Nwahs

SGH-T509 mini review
1) Readup on the reviews posted on the D600 and the E630/E635 models, as well as the Gameboy DS Lite, and PSP beforehand.

2) SCREEN:
Far brighter than my Toshiba notebook from a few years back, brighter than my Playstation Portable, and matches my Gameboy DS Lite! Basically, this screen rocks indoors, and will be a very nice baby to look at!
Surprisingly, even brighter than the D600! Yep, brighter!
Screen of E635 is much brighter than E630, but neither can match the T509.
(The D600 also has a cooler blue tone; the T509 has a warmer white backlight.)
Viewing angle for the menu and idle screen is very wide side-to-side (almost 180 degrees), although limited to about 20 degrees +/- up and down before the screen inverts. However, if you're looking at text messages, you get almost a full 360 degrees in all directions. Really nice for off-angle viewing of your text messages and WAP pages!
T509 = Gameboy DS Lite > PSP > D600, E635 > E630 brightness.

3) Keypad:
More of a solid click and feel ala E630/E635, and not rounded and slippery like the D600. However, short top to bottom length of each key = occassional double-presses as you text quickly.
E630 > E635 > T509 > D600 for texting fast.
(Matte surface of E630 keys are less slippery than the glossy E635 keys).

4) Volume:
Default earpiece, E630/E635 > T509, D600. You can modify the audio volume settings in the T509 through the code *#8999*8378# to see if that'll help, but on a thin phone, there's just no space for the big speakers.
Default speakerphone D600 > E630/E635 > T509. The dual speakers of the D600 rock and you can fill a room easily. E630/E635 is okay for most situations, the T509 forget it unless you put it near your ear in a noisy outdoors environment. Indoors, it has a tinsy sound, so even though you can hear the speaker it's hard making out words due to the fact that the lower bass is cut off.
On headphones, it's fine.

5) T9 predictive texting:
Like the E630, E635, D600 models for ease of use and functionality. They did add the ability to switch into predictive mode when WAPing, so that's a bonus over the E630/E635 which don't have this important feature! Very nice!
No problems keeping up with fast texting (which is already limited by the short keys). Type and it shows up on the screen right away.
But the Symbols and menus show up more like the E630/E635 model, so access to symbols is faster than with the slower D600.

Also, no problems ala D600 with the symbols popup window coming up slowly and adding symbols slowing down when you get to the 1000 MMS character limit. The T509 is fast bringing up the symbols popup at anytime, and you don't have to wait at all!
Think E630/E635, but faster processor! yea!

6) Connector:
Sad but true, all of the older E630/D600 connectors and accessories will have to go. They use a smaller connector ala T509/D800 series, and you can't use the headphone and charger at the same time due to the use of the only connector on the T509 as the everything-in-one connector =(

7) Battery life.

It'll be short, so recharge every day or two if you call a few hours and wap a bit. Ratings show it to use more amps than the E630, on the same sort of tiny little battery both use, so don't expect miracles here. Get a Sony W800 series if you want serious battery life, not this one!

8) Build.
Made in China, unlike the other phones listed above which were Made in Korea, yet, the build quality is better! Very solid build, feels better than those SLVRs, and rock solid combo-metal+plastic body. Only 2.5oz or so, but a very solid phone. D600 has a little wobble, E630/E635 creaks in comparision.
Very impressive, esp. with the super-nice screen!

9) Camera.
Very good for a 640x480 camera, and white balance is better than the E630/E635 in daylight! Truer colors, more like a real photo. Nice!
Camcorder, well, limited to the MMS size and 15 seconds, so don't expect miracles here. It's passable, but ick. D600 is far better in this regard with 320x240+ resolution recordings. (E630/E635 doesn't have it)
Luckily, the camera comes up faster than the D600 or E63x, so I'm happy here!
but sadly, you can't turn off the shutter sound ala d600 =( so you will always here an annoying artificial camera shutter sound everytime you take a photo (why? It's not like there are any moving parts in the camera of this phone?)

10) Calendar/Accessories menu.
Sadly, no customizable buttons, so you can't get access to the calendar/to-dos quickly. They've buried it under the Fun menu, so it's even more buttons to press to add/look at your calendar =( Here, a step back from the E630/E635, or the soft-menu D600.
They also use the D600 like layout for adding a schedule, so a lot of scrolling here. Why they can't get rid of the white-space and mash a simple add-schedule into one screenful is beyond me! Thus, less friendly than the E630/E635, same for D600 users.

11) Ringtones.
MMF downloadable from polyphonicringtonez site, but everything else is locked by default. They really want you to buy only T-Mobile ringers.
Luckily, a traditional phone ringtone is included as one of the choices, which include a decent selection of tones.

