Product Trial: T-Mobile and Samsung SGH-T709

T-Mobile is piloting the Samsung SGH-T709 Wifi phone - a phone that supposedly switches between Wifi and the cell network. All in all, disappointment in the product and service across the board:

• Battery life of one day while idle.
  
• The phone did not switch between wifi and cell. I had to turn the phone off and on again.
  
• MMS and SMS were poor compared to previous services. T-Mobile has a strange MMS service... they won't send media to other phones or email addresses. And, the SMS capabilities of the phone were terrible. Samsung tried to implement a smart spelling technology, but it is really bad and unusable. Inaccurate, small dictionary, and it doesn't learn, unlike Blackberry's embedded smart spelling technology.
  
• Inefficient user interface. Why not remember the most popular menu items I use and default to those when I bring up the menu?
  

On the plus side, the SGH-T709 is a great form factor. Very small, keypad slides out when you need. I would like to see that I can slide back in and continue the call; instead, if you try that the call disconnects.

Another interesting note was the final survey. One of the questions asked about whether I agreed with the statement "I liked not having to worry about minutes." Rated a strongly disagree. Why? Because they never messaged that you can save minutes while connected to Wifi. I suspect it, but they never messaged it.

Another question they asked was something about "the additional services." What additional services? I made phone calls, SMS, and MMS, just like other phones. If other services were available, I never saw any messaging. Very odd.

Now, where's my Blackberry so I can put my SIM back in...