Samsung SCH-i830 User Reviews

I guess it's good....bought it for $35.00 off eBay. I don't regret buying it, but it's not perfect. It's a bit outdated now, since it's 2008. I will be getting my Blackberry Curve 8330 in the mailbox by Sunday, so this phone will be replaced, but it is mobile packed. I use it for my business needs. YES, it does cover email and all the mobile apps. I hardly have any trouble loading emails and browsing the web, although with an outdated system, loading takes about 30 seconds per page. I do not really apprieciate that fact. Overall, the style isn't that bad. It has the keyboard, and what do you want. Atleast it works.

I love this phone, I fought tooth-and-nail for it when it was at EOL. I finally got it and fell in love almost instantly. I'm a total tech nerd and this phone was basically my wet-dream come true. Highly modifiable and customizable through several 3rd-party software.
All in all a very good phone but it still has its hangups.
Poor memory managment. I like WM2002 for that and this is running WM5 but they threw out the memory management feature. Device to SD transfer is pretty quick however its slow to react to anything when coming out of sleep mode and the notification ques tend to get a bit clogged preventing alarms from going off. Other than that its a real good phone.

I took my phone to the Caribbean, St Thomas and Tortola BVI. The I830 worked beautifully across the waters. I even recieved text messages and was able to pull up the internet. I am planning another trip in 2008, can't wait to use it on that trip!

would be great and Lighter if

keyboard is detachable...

Not everybody use and need keyboard most of the time....

I have an i830 and used it for 3 weeks in Australia and it was flawless

I had to figure out the proper dialing sequence to get out but once that was done, we were in great shape

Incoming calls worked great

People were amazed to reach me and commented on the quality from the US

Be aware you need to switch the phone to gsm mode in a foreign country

Great for the US but is just does not work overseas. There ithe phone works sometimes but the internet not at all. Verizon is clueless how to fix it. They are too scared to put the real capabilites in writing as they do not want to dent the i830's image!

Since I got the phone for its global capabilites I am very dissappointed. Cusotmer service on this phone has been a nightmare. They will get the kinks out via Vodephone in about a year. Meantime I am looking for a new phone/provider.

It has all bells and whistles except main one it is too big and bulky. It should be less than 4" long 2" wide 0.5" thick otherwise O2 mini is better.

Just ordered my i830 from Verizon Global (the GSM prevents the local stores or website to allow you to order it). It replaces my 1 week old i730. Had all sorts of bluetooth-related problems with the i730 and a variety of headsets. Had to update VoiceSignal software from their website in order to get it to work at all. Finally gave up and took it back. In terms of features, however, it was great. Sound was pretty good and only dropped a signal once. If the i830 is anything like the i730 (and other than swapping out the WiFi for GSM it looks the same) then I'll likely have to reconfigure the buttons as it's very easy to hit the buttons during normal handling and you want to make sure that the functions that are accidentally called up don't cause problems (like voice recording, etc.)

BTW, for those of you who complain about not having a camera, this is what attracted me SPECIFICALLY to this phone as my job does not accommodate camera phones very well, and often had to check my old (now broken) Zire71 and Samsung A610 at Visitor Control (what's the sense of having a phone that you can't take with you???). I likely would have gotten the 700w if it weren't for the camera and that the bluetooth headsets can't activate voice dial with the OPTIONAL (e.g. added cost) VoiceSignal software. The other Treo (650) comes in both camera and camera-free versions from the Verizon website but doesn't have EVDO.

Note that I'm a Mac person and it'll take a little work to get the iX30's to work with it...but there's always PocketMac software. While this unit isn't perfect, it certainly has all the features that I'm looking for, and the i830 will replace the relatively-useless WiFi (my PowerBooks have bluetooth and USB) with a more valuable GSM.

Will repost when I've had the i830 for awhile.

This phone, while sometimes quirky, represents the best blend of technology available today.

My setup:

Samsung i730
4GB SD Card
TomTom Bluetooth GPS w/ TomTom 3D mapping software
Sony Bluetooth hands-free car kit

Bottom line, I get e-mails downloaded to the phone all the time. I can read, view attachments, and reply from my phone and the recipients do not know the difference.

When driving, the Bluetooth works flawlessly with my in car hands-free system. The phone rings, I hear it though my car, if I want to take the call as a private call; I just answer the phone using the touch screen or buttons on the phone.

For GPS, the phone works great, you can use the phone with a TomTom Bluetooth device and you can get voice prompted directions and a 3D map display of when to turn. If you receive a call when you are using the GPS, it's easy to take the call and resume use of the GPS when finished…it's intuitive and seamless.

For business, the speakerphone works about 95% of a dedicated speakerphone on a land line. Users oftentimes do no know that they are on speakerphone. It's easy to hold a conference call by using the phone to dial up to two other people, then placing it on speakerphone for everyone else in the meeting.

With the IR on the phone, you can send and receive files from your computer if you don't feel like taking the SD card out to do so.

If you are bored, you really can surf the web on this phone with the built in Pixel Browser or Pocket IE.

In addition to all this, (as if this wasn't enough) you can use the phone as a great video/MP3 player. With all my files and GPS maps of the entire US on my phone, I still have 2GB free that I use to store MP3's and an occasional DVD to listen to or watch when I'm killing time.

As far as technology goes, this is the best. The ways to improve it are, make it thinner, lighter, faster….it's already the perfect combo of gadgets. I will be a PPC dedicated fan for some years now.

Needs more memory and a good camera and this could be the perfect phone. feels nice not like the xv6700. slide and keyboard work well.
lots of cpu power. a upgrade to mobile 5 is rumored.
great speaker phone.
most important this is a great phone and then a powerfull PDA.

Lacks the following

Need windows version 5.0
GSM 1800/900 is a must
EDGE
Wifi
Camera / mpix

memory of at least 2 gb

Add all this and this will be a great phone