NEW UNLOCKED CAN BE USE FOR ANY GSM NETWORK
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful.
Quite an amazing phone device
By ActionAndAdventure!
I've only owned the Samsung Infuse 4G (using ATT) for a few days, but it is truly an impressive device. I would strongly recommend it to anyone considering a top-line smart phone. Period.
My smart phone history is (recently) six Dell Streak 5s (which is an amazing device, but with a few flaws), a Blackberry Bold 9000, and temporarily (recently) an LG540.
Samsung Infuse is a beautiful phone. Vivid display (clearer and larger than any similar smart phone), logical functionality (16 Apps per page that scroll sideways), and the flexibility of Android.
It's capacitive touch screen works very well, and the onboard memory (and capacity to upgrade) is excellent.
The only weak point is the battery, but I've only had the device for days and it's not quite fair to criticize quite yet. However, having said that, it seems that if you allow all manner of back-ground programs to run (which is what will happen - unless you intervene), that you may spend some part of your day re-charging this device just to keep it alive.
However, experience users (e.g., ATT reps who own this device, & other US citizens) advise me that selecting Task Managers (installed) or Market-available task managers (free), will extend your battery's life well beyond default settings. Not sure yet, but it seems the battery will last the majority of the day IF you are not using Wifi, GPRS-web, running onboard programs to the max, and/or talking simultaneously throughout your day. Perhaps all that activity is unlikely, but it's possible.
Purchase a protective case immediately. This device is very thin, and its form-facter offers very little built-in impact-absorbing space (none), and you'll need to add some survivability to put your mind at ease. I selected the Case Mate, and it fits as tight as a drum head, but seems to offer some impact resistance; haven't tested it, nor do I want to.
The Power-up key (top right) seems a bit of an odd place, but this probably prevents it from being pressed inadvertently. The volume rocker keys (top left) function as you would expect (up-loud, down-quieter), which is a breath of fresh air (Dell Streak varied its volume rocker functionality based on whatever direction its AutoRotation determined was UP - which I found very strange).
This is only a quick "First Impression" evaluation. But I must say, I am blown away by the absolute beauty of the large 4.5" display (not as big as Dell Streak 5, but much brighter and clearer), and the ease-of-use of Samsung Infuse. Infuse ships with a charger cable, wall adapter (no car power adapter is provided), an HDMI to phone plug (this phone will connect to your HDMI television for playback), quite nice ear buds (two extra different-sized ear bud sets), and a code sheet for one free HD movie. Loaded HD movies look amazing on this device, by the way.
Email, Internet, Messaging, Phone use (speaker phone and handset, Application functionality, "feel" in-hand are all superb.
I would buy this phone again. My competition was iPhone 4 (which has a lovely screen, but I found to be too small for the programs I use in my work: aviation weather programs; I'm not an Apple-hater, I own 9 Apple computers, but so far, I cannot cross the line into mobility with Apple; perhaps it is the iTunes strangle-hold that bothers me so much), Samsung Captivate, HTC Impress [all ATT so far], and US Cellular's offerings (nothing interested me), Sprint (same), Verizon's (all Droid phones - but their pricing was not attractive enough to swap service), and T-Mobile's smart phone offerings (which was/is very attractive - due to their cost-vs-benefit-%functionality ... and their unlimited data plans for 2 devices). Jury is not out yet, and the trial period for my ATT Infuse(s) has not expired. T-Mobile may yet get my business.
But until then, and based on this device's performance only (notwithstanding the provider - which is hard to isolate!), I strongly recommend Samsung Infuse. Remember to purchase a protective cover & insure this device through Amazon's warranty service (i.e., "SquareTrade") or you may need to buy another on your own dime.
Cheers!
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful.Very Beautiful Smartphone, Please Readon for Many Details
By Daisy S
I owned this phone for about a year with NO PROBLEMS. It is just that I change out phones often as I am a techie and have to have the latest phone/tablet, etc. And so I upgrade very often. However, the phone worked perfectly for the time I owned it, so here is my detailed review, and I hope that it will help you make a good decision if you need a great smartphone at this great price!
***Keep in mind that this Sim Unlocked phone will work fine in AT&T and even T-Mobile for calling and texting. But for Internet and MMS, you may need to set the APN settings. If you need the APN settings for At&T, T-Mobile etc, just ask me in the comments and I will send them.
Pros:
- Very clear and easy to read 4.5" screen.
- Outstanding colors and outstanding screen clarity.
- 2.2 Android allowed me to save many installed apps on my SD External card. (Cannot do this anymore after OS 3.0 and higher).
- Great camera - I took many high quality pictures.
- Wonderful music player app (the stock one was just right and makes great playlists,etc). Sound quality excellent.
- Got 4g on the Internet Data.
- WiFi came in clear and fast.
- Overall a easy to use and perfect size phone and comfortable to hold with big enough screen.
Cons:
- NO FM Radio. However, I installed Tune In Radio so if I had WiFi on, I could listen to all kinds of radio stations.
- Could use more memory, yet it still ran fast for me.
- It has OS of 2.2 Android, possibly 2.3. However, this is still a good OS and will run most Apps. I still have a Galaxy Player with 2.3 and all apps I installed run fine...
Good phone, after owning it for about a year, I upgraded to Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 with 5.3 screen. However, that one was too large and heavy to hold and I upgraded again. However, at times, I kind of miss my old Infuse as it was big enough at 4.5" and not a heavy phone to hold. And at the price offered, it is a good deal for a nice phone.
Also, I am a techie and know a lot about Android devices that is smartphones and tablets, so if you have any questions, please ask me in the comment section.
