The Samsung Intercept specs suggest that the phone is trying to find middle ground in the Android smartphone battle. It is not too large and at the same time, it is not too basic or small either. However, we don’t think this phone quite cuts it when it comes to reaching smartphone status. Read more about the Samsung Intercept Specs below.
Samsung Intercept Specs
The Good
Though there is nothing spectacular in this phone, the Samsung Intercept specs seem to suggest that this phone has an OK package when it comes to specs. It has Android 2.1, a very nicely designed Qwerty keyboard, memory that can be expanded to up to 32GB and a pretty OK 3.2 MP camera. Integration with facebook, Twitter and Flickr and all the Google services like Gmail and Google Talk are pretty good.
The Bad
There are a few design flaws with this phone. The slide out Qwerty keyboard has made the phone really bulky. The screen size is also smaller than 3.5 inches, which has widely been accepted as the minimum screen size for a smartphone. There are also some unnecessary additions like a touch pad that makes things a little too cramped. The processor speed and memory is also not up to the mark. Performance wise, the phone can be on the slow side when it comes to things such as web browsing.
Summary
The Samsung Intercept is a good choice for someone who is looking for a user friendly smartphone, with a Qwerty keyboard. Though the Intercept is aimed at the mid level smartphone market, it seems to be priced rather atrociously. If you want to use this phone on the Virgin Mobile network, you will have to cough up $200. That is just way too high. We would recommend that you go with Sprint, which will be able to give you this phone for $99 or less, a much more reasonable price, although you will have to sign up for a two year contract.
If you are further interested in this phone, read the detailed description on the Samsung Intercept specs below.
Design
This is a pretty sizable phone. It is 4.4 inches long and 2.19 inches wide. The thickness is a very beefy .59 inches. But, that is understandable because it packs a slide out Qwerty keyboard. The weight of the phone is just under 5 ounces. Some people will find the phone to be a little on the heavier side although we can assure such people that it is a rather nice weight that will give the phone a good feel in your hands.
The usable display size on this Android phone is 3.2 inches. The display puts out a WQVGA resolution that looks pretty good. It won’t match up to the Super AMOLED displays that are being put on almost every smartphone although it does look good on its own.
The other usual design elements on the Samsung Intercept include volume rocker keys, a SD card slot that can take up to 32GB of memory, a head phone jack and a 3.2 MP camera on the back of the phone. The charging port is at the top of the phone. The slide out Qwerty keyboard is designed very nicely. It has some lovely looking orange accents to it that give the phone a sporty look. Of course, you can always use the touch screen Qwerty keyboard when you don’t want to slide out the physical keyboard.
The Samsung Intercept, with a 3.2 inch screen, Full Qwerty keyboard and Android OS will satisfy some of your smartphone needs. Integration with Google tools is especially convenient on this phone. The processor and memory is below par, when compared to other smartphones in the market
Camera
The 3.2 MP camera will do a pretty good job with outdoor photos, when there is plenty of sunlight. While indoors, the camera can take some pretty decent pictures as long as the lighting is ideal and even. The phone has no flash. So, you can pretty much consider the camera to be useless when you want to take pictures in low light as the results are obviously not worth discussing. But, as a conclusion to the camera description, we will say that the 3.2 MP camera does a pretty decent job while outdoors.
The 3.2 MP camera can take some decent outdoor shots, like the photo shown above. However, there is no flash and the camera doesn't do very well in low light conditions.
Call quality
Call quality on the Samsung Intercept is excellent. Your voice will be transmitted very clearly, without any background noise or white noise that can affect some phones. The default volume level is also very nicely chosen and there is a good chance that you will never adjust the call volume level.
Speakerphone quality was also very good although people on the other end might complain that your voice sounds a little faded, even if you are holding the phone quite close to your face. But, the speakerphone is definitely usable and you can use it for short conversations without any problems.
Preloaded apps and software features
The Samsung Intercept specs impress in the software department. There are a lot of preloaded apps and some nice software features. For example, one can use voice to text to type out messages and emails. The phone is also able to provide turn by turn navigation prompts that is assisted by Google Maps. There is plenty of integration with Google tools such as Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar and even YouTube for that matter. After all, it is an Android phone. (Android is owned by Google, duh!). Setting up your Gmail e-mail account on this phone is a breeze. Other e-mail accounts can also be set up as the OS has become more friendly towards non Gmail email accounts as well.
Apart from the above mentioned apps, there is a facebook apps that will help you connect with the wildly popular social network, allowing to post a status or watch your news feed, with a few screen touches. It also has default apps that will help you connect with other popular social media sites such as Twitter and Flickr.
Data transfer speeds
This phone does not have HSPA+ support or 4G support. But, it will give you average 3G speeds that can be found on other Android phones. Ultimately, the 3G speeds that you will get on this phone will depend on your network provider’s network connection.
Processor and Performance
The phone ha a 800 MHz processor that is supported by 256MB RAM and 512 MB ROM. In our opinion, the phone was a little slow when it came to certain functions. Web browsing is not a very speedy experience on this phone and it might frustrate a lot of people, especially when the phone is compared to a lot of the full fledged smartphones.
Battery life
Samsung Intercept specs say that the phone will be able to provide about 4 hours of continuous talk time. While this is a bit on the lower side, one has to understand that the phone is not very big and that it also has a Qwerty keyboard, both of which can limit battery life extension. On standby mode, the phone can last for about two weeks, on a full charge.
Conclusion
If you are buying the Samsung Intercept from Sprint or any other carrier that can give it to you for a reasonable price tag of less than $50, we would say that you should go for it. Otherwise, you will be better off spending your money on other Android phones or even Windows phones that can give you a lot more bang for your buck.
In fact, we would say that you should shop around quite a bit even if you are interested in this phone for some reason. The 3.2 inch screen, the bulky size, the slow processor and rather inadequate memory can be a turn off that might make you regret your decision to buy this phone.
Would you buy the iPhone 5 if it came out right now. It could be out as early as March 2012. Check out the latest gossip and news on the iPhone 5 here.