Samsung t659 Phone (T-Mobile) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)After owning the Nuvifone for a week and a half and spending 4 plus hours a day trying to get things working correctly, I am very disappointed. The two other reviews appear to be written by Garmin employees. (one was deleted)
OK, let's get down to details.
The first thing you will need to buy is a DC adapter for your car or the GPS turns off in 1 minute. The "everything you need in the box" is just a powerless windshield mount. AA&T doesn't carry ANY Nuvi accessories so be prepared to order it from Garmin are find an adapter that works. It is a standard D/C charger plug to a mini USB with a 90 degree bend. Once that is done the GPS part work fine in 3D mode, but has some bugs in 2D mode (the way I always use any GPS). The pink line (your path) disappears , changes color or just doesn't show. This happens ALL the time. The voice instructions work fine and the directions are correct. So you will get to your destination as longs as your don't look at the GPS or rely on the pink path drawn in. In the default 3D mode it works correctly. So let's give it 4 on the GPS part. Hopefully a future update will fix this problem.
Also the GPS portion does have search (like most Garmin GPS's) which will locate businesses, stores, etc close to your location. This generally works good unless the database isn't updated (i think its updated when you buy new maps,...not a free update) . Stores open and close,..so.. the database is sometimes wrong. My first time using it to find a new doctor's address sent me to the wrong part of town. The doctor moved 2 years earlier. However between the built in data base and the real search ,..such as a Google search or AT&T yellow pages search, you will find what you are looking for. I get it a 3.5 rating in this area.
Now the phone part. There is NO one touch dialing, no MOST USED numbers, only your contact list and recently called list. Scrolling down 170 contacts to find the one you need is SLOW. There is a very tiny A-B, C-D, etc list on the very edge, however it is difficult to actual hit these buttons. Most of the time you accidentally hit a contact and then have to quickly hung up and start all over again from "A". You can not go from A to Z backwards (scroll up) but have to scroll down from A-Z in normal alphabetical order. Simplifying A,B,C,D ,.... ok, A,Z,Y,X,W ... no. So if you are calling someone with a name that starts with a T or a W, you have a long scroll. I try to use the recent call list for a favorites. However you must constantly delete normal callers out the list as it becomes VERY large quickly. If you call a number that requires you to enter additional number,...1 for operator,...2 for customer service,..etc, It is hit or miss that you can do that. The phone turns dark after ???? 5-10 seconds??? (seems to very) and the locks. By the time you press the power button and double tap the unlock button, the wait is too long.The answer machine says "I'm sorry lets try that again" or sometimes it just disconnects.So the phone part can be frustrating.
When receiving a call, if you touch the power button it sends the caller to the answerphone and turns off the ring. There is no option just to turn off the ring and allow you to answer the call. Accidentally hitting the oversized power button happens 30% of the time for me. This is also very frustrating! I give the phone rating a 2.5 out of 5.
Internet Function,hummm,.... OK, lets just says it is pretty terrible and very frustrating. You can not view the small cell pages like an Iphone but the full pages. Input is difficult, when scrolling across the page, you instantly jump to a link (not what you wanted). The back button goes back 1 to an infinite amount of pages, and you start over again. There is no forward button when it goes back too many pages (which is almost always the case). When attempting to get to Garmin's site and to the nuvifone accessories page,..I gave up after about 30 minutes of trying. Many objects on webpages do not work in the browser. No radar animations, no videos, no pop-up windows (which sometimes can be a good thing) work at all. The internet part rating is a about a 2 out of 5
The 3G speed is very slow compared to The Iphone. However this may be because the Iphone is using smaller cell pages. The Garmin often seems to be loading for a very long time. I hit the stop button so I can continue navigating.
With this in mind the 30 buck a month data plan is a mostly a waste.
Getting my email worked fine after getting it set up. The default settings did not work for me. I however can not read Microsoft .docx in attachments which it is supposed to be able to do. I have not investigated the problem yet. Since the emails are left on your server, you can download them on your home computer and read the attachment. The emails download to the Garmin are basically copies on the emails on the server. Also the emails can be viewed as a web page so you can view it as it appears on the computer. So,... the email part work good ,..lets say a 4 of 5 rating.
Texting seems to look and work like everyone else's, so that parts good,..P.S. there also 15 buck a month text plan.
The 6 buck a month fee for white pages, temperature and traffic is optional and the traffic may not even your area. One may wonder way should I pay for white pages, traffic and weather when I'm paying for a 30 buck data package. I'll just use the internet and get the info just as quick. Well if you think this will work then reread the internet part of this review above. PS,..the weather is just "your city" temperatures, not radar.
The 3m camera is terrible. The pictures with my 1m Samsung phone blow them away.
Some reviews say there is a video player and recorder. There isn't. It can not play videos or record them. No youtube. The camera function also rates a 1.
Audio is the next problem. The volume button is accidentally activated anytime you touch the phone. Most of the time I don't hear it ring because the volume is too low. There is no independent ring volume. It is all linked to the master volume switch which gets accidentally shifted every time you touch the phone. The volume on max is low. The audio sounds like a box with the speaker rattling. MP3 play back at a very low volume.
Well that's it. OK phone, texting good, and very good GPS. The rest is garbage and needs some work badly. Remember you need the data plan,text plan (if you want texting) and maybe the optional services plan (traffic, white pages, gas prices etc). That's a lot of extra bucks extra a month. And,..if you need to update you maps,..that you will need to buy the maps from Garmin or other stores at a nice 75 bucks per update. So the GPS portion isn't totally Free.
What's the final verdict?? Well if you want a decent phone, a close to real Garmin GPS, text occasionally, and have very limited internet use, then go for it. If you spend most of you day on facebook, youtube and twitter and like to take pictures and videos, then look for something else.
I edited the review because I have spent another 30 hours of testing and so far have not returned the nuvifone,.at least not yet. Garmin could have made a great Phone-GPS but for some reason settled for a fair one. They need to put the video player-recorder back, fix the camera flare (blurring) and be able to use the small webpages to make this phone a GOOD phone. They need independent volume controls, and options for the on off button.