Hope that this review has been helpful to you and thank you for reading it.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful.Samsung Infuse !
By SAM
I am an advanced user and have been using this phone since past 3 months. This phone has an amazing huge s-amoled display which blows away all other phone displays I have seen till date. I have owned Blackberry,Nokia,iphone,etc but this phone is the best of all. I purchased this unlocked phone and rooted it immediately and installed custom Zeus rom (Gingerbread). It removed all the AT&T bloatware and it can bump up its cpu speed from 1ghz to 1.6ghz with auto speed on demand setting as some graphic intensive games require higher processing power.
Phone is incredibly slim so you need to buy a good case to protect it plus a scratch screen guard. Battery drains out quickly as the screen is a monster power consumer and phone heats up very very fast with GPS and screen turned on for longer periods. The sound quality is superb, display is super good and its on par with iphone its slim body.
For advanced users like me, Iphone is really a piece of junk as I have customized each and every aspect of the phone which android allows and in my opinion, its far more advanced OS than anything in the mkt with tons of freeware available for downloads unlike paid apps from iphone. I am considering buying a second phone for my dad. At this price of under 350$, its a steal and it matches uptp 650$ dual core phones in the mkt with customized roms which can bump up the speed dramatically. It also has a state of the art GPU and phone is extremely fast inspite of loading it with so many apps. You can setup a wi-fi hub with your phone data connection too. Samsung is the worlds largest manufacturer of s-amoleds and other manufacturers have to buy from them to use it in their devices. Checkout xda developers site for installing custom roms on your androids ! Buy it.
Product DescriptionBody Dimensions 124.6 x 61.3 x 8.9 mm (4.91 x 2.41 x 0.35 in) Weight 107 g (3.77 oz) Display Type Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 540 x 960 pixels, 4.3 inches (~256 ppi pixel density) Multitouch Yes Sound Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes Memory Card slot microSD, up to 64 GB Internal 8 GB (5 GB user available), 1.5 GB RAM (3G model), 2 GB RAM (LTE model) Data GPRS Yes EDGE Yes Speed HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot Bluetooth Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, LE, EDR NFC Yes (GT-I9195 model only) Infrared port Yes USB Yes, microUSB v2.0 Camera Primary 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash Features Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama Video Yes, 1080p@30fps Secondary Yes, 1.9 MP Features OS Android OS,
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful.Considered many phones.
By Donald Vickery
I was using a iphone 5 but just did not like the way things worked.
Right out of the box, I knew this Galaxy mini was the phone for me. The size is prefect. It will take me some time to
figure out all the operations of this phone but that will be OK.
Like I said, I have had just about every type of phone including blackberrys, and nothing can compare with the s4 mini.
I ordered it at 10AM on Monday moring. Shipped from Virginia, it arrived the next day at 6 PM. Just a great business experience.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful.20days and very good to go
By W. BrennanDubbs
From this vendor the $400 phone arrived amazingly poorly shipped, the box was 8times too big and open on one end, no bubble wrap or other packing material... the small sealed box with the phone just flew around inside.... But the phone is working fine. I'm using a sim card from PureTalk. I put a 32gig chip in. I'm learning how to use the Android phone. The audio is pretty loud if I wish, the battery is doing okay (lasts the day if wifi is not turned on), it fits in a pocket great, it's bright. It's just a bit smaller than an SIII. I have not used the dual sim feature as yet. I will report back over time with any updates pro or con. So Far, I recommend it.
Update: 40days. I always value reviews that provide comments about product ownership beyond the first week. Phone is working fine, am still learning how to use the software, but the phone works fine. Watch out about auto-sync with Picasa ... stuff gets transferred into the phone gallery that I (you) had not intended. This phone like nearly all smart phones is slick, you want to put a thin cover around it as it's slippery. I have not dropped it, but... the cover is very helpful.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Bad digitizer, no warranty
By Coffee Drinker
Coming from an S3 this phone was everything I wanted but HD screen resolution. (It's still pretty good, though.) The size is perfect and dual SIM where I live is great. I'm a fan of AMOLED screens and their ultra-deep blacks and bright colors. If mine worked right, I'd give it 4-5 stars. But the digitizer is flaky and like many things coming from Samsung's China plant, it's not covered by a warranty.
If you are coming from a flagship phone, some things that might annoy you:
· A lot of blue shift at high viewing angles
· Stuttering in the launcher and app drawer
· Occasional lag in games (even solitaire!) which is apparently a known CPU throttling issue that will be solved in a forthcoming software update
· Installing non-Touchwiz based ROMs is not possible with most dual-SIM phones including this one
The GALAXY S3 mini runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)with a 4.0 display while maintaining the familiar Galaxy S3 design. The Galaxy S3 Mini is powered by NovaThor U8420 Dual-core 1 GHz CPU with 1GB of RAM and a 5MP camera that does 720p HD videos. The Galaxy S3 Mini is full of graphical capabilities, fast screen transitions, and an upgraded Google Now service featuring contextual search. Over at the front, there's a VGA camera for conference calls. The 4.0 display is of Super AMOLED variety and pushes 800×480 resolution.
707 of 734 people found the following review helpful.
Affordable GS3 in a smaller form factor!
By Encrypted11
UPDATE 22 June '13
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
If your screen/digitizer is slightly unresponsive in registering your finger movements or that it gets stuck i.e. with the lock screen at times, update to the latest firmware via (Settings->About Device-> Software Update). The latest firmware is "I8190XXAMG1" in Europe or "I8190XXAMB1" outside of Europe and it fixes the issue with the out-of-the-box firmware. Both are based on Android 4.1.2.
