Samsung Blast-SGH-T729 Cell Phone
What T-Mobile might lack in the way of a high speed data network, they more than make up for with service plans and features geared towards families and messaging addicts. Their myFaves plan and Sidekick family of devices have caught on with budget-conscious parents and their SMS-obsessed teenagers alike
T-Mobile is working to (finally) roll out their 3G network in 2008, and they've also been working with manufacturers on a fleet of fun (and easy) to use handsets with advanced features and messaging-friendly form factors. The Samsung Blast is the first of this new wave of phones - its slim slider form factor will be familiar to Samsung fans, but the SureType-style keypad concealed beneath the sliding front panel is designed for the new wave of users to text as much as they talk.
Unfortunately, while the Blast looks great on paper and in photos, it proved less than a blast to use. The twenty button QWERTY layout is a great idea, but for all it promises in the way of easy typing in a stylish package, it lacks just as much when it comes to usability. Hampered by small buttons with limited tactile feedback and a crowded layout, Blast proved to be more of a compromise than an innovative solution. But if you've got small fingers and a small budget, Blast does offer a solid feature set in a stylish package.
 Blast reminded me of the Samsung T809 - one of my all time favorite T-Mobile phones - when I took it out of the box. A thin (12.7 mm), slightly wider than normal (106 x 15 mm) slider, Blast is compact and light but solid in hand, and features an attractive black with red accents color scheme. I really appreciated Blast's light weight (just 79 g), especially given the quality feel of the internal sliding mechanism. This handset stays open when it should and stays shut when it should, and sliding between the two states is made easy by a great spring mechanism.
The front panel of Blast features a two inch display flanked by a speaker cutout above, and an extensive control array below. A circular five-way directional array is flanked by two softkeys as well as dedicated keys for T-Zones (Web browser), Call, Cancel, and Clear, and one programmable shortcut button. Samsung did a nice job with the navigational buttons, packing a comfortable layout into a relatively small space and giving the keys themselves good tactile feedback.
A camera button and accessory port grace the right side of Blast, while a volume rocker switch and microSD memory card slot can be found on the left spine. The power button rests along the top edge of the phone, and when you slide the front panel up, the rear side of that top edge reveals the camera sensor and a small mirror for self-portraits. I've always liked Samsung's design for slider camera phones, as it keeps the camera sensor protected from dust and scratches when the phone is slid shut.
Sliding the panel up reveals Blast's SureType messaging keypad - kudos to T-Mobile and Samsung for trying to put some smart design into a consumer messaging phone. Featuring twenty buttons where standard dialing layouts only have twelve, Blast maps letters to a regular QWERTY layout instead of the telephone-style ABC, DEF, GHI, etc arrangement. The result is both a more familiar arrangement of characters and only having one or two letters per key instead of three - a combination that should yield more efficient thumb typing.
While SureType has become quite popular on RIM's BlackBerry Pearl (RIM developed the SureType system), I'm not so sure it will succeed on Blast. Blast's keys are a little too small and crowded together, and also too flush-mounted for my tastes. Perhaps my thumbs are a little on the big side, but I just couldn't get comfortable typing on Blast and while I appreciated the innovation I also longed for a regular keypad with larger - if fewer - buttons.
I should note that I've since tried T-Mobile's HTC-made Shadow, which features a similar SureType style keypad in a slider phone form factor. Shadow's buttons are bigger and offer better tactile feedback and, in my eyes, really make good on the promise of the compact messaging phone idea. Shadow is notably thicker and wider than Blast, and a different beast in many ways, but is definitely an option if like me you like the idea of Blast but find the buttons too small.Read full review »
What T-Mobile might lack in the way of a high speed data network, they more than make up for with service plans and features geared towards families and messaging addicts. Their myFaves plan and Sidekick family of devices have caught on with budget-conscious parents and their SMS-obsessed teenagers alike
T-Mobile is working to (finally) roll out their 3G network in 2008, and they've also been working with manufacturers on a fleet of fun... Blast is a pretty standard mid-range handset with a few advanced messaging features. Multimedia fans may find Blast a bit behind the times, due both to its relatively small low-res display and T-Mobile's EDGE-only data network, which prohibits the kind of streaming audio and video services available on, say, Verizon Wireless' messaging-centric Samsung U740.