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Stay in touch with all your contacts and keep your busy life organized with the Samsung T659 for T-Mobile, an affordable, slim slider phone that runs on T-Mobile's expanding high-speed 3G network, offering fast data delivery and an enhanced Web-browsing experience that lets you connect quickly to social networking sites. Additionally, it includes Assisted GPS location capabilities and it comes with a 14-day trial of the TeleNav navigation service, which provides real-time location on maps, turn-by-turn driving directions, and more (monthly subscription required after trial expires).
The T659 includes multiple messaging options--including personal e-mail, instant messaging via popular services and text/picture messaging--and it provides hands-free communication capabilities via an integrated speakerphone and Bluetooth connectivity. Other features include a 2-megapixel camera/camcorder, microSD memory expansion (up to 16 GB), digital audio player, personal organizing tools, and up to 5.hours of talk time.

Key Features
Fast 3G connectivity via T-Mobile's HSDPA/UMTS network (1700/2100 MHz bands, UMTS/HSDPA; see more about T-Mobile's 3G service below)
Quad-band GSM phone for good global voice connectivity (850/900/1800/1900 MHz bands)
Built-in GPS provides real-time location on maps, driving directions, and more (monthly subscription required).
Brightly colorful LCD screen with auto-rotation (240 x 320 pixels, 262K colors)
2-megapixel camera/camcorder for high-quality still prints and on-the-go videos that can be sent via MMS messaging. (Learn more)
Digital media player compatible with a good variety of audio (MP3, AAC/AAC+) and video (MPEG4, H.263, H.264, 3GPP) formats
Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity with stereo music streaming (A2DP) capabilities as well as hands-free headsets and car kits. (Learn more)
Memory expansion via microSD card slot with support for optional cards up to 16 GB. The phone has an internal 80 MB memory.
Full messaging capabilities including SMS text, MMS picture/video and IM instant messaging (via popular services including AOL, Yahoo!, Windows Live Messenger, and Google Talk)
Audio Postcard featureallows you to add a personalized message to a photo before sending it to friends and family using multimedia messaging (MMS)
Personal e-mail with support for AOL, Yahoo! and Gmail
Organizer tools including calendar, alarm, tasks, memo, calculator, world clock, converter, timer, and stopwatch
Download HiFi Ringers, MegaTones and wallpapers to customize your phone with sounds and voices from your favorite artists, instrumental versions of songs as well as cool graphics.
Included and downloadable games
Speaker phone for easy hands-free communication