12) MMS/SMS
Typical 200 SMS phone limit, MMS has about 7MB of RAM to play with.
SMS limited to 160 characters as all SMS messages are maxed out at; MMS is limited to 250 characters max (D600 has 1000 character limited; E630/E635 have 250 as well) =(
Sadly, for any developer as advanced as Samsung, it hurts to see how they've limited the MMS message size artificially to 250 characters (esp. when you've got close to 300KB for a MMS 1.2 message).
A very dumb limit that hasn't been increased =(

Larger screen and higher resolution than e630/e635 allows for very comfy viewing of text messages, and you can see many lines on screen at once - nice! D600 can show more, but I'm not complaining about the T509. E630/E635 is cramped due to the smaller screen.

13) WAP button on front.
Sadly, pushing the WAP button on the front of the phone doesn't take you to the last visited site, but rather, always to the T-Mobile wap home page =( unlike the E630/E635/D600 =( This means many needless steps continuing where you left off if you are interrupted during a wap session.
Luckily, everytime you accidentally press it, you can cancel out of the wap session quickly.
(they should have kept it as the OK button in the middle, or moved it elsewhere - I really have no need to get online all the time in one push of a button)
Here, soft buttons mapped as the user desires ala D600 would be far better.

14) JAVA
Sorry, the E635 and T509 are Java restricted, so no Opera Mini or Google Maps Mobile ala D600 or E630. Still can't believe they bothered to do this esp. in today's world. This alone practically makes me want to upgrade to the K800i the moment it is released!!! Such a nice, clear bright screen, yet nothing useful to run on it =(

15) Stand on end.
Luckily, the T509 can stand on it's end, so you can leave it on your desk.
Sadly, unlike the E63x (battery or charger) or D600 (only when plugged into charger), the screen is 100% dark and you can't see the current time =(
Thus, a so-so design, and you'd think they'd have a setting where you can have it show up, even if the battery is being consumed a little faster.

16) Phonebook.
Still, the dumbest phonebook system I have personally seen!
There is NO WAY to copy the entries to the SIM card once they're on the phone!?! You can only go from SIM to Phone and not back!?

Honestly, this is one point where Samsung could be dragged through the pits for simply forgetting to put in this one very important feature!

(Yes, you may be able to do it connected to a PC, but why? I'm talking about a phone doing something other phones do today w/o a PC!)

The layout is like the D600, and oddly, they've sized the fonts so that it appears you see the same amount of information for a phone contact as the D600 (strange, you'd think they'd put the higher resolution of the D600 to more use and display more info on screen at one time, but apparently not!).

Thankfully, at least it is fast in response (although not fast when trying to scroll through 100+ entries. Samsung only lets the phone display three entires per screenful although they should just try to cram in as many lines as they can and let you page down through it). A mark down for browsing (although E63x & D600 are no better at this point either, E63x doesn't clutter the screen with both contact name + phone number for each contact displayed).

17) Neck strap hole
BIG mark down ala E63x series for not putting the hole in a centered position on top ala D600. What were they thinking?!? That an off-balanced phone hanging from your neck is more comfortable and neat vs. a centered hole?!?
Only one hole ala D600, not two, one on each corner ala E63x.
Someday, maybe some researcher can explain why designers at some phone companies do dumb things like this and actually get away with it.

18) Voice notes.
Mark down here for 1 minute limit (so says the manual) vs. unlimited on the E63x & D600. =( Why? Is there any reason this makes any sense?!
The T509 looks just like a good voice recorder, has 7MB or so of free RAM, so why not?!?
Is it too much to ask they leave good business tools the way they were?

19) GPRS icon.
Present on the E63x and D600 when connecting, but none on the T509. =( Thus, no way to monitor to see if it's actually on a GPRS connection or if there is no signal/connection. =(

20) Reset call timers/log
You can reset the timers & log, but it won't clear the lifetime timer ala D600 =(
It does track the total length of a call ala D600, so better than the E63x which doesn't.

21) IM
Includes AIM, ICQ, Yahoo and MSN messenger! (although the adverts say it doesn't have MSN - yep, even my T-Mobile phone guide brochure which lists the T509 doesn't have a check on this point)

Nice! Plus over E635 which only had the first three, plus over the E630/D600 which don't have them at all.

22) email
=( Unlike the D600, no POP/IMAP email client just like the E63x models, sadly.

23) inbox
sadly, once again, The T509 follows the D600 and combines the MMS and SMS mailboxes into one Inbox, unlike the E63x which keep them seperate.

Why do they do this silliness, I don't know, but Samsung, please, don't do this! It's crazy having to wait for the lag of opening up a MMS message everytime you encounter one while reviewing a slew of SMS messages by going from one message to the next. It's crazy slow!

