Bye to Samsung Jack after 2 years.

It is really funny how I bought this handset, Samsung Jack. I initially bought Motorola RAZR2.

It was supposedly a high end phone 2 years ago and came with a context sensitive touchscreen. No the whole screen is touchscreen, but calls can be taken using the outside display. I tested it for 2 weeks, but didn't like it. Volume for music was too low. I was not able to hear anything when riding Calgary Transit. The interface was bad. It was not a smartphone. I couldn't install any apps.

Then the idea of smartphone crossed my mind. Fido as usual sucks wrt phone selection (even now they do). They had only Motorola Q9H or Samsung Jack. Motorola Q9H was not available anywhere (Fido online or Fido store). They were probably phasing out that phone. I think Sony Experia was coming at that time. That phone was highly anticipated at that time, as I read from various forums. Remember there were no Android fanboys then (well Android must've been there, but it was not popular the way it's now). Anyways, Jack was my last choice, since it looked like a brick for me.

I got it and tested for some time. That was my first smart phone. I installed some apps like CorePlayer. I installed Garmin mobile, it was a huge learning experience installing something like that. I used it as my first GPS. Getting the satellite takes painfully long, but once there, it will serve you nicely. We roamed around the whole of Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City with that GPS. It served my nicely. My wife always disliked the Jack because it lacked those aesthetics to attract females. And I always used to poke here saying that her Nokia N70 is not smart enough :). Actually it's a really nice looking phone.

Then other thing I like about Samsung Jack is the address book. It is simply the best I have ever used. Just type in the first or last name or number or anything on its QWERTY keyboard, contact will show up (I hate my Vivaz pro's contact manager, how many clicks to get the right contact, it's painful). Anyways, Samsung Jack, you did a good job. I am not sure what I will do with it. But most probably I will give it to somebody back in India.

My Sony Ericsson Vivaz Pro

I got the phone from Fido. They are pushing Vivaz too much these days. Why? In any case it's not a bad phone, considering that I don't have to take a data plan with this phone. With all other smartphones, we need to, be it iPhone or any of those fancy Android devices. I have never used those devices too much. So I can't compare.

First thing,Vivaz is so difficult to open. No clear instructions were given in the quick manual. The keyboard is nice. It should be better that on-screen keyboard.

Vivaz has Symbian OS. It used to be a leader but not anymore. The UI is ok but using it with touch screen is a pain most of the times. YouTube app is already there. But it doesn't stream continuously in 3G connection. I think not even with wi-fi. Is it a phone problem that it's not able to play continuously. I am not sure. But the screen is big and the resolution is not bad. I installed Opera mobile. Websites look good now. I had a really bad experience with Opera mini on my Blackberry curve 8530. Oh! man, I was not able to use the Blackberry touch pad to do anything in Opera. Maybe I had to do some other settings. But a fresh install of a software should at least do things half right and be at least usable. I still use Blackberry browser, which I feel is doing things half right.

Vivaz's Address book is a pain. You cant just type the first few letters and get the matching names. How painful. My old Samsung blackjack could do it. Really Symbian/SE, you need to get your act together. The customization of themes is good enough. There are lots of apps. some of the apps will not work on Vivaz even if it works on S60 5ed. Like Best answering machine. It tried, it didn't work. I really need to get some answering machine for this phone. hmm.. I need to search more...

Google maps is good. I tested the voice commands in G maps. It's pretty good. Ndrive is working fine I guess. Didn't get enough time to play with that. OVI maps didn't work. I didn't install any other apps. Kinetic scrolling works for photo viewer only, I guess. The media player is good. The pics taken are good enough at 5MP, but not the best at night. The video at 72op is also good. A little bit grainy at night. There is an LED flash, which is to be mainly used for video (it may not be powerful enough for night and it's not attached to digital camera-like you click the shot and the flash flashes. Many reviewers have criticized this in the review). I am yet to shoot videos with LED on. It should be better than now for sure.But HD videos are nice and 720p is best for my current needs.

Overall I am not going to return the phone, I got it for $80 with 2 yr contract. The rates I got is pretty good. Free incoming, caller ID, 200 min, free evening/weekends, unlimited browsing (no downloads) all for $25.