also, what do you want to see in a review? a video walkthrough? a more in depth review? again, comments are welcome.

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Introduction
So why is the popularity for this phone still up? Well, here’s the low down. This is one of the few smart phones you can get for Verizon without having to deal with the additional fee that will cost you if you get a Blackberry, etc. Verizon requires this fee and can’t be avoided if you get a smart phone. So why pay more monthly when you can get a good phone without paying extra? Let’s take a closer look at the phone by first examining the general look of the phone.

Aesthetics/Design (9/10)
Unlike most touch screen phones, the Samsung i760 comes with a hardkey dial pad and directional pad from the get-go. It definitely is a contributing factor to decreasing the the screen size, but with Windows Mobile ever lagging phone program, having a dial pad is definitely a big plus. Also, since resistive touch screens are not so accurate, we have to deal with the inaccurate typing of numbers if this phone didn’t have a dial pad. On the other hand, a huge con of this phone is the fact that the screen is debossed (lower than the border of the screen). This is very bad for people that have big fingers because the only way you’ll exit out of the program you are in is to press the X button that sits at the corner and it’s really tough. Every thing feels solid though and the after having dropped it several times and chucking it at a wall, it works just fine. Also, the spring mechanism that opens up the QWERTY keyboard also gets a bit loose after a lot of use, but it still is as sturdy as it always is. Next we take a look at the packaging and what comes in it.

Unboxing & Accessories (9.5/10)
This is an aspect that the i760 shines very well in. It comes with an AC adapter for regular outlets, AC adapter for cars, regular battery and extended battery. No phone now-a-days come with that many accessories. I mean, who includes an extended battery and a thin regular one just so people can choose whether they want that weight difference. At first glance, it doesn’t seem like that much of a difference, but you can really feel the difference when you hold it. Samsung did a great job thinking about the consumer needs. The only thing it doesn’t come with is a pouch or bag. But that’s ok, it’s not essential.

Windows Mobile & Customization (2/10)
Oh, Microsoft. When will you learn to improve your OS. It’s not that the OS is bad, well, I guess it’s terrible. Windows Mobile is operated so inefficiently, that it really limits the phone’s functionality. Here’s a phone that has great features, yet because Windows Mobile runs on it, it lags terribly. Sure overclocking programs make it significantly better, but then battery life suffers somewhat. Windows Mobile 6.1 and it’s threaded sms is a great add on, but in the long run, when texting and sending e-mails, the lags becomes a real hassle. The phone starts to lag more and more as time passes by and memory leaks consume the phone. By that time, you have no choice but to restart your phone and restart all of the customized programs that you have installed.

So here is a list of programs that I think are worth checking out for the i760:
- Pocket Hack Master (for overclocking the phone)
- iContact, iDialier (iPhone-esque contact list)
- Memsoft MemClean (cleans up the memory leaks on a scheduled basis)
- dcinobar (to hide the softkeys on the bottom of the today screen)
- SPB Plus (allows the x button on the top right corner to actually exit the program instead of minimizing it)

Here is also a video to my Youtube video that goes over everything in the Customization visually.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7HItjqKa3g

Conclusion
All in all, the Samsung i760 is a phone that has everything but a GPS chip and FM radio tuner. Besides that, the keyboard and the feel of the phone is great. It’ll withstand the terrible beatings that anyone could possibly give it, unless you smash it with a hammer or something unreasonable. The screen looks beautiful and if you want a good bang for the buck, this is the way to go. Here is a short list of pros and cons for the phone in summary.

