The Samsung Restore, released in the US by Sprint, is the latest in the company's line of eco-friendly handsets, using a good amount of recycled materials in its construction, keeping itself free of hazardous materials and using an Energy Star certified adapter. Aside from the green credentials, it's a solid messaging phone with a few multimedia extras in tow.
Physically, the handset sports a slider form factor with dual keypads, one with a T9 configuration out front and another with a QWERTY layout when you slide the main panel to the right. Despite the recycled make, build feels sturdy. The rounded shape is quite attractive, with a great feel in hand.
Display is a 2.4-inch LCD with 320 x 240 resolution. While smaller by today's standards, the screen is sufficiently bright and colorful, with crisp text and images. Both keyboards are spacious with raised keys, so typing should be comfortable.
As a phone, the Samsung Restore makes for good calls, with natural-sounding voices and almost zero interference. Those on the other end, however, reported less satisfactory quality, with voices sounding harsh on occasion. While we could hear people fine on the speakerphone, they said we were practically unintelligible. Battery life is rated at six hours of talk time, which should last you a good two days on normal use.
All the essentials are naturally in tow, from a 1,000-entry phone book, PIM tools, Bluetooth and various call features. Messaging set is solid, with SMS, MMS, IM and email (POP, IMAP and corporate). You can even sync Outlook calendars, which was a pleasant surprise. It comes with various social messaging apps onboard, including Twitter, MySpace and Facebook. There's also onboard GPS, along with some nice applications (e.g. Maps, YouTube, a barcode scanner). It supports basic multi-tasking, as well, letting you send apps to the background.
Sprint's range of broadband services get full support, as the handset has EV-DO speeds. If you can get a good signal, streaming video works with little buffering. The music player is usable, but generic. A 2.0 megapixel camera also comes with the handset, offering a few editing options and taking average photos.
Overall, the Samsung Restore is quite a solid messaging phone, making it a good choice when coupled with the green-friendly qualities. Price sounds fair at $49.99 with a two year agreement.
