[Since I bothered to bang out this review of my Android phone over on Samsung's site, and I have no idea if it'll ever see the light of day there, I thought I'd mirror it here, with additional details that are apparently forbidden in Samsung-site reviews. Like prices, or mentioning any competitor products or sites.]
...OK, to be honest the screen's not half bad, either.
I was dead-set on replacing my previous Instinct with a phone that had a REAL physical keyboard, and the Transform's is possibly the best keyboard Samsung has ever designed. Great feel and no weird layout "stuff". (Looking at you, Moment keyboard!) But, obviously, the main selling point for the Transform is its price. An Android phone for $50? Sign me up!
Problem is, you really do get what you pay for when you buy a "cheap" Android phone. The Transform's biggest failing is simple: It. Is. SLOOOOOOW. Criminally slow. Occasionally-goes-out-for-a-walk-and-just-gets-lost slow. "Background services? Sure, I can do that... *OR* I can let you answer a call" slow.
Shortly after buying the phone, I ran some random benchmark app (all-but-useless for practical purposes, but still better than comparing clock speeds or other specs for relative comparisons) on my Transform. On whatever arbitrary scale it used, my phone's score was ONE TENTH the rating of the HTC Evo, one of Sprint's then-flagship Android phones. The Transform really did score just 10% of the Evo's benchmark result.
Now, that kind of phone is a serious mobile device with a zippy CPU; you'd expect the Transform to be slower. But TEN TIMES as slow? Which is not to say that every operation takes 10x as long on the Transform. But it does mean that it has to "ThinkRealHard!" for up to ten times as long, for each of those operations. It means that when even a few stack up, severe delays build up fast. (The ONLY thing the phone does quickly: get bogged down!)
It means that, if you're unfortunate enough to be doing anything with the phone at the moment the Alarm Clock triggers, causing the alarm popup to get lost, you will be forced to endure several seconds of loud beeping/buzzing/etc, all throughout the time it takes you to get to and then pull down the notiifcation tray, tap on the alarm notification, wait for the dialog to come up, and then select and have it process your response. (Nothing else will silence it short of pulling the battery — a better approach for particularly embarrassing situations. Of course, Google has to share some of the blame here, for an OS that violates the *one* well-established mobile convention: Whenever the phone is emitting ANY audible noise, pressing Volume Down should ALWAYS silence it immediately, without exception, no backsies.)
Because the CPU really only has two operating states — idle or near-catatonically overloaded — its power management has little practical use. Thus, battery life is... unstellar. (After learning a few new habits to save on power, though, I've found it pretty manageable.)
Lastly, factor in Samsung's unsurprising lack of enthusiasm for actively supporting a device that can't possibly represent any significant profit for them. As evidenced by the months of delays before the 2.2 update was released (though that issue affected their entire lineup), the fact that the 2.2 update that *was* finally released is actually worse in several ways (unless Samsung can explain how adding a reverse-landscape rotation orientation to a side-slider phone is somehow a feature!), and the fact that in the time since the 2.2 update finally appeared, no further update has been released or even hinted at to fix the issues with the current build.
The 2.2 update did shave several seconds off the phone's boot time — a welcome change, but still far from a gold-star feature for the phone. With the official Froyo build, time to cold-boot my Transform after an orderly shutdown, from first touch of the power button to the moment the lock screen appears: 2 minutes and 2.65 seconds. ...Yay.
Engadget and ilk have made excellent arguments against "budget" Android phones like the Transform, usually pointing out that "last year's model" of a REAL phone can be had for similar price, and will likely still be superior. I can only add that, even as a relatively-content 6-month Transform owner, I agree. The phone is "fine" for what it is, and I knew what I was getting into, but if I had it to do over again I'd look for a better solution than the Transform.
But I'd really miss that keyboard!
Pros: Bright display, excellent keyboard
Cons: Poor quality, slow, poor battery life
Final Verdict? No, I would not recommend it to a friend.
(...Possibly an enemy.)
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