PRODUCT : SAMSUNG CHAT 369, also referred as Mpower txt 369 by internet shopping websites.
Promised feature: SD Card upto 16GB
Reality: With 16GB Speed 2 MicroSD card, it takes 5-6 minutes for the card to be read, phone literally hangs. Why cannot it remember the library the second time the music button is pressed??
Centre button (Music button) cannot be programmed away:
The "hanging" button is fixed. If you by mistake press it and you have a 16 GB speed 2 card, wait for 5 -6 minutes or remove the battery and put it back
No incoming calls while MicroSD card is being read:
This is the worst part I have seen in a phone in my life. Incoming calls do not ring when SD Card is being read (hung). After the phone "wakes up", by the time the caller has already hung up, then the phone rings. What kind of design is this???
Promised feature: 9 regional languages under apps
Reality: The regional languages setting is only for the menus. YOU CANNOT SEND SMS IN INDIAN LANGUAGES, as one would think by the wording. There is no indication of MENUS ONLY support as done in other phones.
Screwed up Tamil menu (not sure of the other languages)
The Tamil menus are horribly screwed up. For My Files, the Tamil menu in this phone is "enadhu piley" and for Music player it is "piLey piLEr". What is this "piLey" mean. Did they want to write the English word "File". Could have been simpler standard word en "Koppu" / "Kop" (shortened) / at least "Pile" (English word is Tamil script). Is this Samsung’s way to insult people of this country by messing up menus.
Playing Music files in Directory mode is not automatic:
You have to manually hit the next button. Their earlier phone, S239 allowed songs to go to the next automatically in directory mode without manually hitting the next button every time.
Price: Rs 5300 to 6300 (more cost on internet sites). But this too expensive for a junk product.
The team that designed this phone may be the first in the world to design a phone which would accept an incoming call after the caller hung up (happens during the SD Card reading). Is this a company that wants to compete with Apple? STAY AWAY FROM THIS PRODUCT AT ALL COSTS!!!
A word about Samsungs "progressive degradation". Samsung had one of the first models to support T9 in Indian languages at least four years ago. That excellent feature is now gone. Now all they do is mess up menus. India happens to be one of the world’s biggest market for cell phones and Indian language support (other than Hindi) is a very important feature - particularly for rural public. Today companies like G-Five have silently capturing the Indian market with these features. Adding "hi tech" features like touch screen is just secondary for the masses. Do through research before putting your money into Samsung products with regard to promised features. They seem to be going down.