Rating: 
Summary: First phone that offer PDA in nice form factor
Review: I have owned many cell phones and pdas over the last 10 years, and have been searching for a phone that combines the two. After extensive research on the treo 600, kyocera, smartphones, and pocket pc pda phones, i chose the i500 and am quite impressed with the unit. This phone is great for someone who wants to have a decent pda integrated into the phone and not for someone trying to do spreadsheets and mp3s with the phone. To me, I realized that having too many things on the phone will eventually lead to running down the battery quickly and I did not want to sacrifice battery life. Most of my friends with the kyocera or treo do not use the mp3 player or much of the added functionality (after the inital 1 - 2 mo honeymoon period) so as to conserve battery life - so i felt this phone is the best. You have to go to the store to see how small this phone is in comparison to the kyocera 7135 and the treo. This looks, feels and operates like an ordinary cell phone with a heckuva nice pda built in to it, nice color screen to boot! The sprint service has been nice and the vision web browsing has been excellent in my mind - it is comparable to or faster than 56k dialup, which is excellent on a cell phone. Some observations on the models I evaluated.
Did not like the bulkiness of the treo - also felt awkward talking into it.
I didn't care much for a 640x480 camera which i may only occasionally need anyway. Given a choice, I would go for less weight over the low res camera.
I Wanted a clamshell design to protect the screen - this also provides the best ergonomics for phone conversations.
The graffiti is a nice input mechanism in my view - I personally like it much more than typing on the mini keyboard.
Smartphones do not have good input mechanism - you can't enter a web address in efficiently if you have to tap the 2 button 3 tiumes to get a "c". Samsung did a great job with the tradeoffs coming up with a very compact pda phone which when closed looks like an ordinary phone - not an easy feat. Quite Impressive, Samsung! Things that would have made this the ultimate phone:
A high res 320x320 screen (even the larger treo 600 doesnt offer that so we'll have to live with this limitation for now).
64 mb of memory would have been nice - I'm not exactly sure why samsung skimped on the memory with memory being so cheap - may have been a size thing...
A faster processor may have helped with web browsing - not sure of this one - the transmission speed may be the limiting factor. For most applications, the i500 is plenty fast.
Rating:
Summary: samsung i 500
Review: This cell phone PDA combination is great. The screen is bright, the numbers light up and the front flips down to protect the viewing screen. The phone seems well made and can stand up to front pocket use. I previously had a older kyocera phone PDA combo but it was bulky and had a hard time getting the software to sync on my laptop. This phone is much better. The only problem I have had is retrieving emails. I am not sure but I think sprint wants you to pay for an additional monthly fee to have email access.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome!!
Review: I just bought this phone and man am I happy so far!! This phone rocks!! After a little bit of difficulty syncing (I tried using my old user name) but samsung tech support was AWESOME and AVAILABLE!!! They were great!! Synced up great. I had been dying for something like this that had the PDA and cell phone combined...along with analog and digital coverage. I do agree with some of the postings about the phone not "opening" up enough....I don't understand that. But anything is a step up from my AT&T v60i...man...what a piece of junk..dropped calls....really hard to use...not intuitive at all...I had gone from a startac..(which I LOVED) to the v60i...what a mistake!! Anyways---I LOVE my i500.....the only time I had to read the manual was in installing the software and doing my first sync with my Palm Desktop.----I have read in these postings that this is also OS X compatible.....Since I'm a huge Mac user...that is manna from heaven for me!! Although I havent tried to sync this with my G5 yet....so, we'll see. This phone is intuitve...easy to see and understand...not a huge learning curve...great features....no stupid cameras or mp3 players...nothing you don't need...never be late for another appointment again...never forget your schedule again...never fumble for another phone number or address again.... I'm a returning Sprint customer, my wife and I were customers about 3 years ago and the coverage was really spotty, especially when we would go out to the barn to see our horses....they've apparently improved thier network substantially..so we'll see...
