For the hardware alone, Samsung's Moment ($180 with a two-year contract from Sprint) impresses. With a beefy processor, a full QWERTY keyboard, and a vivid AMOLED display, the company's first Android-powered phone in the United States is a strong contender among the rapidly increasing number of Android devices. In terms of software, however, the Moment falls a bit short. Unlike the Motorola Cliq or the HTC Hero, it has no customized overlay to spruce up its somewhat drab user interface. And the touchscreen feels a bit sluggish at times.
Just on looks, the Moment doesn't stand out from the crowd, either. The minimalist handset, with a silver and black color scheme, is a bit on the larger side, measuring 4.6 by 2.3 by 0.6 inches thick. It weighs a hefty 5.7 ounces, which is heavier than most current smartphones, but it is about the same size and weight as the Motorola Cliq, another Android phone with the slide-out keyboard/touchscreen combination.
The Moment's 3.2-inch, 320-by-480-pixel AMOLED display is definitely the handset's best feature: Colors looked bright and accurate, animations were smooth, and details were crisp. It also has a very wide viewing angle so you can view video with the phone on a flat surface with no distortion or color change. I was disappointed, however, in the sluggishness I experienced with the capacitive display. You have to press down firmly to flip between your homescreens or to scroll through your media collection. Those used to the iPhone or the Palm Pre might have some trouble getting used to it. And unfortunately, unlike the HTC Android phones, it has no option to calibrate the screen sensitivity.
The Moment has two hardware buttons (Talk, End) and three touch keys (Home, Back, and Menu) below the screen. It noticeably does not have a dedicated Google Search button, found on other Android handsets, such as the T-Mobile myTouch 3G. It has a Google Search widget you can place on one of your three homescreens, but it is nice to have the convenient hardware button as well.
An optical mouse, similar to what the Samsung Omnia and Impression have, sits in the center of your navigational controls. I found the Omnia's mouse jumpy and too small for my liking, but I was pleased with the Moment's. It is a little bigger than the Omnia's and handles quite well; I found it quite responsive and easy to use. I'm not sure how much I'd use the mouse over the touchscreen for navigation, but it is a nice alternative to have.
It is also useful to have a physical QWERTY keyboard; the native Android on-screen touch keyboard is far from perfect. The Moment's keyboard is spacious with brightly backlit keys. The spacebar is big enough and centrally-located, which I appreciate. There are four arrow keys, a dedicated back key, a dedicated Google search key, and a Function key for symbols and emoticons (which is blue so it stands out from the rest of the black keys). Though I found the Moment's keyboard easy enough to use, I prefer the Motorola Cliq's keyboard--the Cliq's keys are slightly more raised.
Call quality over Sprint's 3G network was very good. Voices sounded clear and natural, with ample volume. Callers on the other end of the line heard me loud and clear except when I was standing in line at a busy lunch spot; one reported that she could barely hear me over the background noise. The Moment has a vendor-rated battery life of 5.5 hours of talk time.
The Moment has the standard Android user interface; no fancy overlay or branded tweaks like you'll find on the Motorola Cliq or the HTC Hero (also on Sprint). I was a bit disappointed that it doesn't run a version of Samsung's touch-friendly TouchWiz overlay for Android. We'll see it on future Samsung Android models though, such
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