Samsung Pixon12 M8910 Review

Messaging:

Texting someone is a simple step to perform on the Samsung Pixon12 M8910 – even a novice user can pretty much figure it out after some try. The touchscreen allows for a mix of ways to input text into your message. The traditional keypad can be used when using the phone upright – turning it to its side will display the preferred QWERTY keyboard. Typing specific characters was accurate and we didn't find ourselves struggling to type away with the resistive screen. Using the alternate handwriting recognition system makes us wonder why they still allow for it to be an option. It's fairly accurate for the most part, but we did find ourselves struggling to keep pace. So we highly recommend staying away from having to resort to this form of inputting text. Finally, you can add media like sounds, pictures, or video to give it a personalized touch.



We're sometimes spoiled with certain email applications loaded on a device – they typically require you to input your email address and password. From there, it would automatically find the settings for the email client and you're complete. For the Pixon12, there are additional pieces of information needed, like server addresses, before it's completely set up. Once we got past all that, using email on the phone was a simple process.

There's an Exchange ActiveSync app on the phone which can be used to synchronize contacts and email. Unfortunately we were unable to use it during our testing. It's a nice touch and goes hand in hand with the phone's smartphone like capabilities.

Sadly though, the lack of having any instant messaging applications loaded with the Samsung Pixon12 M8910 leaves us with a sour feeling. Granted there are a few social networking widgets, like Facebook and Myspace,  which launches the browser to get into the mobile friendly version of the sites. You can even access additional sites like Friendster, Flickr, and Photobucket from the Communities icon.

There isn't a true turn-by-turn GPS application preloaded with the Pixon12. Instead, you do have Google Maps on there for a simple solution – it provides directions to specific addresses or find points of interests around your location.



Connectivity:

Seeing we were using an unlocked version of the Samsung Pixon12, its quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and dual-band UMTS (900/2100 MHz) allowed us to use it on AT&T's network. Although it doesn't support the US 3G bands, we were still able to use EDGE on the device.

Samsung has made some improvements with the web browser, which we can confidently say makes it an enjoyable experience. Putting aside some minor issues like requiring double taps to launch a link, the overall experience made it stand above the crowd. The Webkit based browser provides for Flash support, smooth scrolling, and manual zooming enabled by holding down the screen. With the crisp AMOLED screen and high resolution, web pages were meticulously loaded perfectly which rivals some of the best mobile web browsers. Even on EDGE connection, it took under a minute to load complex web sites like ours – while Wi-Fi produced faster load times of course.



The Wi-Fi application of the Samsung Pixon12 M8910 uses the same layout as the Bluetooth app that we've seen on previous TouchWiz  phones. After enabling Wi-Fi, you can search for nearby networks which pop up according to your location. From there you can select one and input specific settings to connect to it. Similarly, the Bluetooth app runs the same way and enables you to connect wireless headsets or send information to another device.