Flash the T-Mobile Samsung Memoir at someone, and they could readily mistake it for a simple camera not a cellphone: with an 8-megapixel sensor, smile detection and Xenon flash, there’s no mistaking Samsung’s intentions with this handset.
In the box, there’s the SGH-T929 Memoir itself, a 1GB microSD card, battery, charger, wired stereo hands-free kit and a USB data cable. The Memoir supports the USB mass-storage mode, but the port on the handset itself is Samsung’s own proprietary connection, limiting you to their cable. There’s also no WiFi, although Bluetooth is on offer and can be used to transfer images.
First impressions of the Memoir are very good. Samsung have been liberal with the metal finish, and the 400 x 240 touchscreen dominates the front panel with only send, end and menu buttons underneath it. On the left-hand side the ports are hidden under metal flaps – Samsung’s combination USB/power/headset port under one, and the microSD slot under another – while the right gets a volume/zoom rocker, flush ‘lock’ button and protruding camera shortcut. There’s also a lanyard loop.
It’s round the back where the Memoir does its best camera impression, you could easily mistake the cellphone for a point-and-shoot compact. As well as a mechanical lens cover for the autofocus lens, there’s a Xenon flash, together with a textured grip area. The whole thing measures 110 x 53.5 x 14.5mm (4.3 x 2.1 x 0.6 inches) and weighs 126.9g (4.5oz) and build-quality seems high.
While the Memoir T929 may not run a fancy smartphone OS, it does get the latest build of Samsung’s TouchWiz GUI. That brings with it customizable desktop widgets, a scrolling side-bar with shortcuts and animated menus. Our experience with TouchWiz as a Windows Mobile GUI hasn’t been the greatest, but it seems to better suit the Memoir’s functionality; it’ll be interesting to see how the GUI keeps up with the phone’s camera pretensions.
We’ll be running the Samsung SGH-T929 Memoir through its paces over the next day or so, to see how it shapes up; we’ll also be taking some sample photo shots – after all, the Memoir is being positioned as the superlative cameraphone. Unboxing / Memoir phone walkthrough video coming online soon. Stay tuned for our full review!
Sample videos in 720x
it looks really nice!! i’ve been waiting for a nice t mobile phone and i think that’s the one.. i tried to get behold but didn’t like it coz it was so light in weight i hope this one dies not feel the same.. it was a great video though.. Thx
Finally, A video sample from phone! Thanks!
This phone is really awesome…
This is a very good device. Got it about 3 weeks ago and I am still playing around with it. It’s a nice new toy. I do like the touchwiz but it’s a bit sensitive sometimes and will launch something that you didn’t intend to. The web browswer is pretty decent on here. It renders full website pages quite well but lets not forget we are only on a 3″ screen and Flash is not supported so full functionality is not happening. The images do load well on most major heavy graphic sites. Scroll is very smooth on screen. I downloaded Opera Mini as well and it downloads pages quite fast. It actually compresses the pages more so than the pre-installed Netfront browswer. I’ve been on 3G and Edge and quite frankly you don’t notice much difference in speed so if you are in an area with only Edge I wouldn’t not get the phone because of that.
The camera is very very good for a mobile phone. It’s more like a camera with a phone. The video quality is impressive enough to use on the fly should you be someplace and want to capture the moment.
The phone feels very good in the hand. I would recommend getting a screen protector, although it’s a tough screen. I got a rubberized case to put around the phone. The phone looks nice with it but it definitley looks nicer in it’s fine quality finish without the cover. Battery life is a bit low and that’s one big thing so far that I’m not as happy with.
It’s not an Iphone or G1 in regards to installing new applications so if that’s what you want, then get the iphone. Overall appearance and functionality for what you get enterainment wise you can’t beat it right now. I don’t need to carry another camera with me in mini trips. Another quick thing, The pre-installed email client is a joke. It’s Java based and it’s slow and limited with funtionality. I would say if you want a phone for corporate email then get a Blackberry. You can still access sites for email if you need to get email on the fly but it’s a little more work. Also, it would’ve been nice to have a flashing message light on the phone someplace while it’s in sleep mode so you know you have a message. You have to take the phone out of sleep mode to see if you have a new text message. Overall, great phone and I’m glad I made the upgrade. Some reviews out there are not very easy on this phone. I don’t know what else people are expecting from a semi smart phone. It has more bells and whistles than anyone needs on a daily basis. 4.9 Stars out of 5 for this one.
this phone looks awesome. The last thing I need to be doing is carying a camera around with me in addition to a phone. I cant wait to get mine!