UPDATE 3 Mar '13
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
A Titan Grey, red and black version of the Galaxy S III Mini i8190 is also available with some of the very same Amazon sellers now!
So I bought this phone to replace an iPhone 4. Been having it for 2 years and the antennagate issue's been getting worse especially this year... So I thought I'd make a small phone upgrade and I got the S3 Mini.
My thoughts on this phone after using it for 3 months.
BEWARE: Before buying this phone, CHECK YOUR MOBILE CARRIER'S NETWORK BROADCASTING FREQUENCY BEFORE BUYING THIS PHONE, THIS IS A POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY IF YOU HAVEN'T CHECKED. THIS IS A GSM PHONE. GSM GSM GSM!
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
==========
Main Review
==========
Pros
¯¯¯
-Very light for its size, isn't too big
-3.5G is pretty fast (Btw the power saver feature can throttle your bandwidth aka internet "speed" apart from the processor)
-Android 4.1 preloaded
-Very smooth UI
-Still has the good multitasking feature on GS3
-(Call Quality) So I tested its battery life with voice calls. On one occasion, I had a 1 hour long call and it battery was down from 100% to 90%. So that equates to probably a 10 hr continuous talktime with a full charge. Very clear speaker
-Touching/Pointing is accurate
-Sensitive screen
Neutral
¯¯¯¯¯¯
-Battery Life (expected it to be better, still pretty decent though)
-Rendering lag on certain websites that contain a lot of images
-Screen resolution (Though the resolution isn't high, pixelation isn't obvious from viewing distance. Its not grainy and still very clear
-Direct Call isn't always responsive. I think the camera doesn't see your ear always while you're messaging or in the contact list. It might take 1-2 more tries.
-Screen contrast & brightness - Excellent indoors, good outdoors (without direct sun). Could have done better under direct sunlight ("By design" of AMOLED).
Cons
¯¯¯¯
-"Actual" Free internal memory is about 4.5GB/8GB
-Contains some bloatware that autostarts and clogs the system by Samsung & Other parties I'll list them below.
-Minijack is a little soft with the volume.
-MAJOR CONS: You can't put your apps on the SD card without rooting it.. Firmware limitation on Samsung's side most probably :(
-There is no LED notification blinker light like on the big brother Galaxy S3 (on the left of the front speaker). You have to wake up the screen to check if you've received messages (Pointed out by Nelson Wong).
Bloatware in my opinion (These apps can autostart and they "revive" when you attempt to kill them) They clog RAM, have a toll on the battery life as they attempt to communicate with the internet or use the processor mainly.
To disable these services/apps -> Application Manager -> All -> Locate them -> Uninstall updates/Disable -> Disable -> Restart your phone
1.SNS (Facebook integration stuff)
2.Samsung Kies
3.Samsung Account
4.Samsung Chat On
5.S Voice (If you don't need a voice assistant)
6.Help
7.GTalk (You gotta be in the right context menu to sign out of GTalk/Gmail Chat)
8.Google Search app (there's already a Chrome)
9.Google Plus
10.Flip Board
11. All Share
12.Polaris viewer 4.1 (It keeps popping up the dialogue asking you to purchase the pro version.. I disabled it and got adobe reader and a free office app)
13. Samsung's "Music Player" (Not a bloatware but its quite clunky). "VLC for Android Beta", Videolan's Opensourced media player from the play store's a lot more easier to use and integrates better to the notification screen. Like the PC version, it plays lots of media/compression formats. It is the swiss knife of video players.
Conclusion:
This phone's great for my use. As an ex-iOS user, I found the Android OS to be a lot less restrictive and apps were better integrated. Good call quality, good reception.
Out-of-the-box experience was 3/5 imo largely due to high amounts of bloatware that are turned on by default, if you tweaked these stuff by disabling them you should be able to optimise RAM usage and increase your battery life by a noticeable margin.
I bought a 16GB Micro SD for this phone because I thought apps would run on it but unfortunately, no. I do hope this feature will be enabled via a software update some time in the future.. because 4.5GB/8GB of unused NAND on the GS3 Mini's abit too low if you're a smartphone gamer (fortunately I'm not).
The biggest plus? Price. Absolutely great value and I am keeping this phone.
Overall, 4/5. :)
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
If this info's helpful, mark it as a helpful post to allow others to get the message. Honestly, I like Samsung hardware (look at my profile) but these are the pros & cons I've identified. I do like this phone but it isn't perfect, certain limitations listed above may be hated by some (SD card doesn't store apps using original Samsung firmware), a non-issue to others. If you could live with those limitations, I'm pretty sure you'll love this phone.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Just an additional note to anyone interested in this phone FOR the SERIOUS buyers...
The Galaxy S3 Mini is NOT an officially sold product in the US, Samsung's probably tired of the Apple litigation and they're not wanting to create any circumstance that would create more accusations against them. To me, this is a loss for fellow US consumers.
On the product itself... most likely the seller(s) would have acquired the phone directly from Europe (probably the UK or Germany). This is a parallel imported product.
- Don't expect your manual or GS3Mini's "setup language" to be english. You should've seen this coming.
- No US warranty.
- As I've said in the review, network compatibility - your carrier's frequency - don't complain if your phone does not call if you haven't made this check.
- IMPORTANT: Since the product is a parallel import, YOUR TRUST to YOUR SELLER is KEY in this types of purchase. Consider the seller's:
1.Reputation and seller review. Poor delivery, opened/used product etc in reviews
2.The reputation and track record is a good indicator if the seller's handled the GS3 and its packaging properly (Lower chances of DOA)
-Assuming these 2 "factors" are considered, find out if the seller's item is "FULFILLED BY AMAZON" or the seller. You know what I'm talking about :) Amazon's extremely efficient shipment ETA.
