Samsung SPH-M380 Trender From Sprint – Review, Specification, Price

The Samsung Trender (SPH-M380) was specifically released for Sprint in July 2011. This is not a smartphone in the true sense; it is also not a GSM device and will only work on CDMA networks. The Trender is an entry level messaging phone.

Samsung SPH-M380 Trender From Sprint

Specifications

• Display: 2.8 inch QVGA (240 x 320) 56K Color TFT Resistive Touch
• Network 2G: CDMA 800
• Network 3G: CDMA2000 1xEV-DO
• Data 3G: Rev 0 2.4 Mbps (Max)
• Storage External: microSD (32 GB Max)
• Connectivity: Bluetooth
• USB: microUSB 2.0 (Charging Support)
• Sensor: Accelerometer
• Audio Out: Standard 3.5 mm Stereo Jack
• Camera: 1.3 Megapixel (1280 x 1024 pixel)
• Battery: Li-Ion 1000 mAh
• Talk Time: 5 Hours (Claimed Max)

Features

With similar design to the Samsung Messenger Touch, it seems to be a bigger non-android bigger brother non-smartphone smartphone. The compact form factor is easy to handle and the weight gives it a solid feel. The brightness and contrast on the 2.8 inch screen gives the display content the clarity in text and crisp graphics. There is no multi touch available on the display, however, the interface has been designed for single-tap navigation and is easy to get around. The content on the phone is organized under the Favorites, Main, Fun and Web tabs. Navigation in each tab is made easy through recognizable tap enabled shortcut icons for the applications and tools. The three hardware buttons for Back, Home or Select and Phone Menu are below the display screen. The Phone Menu pulls gives access to the Favorites, Contacts, Call History and the Dialer. The hardware camera shutter button is available on the right edge. The Trender address book stores 600 entries, and each contact entry can have multiple numbers, multiple email addresses, IM Name or ID, Web Address, Birthday, Memo, Street Address and Photo ID. The Web mail application gets you access to your internet email addresses.
The Phone is not designed for extensive internet data usage, and does not support the requisite data throughput at the budget price. The Trender has a decent music player though does not support album art. There is a pull down menu which gives you access to applications running in the background. The 1.3 Megapixel camera comes with three shooting modes, six white balance settings, night mode, color effects and additional adjustments for image taking. Over the Sprint Dual Band CDMA network, the Samsung Trender voice call quality is good at the phone end, however, at the other end, there may be voice crackling, that just may be a Sprint issue.

Samsung SPH-M380 Trender From Sprint

Verdict

The Samsung Trender SPH-M380 slider QWERTY keyboard and the familiar TouchWiz interface makes this a very usable phone at the entry level for those who are heavy on texting and phone calls and want a smartphone-ish experience at a budget price. The Flat keys on the QWERTY Keyboard made it difficult to distinguish the key that the fingers were over and were difficult to type with. The camera is nothing brilliant to boast about and will take dull looking pictures. The 3G CDMA network led to slow data rates. Overall, for its budget price, it is a good option to look at if you are more interested in messaging and voice calls than data plans.

Price

The Samsung Trender (SPH-M380) is available from Sprint for $29.99. There are two available colors, Amethyst and Sapphire. The data on this CDMA phone may end up being less cost effective than the Android smartphone data plans from Sprint in the case of higher data usage.