Samsung Jet S8000: my personal opinion

I will keep it, as usual, to the bare minimum.

Here you can find very detailed specification and some complete reviews, so I will try to not overlap with what you can find there.
Samsung S8000 Jet - Full phone specifications

To start with, I more or less agree with the reviews, although I have to admit that phone features are a bit disappointing. My old SE K750i works better as a phone set...

Perhaps, this is the fairest review I have seen on the net:
Cnet.uk: Samsung Jet review (make sure you hear the conclusion!)

In few words: not that bad for a NON-smart phone but a bit overpriced for its capabilities and features!

Update: my second round review Wow, brilliant! But who put phone features on this media player device?



Just to underline some features sorted in my personal importance flavor:

Call features:

Well, that is it primary purpose (at least to me) - unfortunately my old SE K750i serves better as a mobile phone. It takes just too many menu steps before I can actually make a call... Also, I travel abroad frequently enough, so I prefer to keep the phone entries with the country code included. This is a joke - the phone can't recognize the entry unless it is an exact match (that in my case does not include the country code).

Well, actually it is worse than that. Probably it is related to my provider but it is the same provider as with all my old phones. If someone calls me the phone appears without the country code (so I have fixed all my phones numbers to match) but if SMS arrives - it has the code in front!!! What I am supposed to do!?! To have the both formats for each contact?!!!!
Update 1: (Solution) It appears that saving the phone numbers in 0041xxxx format instead of +41xxxx does the job and will recognize the number in both cases, with or without the country code.
Update 2: This is not serious!!! The solution mentioned above does not work on landlines!?!
Update 3: It is more complicated... It checks against phone numbers on the phone and the SIM card. The moment you sync your phone and SIM numbers, what used to work might not work anymore.

My provider provides me with call-back features abroad. To use them I need to enter a command like this "*100*phone_number#". On the old phone there was an option "Edit before call" so it was extremely easy to add the command to any phone on the fly before I call. The JET leaves me with the options to dial the complete command or to add the command in the address book so I can use it this way - very inconvenient.

Battery:

Very reasonable - with occasional browsing, this and that, it can last about 5-7 days. USB charging - very good.

SMS:

This is not serious. The default destination for the new SMS is the SIM card!... No way to change it. I can imagine some reasons for that but still - this is not serious!

Screen touch sensitivity:
Not the best but with careful calibration and some daily use - everything is good.

Virtual keyboard:
Works quite well.

Browser:

Not that good after all. Opera Mini 5 performs better in many cases. In fact, in many situation the internal browser is out of the game. Bolt is not that bad as well. Here are some tuned applications for Jet (Opera mini from the original site has the wrong resolution settings) http://www.breezie.be/jet/

Wifi:

Excellent! You can set up the applications to use the wap profile that will be overwritten automatically if you use Wifi (downloading the GPS data seems to be an exception...)

Bluetooth:
Works flawlessly. Easy to pair, transfer files and sync profiles with "Samsung New PC Studio (NPS)" (by the way - the software is absolute bloatware)

Synchronization:

I want to keep it simple - I need my contacts and appointments synchronized and backed up with an easy access to the other features from the computer. As I mention already the software is absolute bloatware - huge installation and it works only with administrative privileges! Microsoft might try to do their best security-wise but those guys are just trowing that in the trash. Perhaps they will fix it in the next version (hm I have seen the previous version of the tool - that was the same bloatware). Just to mention, on the SE K750i I have used MyPhoneExplorer that in 4.4 MB installation has more features that NPS in 121 MB... (I don't want to put that monster on my netbook) Sure, it can't flash the firmware and convert videos, but can do so much more useful stuff... Including virtual keyboard, time synchronization, screen snapshot and BACKUP - the current version of NPS can't backup my data!!!

Handsfree:

Very easy to pair a Bluetooth set, the original wired one is just fine. The plugs are comfortable - all other types of plugs does not fit very well in my ears.

Document preview:

This one is one of my favorite feature. The phone can preview Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF files without any prior conversion - timetables, specifications, web page snapshots - just perfect.

Additional widgets:

Virtually none. I have bought the phone without a contract so all the features are already there. The firmware does not have Skype, but this is so much provider related, so it does not come in to account. I use the Skype Lite version.

Java:
Works fine.

OS:
Proprietary - full stop.

Music player:

Hm. Again, what is most important? The sound quality! The fancy album art and "shake to switch to the next track" worth nothing if the first is compromised! Anyway, it seems that I can get better sound with different than the original headphone set. Ok let's say sound quality:not bad. Another feature that I really miss from the old phone - button that will stop or pause the song at any time, regardless if I am in the player, browser or any other application. In the Jet, even the volume keys might not work as "volume keys" if you are in the address book, browser or even in the play list (see the flash movie at the end of the post)! So, the best way to hear what was the announcement (train/bus station) is to remove the ear plug. Removing the jack from the phone does not help because that brings the sound on the external speaker.

Mass storage:
Excellent: The phone memory and the external memory appear as separate drives. Very fast access.


Extras

GPS:

Very nice. It is not that difficult to install the software and to upload free and up to date maps. Works really nice. Reception - hm on a clear sky outside - great, in the car - I could not get fix at all... I will try again of course...
Update: Well, it seems to work quite well (getting a fixed position) with some irregular "not getting fixed position forever" even with 6 and more satellites... Restart of the phone seems to fix the problem.

Google maps - just fine.

Camera:

Very good for pictures and videos. Do not expect miracles. There are many tools to make some fancier pictures and panorama shots - that is very impressive.

Radio:

Works fine. There is an option to record from the radio - seems great feature. I am not sure if I will use it but I like it.

Video player:

Ok, you can't see me watching movie or similar stuff on a phone - I just really appreciate larger screen to watch videos... Otherwise - the quality is great! Well, just to add - excellent.

Email:
Seems to work fine, although it does not work with IMAP and GMail. I use only the Gmail SMTP to send my emails.

Voice recording, mobile tracker (sends SMS to a predefined number if the SIM card is changed - presumably in case the phone has been stolen), alarm, stopwatch and some other - all very good additions to a phone and they are very well done on this phone. "Find music" - excellent service. It will record the song that is played (from some other device in a restaurant or somewhere else) and will try to identify it. Very good gadget.

Fake call:

Hm, I can give it a try... why not.

Games:
Good that I do not care about that, because there is very limited choice of games...

Video output:

I haven't tried it yet but looks like a good feature that I will probably will not need. Same as the DLNA service. Don't get me wrong but this phone is not the center of the world so I will use it to stream videos from it...

Firmware version: S8000XPIJ7


Some useful links:
Best of all: Samsung Jet blog
The Darkforest Group - Monster Samsung Forum | FAQ - good place to start
Samsung Jet S8000 Touch Phone - Exclusive Review
Samsung Jet Forum
Mobil Phone Uploader

Important!
Also, if you plan to buy Samsung Jet, make sure to read why other will not buy it:
Topic: After your "Jet Experience", would you buy Samsung phone again?

Wow, brilliant! But who put phone features on this media player device?