-If prices are *almost* the same between a "Fufilled by Amazon" vs a complete 3rd party, go for the Amazon. If the 3rd party's giving you a better deal in pricing, you probably should give the 3rd party a try. :) I bought mine from a third party seller on Amazon personally.
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Just made this extra section dedicated to:
==================================
The power users & geeks - Rooting the i8190
==================================
WARNING: I do not recommend rooting your phone if you have a weak heart or you're unaware of what you're doing. It may/may not be risky depending on your level of proficiency. If you're wanting to root your phone, keep backups of your files. Make sure you back up anything you don't want to lose.
I decided to open up this section of the review since I've rooted my S3 mini after a couple of months from purchase in an attempt to unlock the capability of installing apps on my SD card. Thankfully, this capability does work on the rooted S3 mini!
To do this, you'll have to install an app like "Link2SD" on the Play Store which is capable of moving files to your SD card using the "link method".
What the link method does is actually similar to the "rmdir" command on Windows. It creates a "shortcut" which points to your SD card, where your app files will be stored at instead of the internal storage. This tricks the OS to think that apps on the SD card are actually stored on the internal memory.
If you want to conserve more battery life, consider using the "Greenify" app on the Play Store. Allow Greenify to hibernate all your apps EXCEPT messaging apps! (Note: Apps added to auto hibernate during idle will not be able to send you notifications). Your idle time battery life can be increased noticeably with this app!
That said, what rooted Android ROMs work well with the S3 mini (i8190)?
There are 2 on XDA developers I'd like to mention and I've used without stability issues
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
-There are lots of helpful tools from software-based bricks to other rooting utilities available on XDA's Galaxy S3 Mini Android Development section.
-avicohh's I8190XXAMG1 [NOT FOR NFC N, T or L model]. This rooted firmware is based on the official Samsung firmware for the i8190 only WITH the addition of root capabilities. That's the only difference.
-enox.co's enox reVenge AMD3. This is a semi-custom firmware which uses the ROM of Samsung's official firmware with all bloatwares removed and restyled. For an instance, it does not use Samsung's Touchwiz interface. It uses a UI that's styled almost completely like the generic/reference Android's interface.
Battery life?
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
They're very similar if you used a utility app like Titanium Backup Pro to freeze all Samsung bloatwares.
Performance?
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
It is favoring the enox.
RAM Usage?
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Favours avicohh's original Samsung firmware with root very noticeably if you used Titanium backup pro to freeze all unwanted auto-reviving bloatwares. I have not observed the low RAM usage on the enox as touted.
Stability?
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
avicohh's original Samsung firmware probably due to lower RAM usages, you might have to reboot the Enox once in 1-2 days. As you run apps with SU access, some of them may unintentionally mess with some key files while you're trying to learn more about your rooted phone. So do backups routinely!
Other good mentions are that you'll probably want to install a firewall for added privacy and security for your phone. Avast! has one for rooted Androids.
Which ROM's my daily driver?
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Samsung XXAMG1 rooted, better stability's my choice.
Hope this helps.
147 of 162 people found the following review helpful.Samsung I8190 S3 Mini Unlocked White Android - A Detailed Review
By Daisy S
This superb phone with many features is just right to fit into my jean pocket or in a small purse with ease. Since this phone has EXCEEDED all of my expectations, here is my very detailed review of this very special and fun to use Mini S3 phone. My goal in this review is to help in your buying decision one way or the other regarding this phone.
Update 8/24/13 - Just received today, the newest firmware/OS for the 4.1.2 OTA (on my phone directly) as it was updated from Samsung and this is very new at this date of Monday, August 5, 2013 and arrived in my phone's Notification area today. After the upgrade completed, I noticed at once that this phone is lightning fast and the touchscreen is very, very fast and responsive! This is the THIRD update that I received since I purchased this phone in April 2013. Each update is not that large, however, it enhances the performance of this phone. Very encouraged as if the updates keep coming regularly, perhaps
4.2.2 will be coming to the S3 Mini. And from my research, it is possible that the S3 Mini may receive the 4.2 OS but it will be a while longer...Till then, I shall keep on trying to update and keep you informed...
PROS:
- SIZE AND WEIGHT: Perfect size for me as it fits easily into my jeans pocket or smallest purse. And I purchased a leather vertical case that clips to my waistband so I take it with me to the gym to listen to my music or radio when I work out.
- STANDARD REGULAR SIZE SIM CARD: The S3 Mini has a regular/standard Sim card slot. (Note the S3 regular phone and S4 phones accept a micro Sim. Good to know as I did not have to cut my Sim card, I just placed it into the S3 Mini and I was good to go, and I did not have to set up the APN settings for Internet and MMS as the setup did this for me automatically). This is good to know if you want to use your regular Sim card and not have to deal with settings yourself. What a great feature.
- Phone call clarity etc. - No matter what my location using this phone for phone calls the clarity of calls is loud and clear whether on the phone's speaker, headset etc. I even had to turn down the volume quite a lot as the calls come in so well.
- WiFi/3G (Internet): Connects to any WiFi I have tried very quickly and easily. And when not near a WiFi, I use AT&T for data and easily get 3G and found the data to be very fast, almost as fast as my home WiFi is. (For browser, I installed Opera Mini free from Playstore and found it to be a very easy to use and fast browser).
