Some observations from an evening of ownership for anyone who's interested.
Positives:
- Although the phone is taller and heavier than the N95 8GB it actually feels smaller and more pocketable to me. I think this is due to it being a bit thinner. Basically if you're used to an N95 then there is nothing to worry about size wise here.
- I find the extra height of the phone and the flatter keys make typing much easier than on the N95. I never found it particularly hard on the N95 but it's effortless on this.
- It seems to have a better GPS chip than the N95. After the initial lock on Google Maps now seems to find satellites after a restart within a minute or so and the slider doesn't need to be open.
- Ordered my 16GB version from the Carphone Warehouse on Orange and as expected it arrived unlocked. I currently have a 3 SIM in there and it seems to be functioning fine.
- Video playback is excellent. I put a DIVX file on there and it played perfectly with no skipping or distortion. You probably wouldn't want to watch a big blockbuster film on there but the odd item should be fine.
Negatives:
- Despite what I've read elsewhere there is a slight wobble when the slider is open. I notice it a lot on the train as it goes over bumps and you feel a knock. The slider is very nice and it feels rock solid when closed but there is a definite wobble when open although not as bad as the N95.
- I feel the reception is not as good. Where I was getting 3 or 4 bars in the village where I live I seem to only get 1 on the Samsung.
- The mouse thingy is a bit of an annoyance. I presume it can be switched off but I'll try and stick with it for now. It works quite well but it's a bit too sensitive and when you go to click it to select something it will regularly move to the next item and you end up doing something you don't want to.
- Battery life is shocking at the moment but hopefully that will improve with subsequent charges. It was fully charged at about 1745 last night. After a couple of calls, maybe an hour or so online using 3G, about 20 minutes Wi-Fi at home, 3 photos and bluetoothing about 5 files it is now down to one bar. And that was with it being switched off between about 2330 and 0730!
- I tried to purchase Route 66. Initially it offers to download it before payment. However as UK maps are over 200MB it says there is not enough space on the phone to download it! There doesn't seem to be any way to make it download to mass memory so there's a bit of an own goal there. BTW it's not discounted or anything. It costs €49.99, which is the same as online, and it doesn't say what version you get or whether you would get any physical disks so I'll probably buy another solution elsewhere.
Leigh