Samsung Intensity III (Verizon Wireless)

• Average user rating: 2.0 stars out of 8 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars

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• 2 stars

  Good battery and call quality, bad bluetooth

  by Surley_Dog on August 6, 2012

  Pros: Good battery and call quality

  Cons: bad bluetooth

  Summary: I'm on my second Intensity 3. The first one had bluetooth connection issues with my old Motorola headset (H790), which has never had a problem with three older phones (...

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  Summary: I'm on my second Intensity 3. The first one had bluetooth connection issues with my old Motorola headset (H790), which has never had a problem with three older phones (and it still works with those). It would pair with the phone, but it would not connect. Giving the Samsung the benefit of the doubt, I ordered a new Samsung bluetooth headset, an HM6000, which the Samsung website says will work with the Intensity 3. A week later it arrived, but it had the same issues- it would pair but not connect. I even tried the new bluetooth headset with my old phones, and it worked just fine. Finally, I tried to "Reset Settings" on the Intensity 3 back to factory default (not Restore Phone, which erases everything, contacts and all. Reset Settings only forces you to have to manually reset all your preferred user settings, one by one). That did the trick for a day or two, but the problem returned, necessitating another reset. Since I bought it online I had to return through the mail (the store can't exchange it). So I called Verizon to exchange it one day before my 14 days was up. They FedEx'ed a replacement overnight. At first the replacement had no bluetooth issues for about a week, but then it returned. I must conclude it is most likely buggy software, and not an issue with the phone hardware. Either way, it's totally unreliable and totally unacceptable. This can cause a wreck on the highway, and nearly did. BTW, I'm not one of those morons who complains about stuff he doesn't understand. I work on and troubleshoot electronics for a living, and I've never reviewed anything before. This is a first for me, just to put out the warning- this phone is a flake.

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  4 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 6 stars

  Genuinely basic phone, which isn't a bad thing.

  by garciaog on August 22, 2012

  Pros: -compact & simple design
  -rugged-ish shell
  -good call clarity
  -long battery life

  Cons: -Camera with no flash? Just skip building the phone with the camera altogether, then!

  Summary: Got tired of/rarely used my Casio Commando smartphone, and downgraded to this to save money on a data plan. This phone is nice and compact, and has a decent ...

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  Summary: Got tired of/rarely used my Casio Commando smartphone, and downgraded to this to save money on a data plan. This phone is nice and compact, and has a decent QWERTY keyboard, which is exactly what I was looking for. Don't have a Bluetooth headset, so I can't comment on what others have said about it on this phone.
  
  It's "rugged", but unlike the Casio, it isn't waterproof. Why call it "rugged" if it can't be immersed in water? I added a hard plastic case and Zagg screen protector on it just in case.
  
  As for the mechanics of the phone, it sports a long battery life, and in-call clarity is strong. The "fake call" function is interesting. You can slyly push a side button four times, and 10-30 seconds later, the phone rings with a fake caller ID name/number. This is supposed to help you get out of awkward social situations. I know this is a "dumb-phone", but at least boost the photo resolution on the camera and add a flash, or just sell it as a camera-free phone. It can't be that difficult to add a LED flash. It does have video capability, too, but the same lighting issue arises.
  
  In summary, this phone is for those that want just a phone and QWERTY keyboard. Its allure is its simplicity, and hopefully it will last until I can justify another smartphone and added data plan cost.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 4 stars

  Slightly better stats, but only an intensity.

  by hellothar on August 18, 2012

  Pros: Tough, good expandable memory, 3.5 plug, full keyboard, good processor speed for what the phone is

  Cons: Buggy bluetooth, small underwhelming screen, basic nearly unchanged menu since original intensity, useless camera with nice options...

  Summary: The Samsung Intensity series have always been good, rugged, talk and text phones. This is all they have ever been really good at. Despite the attempts to expand on the ...

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  Summary: The Samsung Intensity series have always been good, rugged, talk and text phones. This is all they have ever been really good at. Despite the attempts to expand on the device with the III, it really fails at it, and the improvements aren't really awe-inspiring.
  
