Samsung GT S8000 Jet

...always been a fan of Samsung mobile phones, having had and liked several in the past therefore after a brief hiatus from Samsung where I owned an HTC Touch HD phone I thought it was time for a change therefore my first thought inevitably was going to be to go for a much trusted Samsung phone.

After doing a lot of research into new phones on the market I was briefly interested in the Nokia 5800 Xpress phone however after having a play ...
...an advert for the new Samsung Jet popped up on my TV with the tagline ‘impatience is a virtue’, coupled with it’s sleek and stylish looks I thought that I must check it out.

*** Availability ***

After looking it up on the internet I found it to be available both sim free and on contract, sim free will cost you around £299.99, yes pricey but if you can afford it then it may be a better option. I’m currently on an 02 ... more

I’ve always been a fan of Samsung mobile phones, having had and liked several in the past therefore after a brief hiatus from Samsung where I owned an HTC Touch HD phone I thought it was time for a change therefore my first thought inevitably was going to be to go for a much trusted Samsung phone.

After doing a lot of research into new phones on the market I was briefly interested in the Nokia 5800 Xpress phone however after having a play around with it in the shop I came to the speedy conclusion that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be and made a quick diversion back onto the internet to look for a more suitable device for me. I seemed to be getting nowhere until one night an advert for the new Samsung Jet popped up on my TV with the tagline ‘impatience is a virtue’, coupled with it’s sleek and stylish looks I thought that I must check it out.

*** Availability ***

After looking it up on the internet I found it to be available both sim free and on contract, sim free will cost you around £299.99, yes pricey but if you can afford it then it may be a better option. I’m currently on an 02 30 day sim contract, in which I get 600 minutes, unlimited texts, unlimited calls to other 02 phones and unlimited internet all for £27.50 month which I think is a great deal and my reluctance to emancipate myself from this deal drove me to pay a near on £300 pound for this phone sim free. I’ve found that on an 18 month contract for 600 minutes and unlimited texts you’re likely to be facing a price tag of around £40 a month on most networks.

*** Looks ***

The thing that attracted me to this phone primarily were the looks, it looks a little different from most touch screens and is a step up from other Samsung touch screens. I’ve previously owned a Samsung Tocco which I found to be an aesthetically pleasing piece of kit however I think the Jet is on another level completely. The phones edges are rounded giving it a more polished finished and instead of a plain bar button at the bottom you’re now faced with an attractive cube which will give you instant access to the main menu. The phone is about the same size as most touch screen phones on the market however I feel that it weighs a little more, at 110g it’s quite a noticeable difference to the 100g; this doesn’t sound a lot but when you’re used to dealing with a lighter phone it’s easily noticeable however I know that certain people prefer to have something a bit more sturdy and weighty in their hands. On the back of the phone you’ll notice a deep red effect which makes it stand out amongst a very crowded market these days.

*** Setting Up ***

In the box you’ll find all the standard items that can be found with most mobile phones these days: charger, battery, USB etc. Setting up the phone couldn’t be simpler, I found the back of the phone is easily removable, I’ve had problems with removing the backs off phones before so I was pleased that the back of the Jet slides off without the necessity for any force. The battery is then placed in the clearly stated position after the sim card has been inserted. After getting this far you’re recommended to charge the phone for 24 hours before use however I’ve never followed this rule and found it to make no difference whatsoever to the quality of the battery life or even the phone itself. All that’s left of course is to put the phone on charge and switch it on. You’ll be greeted with the usual animated image that you’ll recognise instantly if you’ve owned a recent Samsung phone. The phone loads quickly, remarkably quickly actually considering all the features it carries, after about 30 seconds the phone will have loaded and you’ll be free to play around with it and alter anything that you desire.