- Overall speed, performance, smoothness, picture quality of the screen--very fast and peppy. And I found a way to SAVE on both memory and on battery. What I did was to go into Apps/ Manage Apps and DISABLED the apps I don't use. Without rooting the phone, you cannot uninstall pre-installed factory apps, but you can disable them. Disabling the ones you don't use makes the phone run faster and frees more memory! Since I am a techie, I know which ones to disable and which ones not to disable, so if in doubt, please ask me in the comments and I will be glad to assist you in this.
- BATTERY LIFE: This phone has given me the BEST battery life of ANY smartphone or that I ever owned. And I use 100% brightness. For me, even at 100 brightness, if I use WiFi or Data just when I need it and then turn it off, I get all day into the night on one single charge! (I charge nightly and the phone is at 100% ready to go the next morning).
- EXTERNAL SLOT FOR MICRO SD CARD - This helped to sell me on this phone as I can add my personal music, photos, videos and more to this phone!
And I placed a 32g in mine for music, files etc. *Keep in mind where External SD cards are concerned: They are JUST for your personal files: music, videos, photos, and other files. When you install apps from Playstore or other sources, they store either in INTERNAL Memory Card or sometimes in the phone area (most store in the INTERNAL SD AREA). This is the law of the land where Android is concerned and ALL newer Android devices (including Samsung) work this way when storing your downloaded apps are concerned.
- INTERNAL STORAGE SPACE:
This phone is advertised at 8GB of Internal space. The 8GB is the space BEFORE the drive was formatted, OS installed and then factory apps installed. So what I had on the phone BEFORE I installed any apps it had 4.75GB left. This is how it is on any flash drive, SD card, Hard Drive as formatting alone takes up space.
Also, since 3.0 Android and above, you cannot save any apps to your personal SD card. Instead the apps are installed one way or the other to the INTERNAL SPACE. However, the good thing is that your personal files as photos, music, videos, and more can be installed to your EXTERNAL SD Card so you do have that space for yourself.
**I have a few apps I downloaded from the Playstore, but no games so I still have about 4.08 GB left on my phone for more apps later should I wish to install them.
- CAMERA - The 5MP camera concerned me that is UNTIL I took both indoor and outdoor pictures and even video. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. When I printed out some close up and other shots, I was really happy with the detailing in the pictures. And it compared to the picture quality I had with my Samsung Galaxy Note with 8MP camera, so what a happy surprise! Turns out to be a pretty good camera.
- Bluetooth Speed and Performance - The Bluetooth paired quickly with several devices and copied files at a great rate of speed.
CONS:
- Adobe Flash is not supported in this phone or ANY ANDROID DEVICE after 4.0 OS. The only way to get flash is to get a archived flash and use a high end browser such as Puffin or Maxthon Browser. So downloading the older archived flash gives the ability to view SOME internet videos, but this is better than no flash at all. Keep in mind this is a problem with ALL brands of Android devices with 4.0 OS and higher it is just after 4.0 Android came out, the NEW and best flash is NOT supported for Android devices. It is what it is...
- Very small instruction "manual" provided with the tablet, however, I went to the Samsung site and downloaded the full manual and saved it in PDF on my laptop for reading anytime I need it. If you want the link for the manual, let you know in the comments and I will give it to you.
- This phone will NOT accept an OTG (On the go) USB plug for flash drives, mice, etc. This was not a problem for me, I just plug in the USB Cable to copy files to the phone. So no big deal.
-
- International Phone so NO US WARRANTY. Not a problem for me because I have learned over time that if a device is going to fail, it usually does it within the first 30 days. This phone has been great--no problems at all!
-
- No NFC except on the model with the N on the model number. I do not use NFC so I have no problem with that.
Bottom line: Would I buy this phone all over again? Yes I certainly would. Will this phone be the best for you? Yes, if you do not expect every bell and whistle feature from the BIG S3, want just the most important features, want a smaller and more lightweight phone that will do all the basic things of a Smartphone, then I totally recommend this phone!
Hope this review has assisted you and thank you for reading it. Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comment area and I will answer all questions in a very timely manner.
104 of 115 people found the following review helpful.
REVIEW Return Policy - BUYER BEWARE (for ShopEBest)
By Tabin
I felt that my Samsung phone was a defective one. I have three phones in the family and mine gets dropped calls/inability to text/missed texts etc. I attempted to return this defective phone only to receive an email saying I can't because it's pass the 14 day period. If you review the return policy, you will see it's EXTREMELY difficult (if not impossible) to make any kind of return even for a defective product. If you used the phone for more than 30min, you can't return it without a 50% restocking fee. Wow. Chances are, you will use it for more than 30min. Honestly, I wouldn't buy a phone after reviewing the policy. It is my fault for assuming amazon has a standard 30day return policy and for assuming amazon takes care of their customers. I would rather pay full price at a legitimate store for the warranty alone. Cell phones are never guaranteed to function properly. Do you want to take that $300 risk?
Here's the important stuff that I quote from the return policy:
"All International phones are not USA manufacture warranty, and no our store warranty neither, including the accessories
If there is returned and refund needed, has to be return item within 14 business days from the delivery, and with buyer own expense. After 14 days there is no returned and refund acceptable no matter what problem on the phone.
Our 14 days return period only effect for defective phone, or ShopEbest sends out wrong order. Any other reasons would cost buyer 20% to 25% of restocking fee.
50% restocking fee will be charger, if buyer returning phone not as brand new condition and not in resell able condition , such as missing plastic bag, phone's life time minute has been used more than 30 minutes, writing on the box, screen protector is missing on the screen, missing accessories, etc.