  The improvements to its toughness is appreciated, but for normal use, it was tough enough.
  
  For a budget phone, the screen is good. For version III of this phone, the screen is crap, and should be larger. The processor can handle it.
  
  Even though it has a huge memory option and decent processor,, there really isn't any purpose for all this memory, since picture quality is bottlenecked with the cheap 2.0mp camera. There is a media player on the device, but if you are looking for a phone that has good media playback, there are many options other than the Intensity series.
  
  The best change for this phone is the 3.5 port for those who use it.
  
  If your looking for a basic budget phone that has reliable and very decent talk and text options, this will work out just fine. If you want to do anything else, or want things like a decent screen or camera, look elsewhere.

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  1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.

• 2 stars

  great texting and internet but LED backlight broke

  by smak93 on June 7, 2013

  Pros: keyboard is good, internet browsing easy.

  Cons: Had the phone for 2 weeks, carried it about 80% of the time in purse, 20% in front pocket. The LED backlight burst leaving the phone useless. Samsung would do nothing except offer the same phone for $300. Looking to switch to LG after this.

  Summary: Great phone while it lasted, which was only 2 weeks. The phone was never dropped; it was handled as well as past phones but because the LED backlight burst and ...

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  Summary: Great phone while it lasted, which was only 2 weeks. The phone was never dropped; it was handled as well as past phones but because the LED backlight burst and Samsung offered no replacement or discount, will not purchase a Samsung again.

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• 10 stars

  Key Words "BASIC PHONE"

  by RetiredUSNSailor on April 16, 2013

  Pros: Price, Easy to use

  Cons: Wish the camera had a flash

  Summary: I've had a LG 8300 flip phone for the last 8 years and I believe this Samsung Intensity III will last me untill smartphone rates are lowered. I was ...

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  Summary: I've had a LG 8300 flip phone for the last 8 years and I believe this Samsung Intensity III will last me untill smartphone rates are lowered. I was actually surprised how fast this phone connected to the internet (not that I will use that feature much if ever, I have a computer for that LOL). The phone is easy to use and I* like the slide out keyboard which is a option you can still use the keys on the front when texting if you want.

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• 5 stars

  Bad Bluetooth x2

  by jqw1966 on September 6, 2012

  Pros: Good battery life.

  Cons: I too am having the same issues. I am on my second phone. I've now done a master re-set but have no bluetooth at this time to test. Not too confident the issue resolving itself. The tech seemed to think I'll wait for a software update. Nah.

• 3 stars

  well as a phone it works.

  by AAArg_ink on August 26, 2012

  Pros: It is what it is and does what it does. UI seems to be ok.

  Cons: the mp3 player sorts songs in albums by alphabetical song title order. Not by album track #. And it doesn't read the m3u playlists I've uploaded as a workaround.

  Summary: wow...flipping amazing they messed up the mp3 player at such a basic level.
  
  Updated on Sep 10, 2012

  I just found out it that accoding to customer support its ...

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  Summary: wow...flipping amazing they messed up the mp3 player at such a basic level.
  
  Updated on Sep 10, 2012

  I just found out it that accoding to customer support its USB mass storage doesn't connect to Apple Macs even though their website gives instructions for doing so. Fortunately most of my computers are Macs, but when you didn't think it could get worse......
  
  That said it does work well enough as a phone.

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• 1 stars

  Bluetooth bugs make it unusable.

  by Dinosaur36 on August 7, 2012

  Pros: On paper it looked like just what I needed.

  Cons: Bluetooth is unstable, won't pair/connect in a reliable way with any headsets. Has looooooong delays when you are navigating the menus, texting, etc. Photo functions are a little buggy too, edits don't save to photos.

  Summary: When my first phone was buggy I sent it back for a replacement, but 2nd phone was just as bad. The review by Surley Dog was correct, just avoid this ...

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  Summary: When my first phone was buggy I sent it back for a replacement, but 2nd phone was just as bad. The review by Surley Dog was correct, just avoid this phone. Shame on Samsung for shipping this PoS before it was ready for consumer use.

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