Final Verdict: !Real Hot!

i cant go to tmobile because their coverage is absolute crap. i dont care if anyone is in love with them, but im sorry – it just is. my bro, his wife, and my dad were all on tmobile and they ALWAYS got missed calls/call drops, and etc.

verizon? no way, i wouldn’t sign with them even if they had the iphone. no. way. verizon is for people who need the “best network”. riiiight, the best network with the worst/crippled phones? i dont think so. and how much are those data plans again?

so that leaves me with one choice. gay-t&t. to be honest, ive been using them since june 22nd, and they’ve been pretty good so far. i’m also pretty sure you guys can guess which phone im using as well (i got it in black and 32GB). unfortunately, the lack of att not supporting mms/picturemail from the start is quite irritating. how come picturemail works for all other phones but not the iphone? oh well. you also may think that gay-t&t is expensive, but its not. 25% fan discount thanks to working at advocate! however….the mandatory $30 data plan for iphone 3G/3GS is quite expensive, but the more i use data on the road, the more i realize how useful it is.

and as for the iphone, holy moley why cant every phone be this easy to use? its my true all-in-one device. my bastula.org email gets pushed to me, i have 32GB for my ipod, and not to mention the fantastic app store. winblows, you’ve been left behind. completely.

it’s basically come down to this. pay a little bit more, and get the superb iphone + gay-t&t, or pay less with every other carrier (except verizon of course) + some other phone playing catchup?

brawl = usually play against multiple cpus or whenever my friends come over.

halo 3 = social slayer, rumble pit, social big team, team swat. gamertag is secretanchitman.

of course, you can always go back to the default layout if you wish.

oh and im going to remake/create the 1st and 2nd floors of kindlon, and also do the overview of founders as maps in halo 3. rob says he’s going to do the abbey (which i remember discussing with him and others during the abbey tour during freshman year). the abbey would seriously make for a cool halo 3 map…although it would be all sand..boxy…hah hah…get it? never mind.

see you guys after next friday at 10am.

pros:

-lcd is pretty nice
-the i/o is actually good for its size (gigabit ethernet!)
-backlit keyboard
-128GB SSD is standard
-choice of either silver or black, depending on your taste

cons:

-its made by dell
-its not as thin as the apple’s, lenovo’s or msi’s ultraportable computers
-the screen akwardly isnt all the way placed in the back of the laptop….
-$1999 for crap insides – 1.2Ghz C2D, 2GB, integrated crap graphics (intel), hell, even the macbook air (overpriced apple crap as people say) has better specs than the adamo…and is priced LOWER than the dell!
-dell includes vista on this? what are they thinking? low-end cpu, barely enough memory, and a weak gpu = crap.
-no one is going to immediately think dell when they are looking for a high-end ultraportable computer
-came out too late, with almost no advertising to back it up

rating: 4/10. its meh in the tech world. great looking, with a nice screen and i/o, but as a computer, its crap.

my question is this – what is the point of this machine in the first place, when there are better computers out there for less money? I honestly think that everyone should stay the hell away from it. however, if you actually do end up buying one, you deserve to get punched in the stomach. repeatedly.

I’m done with the initial obsession with this phone. Want to REALLY know if this phone is worth getting? Read on to find out!

when i first got the phone, i did an initial review on my phone. now that i’ve had MUCH more time with it, here is my full review.
pros:

-its designed very well (to me at least)
-looks damned good
-HTC only put buttons on what people need, and didnt bother to put any added “fluff”, like a camera button, a hold button, etc.
-touchFLO 3D looks VERY good
-VGA resolution (640×480) on a 2.8″ screen
-fast cpu and tons of memory (528Mhz and 288MB of RAM – verizon’s model is crippled, as usual)
-best slide-out qwerty keyboard on any phone today
-3.2MP camera with LED flash and autofocus
-microSDHC compatible up to 32GB
-GPS works nicely with google maps and windows live (didnt try any others)
-its priced pretty cheap considering all of the features that come with it, as a businessphone
-good replacement for the mogul
-comes with tons of accessories out of the box – belt holster, 1GB microSD, extra stylus, etc
-easily hacked to make the performance much better
-can be hacked to whatever your heart desires – really. sound, theme, rom, startup screen, anything.
-works on the old sprint sero plans! (thank god)
-email works with any pop/imap inbox (including bastula.org!)
-built in youtube application (which works nicely)
-speakerphone is VERY loud, which is awesome for drivers on the go
-can increase or decrease system text – good for younger and older people
-does NOT require any certain plan
-mp3 trimmer is included!
-stylus is magnetic! so you will never ever lose it

cons:

-its windows mobile
-the speed was very….very….average for out of the box performance
-when you slide out the keyboard, you cant use touchFLO 3D, instead you are presented with a 8 boxes of options…well what was the point of touchFLO 3D if i cant use it when the keyboard is out?
-you have to modify the phone yourself to make the phone better, which takes time and some understanding of windows mobile (for non-techies)
-the screen protector that comes with it just sucks
-accidentally can accept/reject calls while the phone is ringing in your pocket (which is annoying)
-they gave it extra ram and a good cpu for a reason – windows mobile is a memory hog.
-battery life is random – my phone lasts a day with regular use (some texting, some calling, wifi and bluetooth are always off), and some days when i come home, it’ll be on 2 bars…without hardly doing anything on the phone. that = random.
-you can very slightly slide around the phone when its not slid out…feels kind of cheap
-prone to scratches, and if you drop it…ouch
-camera is too slow, same with video recording
-FM radio is locked from the start

and not to mention the HORRIBLE quality control that HTC has. don’t even get me started about it…

rating: 7.5/10 out-of-box experience/everyone who uses it stock. 8/10 for me because i customized it, minus a few lagging issues (gay windows mobile) and the absolutely bogus quality control.

if you want the best windows mobile smartphone with a slide out keyboard, this is the phone for you…as long as you customize it. if you are looking for this same form factor and looks, but without the keyboard, htc makes a version called the touch diamond. honestly, i think its the best smartphone sprint has, and possibly one of the best phones sprint has ever released.

Okay sorry but i cant help it….i would also like to mention that i’ve gone through 3 (yes THREE) touch pros since this review. the first one had a huge crack on the chrome casing and the camera stopped working, the second one had its keyboard completely fail, and now this one is starting to have its screen just fail. quality control at its finest here folks…and its not like i abuse my technology either – i really do take good care of it. oh well.

pros:

-1080p FTW
-very cheap to play both blu-ray and hd-dvd
-burns dvds and cds
-looks nice
-quiet while playing
-quiet while burning
-very fast reading of all disc formats
-4MB buffer, as opposed to 2MB you see on other drives
-SATA, so you can finally chuck that enraging IDE cable you have
-includes powerDVD, which is one of the FEW programs that plays back blu-ray and hd-dvd perfectly
-also comes with a firmware updater, which is nice so you could potentially hack your own firmware and put yours on it
-even though mine was OEM (just the bare drive, no manual or box), it still came with the utilities cd, a sata cable, a 4 pin molex cable to sata, and the manual!
-lightscribe enabled

cons:

-you need a decent computer (core 2 duo and 2GB of ram at the least)
-you need a monitor and video card that supports HDCP (over digital), which adds up into spending more money…unless you are using an analog connection (okay, you can get anyDVD HD which eliminates this con – the hdcp, but…whatever haha)
-blu-ray is still a bit more expensive than dvds
-why not make a beige or silver bezel for those geeks who have a beige/silver case?
-this model is being phased out, and LG is bringing out a blu-ray only reader (no HD-DVD)
-HD-DVD is dead, so the HD-DVD functionality and play-back is basically useless (see point above)

if you need a VERY inexpensive all-in-one reader for your HTPC or computer, this drive is definitely the one to get. it reads blu-ray, hd-dvd, dvds, and cds perfectly, and also can burn dvds and cds (burning blu-ray costs too much right now, especially for the higher LG models that support it). for less than $100, you cant go wrong with this drive. if anyone is building a computer and wants to playback HD movies, this is the drive for you. highly recommended.

rating: 9.5/10