Samsung - Intensity Cell Phone Review

I came back from my mission's trip to Kentucky Sunday and while out shopping with my sister on Monday I decided I was ready to get a new cell phone.  I wasn't in need of a new one because my Samsung SCH-U520 was a really good phone.  But since joining Twitter I have become more addicted to text messaging friends and I wanted a full keyboard.  So, I headed to Verizon Wireless to see what they had.

My brother-in-law's law firm gives them a new cellphone every year so they have about 3 or 4 Blackberries that they no longer needed.  I considered taking one of them but Verizon informed me that I had to get a new plan and the Internet.  Because I was an Alltel customer I got a grandfather clause that allowed me to keep the package I already had.  To get a Verizon package with the Internet would take my cell phone bill up approximately $65-80 a month.  I explained that I only wanted a full keyboard to send text messages and that I had no desire to access the Internet from my phone.  So, after looking at several phones I settled on the Samsung Intensity SCHU-450.

I believe the phone would be regular priced $179.  Because I was willing to sign a 2-year contract I was able to get the phone for $85 and would then get a $50 rebate.  Well, I won't be getting the rebate because careless me accidentally shred the envelope with all my rebate information.

The Intensity has a QWERTY keyboard.  I thought that meant full keyboard but then when I saw the position of the letters I realized that they are the same as a typewriter so perhaps QWERTY is a standard keyboard versus keys that might be in alphabetical order.  I don't know if that is the case but it sounds good to me.

The Intensity phone has a full keyboard that slides out.  So, I can use the phone as a standard phone OR I can slide the keyboard out for more rapid texting.  I am having to get used to where all the special function keys are when it's slid out because I'm still seeing the front of the phone and wanting to use those keys too.

The Intensity has a camera but unlike my Samsung SCH-U250 I don't think it has a camcorder.  If it does I haven't found it yet!  The camera isn't as easy to use as the other phone.  If I have it in camera mode it seems that many keys allow you to snap a picture so I have randomly, without knowing, taken several pictures.  Speaking of pictures: The Intensity allows you to put a picture with your contacts so I can assign a photo to the caller's name and when they call I can see a picture of them.

The QWERTY keyboard has a smiley function for texting but that has only caused me grief.  I sent a message to a friend and said, "Have a great day" and inserted a smiley face at the end.  I got a message telling me I used more than 140 characters, SAY WHAT? and my message would have to be abbreviated.  Well, then I see the message on Twitter and it has over 100 special characters as if I was using expletives--all that for a smiley!  So, I'm not sure about the smiley function at this time.

With the Intensity you can also download songs to the phone.  I haven't gotten a full grasp of that yet either.  I plugged the USB cable into my computer so that I could download the songs from my Windows Media Player and the phone began charging.  Well, that was pretty cool that I could **charge my battery off the computer but I never could upload the music because every time I plugged into the computer like the instructions said to do it began to recharge my battery.  So, still no music. 

**The USB charger allows you to unplug the USB cable from the wall charger and then plug in directly to the computer.  So, like at the office I can charge my phone off the computer and have it sitting right near my fingertips instead of trying to find a free outlet and hoping that I remember to take my phone with me at the end of the day.

The Intensity also has a basic wizards set up that allows you to do a really quick set up without having to navigate all the tool settings.  I love electronics and will usually read a manual from front to back and figure everything out.  I did the quick set up and that allowed me to do my sound, display, and key settings.  I went into further detail and was able to do my banner, fonts, etc.

With my other phone I had a rotating screen saver, ringback, and about 20 ringtones.  When I got the new phone I was only able to keep the ringback.  So, I had to repurchase my ringtones which became a problem.  Verizon wouldn't allow me to access their media store because I still had an Alltel plan and Alltel wouldn't allow me to access their ringtones because I was now a Verizon customer.  Problem?  Nah!  Verizon gave me free Internet for the evening so that I could download/purchase all my ringtones.

The Intensity comes with caller Id and free basic voice mail.  It also has voice commands; which I haven't used yet.  There it also has speakerphone and Bluetooth capability.

I've only had the phone for a few days but I am enjoying it.  My main complaint or rather concern is that the phone doesn't have a screen protector.  Since this one doesn't flip open there is nothing to protect the outside screen. 

The Samsung Intensity phone comes with:

• Intensity Phone
• Standard Lithium Ion Battery
• Wall/USB Charger**
• Product Safety and Warranty Guide
• Quick Reference Guide