Similar Products Owned
Nokia 5.1
Nokia 3210
Nokia 5110
Nokia 8210
Sony Ericsson T68i
Sony Ericsson P900
O2 XDA
Sony Ericsson T610i
Motorolla
Nokia 8910
Nokia 8910i
Reason For Purchase
I have had enough of mobile phones, mobile phone shop staff and mobile phone users. Here’s why:
Mobile Phones: I have only found one handset that does exactly what I want with no waste and that is no longer made. The second hand 8910/is I have bought on eBay have never lasted.
Mobile Phone Shop Staff: They only really want to sell you the latest handset with the latest tariff, without really understanding how they work, or being able to sell you only what you need. My last attempt to patronise a local shop ended with me explaining to the staff member why he couldn’t listen to the music library he had paid for on anything other than his expensive handset.
Mobile Phone Users: Why buy a smart phone if you aren’t smart enough to use the technology. (Probably because you were sold to by the sales person above.)
My idea handset would have:
LCD Screen Visible in daylight! (Mono is fine)
Bluetooth Connects to real cameras for handling photographs, laptops & PDAs for internet access on screens that you can see.
2 Bluetooth Nodes Like the Sony Ericsson T610i this would enable pairing with two devices at once enabling, for instance, remote dialling from your PDA whilst connected to a Bluetooth headset.
No camera To make it pocket sized
Size Jeans pocket
Shock proof Because it’s going to get dropped
Battery life Plenty
The Samsung Solid had many of these features, so I bought one. See the almost there specification here.
The O2 Online Shop seemed the best place to buy because they had them in stock and my business SIM card is O2. Sadly it is impossible to extract a handset from the business shop and as I later discovered to get a VAT receipt for your purchase without about an hour on the phone.
First Impressions
No real problems on taking the handset out of the box – it was all as advertised. The phone appears to be reasonably dust proof and despite being quite lightweight it doesn’t seem cheap or fragile. I would hope that the lightweight construction (with no unnecessary features) lessens the effect of being dropped.
Sadly setting up is a hassle as, like most models, it is impossible to move your address book between handsets. The only option appears to be to move from one handset to the SIM card which cannot hold a record linking three or more numbers (mobile home & work etc.) 2 hours work later your phone book is ready to use. (And I only have 50 records!)
Then came an interesting revelation. Having carefully read the instructions for setup (both in the manual provided and that downloaded from the Samsung web site) it became apparent that the speed dial function was missing from the phone. Contacting Samsung only resulted in the buck passing to O2 – “Their fault.” said Samsung. A call to O2, giving them a chance to deny it and quote from the manual, find a Solid Handset, find a SIM card, find a charger to charge the flat battery, wait because you can’t use the handset until the battery has a little charge, reveals that “It’s not on this phone either!”. The answer: “It must be something that Samsung have removed.” Luckily with that base covered I offered them the Samsung technical support number to check for themselves at which point they acknowledged that maybe it was down to them. “Yes we’ve removed it.” was the final confession but they were unable to explain why. Beware.
From a week of use the handset seems fine, although I can’t say I have dropped it on purpose or accidentally. The torch has been useful a couple of times. Even so another problem has raised its head (apart from an hour on the phone to get a VAT receipt). On about 20% of calls I found that either I could hear but the other party couldn’t hear me or the call went through but neither party could hear the other. This was the case whether I made or received the call. After about three days of this I decided to investigate the O2 returns process. Deep joy!. 24 minutes on a premium rate phone line (which because O2 have changed their charging structure 12 months into my contract now costs me money) reveals that because with no other option I had to buy a PAYG handset, the process is that I have to return the faulty one for a refund and the buy another. I love the way that so many large companies, rather than thinking how can we make life easier for our customers in the event of a problem, invent processes that could not be more complex. A couple of tips from this exercise:
Remember to ask what the Freepost address is – it won’t be volunteered as their recommendation will be to send it recorded delivery.
Ask about how to claim back the cost of the 25 minute premium rate phone call and if you find out let me know.
So I have ordered a fresh phone online and will be returning the broken one in the original packaging that I had the foresight to retain. More to follow.
Summary
Happy so far with the build and functionality. However:
Speed Dial has been removed by O2
A fault developed after just over a week of use which meant callers could not hear me and sometimes we couldn't hear each other.
The O2 returns procedure is costly and convoluted, wit no provision to recoup the costs involved.