All unlocked phone's feature is not 100% guarantee suitable to all locked same network frequency carrier. Due to every carrier has their own network frequency and setting on their features. Please kindly check out if the phone's 2G, 3G or 4G suitable for your phone carrier, before place the order."
UPDATE: Don't get this if you plan to use T-mobile. T-mobile runs on a different frequency band that this phone doesn't support. Your phone will WORK but it won't be as good as a phone that also works with ALL of T-mobile's frequency bands.
Model
- AX920e
CPU- MT6589 Cortex A7
- 1.2 GHz Quad-Core Processor
Touch Screen- 5-Inch IPS Arc Display
- High Resolution 1280 x 720 Pixels
Internal RAM- 1GB
Internal ROM- 8GB
Dual Cameras- Front Camera: 5MP AF, Flash Light
- Rear Camera: 13MP AF, Flash Light
- Support 1080P HD Video Recording
Operating System- Android OS, v4.1.2 (Froyo)
Network Frequency- 2G: GSM-850/900/1800/1900 MHz
- 3G: WCDMA 2100/850 MHz (HSPA+)
Battery- Lithium ion Battery: >1800mAh
Other Features- Wireless Features: 3G、Wi-Fi、Bluetooth 2.0、EDGE、HSPA+、HSUPA
- Modem Features: Wireless AP (Mobile AP)
- Navigation Module: GPS+AGPS Navigator
- Dual SIM: Support
- HSUPA: Support (5.76 Mbps)
- HSPA+: Support (42Mbps)
- Light Sensor: Support
- Proximity Sensor: Support
- Gravity Sensor: Support
- Bluetooth: Support
- FM Radio: Support
- Music/Video: Support
- Hand Writing: Support
- Multilingual: Support
- Text / Photo SMS: Support
- TF Card: Micro SD, up to 32GB Expansion
- Standby Time: 120-150 Hours
- Talk Time: 120-150 Mins
- Headphone: 3.5mm Dia Standard Jack
- DC Charging Port: Mini USB 5Pin
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.More better than i expected,amazing phone!!
By hanchir emmanuel
Wowwww what phone,this is a very nice build,solid,i was afraid to buy chinese phone but when i open the box,i was very impessed.
He came with 2 battery,headphone,usb cable and plug and i nice protect covert case!
I open the phone,android work very nice,is 4.1.2 and the phone is very fast,reactiv,solid,nice look to with hd screen.
The call is ok,the camera is realy 5 mo front and 13 mo back,he make a very nice pictures and vidéos.
Play store work well,wifi to,i need just try 3g but thonk is ok to.
All aplications run well,mini sd card 32gb class 10 accepted and wowww i paid 198$ for a phone like this,this is my best deal,when i see the price of iphone,galaxy s etc........you can put 2 sim to,i recomended this phone!!!!!!!
This is 3 months now i use this phone,no one freez,camera work well for pictures,video call work very well(skype and oovoo),i read 720p video with vlc app without freez,i'am so happy to buy this phone.
I have now 2 diferent sim and work well in 3g to,i definitively recommanded this phone!!!!!
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful.Love it!!!!
By Consuela
It looks good and over all its awesome. The cameras are great quality. The call quality is great too Over all its a great phone I recommend it to everyone
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.Amazing phone
By IceT
This phone is amazing. It has everything stated in the description. This phone is an HTC Droid DNA clone. It is very nice. The screen is very responsive. Amazing camera. Here are some specs:
Brand: Alps
Model: 01_v89zlh_hd
OS:4.2.1
CPU model: Quad Core ARMv7 Processor
GPU Render: PowerVR SGX 544MP
Resolution: 720x1280
Rear Camera: 12.6 MP (4096x3072)
Memory: 1GB
RAM: 971MB
Front Camera: 4.9 MP 2560x1920
The first guy that rated this poorly obviously doesnt know anything about phones and assumes that all of these clones are bad. Dont take his review seriously because he did not buy it.
The Samsung Galaxy Discover offers style and value with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and a sleek, modern design. The ultra-responsive 3.5" touchscreen keeps you connected and entertained, while the 3MP camera captures your world on the go.Phone is bulk packaged, does not come in retail package but is brand new. May be carrier branded but is completely unlocked. Please check the frequencies listed to make sure it works with your carrier.
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful.Better than others selling for more
By J_Furst
I wanted an affordable Android phone that would sync with Google Calendar and Contacts online. This was a precaution so that if the phone was lost, stolen, or went faulty, such information would still be safe. All I had to do was get a replacement phone and 'download' the information. So I started out with an entry-level LG Optimus GT540 Android phone that had a fairly good review. I paid US$120 for it in July 2011. I am surprised to see it is still being sold now for even more (up to US$165).
Well in trying to upgrade the LG phone, it became unusable so I started the hunt for another low cost phone. Well, I eventually chose this Samsung Galaxy Discover a month ago. I am glad I did. This phone is much better that the LG Optimus GT540 and at a lower price. Looking at different aspects:
.. Screen: This phone has a capacitive touch screen versus a resistive screen. I find it much lighter to touch, more consistent and more responsive. Also there is a little more finger room and screen space with the slightly larger screen of 3.5" compared to 3.0".
.. Memory: I ran out of memory trying to download apps on the former phone. But I have loaded this new Samsung with similar apps and still have much more room. In fact, I note that this Samsung has over 12 times more internal memory than the LG.
.. Operating System (OS): This Samsung with the later OS 4.04 has an improved onscreen keyboard and I no longer need to download a dialer and contacts app to overcome the limitation of the LG with its OS 2.1.