E63x are far better in this respect by keeping them seperate!

24) templates
Decent selection of MMS and SMS templates, and luckily, all are editable.

25) Correct hypenation of phone numbers.
E635 and T509 do correct hypenation between numbers (eg. 999-999-9999 instead of 9999999999); E630 and D600 don't.

26) File manager
Oddly, they put the Get more ringtones/wallpaper/etc. at the very top of each section, making it very annoying having to press yet another key to get to your own ringtones, images, etc.
Why would I be interested in looking at the wallpapers online everytime I look at the IMAGES when instead, I'm looking for my own photos? can't think of a good reason.
E63x D600 are better here, esp. with D600 soft-buttons.

27) Reception.
Interestingly, locking onto a tower, holding a call in 0 bar areas, etc:
T509 > E630 > D600 > E635

Honestly, it finally makes life decent on T-Mobile now in 0-2 bar areas vs. the crazy dropping I'd get with the D600 or E635 (which tended to drop into Searching mode more often than the other phones).

Here, *#8999*324# for the RF display. The number that ranges from about 50 to 100 is in dB and reflects the reception quality in your area. towers in the area are listed as well if your phone sees them.

28) Working codes. See E730 super thread here, and you'll get most of the useful codes to bring up info and modify audio volume for this phone. Apparently, the similar software version and all.

29) Unlock.
Apparently same as the D80x series for fully done. Search the web. But as-is, locked to T-Mobile USA only. E630 and D600 are imports, so no locks on those. E635 is locked. call t-mobile to have them unlock the SIM provider so you can jump to cingular.

30) Holster.
Plastic $14.99 Samsung belt holster clip works well and does the trick although you will have to rotate the clip 90 degrees to work it easily (otherwise, there's nothing to grip to move the clip - not unless you want to press hard on the phone while opening the hinged clip on back, and maybe risk breaking the phone quickly). A redesigned clip would be nice - make it easier to use it w/o having to rotate it first.
Holds the phone, easy to take the phone out, but like with any tall/long phone, it's not as compact as a regular phone when clipped to your side.

31) Weight.
2.5oz, so what are you complaiing about?!?

32) Accessories.
Charger, Headset, and that's it. Not even a strap =( and no USB cable either. T-Mobile getting cheap and charging for everything that should be an accesssory included. Here, D600 wins by giving you everything you need - headset, adapter, AV cable, etc.

Also, no PC software on CD, you must go to the USA Samsung site to download this after you buy a USB cable. D600 has it all.

(why?! How else are we gonna get our phone contacts that are stored in-phone off the phone?!?)

33) Side volume buttons.
OHMYGODDDD!!!!!!

Samsung finally listened and allows you to adjust the RINGER volume on the T509!
(E63x and D600 are bad - up/down side buttons only change the KEYTONE volume!)

Unfortunately, they didn't do it ala every other smart phone and let you go into vibrate or vibrate+ringer mode as you go past the quietest ring volume. And sadly, no vibrate + ringer either still =( =( (no samsung seems to have this).

You must press a seperate button to enter/exit silent/vibrate mode instead =(

34) Keylock/security
You can lock the keypad by pressing one button, unlocking it with two different button presses.
You CAN NOT secure the phone with a password! No way to lock the phone completely ala Nokia/Motorola phones so that nobody can use it but you.
You can lock access to a few things, images, SMS, MMS, audio notes, etc., but people still have 100% full access to your contacts.

Sad but true, Samsung continues to lag behind Nokia/Motorola in this area.

35) Display of provider.
T509 correctly displays "T-Mobile" on the screen when you're on the network in CA, the others display "Cingular" or "Cingular Extend" on the screen.

36) cover.
The battery cover has very small and delicate latches, so watch out and try not to break them. Makes frequent changes of the SIM card a worry.

Once on, it's a very solid piece, so nothing to worry about for most users.

SIM does go into a very tiny slot, and it's not supported from the bottom (acutally suspended in air as you push it into the slot), so watch out about breaking the SIM card as you insert it!

(others dont' have this problem as the SIM card is pressed against the back of the phone as they slide into the slot)

37) media player, etc.
Although the included music player is decent and there are slots for video downloads, there are no T-Mobile videos to download, and nothing beyond what's included.
D600 is far better in this respect, supporting a full range of MP3, 3GP, and MP4 playback in an excellent player.

Anyways, a very good blade phone for users that want a basic phone with an excellent screen and one of the thinnest phones around, but for power users hungry for more, the latest Sony K800i will be the far better choice, and for those wanting longer battery life, there are other phones that do far better.

Minuses include the lack of JAVA app support, and the above minuses.

Courtesy of adorable