Samsung Acclaim: First Android Handset for US Cellular

Samsung Acclaim: First Android Handset for US Cellular
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Introduction

Samsung has joined hands with US Cellular to bring in the latest Samsung SCH-R880, also dubbed the Samsung Acclaim. Released on July 9th 2010 throughout the United States, the Samsung Acclaim is the first Android based handset designed for US Cellular. Priced as low as $100, it is extremely reliable in performance and no doubt a smart choice.

Samsung Acclaim

Design (4 out of 5)

Measuring 4.5 x 2.3 x 0.6 inches, the Samsung Acclaim weighs around 4.6 ounces. It is presently available in only black with a slider handset that slides to the right to open up its QWERTY keyboard, thus making the handset extremely smart. The edges of the phone have a rounded touch with silver framed around all its sides. The Samsung Acclaim is equipped with a 3.2 inch HVGA display of 320 x 480 pixels resolution on the front and a 3.2 megapixel camera with an LED flash on the back. The built-in accelerometer turns the orientation of the screen, just as you hold the phone sideways or when you open the QWERTY keyboard. The proximity sensor saves the battery by turning off the display during a call. Below the phone’s display you’ll find the select key in the middle, which is surrounded by the Menu, Home, Back and Search keys in a square shape for easy access. There is also an optional on-screen keyboard for those who are not comfortable with the QWERTY keyboard. The micro SD card slot and the volume rocker of the Samsung Acclaim mobile phone are placed on the right side with the lock key and the 3.5 mm audio jack on the top.

Acclaim

User Interface (4 out of 5)

The Samsung Acclaim comes with the Android stock user interface instead of the Samsung’s TouchWiz, its proprietary UI. Acclaim’s new user interface gives it a touch of simplicity and a down to earth appeal with three customizable home screens and no widget bar. The main menu, dialer and other apps looks good with not much change in the menu. The Android OS of the Acclaim is quite mature and so it works with most of the 70,000+ apps available in the Android Market.

Features (4 out of 5)

The Samsung Acclaim is powered by the Android 2.1 operating system and it can be upgraded to the latest Android 2.2. The phone contains the latest Google Mobile services such as Google Maps, Gmail, Google Search, Google Talk and many more. It also supports some of outstanding functions like live wallpapers, voice to text conversion and 5 different home screens. Samsung’s Acclaim uses the Android’s stock user interface instead of the Touch WIZ user interface, which is another great thing about the device. The Samsung SCH-R880 comes preloaded with applications like City ID, My Contacts Backup, Your Navigator Deluxe and Tone Room Deluxe. It is also packed with Evernote, Weather Channel and Twidroid and you get support for standard SMS, email, MMS with POP3, IMAP and Exchange protocols – all in the same inbox. There are other features such as speed dial, voice commands, SMS and MMS in threaded view. The Samsung Acclaim uses a Google WebKit browser supporting pinch to zoom and Flash Lite options. In short you can say that the Samsung’s new Acclaim is loaded with a wide range of advanced functions that make it highly advantageous for the customers of US Cellular.

Performance (4 out of 5)

The Samsung Acclaim offers moderate call quality, but the loudspeaker quality is comparatively poor with a lot of hissing sound. However, the voice on the other side is heard clearly but you might encounter voice breaks from either side. Moreover the loudspeaker of the handset is not quite satisfactory as it produces echoes. Even though the loudspeaker quality of the Samsung Acclaim is poor, the processor of the handset is good enough to produce smart performances. The built-in camera of the phone produces good and sharp images without any blurring effect. The color quality on the other hand might seem to be a bit dull in some cases. Samsung’s Acclaim mobile phone has a good battery life of 8 hours of talk time and up to 450 hours of stand by time.

Specifications at a glance

  • Dimension: 4.5 x 2.3 x 0.6 inches
  • Weight: 4.6 ounces
  • Technology: CDMA2000 1X
  • Processor: 800 MHZ
  • OS: Google Android 2.1
  • Display: 3.2 inch AMOLED display, 320 x 480 pixels resolution supporting 265 K colors
  • Storage: 218 MB of internal memory & expandable up to 32 GB via micro SD/SDHC card slot
  • Application Software: Quickoffice
  • Camera: 3.2MP with digital zoom, auto focus and LED flash, 2048 x 1536 pixels maximum resolution
  • Wireless Connectivity: IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth
  • Port: Micro USB 2.0
  • Audio Player: supports AAC, eAAC, MIDI, OGG, MP3, WAV and WMA file formats
  • Video Player: supports H.263, H.264 and MP4 video formats
  • GPS System: GPS receiver
  • Battery: 1500 mAh Lithium-Ion, provides a talk time of up to 8 hours and stand by time of 450 hours
  • Others: Built-in audio and video players, E-911 compliant, TTY compatible, Speech-to-Text

The Verdict (4 out of 5)

For a price of $100, the Samsung Acclaim Android based smartphone is no doubt a pretty good offer considering its smart features and high reliability. Even though the keyboard and call quality of the phone is a bit disappointing, it is still a pretty good choice, especially for those who are on a tight budget plan. Although it is tough to recommend with so many fine budget Android handsets in the market, but still for an overall rating the Samsung SCH-R880 bags a good score.