Samsung i500 is the first color Palm OS phone that actually fits in the palm of your hand and weighs only 5.1 ounces. The i500 display might be smaller than a few other palm phones, but it supports 65,536 colors and has a bright backlight.
Samsung has married the best Sprint PCS Vision features with the most important elements of the Palm OS. The i500’s side buttons allow you to switch between the Palm OS and the phone mode and toggle among different modules. To accustom yourself to the additional buttons, you’ll need to spend about a day with the phone.
For the production crowd there is no better deal than getting a color cell phone/organizer with web-surfing and game-play capabilities. You can keep your production plans and daily notes on the i500, send and receive email, surf the web and play the amazing new games.
I tried a demo version of Megasoft 2000 ‘Billiards’ on the i500. Billiards is the best pool simulation for a mobile device. The animation is smooth and realistic. The balls’ collisions are perfectly calculated and executed: you almost have all the same controls you can get on a game console pool simulation.
The Good News: The Splash Photo application allows you to load your photos or drawings and create a slide-show on i500.
The Wish List: A speakerphone option and a lower price would be helpful.
The Bottom Line: Samsung i500 is an excellent color palm phone. If you are in the game development field, try the i500 games.
Web Address: www.samsung.com
www.sprintpcs.com
www.megasoft2000.com
Ratings for Samsung i500
Animation Magazine’s Seal of Excellence
Ease of Use: *****
Power of Applications: *****
Web surfing and email: ****
Power of Graphics: *****
Final Score: *****
Rating for Megasoft2000 Billiards
Animation Magazine’s Seal of Excellence
Playability: ****
Graphics: *****
Animation: *****
Dynamics:‘*****
Final Score: *****