*** Touch Screen ***

This is now the third touch screen that I’ve owned and much like the Pringles advert states ‘once you pop, you can’t stop’ I would now never consider going back to a normal phone as I find touch screens so incredibly easy. I’ve heard so many negative things about touch screens recently, how they’re unresponsive and take forever to carry out the simplest tasks that you want them to do. Well to put it simply, the Samsung Jet doesn’t suffer from any of these downfalls at all, in comparison with the other two touch screens I’ve owned this is far superior. The screen is extremely responsive to touch, one thing that people always seem apprehensive about when buying touch screens is pressing a button my mistake whilst not using the phone however that is highly unlikely when it comes to this phone, I’ve tried pressing buttons with the back of my hand and even my knuckle to no avail, the phone only responds to your finger tips which I think is an extremely clever feature. It’s not something that’s listed on any spec list it’s just something that I happen to have come across completely by accident. The phone is also easily locked using the button on the top. As aforementioned, my previous phone was an HTC Touch HD phone and although I’m happy to be back with my trusty Samsung there’s still one thing that I miss; that being the touch screen pen, I found it to be an invaluable item however something that I only used on a rare occasion. I thought these were the next big thing in the touch screen world therefore experienced a hint of disappointment upon discovering that the stylus was missing.

*** Texting ***

Texting couldn’t be easier with the Samsung Jet, if this is your first touch screen then it may take a bit of getting used to however this time will be minimal and sooner than you know you’ll be texting away even quicker than you would on a normal keypad. Like all phones you can easily switch between normal and predictive texting. For anyone who doesn’t know the difference it’s very simple; normal texting will require you to tap a button a number of times before you reach the desired letter or number, meaning to type ‘Hello’ you’ll press 44,33,555,555,666 where as on predictive text you’ll simply tap 4,3,5,5,6. Predictive text guesses which word you’re going to write enabling the process of texting to be sped up significantly and if you’re a big texter like I am you’ll find this tool invaluable. A new feature with this phone is the landscape view that comes with texting, meaning that if you tilt the phone on it’s side you’ll be faced with a computer style keypad, this may take some getting used to and it’s definitely not for everybody but it’s a nice feature all the same.

*** Camera ***

The Samsung Jet harbours a highly proficient 5mp camera enabling you to take high quality photos in an instant. I don’t use the camera on my phone that much therefore camera quality isn’t a big thing for me however if you’re looking for a mobile phone specifically designed to take pictures then I’m afraid you haven’t found it here, there are much better camera phones on the market and with 8mp cameras now taking over I was surprised to see a mere 5mp embedded in such an up to date phone. This is one of the main downsides to this phone, I feel that if it were to rival the competition of the LG Renoir and the like then Samsung should have stepped up their game and really made this a phone to be reckoned with. Instead I feel that they opted to focus solely on the speed aspect and not much else making this phone a bit of a shoddy effort in comparison with other phones on the market today that profess to do everything the Jet does AND more. Taking pictures is easy, you can use a portrait or landscape view to do so, pictures will look clear upon snapping however once they’ve saved and loaded they’ll appear very pixelated, a problem that arose with my last 5mp camera phone. There are numerous accessories with the Jet, the most prominent being an Anti Shaker and Face Detection tool. Anti Shaker does exactly what it says on the tin, making pictures less blurry and Face Detection will instantly recognise peoples faces, meaning that the camera will focus on them instead of what’s around them.

*** Battery Life ***

If you look up the Jet on the internet you’ll notice that they inform us of a mammoth battery life of 406 hours, 406 hours is extremely steep as I’m lucky to get 2 and a half days out of mine however that’s with a lot of texting and calling so was pretty much what I was expecting so I’m not disappointed one bit with the battery life. If you don’t use the phone as much as I do then you’ll be treated to a longer standing battery life. On the internet it states that you’ll get 5 hours of talk time out of this phone which I find to be about right, this is only if the phone is fully charged and I keep texting to a minimal.

