Samsung IP-830w Review

The Bottom Line
The IP-830w falls short of many expectations and is not so functional. You want to love it and it does a basic job correctly but its shortcomings quickly make it become an annoyance rather than a beloved phone.
Pros

* Good world-traveler's features
* Good-enough speakerphone

Cons

* Aweful Battery life, even with the extended life battery
* Bad phone lock system

Description

* Technology support: CDMA and GSM for worldwide travelers
* No camera
* Weighs 6.4 ounces

Guide Review - Samsung IP-830w Review
The Samsung IP-830w is sold by Sprint, and also available at Verizon under the name Samsung SCH-i830. It is a CDMA world-phone, which means that it also supports GSM frequencies, has a SIM card, and can work on GSM networks worldwide: geared to the global traveler.

But it will feel heavy in your luggage. At 6.4 ounces, it's a heavy device. Especially that battery life is ridiculously low (like it is for many PDA phones) and that you need to rather use the (provided) extended battery, which makes the IP-830w even more heavy. The QWERTY keypad is fair but just fair, I have seen better. One annoyance is that the keys require an enormous amount of pressure to be pressed -- you will be exhausted after 2 paragraphs! The phone lock system relies on a hardware switch, on the left side. Put it up and the phone is lock, a reflex you unfortunately may not have. There is also an auto-lock feature that comes with Windows Mobile but, it is somewhat cumbersome. The built-in older version of Internet Explorer version has some strange behavior. In Yahoo Mail, for example, it won't let you click on the buttons but all other links work.

That is a lot of down sides and, yes, I didn't like the Samsung IP-830w so much. But don't get me wrong. The Samsung IP-830w is still a pretty good device, my problem with it is mostly related to a series of little annoyances. But there are good things about it. Sound quality was good and the speakerphone was performing above average. If you are nuts about PDA phones and can get the IP-830w at a bargain price, go for it.

source:
http://cellphones.about.com /od/samsungreviews/gr/sung-ip-830w_rw.htm