Rating:
Summary: I Love this Phone
Review: I don't where that last reviewer is coming from--this is the coolest electronic device I have ever owned! I have had a variety of Palm/Handspring PDAs including a Treo 300 which was very nice but huge by comparison to this little guy--this is only 4 and a half ounces and fits in my pocket without me noticing. I have been very pleased with Sprint; it has been much better for me than Verizon. I cannot believe anyone would call the I500 old technology. Let's get something straight: this device is a PDA, phone and web browser in one unit and is smaller and lighter than most cell phones on the market. In fact, there isn't a PDA on the market smaller than this. Wouldn't size count as a technological advance? What it lacks: a card slot, but I can live without it for now. It is fast, has a beautiful screen, and does everything I need in a gorgeous small package. I have had it for a month and no problems. It sold out immediately and has been very hard to get until recently. The price has come down and will continue to drop--check it out!
Rating:
Summary: the holy grail...
Review: The form factor is outstanding. Palm pda phones to this point have been clunky and far too compromised ergonomically. The i500 is the same size as most flip phones with all the functionality of Palm 4.1. The cool part is that the Palm o/s is fully and seamlessly integrated with the phone. For example, you can look up an address in the Palm address book and then tap the number to make the call. The color screen is vibrant and very easy to read in doors. Outside the screen looks washed but is still fairly easy to work with. Contrary to another review below, it has a 65K color screen. Colors are natural, smooth and have depth. Not exactly hi def but for a portable viewing device the quality is superior. The overall fit and finish exceeded my expectations and has that hard to define feel of a quality product. Very smooth and substantial feeling. When the phone is closed it closes with a satisfying thud rather than a plastic or tinny clap. It comes with the Blazer browser running at 3 g speeds. Think ISDN speeds with html capability. In other words, you don't have to view stripped down versions of websites. You get basically the same viewing as you would from a computer. Since it's running the Palm o/s there are literally thousands of applications that will run on it. For AOL users simply load AOL on the phone and you'll be able to read, write and instant message as you would from home or work. The intended market for this phone is the business user. As such it's a no nonsense product. No camera, mp3 player or other such add-ons. If you want these, Samsung's follow up product to this model may be the way to go. The only improvement I can think of would be an sd card slot for added storage. All in all a truly outstanding product. Nice work Samsung.
Rating: 
Summary: Not nearly perfect....
Review: ....but really pretty good. This is my first venture into the phone-Palm marriage, as the Treos were just too big for my taste. I cannot say things went perfectly, but I am working the kinks out and I think I'll keep the i500, at least til I get my [$$$] worth out of it. The Good:
* compact enough to wear on my belt w/o discomfort.
* fully functional Palm with easy data migration for prior Palm owners.
* good integration of Palm-phone features, so that scrolling your contacts list & placing a call to one of them is a 1 tap job.
* Package includes synch cradle & 2 batteries & leather case.
* Battery life surprisingly good. The Bad:
* Mediocre phone reception; way less signal lock than my Samsung VGA1000 managed.
* Uncomfortable phone angle; not quite open enough.
* Icons not large enough for me to read w/o reading glasses.
* Backlighting too dim & not adjustable.
* Stylus too small to be comfortable.
* Limited (16 megs) & non-expandable memory (mine is full already)
* Pretty frequent lock-ups requiring total system reset (back up your data!) I'm sure there will be more to say, but after 2 weeks, that's where I stand on it.
Rating:
Summary: BEST PDA/PHONE ON THE PLANET!
Review: I purchased my new Samsung I500 from Sprint in November 2003.
This is the perfect pda phone. The size factor for carrying it around is great and is the main reason I did not purchase a treo 600. The palm and phone functions are seamlessly intergrated and work flawlessly. I used to carry a palm tungsten, pager and a cell phone. This phone has allowed me to dump all these and go solo with the I500. At first I thought the smaller screem on the I500 would be harder to work with, however after using it for over 60 days it's great. The screen resolution is fantastic. Note: The screen size is exactly the same as the treo 600. The workmanship and design is flawless.
