Samsung Upstage Cell Phone Review
By Richard Baguley
Reviewed.com Editorial Staff
August 10, 2007
The Samsung Upstage is an ultra-slim music-oriented phone with a unique dual sided flip-over design. The Upstage divides its functions between the front and back of the phone. On the front is a regular keypad and control keys with a small display. On the other side you will find a much larger display, along with touch sensitive control keys. You switch between the two sides using the dedicated "flip" button. The Upstage is currently a Sprint exclusive, and is available for $99.99 with a two-year contract.
To dial a number on the Upstage you need to use the keypad on the front side of the device. You can initiate a call from your contacts or call history on the back side, but must flip the device over to actually talk because the phone speaker is found on the front. The keypad takes up most of the front, and the keys were comfortable to use. The Upstage has a good selection of organizational features, with a calendar, tasks, and notes. These features are sufficient for basic use, but won't replace a smart phone or PDA for power users.
Audio quality on the Upstage was fairly good, which is impressive given its thin form factor. The sound sent and received by the phone both generally fell within our testing limits, meaning voices are accurately reproduced. Side tone (the small amount of your voice that is piped back into your ear so you can hear yourself) was a little lower than we would have liked, however. This means you may end up talking a bit louder than you mean to during calls.
The Sprint Upstage has a fairly standard 1.3 megapixel camera that did not perform particularly well in our tests. The resolution of the captured images was subpar, and colors tended to be under-saturated, looking dark and unappealing. Thankfully the larger screen on the back of the device is used as your viewfinder when taking photos. The Upstage also captures low-quality video that performed particularly poorly in our video resolution test.
The Upstage is marketed as a music phone, and uses Sprint's standard music software to purchase songs from their online store and play back music. This software does a decent job, but is more awkward to use and has fewer advanced features than the music players found on phones like the iPhone or Nokia N75. Music playback is controlled on the back of the phone, using the large screen and touch controls. You can synchronize the Upstage with multimedia on a Windows PC using the included software and data cable. The Upstage supports protected files from Sprint's store or unprotected MP3 and AAC files.
The Upstage supports both text and multimedia messages. In order to type out a message you will need to flip the phone to the front and use the keypad. This means you can only see a couple of lines at a time on the small screen, which is slightly awkward. Thankfully the large keys allow you to type fairly quickly, and we were able to manage an impressive 37.5 words per minute. There is no built-in e-mail client, however you can access some e-mail accounts online using the browser. The Upstage's Web browser, like many on regular phones, is only sufficient for light browsing.
The Sprint Upstage's ultra slim design means there is a very small battery on board. Samsung has addressed this issue by included a battery "wallet" with the Upstage. This wallet acts as both a protective case for the phone and an extended battery. Unfortunately, it also adds significant bulk to the Upstage, a negative for anyone attracted to the slim form factor. The Upstage lasted an impressive 6 hours and 37 minutes in our talk time tests when using the wallet, however without it this time fell to an unimpressive 2 hours and 53 minutes. With the wallet the Upstage posted an impressive 25 hours and 34 minutes of music playback time, as well as 6 hours and 10 minutes of Web browsing time.
The Sprint Upstage is a sexy handset with an innovative design. Although we applaud Samsung (which built the phone for Sprint) for taking a chance with this new two-sided interface, we found that individuals who need to access the keypad often, such as heavy texters, will find themselves doing far too much "flipping.” We also found that the included battery "wallet," despite the excellent battery performance, detracts from one of the Upstage's key selling points- its wafer-thin design. The Upstage will be attractive to many looking for a unique music phone, but one should be well aware of these drawbacks before purchasing.
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