Samsung M510 Black Phone (Sprint)
From Samsung
The Samsung M510 is a Power Vision device, packed with advanced features in a stylish and affordable handset. Sprint Music Store, TV and GPS Enabled.
- Amazon Sales Rank: #29867 in Cell Phone Accessories
- Color: Black
- Brand: Samsung
- Model: M510
- Released on: 2007-07-17
Samsung's M510 improves upon its predecessor, the M500, with a more organically rounded design as well as Bluetooth stereo headphone streaming--perfect for enjoying untethered tunes purchased through Sprint's Music Store. It operates on Sprint's North American CDMA voice network, as well as on Sprint's Mobile Broadband Network (EV-DO), which enables you to quickly access audio, video and data applications. Other phone features include a 1.3 megapixel camera and camcorder, GPS turn-by-turn directions, MicroSD memory card expansion, and voice-activated dialing.
 The M510 packs a lot of multimedia power into a small package, including tunes from the Sprint Music Store and streaming video via Sprint TV (EV-DO service required). |
Sprint's music service is another EV-DO-powered service that makes the M510 all the more desirable. With the Sprint Music Store, your phone is a music player, letting you buy, download, and then jam out wherever you are with new songs or old favorites. Offering a growing selection of more than 1.6 million songs, the store provides you two copies of each song--one for the phone and another for the PC, as well as the ability to burn songs to a CD using Windows Media Player. Save your songs to a memory card with a capacity that's right for you. You can even pause to take a call without missing a beat.
 It also includes a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth connectivity, and an external display that shows caller ID and the time. |
The 1.3-megapixel camera shoots still photos in four resolutions (from 176 x 220 to 1280 x 960) as well as video clips with sound. It offers a 4x digital zoom, white balance and brightness settings, and the ability to frame photos right in the phone. It also provides support for PictBridge technology so you can print your photos without the need of a PC. The built-in digital audio player is compatible with MP3 and AAC/AAC+ formats, and includes the ability to create playlists on the phone.
The M510 sports a 176 x 220-pixel color display with over 262K colors, and it also includes an external supplementary LCD (96 x 96 pixels) that can display pictures, time, call information, battery and signal strength, and more. The phone comes with 16 MB of memory, which is expandable via MicroSD memory cards The internal phonebook will hold up to 500 entries with each contact entry providing up to 5 phone numbers in addition to an email address, a URL, memo, nickname, caller ID photo, and selected ringtone. You can store up to 99 speed dialing numbers in contacts database as well. Up and down buttons for volume control are placed on the left side, and camera controls are included on the right side of the phone, as is the memory card slot, while most of the phone's features and on-screen menus are controlled by a five-way center button on the handset's control pad.
The phone ships with built-in polyphonic ringtones, but for those times when you want to be discreet, there's a vibrating alert. A built-in speakerphone makes it easy to talk without having the phone to your ear, and advanced voice activated dialing makes calling your friends, family, and associates easy. Simply say the name or number of the person you want to call and the number is dialed automatically without using the keypad.
A messaging multitasker, the M510 supports Sprint PCS picture and video mail services, enabling you to shoot high quality pictures and video clips with sound and instantly send them to email addresses and or other Sprint PCS phones that are compatible with picture and video mail services. Or upload them to the Sprint PCS pictures Web site to create albums. You can also use the M510 to send and receive email, exchange text messages, or join a chat room. Plus, the M500 features an embedded SMS voice messaging client, a feature that allows you to easily send voice messages to other wireless users or any working email address. T9, a predictive text entry system, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit--a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.
The M510 also sports an airplane mode feature, which allows the user to safely use the non-wireless functions of a phone (such as music, games, or organizer functions) on an airplane during flight. This phone is also GPS enabled, allowing you to receive audible and visual turn-by-turn driving directions, map your location, or conduct local searches direct from your handset. With a USB connection, the M510 can also be used as a mass storage device.
Vital Statistics
The Samsung M510 weighs 2.93 ounces and measures 3.74 x 2 x 0.64 inches. Its 800 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 3.5 hours of talk time. It runs on the CDMA 850/CDMA 1900 frequencies for voice and CDMA2000 EV-DO for data. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.
Cool little phone, even if you have big hands
The M510 has all the features I was looking for, and nothing to get in the way of basic phone usability. I don't like the usual tiny keyboards, so this one is a treat -- remarkably easy for larger fingers to use, with positive tactile feedback (click). The screen is easy to read, sharp and colorful, and the various screens are straightforward to navigate (although, as with most phones, I'd like to remove some of the screen items I'll never use).
The sound quality is good, and I find it comfortable to hold while talking. Unlike one-piece phones, it's nice that the screen is held away from your face so you don't have to keep cleaning it. The startup sound is loud but short, so I just put my finger over the external speaker.
I've found the software to be nicely designed for usability, with number entry being faster than my previous phone. I'd like to speed up the text entry for names (not using T9), but that's partly my fault so I'll not nit-pick. Navigation around the screens is pretty simple, with either the nav arrows or Back getting you there with a few clicks. Some of the standard ringtones are dorky but that seems typical for phones.
The packaging is sleek, thin, and yet feels solid. I like the two-tone black with the band of blue (also inside) and silver -- it's a clean design. I was concerned about the more exposed hinge on other phones (such as the Razr), and know they take a lot of hits, so this one is more sensibly tucked away from the corners and should be more robust. The shape is comfortable to hold and the cover provides a bit more grip than the typical glossy finish.
