Samsung SPH-i500, my previous smartphone
Posted By RichC on October 2, 2007
I was discussing cellphones the other day while discussing the new full featured iPhone, Blackberries and Treo lineup and recalled my older Samsung SPH-i500 flip phone. Hmm … it was the one device that I wish would have seen continued development and adoption in the U.S. (the similar SCH-i539 is said to be sold in China?)
Photos taken with Palm Treo 700p
The Samsung i500 was my first Palm OS phone and it offered excellent functionality in a very compact flip phone size. (although I did use a Handspring Visor PDA) The case was aluminum clad (sort of Macbook Pro-ish) and used an optional high-capacity battery which gave it a usable full day of juice.
It had limitations which started with is very small display and offered a dedicated write on Graffiti text entry area. It had limited limited memory, challenging text entry for longer messages and used a ‘wired’ headset or ear bud for hands-free use. There were a few glitches that needed improvement, but all in all there was a lot crammed into a small clam-shell phone.
The SPH-i500 phone didn’t offer bluetooth for handsfree, but did have a infrared data transfer option which worked great with my printer or other Palm devices. The phone didn’t work with the updated Palm OS, offer a camera or SMS messaging — although there was a limited software option. It wasn’t ready for EV-DO higher speed data and didn’t have an SD card slot. The new model, the SPH-i550, which was in the works prior to it not being adopted by my carrier Sprint addressed most of these issues; if it would have been available, I’m sure that I would be using it today.
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