.. Camera: This is about the same as before, but with 3 MP it is better than some similar phones with only 2MP. One disappointment is that it does not carry an LED flash, although gsmarena.com says it does. But considering the price and also that my former phone did not have this feature, I am still satisfied.
.. Battery Life: Battery life has not improved much, with a lower capacity battery of 1300mAh (vs 1500 mAh). However, in actual usage, it appears that the Samsung has a slight advantage. Just checking now, the phone has done some 23.5 hours on battery and it indicates that the battery is now 52% of its capacity. This is with moderate use.
Considering all the factors reviewed, overall I give this Samsung Galaxy Discover phone a 5 rating, especially for such a reasonable price of US$118. (I paid US$110.) And I would certainly recommend this phone way ahead of the LG GT540 even if the latter was fetching a lower price, which is now surprisingly higher.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful.Excellent celphone
By Rebeca Roitman
Its a very good celphone and easy to use! It has a lot of apps and functions and I didnt even had to spend a lot of money getting it, like a would've with a model like the samsung galaxy Siii mini.
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful.maury
By Rafael Mauricio Roitman B
I received this cell about one week ago , and it has been working without any fault. For those who want a cell with the basics features like internet, 3G and one of the last android software , as the really inexpensive price this is the one I recommend.
With the largest screen of any Windows Phone, the HTC TITAN lets you work big and play big. Sporting a 4.7” screen and an ultra-slim 9.9mm unibody contoured design, the HTC TITAN is unlike anything you’ve ever held. It’s the perfect phone for multitasking, enhancing your work efficiency, editing Office documents with the big virtual keyboard and making your entertainment and photos really come to life. No more squinting at small screens for you. With a massive 4.7” screen and an ultra-slim 9.9mm unibody contoured design, the HTC TITAN feels great in your hand. It’s unlike anything you’ve ever held before. HTC TITAN offers an 8 megapixel camera with F2.2. lens and BSI sensor that gives you a high-resolution photo under any condition. With such pixel-packed photos, you really can feel comfortable leaving your point and shoot at home. The HTC TITAN is the perfect phone for multitasking and enhancing your efficiency. It simplifies your email by bringing all your accounts and conversation history by each person together in a linked inbox. And the HTC TITAN lets you easily jump between work mode and play mode. Listen to music while working on a document, or check important emails in the middle of a game without restarting the game.
57 of 67 people found the following review helpful.Excellent Phone.
By Biswa
HTC Titan is Full touch screen phone with 3G experience. It operates with both of the networks 2G and 3G with the bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and HSDPA 850 / 900 / 2100 respectively.
Size:
This HTC phone is having the dimensions 131.5 x 70.7 x 9.9 mm with 160 grams of weight. It means this is a little heavier phone.
Display:
This phone has 4.7 inches S-LCD capacitive touchscreen having 16M colors with 480 x 800 pixels resolutions. It has more features as:-
* Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate.
* Auto turn-off.
* Gyroscope sensor.
* Multi-touch input method.
Sound:
This cell phone has 3.5 mm jack with dolby and SRS sound enhancement. These features will give an awesome music quality and you can enjoy at the fullest. For playing audio and videos there are music players which can playa number of file formats.
Camera:
It is having an awesome 8 mega pixels camera with 3264×2448 pixels with LED flash, autofocus and Geo-tagging. This cam can capture your sweet moments in the high quality images. This can record videos too at 720p. The most liked thing in 3G phones is secondary camera and I am happy to letting you know that this phone has 1.3 mega pixels secondary camera to enjoy the video calling feature.
Memory:
It has 16GB internal memory with 512 MB RAM and there is no external memory in this cell phone. You can also store unlimited contact entries and call records in it.
Connectivity:
It has better support for GPRS, EDGE, 3G, WLAN, Bluetooth and USB features. You can enjoy the awesome internet connectivity with its 3G feature. Its 3g gives speed up to 14.4MBPS in HSDPA and 5.76MBPS in HSUPA band.
Operating System:
this is powered by Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Mango.
CPU:
It runs on 1.5 GHz Scorpion processor with Adreno 205 GPU and Qualcomm MSM8255 chipset. This will make the phone process the requests faster.
Radio:
FM radio with RDS effect.
GPS:
It has A-Gps support with bing maps.
Battery: The battery inside it is Li-Ion 1600 mAh which gives back up up to 360 h (2G) / Up to 460 h (3G) in stand by mode and Up to 11 h 50 min (2G) / Up to 6 h 50 min (3G) in talk time mode.
Final Verdict:
- If you enjoy consuming media are going to love it. If you read a lot, watch a lot, play games a lot, surf the web a lot, you are definitely going to benefit here.
- Few people may find the phone big to carry if your hand is small :)
- Memory should have been expandable but still I say 16 GB not less.
- As for whether or not this impresses as a Windows Phone 7 device, it is one of the top WP7 smartphones on the market and goes as far making Android and iOS dull by comparison. We love the social aspects, we love the interactive feel of the device, and how everything is brought to life by the OS, oh and that screen. Big really can be beautiful.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful.defective phone
By Joana Quarshie
This phone was stated as unlocked phone. When it was purchased it was found to be a locked phone. Money was paid to unlock it. Seller was very good and refunded the unlock money back to me. This phone still keeps kicking back to the lock mode which is making it difficult to use. The technician that unlocked it stated there is a problem with the phone. I can not use it, which is very bad.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful.Amazing Windows Phone 7 from HTC! Recommended buy!
By BigShopper101
This is a great buy if you are in the market for a new smartphone and don't have any preconceived notions about the superiority of one platform over another (Android, iOS, Windows Phone 7). The features of the Windows Phone 7 operating system (this phone has the Mango build aka WP 7.5) has been documented on many websites, blogs and videos. I am not going to repeat all of them here.