The SD card and power/interface jack covers are tiny, but they do work and so far I haven't had any problems. The SD card is tiny (!) but comes with an adapter for normal SD slots, so for me that lets me offload photos directly without having to go through the phone connection. The power adapter is small (about 1/2 the size of an Altoids box) so taking both on a trip would be easy.
I've been able to turn it on during whole work day and do that for several days in a row without recharging (granted, that's with not many phone calls). The talk time does seem reasonable.
All in all, it's a slick, solid, easy-to-use phone that you can carry without noticing it but works well when you need it. Recommended.
Has Some Flaws, but a Decent Phone Overall.
I received this phone as a free replacement for my previous phone which was no longer being supported by Sprint, though it was still under two years old.
I think it is pretty good -not great, but overall a decent purchase. There are a couple of significant flaws that detract from this phone.
Here are the things I like:
Add 1 star. It is sleek, and smooth, and pleasing to the eye.
Add 1 star. The talk time seems fine. I've had no problems there. It works great as a phone. I've had NO problems with hearing people or being heard.
Add 0.5 stars. The speakerphone option is actually on the phone itself (available from a one button touch). This is nice and solves a problem with my last phone. I needed to push 3 buttons to use speakerphone on that phone.
Add 1 star. The camera and camcorder work fine, and I've had no issues there.
Add 1 star. The mini SD Storage card is wonderful. I didn't have this on my last phone. I bought a 2 Gig card for a cheap price and popped it right in. (Typically the mini SD cards also come with an adaptor so that you can plug it right into any standard SD slot -like on your computer- so that you can move information easily).
Add 0.5 star. The charging port is a lot more accessible than on my last phone. Not perfect, but it is an improvement. I don't have to actually tear off the port plastic guard in order to plug my phone in and lay it down to charge.
Here are the things I dislike.
Minus 1 star: The usage ergonomics are pretty bad:
1) The button placement for the scroll up and down keys are way too low on the phone. Instead of being able to use your left hand to automatically scroll up and down pages, you are forced to use your other hand to touch the buttons, or, more realistically, you are forced to twist your hand at an awkward angle to allow you to touch the scroll keys. You can do it, but you have a much more delicate and tenuous hold on the phone when doing so, which makes it much more likely to slip out of your hand. This was a silly design flaw and has been done a lot better on other phones.
2) The keypad is completely flat with almost no texture (which is annoying, but which I can deal with) but the scroll wheel and the main buttons are also completely flat -I mean COMPLETELY flat and flush with each other- (which makes it very difficult to control menus unless you are perfectly still and focused) -especially when trying to move the cursor around when texting.
Minus 1 star:
1) The texting is pretty bad. When I text a message and then hit next (right before hitting the final send) the phone randomly decides to add another word to my text message SOME OF THE TIME, and if I don't go back and remove the extra word, it will send the word with the message. So instead of a message saying "See you at five." It might say "See you at five. Fish" or "See you at five. Don't" And if you are like me, you are trying to text quickly, and don't sit there and wait and analyze the message -you hit the double "send" to get the message on its way. If the extra word appears and is sent then you are stuck sending a follow up message explaining it. Nuts!
2) Furthermore, I am often suggested fake words as suggested words, and this drives me up the wall. Instead of finishing the spelling of a common word, my dictionary will suggest words with accents, latin or foreign sounding words, or just weird spellings. It doesn't happen all the time, but enough that it is annoying -especially when I am trying to spell a common word. "Lazy", for example, might come up as "Lawz". I might think I misspelled the word, and erase it and try again with the same result. It will only be when I choose the NEXT suggested word option will I realize that I spelled it correctly the whole time and it was the phone that was messed up.
3) I am not able to add words to my phone's dictionary. I thought you could do that, but after poring through the entire instruction guide and playing with every option on my phone I have been unsuccessful. So simple, common slang words have to be alphanumerically typed in over and over. This is ridiculous. You could have easily fixed this in the software.
Other Minor Items:
Negative: There is no flash. My phone two years older had a flash. Not a big deal, I just noticed it.
Negative: I HATE how I am stuck with the lame screensaver. Yes you can change them, but NO you cannot change them without screwing up all your menus. My old phone had 3 themes that looked fine, and I am stuck with the one lame digital clock theme on the outside of my phone that I don't like. I have read all the instructions and pored through all the menus and have given up on customizing the layout how I wanted.
Negative: One thing I miss from my last phone was one button email access. I had set it up where I pushed my select wheel to the right as soon as it opened up my phone and it accessed my hotmail. The software on this phone (2 years newer) is not as customizable and it doesn't allow for 1 button access. You have to go into a menu to do this. It does, however, have a two button push sequence to access your text messages. Not perfect, but fine.
Overall, this phone works great for speaking, and for taking pictures and most people will probably be happy with that. I believe it is a poor choice for texting, and is annoying when trying to scroll up and down web pages. If Samsung or Sprint or whoever were to redo the texting software and fix these issues I would love this phone.
Great Phone
I purchased this about a month ago and really have nothing bad to say about it. The sound quality is excellent, both on the inner and outer speaker. Mp3 ringtones are crystal clear. I have Vision service and it's fast, just as expected. The screen is clear and sharp. The only reason I give it 4 stars is because it doesn't have the 2 MP camera and the screen size of the M610.