This is the phone that Palm should have come out with, the fact Samsung did it right the first time is incredible. Some wishes for the future, although not really needed for my purposes, would be bluetooth for a wireless headset, an expansion slot for more memory and a camara. Thanks Samsung for the best pda phone on the planet!!
Rating:
Summary: 40 days so far, very impressed!
Review: I have had the I-500 for over a month now. I had been using the Handspring 270 via T-mobile service and after 4 warranty replacements with that piece of junk I was ready for change.
So far the I500 is doing everything right. I had to give up the qwerty keyboard, but palm grafiti seems easier than ever and the smaller size of the 500 outweighed the benefit of the keyboard. The phone to Palm OS interface is MUCH smoother than the treos. The phone has not yet been confused as to what the priority should be on the screen, nor are there the annoying layers upon layers of windows to close like on the Treo.
I use the pda primarily for contacts, calendar, and memos. I have made a habit of synching with outlook and entering as much as I can through outlook to save on the grafiti.
I find it a great tool for accessing data on the go, and serving the phone purpose. My only complaint so far is that it's ergonomics could be more well refined. It seems a bit awkard to hold to your ear vs conventional phones, but after being caught holding a treo to the ear mutiple times last year it's not that big of deal. I have since gotten used to it and don't notice it too much.
Lastly, I will say it is nice to see that Spring is not afraid to hire the mentally challenged and provide them with a function within their organization, but for God's sake let somebody else handle new subscribers.
Rating:
Summary: The phone is da bomb...
Review: ...but I don't like the SprintPCS service all that much. Methinks T-Mobile is much better, and less expensive, too! The stuff that came with the phone (ringers and such) are a bit campy. I found a link to http://muwap.com here on amazon (with the 10% off coupon) and downloaded everything I needed. I'd buy the phone again in a heartbeat, but I'd go with T-Mobile service this time.
Rating:
Summary: Superb little device and Mac OS X compatible.
Review: After extensive research of the Kyocera 7135, Handspring Treo 600 and the Samsung i500 I decided on the Samsung. Three days so far and no complaints
I wanted phone with a pda and a small compact ergonomic design with a flip phone format. I did not want to carry a small paperback around, which is what the Treo 600 seems like. It really is amazing how small this gizmo is, smaller than many other phones but does much more than all but a few devices. Buy it if size and which phone network compatibility matters. Mac compatibility was a must and despite what Samsung's website says, this device Hotsyncs with Mac OS 10.2.8 fine. iSync 1.4 does not recognise the handheld as the iSync device list indicates, but the Palm 4.2 Desktop works fine. It is a little tricky to get this from the web as the Palm site wants a serial number from a palm device. Therefore, get the Palm Desktop using version tracker.com Now for the reasons I chose this over the other two - The i500 Tri band vs single band for the Handspring - Kyocera also is triband. This means the the Handspring only works on Sprint digital networks and you cannot roam at all off network. A big negative for a traveller unless you want two phones. - Graffiti and keyboard entry without lots of tiny keys. Graffiti is easy, and if you want, a screen keyboard is available that allows you to enter data that way. - Samsung appears to lose by having Palm OS 4.2 vs the Handspring's OS 5, but all the Palm software I found or would want operates on at least OS 3, so this is not a problem - Small and compact, much smaller than the competitors, easy to carry - Voice activation works well without paying Sprint for the option ie it is standard - The i500 does not have a camera, a card slot or Bluetooth, none of which I need. Although the Handspring does, as does the Kyocera, I have no need for a camera, and Bluetooth is just a wireless way to communicate with your desktop. - The big advantage - smaller, compact and a better phone than the Handspring. It is about the size of my old StarTac phone and has excellent sound quality. - Easy to use; the manual is not needed very much, most functions can be figured out by just exploring and tapping. Too early to say much about reliability so far.
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