In an addition to integrated access to AOL and Yahoo! email, Blast is also compatible... Blast's 2" LCD display is bright and clear, but a low 176 x 220 resolution results in blocky rendering of some photos and graphics - particularly in combination with the integrated WAP Web browser. Capable of displaying 262K colors, the display was pretty easy to read under almost all lighting conditions, and perfectly usable in general. But if you've used a phone with a QVGA or better display, you'll likely be disappointed with Blast's screen.... Messaging is Blast's calling card, and if you like the handset's keyboard you should appreciate its messaging capabilities in general. T-Mobile built a nice software package into this handset, including the aforementioned support for multiple email protocols. Direct access to popular email services like Yahoo! and AOL mail is nice, and connecting to other POP or IMAP accounts was pretty painless, as well.
Texting and IMing are also easier on... Blast is a slim, stylish slider phone that offers a smaller, lower cost alternative to T-Mobile's Sidekicks for messaging hungry users. While I found Blast's SureType keypad difficult to use, users with smaller and/or nimbler thumbs (or perhaps just better thumb typing technique) may love the QWERTY layout packed into a compact body.
Blast lacks the advanced Web browsing and multimedia features found in message-centric handsets offered by... Announced August 20, 2007 the Samsung Blast is now available from Let's Talk for $99.99 when purchased with a new T-Mobile calling plan. Valued at $249.99 purchase the Blast for only $99.99 after a $100 instant rebate and $50 mail-in-rebate.*
The Samsung Blast is a great new slider with a 1.3 megapixel camera, stereo Bluetooth, and voice activated dialing. An enhanced built-in QWERTY keypad makes sending text... Pros: good camera music player is good voice/sound quality is good predictive text helps alot nice decent sized screen Cons: the qwerty keyboard is kinda smashed in there battery life sucks Summary: the blast is a good first phone to have if you like texting and like slider phones then get this phone, the keypad does take awhile to get used to i know it took me like a month to get used to it, and the battery drains quick if your texting alot . Overall i like this phone im still currently using it Pros: I love the color, the email, and most of all the mp3 Cons: Hard to copy all of the files from the memory card. Summary: I went from the Wing to the Blaskt and its a huge difference very basic but cool at the same time. 1 out of 1 people found this review helpful Pros: The phone is a nice phone. It is my first sliding phone and QWERTY key pad. The email with no internet plan needed is very nice. Very good for a first time phone. Cons: The Cons, well, this wasn't my first phone, I plan buying my old model of phone at FULL price cause I can't stand this one. The battery life Stinks, it barely lasts half a day if you use it alot and even you'll get to two bars to one bar within a day if it sits. The messaging is a pain cause if you send the same text to multiple people, you have to WAIT till that message is sent to each person one by one. Also if the signal is lost, it won't continue sending the message till you tell it you tell Summary: The Samsung Blast is a good choice if you are thinking about purchasing your first or upgrading from a really old model. It's really good for Email and IM, but lacks in user friendly personalization and also consistent functions for all the features. All in all, first phone, Awesome, but if you are used to high end phones like the RAZR, SideKick, Shadow (esp Shadow), BlackBerry or similar, think twice. 1 out of 5 people found this review helpful Pros: Cost(about$30-$40 with contract), ease of use and features(camera,MP3 and ability to get e mail without adding internet to your plan). Cons: The menu(s) on this phone are a bit of a pain to get use to and it stocked with very few ringtone options(guess they wan you to buy them). You can use mp3`s as ringtones though. Summary: It`s a great little starter phone for people interested in getting a smart phone . It`s far from being a Blackberry but very user friendly. 14 out of 30 people found this review helpful Pros: thin,loud mp3 playback when not using the muic player,good camera,nice customization fetures.nice battery life,blackbeey style keypad Cons: while playing music on the music player the volume isnt as loud as it would be if you played it straight off your memory card, battery seems to drain quicker while using instant messanger,no flash on camera, keypad seems to only register one action when you press it twice fast. Summary: So far i gotta say the samsung blast is a awsome phone it does everything i would want a cell phone to do if you have a converter that can conver videos into 3pg format then you can put your own videos onto the phone. there were some small thisng that bugged me like the lower sound when usung the music player,no flash,and the responsivness on the keypad but besides that i love the phone and would definatly recomend it 16 out of 31 people found this review helpful Buying choicesWith new service  With pre-paid service This item is not being sold with a pre-paid service service plan by any online merchant. Purchase phone only Accessories Purchase compatible accessories for this phone Ringtones & MediaShop for compatible mobile content for this phone
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