*** Calling ***

Calling couldn’t be easier on this phone, you can simply scroll down the phone book to find your desired contact or type in the first part of their name. A feature I would liked to have seen would be a predictive call feature, meaning when you begin to type a number into the dial option it will come up with numbers that match the one you’re inputting, saving you from having to type the number in it’s entirety. Sound quality is great and unlike my previous Samsung phone, you wont receive call cut outs. The loud speaker is excellent and clearer than any phone I’ve ever had before. Another great feature concerning calling on the Jet is that the main menu is still accessible whilst on the phone meaning that texts can still be read and sent just incase the person on the other end of the phone isn’t all that interesting!

*** Memory ***

The memory on the phone is superb, there’s enough memory to store 1000 contacts, 500 texts and around 10 songs. Of course a memory card is vital if you’re planning on storing a lot of music and pictures and this phone is capable of holding up to a 16g memory card which is around 4000 songs.

*** Ease Of Use ***

This phone couldn’t be easier to use, shortly after buying it I let my Dad have a quick go on it and he got to grips with it straight away and he is by no means a technical person. The MP3 player is fantastic, you can arrange your songs in alphabetical order or into play lists and a shuffle feature is also available. There’s also the new shake feature which enables you to shake the phone to change the song. The menu couldn’t be easier, everything is very easy to navigate and changing settings and ring tones couldn’t be simpler. The standby screen includes all the widgets that you’ll find on most touch screen phones these days. Widgets are icons which are shortcuts to different features on the phone, these can either be hidden away in the bar to the left of the screen or they can be scattered randomly on the screen for instant use.

*** Security ***

This is a very expensive and desirable phone therefore you’re going to want to take the utmost care to ensure that it’s as safe as possible. One option that I believe only to be available on Samsung phones is the Privacy Lock feature. This feature enables you to lock certain applications on the phone like your messages or phone book meaning that if the phone is ever stolen your numbers and messages are safe. There’s of course the Phone Lock and Sim Lock which will appear when you turn your phone on if you so choose, these will automatically be set to 0000 upon purchasing the phone so it’s a good idea to change them in order to protect your phone. The phone lock is a code of 4 digits or more which will be entered upon turning your phone on. This code can be entered as many times as you like and will not lock you out of your phone if you enter it incorrectly 3 times. The sim lock is different though and you need to be more careful with it, if you enter this code in wrong 3 times in a row your phone will instantly become useless until you contact your service provider for a P.U.K code. The codes are easy to get to grips with and are easily changed, this option can be found in the settings menu under Security and is an option I highly recommend using.

*** Internet ***

So here comes the most important aspect for a lot of people and I have to say straight away that it’s a blinding success. This is far superior than my previous phone and considering that my previous phone was built to be an internet focused phone I think that’s a bit achievement. I think the tagline for this phone encapsulates the internet usage brilliantly, it really is super fast. The phone works off a Microsoft internet package and you’re even able to have 5 windows open with a simple drag option. It works from an 800Mz Processor, making it even faster than the iPhone. If you’re smart enough to purchase this phone make sure you purchase it with an internet package because you’ll never be off the internet when it’s this fast. Gone are the days when you had to wait 10 minutes for each new page to load and it took you another 10 minutes to scroll down to the bottom. This is by far the most impressive feature on the phone, I never expect much from the internet on a phone but this has exceeded every expectation I had.

*** Should You Buy It? ***

YES, to put it simply. This is a fantastic phone that does everything it’s supposed to do. There are a few short comings, 5mp camera and lack of GPS being two of them but with the internet as quick and responsive as it is I feel this can be overlooked because Google maps are only a few clicks away. This is by far the most stylish phone I’ve ever owned and has all the applications that I’ll ever need. I wont be changing my phone for a while now as I’m completely satisfied with what I’ve got. I’ve given the phone 4 stars, I would have given it 5 however I feel that the quality of the camera lets it down and as this is such a vital aspect of the phone for a large number of people I couldn’t possibly give it 5. If this is the direction that Samsung are currently taking then I can’t wait for the release of their next touch screen phone.  

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