The Samsung Messenger Fails to Deliver

The Samsung Messenger (from Cricket) is a phone for people who love to text message, while still having the familiar feel of a regular number pad for dialing phone numbers. It features a full QWERTY slide out keyboard that allows for fast typing of text messages. The screen also rotates ninety degrees for a landscape presentation. Also included on this phone is a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth capabilities, an MP3 music player, as well as a slot for an expandable micro SD memory card.

The two keypads is really a convenient feature. Having the slide out QWERTY keypad under the phone, allows for the screen size to be increased, since now you're looking at the text in a landscape format. The keys are spaced out comfortably, so typing with both thumbs is quick, if you happen to have large hands. Having the standard phone pad on the face of the phone makes it easy to dial phone numbers quickly, especially for those quirky phone numbers comprised of letters like (1-800-BUY-TOYS).

The screen is bright and colorful and the camera takes decent pictures, however, if I have an option to use a real digital camera, I'd opt for the latter. One thing I dislike about the screen is the text size of the phone numbers while dialing. They are HUGE! The screen readily fits four digits per line, inserting hyphens in the number as you dial. I've found this to be slightly annoying, with no way to shrink the font size. There are only two options in the Display settings: Normal (the current setting), and Large. I'm almost scared to try that option.

The largest complaint I have with using this phone is the Keypad Lock function. Don't get me wrong -- the phone has a simple lock and unlock mechanism. Locking the phone is as easy has pressing and holding the asterisks button (*). To unlock the phone, it's just as simple, press the Unlock command button, then the asterisks again. But that's not the problem. It's the fact that the phone becomes unlocked too easily. I regularly take my phone out of its case (which is the magnetic closure type) and find the phone trying to enter a new contact, dialing a random phone number, or some other random task. I've also found that when the phone is locked, simply by sliding the QWERTY keypad out and pressing a silver button on the side, automatically unlocks the phone and opens the Library mode. Another way the phone is unlocked is whenever somebody is calling, the phone assumes you want to unlock it, and it stays unlocked after the ringing has stopped.

When the phone rings, it's good to be using a Bluetooth headset. I've found that if I'm not using the headset, I'll often miss a call because the ringer simply isn't loud enough. One thing I do like about the phone is a quick access Silent Mode. By pressing and holding the pound (#) button, all audio alerts will be muted and only the vibration mode will activate when receiving a phone call. The phone can also be set to ring and vibrate as well. Another issue I have is with the volume of hearing a caller when not using a headset. With the volume turned to maximum, I still have to strain to hear the caller on the other end.

For the money, this is a great little phone if all you like to do is text messaging, and the phone sits still on a table, then this phone is for you, but if you need to make phone calls frequently, or move around a lot, I would look at an alternative communications device.