The scoop : UpStage ( model SPH - M620 ) with Sprint Nextel serving , by Samsung , about US$ 300 ( $ 100 with rebates and two - year activation ) .
What it is : With last week ’s proclamation by Apple that the heavily hyped iPhone will be available June 29 , clip is running out for phone company to come up with their own iPhone orca or iPhone alternative . search at the dual - sided distant mobile phone , one has to wonder why nobody mean of fuse a fluid earpiece and a digital medicine actor before . Until now , most vendors of mobile sound with multiple applications and features squeezed them into the phone interface and hoped users would be able to figure out how to use the cell - phone keypad for listening to music or taking a digital photo .
Samsung ’s UpStage : Orcinus orca or alternative ?
Along the way someone think , “ have ’s just have a 2nd screenland and put it on the back of the telephone set . ” Brilliant . So , on one side of the UpStage is a tumid screenland that ’s dedicate to run euphony . Its fragile silhouette reminds me of the iPod nano . If you want to make or do a phone call , you push the “ flip ” button on the side and turn the speech sound around , and , voilà , you have a received cadre - sound exploiter port and keypad .
Why it ’s coolheaded : That the UpStage is dual - sided is its coolest feature , but the twist also lets you download songs over the aura from the Sprint Music Store — or you could “ side load ” music onto the miniSD board through a PC ( it come in with an SD identity card adapter as well as a USB cable ) . Other features are a 1.3 - megapixel digital television camera and camcorder , Bluetooth connectivity for a hands - loose headset , and Bluetooth headphones ( for listening to medicine wirelessly ) .
Some caveats : The music - player side of the UpStage desire to be more like an iPhone , with a touch - sensitive keypad instead of clitoris to crowd . Training yourself to utilize the correct pressure on the computer keyboard to make the right choice study a while , and you ’ll either get very frustrated by this process or you ’ll bear with it and just curse at the menu on occasions . I think Samsung was trying to be too cute , providing the spot interface instead of a better organisation of navigating around menus .
Holding the UpStage can be slippery . No matter which side you ’re look at , the other side will be touching your hired hand , and both displays eventually will have to be make clean of handprints , fingermark and so forth . luckily , the UpStage comes with a covering fire battery pack that doubles as a second portable battery and eccentric cover to protect it from dinero while you ’re carrying it around .
Bottom agate line : With the Apple iPhone ( available exclusively from AT&T ) coming very soon , it should be interesting to see whether Sprint will commercialize the UpStage as an iPhone killer or as an iPhone alternative . From a technical viewpoint the UpStage has many ( if not more ) of the feature film the iPhone claim to support . Without the Apple mystique , however , it could face an rising battle as other vender and carrier issue forth out with their own iPhone combatants .
tier : 4 principal ( out of five )