Nokia 5.1
Nokia 3210
Nokia 5110
Nokia 8210
Sony Ericsson T68i
Sony Ericsson P900
O2 XDA
Sony Ericsson T610i
Motorolla
Nokia 8910
Nokia 8910i
Reason For Purchase
I have had enough of mobile phones, mobile phone shop staff and mobile phone users. Here’s why:
Mobile Phones: I have only found one handset that does exactly what I want with no waste and that is no longer made. The second hand 8910/is I have bought on eBay have never lasted.
Mobile Phone Shop Staff: They only really want to sell you the latest handset with the latest tariff, without really understanding how they work, or being able to sell you only what you need. My last attempt to patronise a local shop ended with me explaining to the staff member why he couldn’t listen to the music library he had paid for on anything other than his expensive handset.
Mobile Phone Users: Why buy a smart phone if you aren’t smart enough to use the technology. (Probably because you were sold to by the sales person above.)
My idea handset would have:
LCD Screen Visible in daylight! (Mono is fine)
Bluetooth Connects to real cameras for handling photographs, laptops & PDAs for internet access on screens that you can see.
2 Bluetooth Nodes Like the Sony Ericsson T610i this would enable pairing with two devices at once enabling, for instance, remote dialling from your PDA whilst connected to a Bluetooth headset.
No camera To make it pocket sized
Size Jeans pocket
Shock proof Because it’s going to get dropped
Battery life Plenty
The Samsung Solid had many of these features, so I bought one. See the almost there specification here.
The O2 Online Shop seemed the best place to buy because they had them in stock and my business SIM card is O2. Sadly it is impossible to extract a handset from the business shop and as I later discovered to get a VAT receipt for your purchase without about an hour on the phone.
First Impressions
No real problems on taking the handset out of the box – it was all as advertised. The phone appears to be reasonably dust proof and despite being quite lightweight it doesn’t seem cheap or fragile. I would hope that the lightweight construction (with no unnecessary features) lessens the effect of being dropped.
Sadly setting up is a hassle as, like most models, it is impossible to move your address book between handsets. The only option appears to be to move from one handset to the SIM card which cannot hold a record linking three or more numbers (mobile home & work etc.) 2 hours work later your phone book is ready to use. (And I only have 50 records!)
Then came an interesting revelation. Having carefully read the instructions for setup (both in the manual provided and that downloaded from the Samsung web site) it became apparent that the speed dial function was missing from the phone. Contacting Samsung only resulted in the buck passing to O2 – “Their fault.” said Samsung. A call to O2, giving them a chance to deny it and quote from the manual, find a Solid Handset, find a SIM card, find a charger to charge the flat battery, wait because you can’t use the handset until the battery has a little charge, reveals that “It’s not on this phone either!”. The answer: “It must be something that Samsung have removed.” Luckily with that base covered I offered them the Samsung technical support number to check for themselves at which point they acknowledged that maybe it was down to them. “Yes we’ve removed it.” was the final confession but they were unable to explain why. Beware.
From a week of use the handset seems fine, although I can’t say I have dropped it on purpose or accidentally. The torch has been useful a couple of times. Even so another problem has raised its head (apart from an hour on the phone to get a VAT receipt). On about 20% of calls I found that either I could hear but the other party couldn’t hear me or the call went through but neither party could hear the other. This was the case whether I made or received the call. After about three days of this I decided to investigate the O2 returns process. Deep joy!. 24 minutes on a premium rate phone line (which because O2 have changed their charging structure 12 months into my contract now costs me money) reveals that because with no other option I had to buy a PAYG handset, the process is that I have to return the faulty one for a refund and the buy another. I love the way that so many large companies, rather than thinking how can we make life easier for our customers in the event of a problem, invent processes that could not be more complex. A couple of tips from this exercise:
Remember to ask what the Freepost address is – it won’t be volunteered as their recommendation will be to send it recorded delivery.
Ask about how to claim back the cost of the 25 minute premium rate phone call and if you find out let me know.
So I have ordered a fresh phone online and will be returning the broken one in the original packaging that I had the foresight to retain. More to follow.
Summary
Happy so far with the build and functionality. However:
Speed Dial has been removed by O2
A fault developed after just over a week of use which meant callers could not hear me and sometimes we couldn't hear each other.
The O2 returns procedure is costly and convoluted, wit no provision to recoup the costs involved.
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