The Phone Hardware -
1. HTC has created a phone that is (very) large but holds well in your hand. The phone is not too heavy and does not feel uncomfortable even for the times I am in the "single hand operation" mode.
2. The display is clean and the default theme looks sharp.
3. The phone that was shipped to me was targeted at the UK market and the system settings defaulted to UK. It was very easy to change the region, keyboard and search settings from UK to US.
4. The battery holds charge very well and lasts an entire workday (12 - 13.5 hours) with my heavy data and phone use.
5. The camera takes good pictures but can underperform in low light inspite of the dual flash. The camera comes with a panorama mode that allows you to stitch 3 photos to form a wide angled view. I am not sure if this is a default OS feature or that of HTC but it should allow for at least 8, like some other phones.
The Phone Software --
1. The best feature of the Windows Phone OS is the Live Tile. The tiles allow for a "glance and go" operation and serve as a great notification tool.
2. The integration of Facebook, Linkedin, Messenger, Google allows for unified contact management. This may not seem useful in the beginning and I too was a sceptic but it has grown on me to the point that I cannot do without it. I can swtich between SMS, Facebook and Messenger chat on the same thread!!!
3. The Windows MarketPlace app store has all major apps that most people would need. There may be some apps that are missing but I doubt it will be a dealbreaker for 99% of the folks. In fact, in the past 2 months I have seen a sizeable increase in the number of mainstream apps.
4. Integration of Bing Search (available as a standard key) is very useful. Bing has voice and visual search integrated. It takes away the need to have Shazaam (for identifying audio tracks) or a separate Bar Code reader.
5. Bing Maps is good within the USA but I use gPro Maps (a version of Google Maps) as it has additional detail when I am traveling outside the country.
5. The keyboard is nice. Types really well and your speed will improve as you start using the word suggest feature.
The all new DASH 3.5 offers user a sophisticated and palm sized Android phone that packs a punch. With its Qualcomm 1 GHz processor users can breeze through apps and movies. Sporting a 3.5-Inch screen with a 2MP camera, user can snap, share and view pictures all day!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.Pretty good Cellphone. But Amazon sent an open-box item / broken seal.
By Eduardo
Have been using for just a week. This cell phone worths the money! Only 175Mb ROM available for App`s. Battery lasts longer than other android phones. Loud speakers, good mic. Camera ok. Easy to choose SIM for calls or SMS. FM radio works pretty well! No bugs yet!!! I`ll be back if that happen!!! CPU is fine. Haven`t use the bluetooth yet.
BUYERS outside the U.S: Be aware on 3g frequency! Some Dash works on 1900. Others on 2100.
***Unexpectedly AMAZON sent me an open-box item, with both seals broken. But the item was sopposed to be brand new!
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful.Great phone so far.
By Emil Cano
Just got the phone today was pleasantly suprised it worked so well with my ATT sim., still need to test it out with another Sim to test the dual sim properties, booted up and started installing and customizing apps, synched my email without a hitch, phone calls to friend was clear, streaming Pandora on it right now while i type and is coming clear. GPS is accurate using maps and navi. the battery seems to drain a bit faster than i liked. Also for some reason i cant install shazam or any music recognition apps, says its imcompatible to the phone :( Also a friend tried using a spring sim but didnt work, then again sprint uses a different type of cell protocol, CDMA i think, works well with ATT thought here in Cali. One of the biggest suprises of the phone is that you can use teether and use the phone as a wifi hotspot, i wasn't able to do this on my iphone!
pros +
clear calls,
emails connected smoothly
sim worked right away
streaming with pandora music is smooth
Teethering
con's -
battery life seems a little less (still need to test this out furthur though)
shazam or any android music recognition isin't supported for some reason, hoping i can find something out there i can use
cant handle too much multi tasking, when running pandora and webrowsing it seemed to stutter a lil
22 of 27 people found the following review helpful.Just a little too early to keep it
By Bumpkin
I purchased a BLU Dash 3.5 to use on vacation, with a local Mexico sim in slot 2 (quad-band Edge) and an AT&T Gophone sim in slot one. I tested the phone at AT&T and got "H" connection, and it seemed very slow compared to my Tmo Galaxy S II, because it was. The antennae on the Dash 3.5 are about, I believe, half the max speed of 802.11b, or about 4-6Mbps. Better than Edge, certainly, and fine for email. The phone itself, while on wi-fi, was a delight. I loved the launcher, which made it possible to change the size of the fonts and icons on the applications screen. I really liked 2.3.6 (or whatever it has in it), more in fact than ICS on the Galaxy, and of course, far more than 2.1 or 2.2. Skype worked great, and the screen resolution was just fine; not as good as the similarly sized Moto Defy but nice and bright and clear enough. They give you two extra backs, in different colors, which is a cute touch.
SO. My extra batteries arrived, and guess what? They were the model for the plain Dash, not the 3.5. The Dash 3.5 uses the C654804130T, and no one in the entire hemisphere apparently sells them. (Buy.com sells the other one, the one for the plain Dash. It is model C654205110T. An ebay seller with a phone number (who shall remain nameless) gave me that model# and a link to Buy.com. I ordered them before my own Dash 3.5 arrived.)
So unless BLU itself responds with batteries, or Buy.com or its fulfiller finds some, I am sad to say my phone will be returned until such time as BLU gets its act together.
The 1-star loss is because of the slow antenna BLU chose to put on this (and I assume on the VIVO 4.3 also), and the batteries being unavailable.