Vital Statistics The Samsung T659 weighs 3.28 ounces and measures 4.06 x 1.93 x 0.58 inches. Its 880 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 5 hours of talk time, and up to 300 hours (12.5 days) of standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE frequencies, as well as T-Mobile's 3G network (1700/2100 MHz).

T-Mobile Services
High-speed data connectivity via T-Mobile's 3G network: In addition to its quad-band GSM connectivity, this phone is also compatible with T-Mobile's UMTS/HSDPA 3G network, which operates on the 1700/2100 MHz AWS spectrum. This phone is designed to automatically connect to the best available network (3G or GSM/GPRS/EDGE) to provide faster data speeds when accessing the Web or downloading content from the T-Mobile Web2go content portal. T-Mobile is currently rolling out its 3G network, and it expects by year's end that its high-speed data network will be available in those cities where a majority of its subscribers currently use data services.
In areas where the 3G network is not available, you'll continue to receive service on the via T-Mobile's EDGE network (which stands for "Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution"). This high-speed, mobile data and Internet access technology is fast enough to support a wide range of advanced data services (with average data speeds between 75-135Kbps), including full picture and video messaging, high-speed color Internet access, and e-mail on the go.
While this phone is optimized for use with T-Mobile's high-speed 3G network, many of its functions will also work well on the moderate-speed EDGE network. If you plan to access the Internet extensively on your phone, 3G network coverage may serve you best.
Activities that work well on EDGE or 3G networks:
Email, instant messaging, and texting
Downloading ringtones, CallerTunes, wallpaper, light data files
Sending photographs via e-mail or picture messaging
Activities that work best on a 3G network:
Viewing content-heavy websites (lots of images or videos playing)
Viewing YouTube and other video files (they will play on EDGE, but require loading time)
Uploading large files (photos, videos, presentations) to sharing websites
Downloading large files from an e-mail or a website


T-Mobile's web2go intuitive web browsing service makes it easy to view and navigate the web from your phone with features including Yahoo! oneSearch, a customizable home page and a simplified shopping and download experience. You can create a personalized home page for easy, one-click access to your favorite Web sites.
With access to the web2go marketplace included at no additional charge, you can also browse and purchase the latest ringtones, games, wallpaper and mobile optimized applications and services to customize their phone. Providing access to the latest news, information and content, Yahoo! oneSearch intuitively returns results grouped around your intended search. For instance, when you search for a sports team, Yahoo! returns the latest scores, schedules, team profiles, roster, news, images and a link to the team's Web site.



Learn More
2-Megapixel Camera/Camcorder Great for snapping still photos and capturing short videos while on the go, the Gravity's integrated 2-megapixel camera can snap pictures in one of four resolutions (1600 x 1200, 2180 x 960, 640 x 480, and 320 x 240). It also includes three quality settings, night mode, adjustable brightness and white balance settings, spot metering, and three color tones. You can also capture video clips at up to QCIF format (176 x 144 pixels) and can shoot for as long as you have available memory; videos meant for MMS messaging are capped at between 20 to 30 seconds.

Wireless Freedom with Bluetooth This phone provides Bluetooth wireless connectivity (version 2.0), and includes profiles for communication headset, hands-free car kits, and file transfer. With the A2DP Bluetooth profile, you can stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones or speaker dock.
Bluetooth profiles include: A2DP (stereo music streaming), AVRC (remote control), HFP (hands-free car kits), HSP (communication headsets), BPP (basic printing profile for text, e-mail), FTP (file transfer), HID (support for mice or joysticks), OPP (object push for business cards, calendar items, and pictures),

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