Love this phone! October 2, 2011

Reviewer:  JB2020 

I bought this phone from a cell phone store and I absolutely love it! I don't like touch screen phones because of the difficulty I have with texting. That is why I was looking for a phone with the physical keyboard. This is powerful for a little phone, Surfing the internet is a breeze, fast, and crystal clear. It's like being on my computer! My sister has the larger HTC phone and I was surprised that my little phone could do everything her's could. Some keys on the keyboard are a little stiff, but I tried typing on the touchscreen and to my amazement, it was so easy to text! This is a great buy! The best phone I've ever had and the price isn't bad either.

** DON'T BUY THIS PHONE ** June 12, 2012

Reviewer:  ROBERT BONNER 

This by far has to be the worst first smart phone experience that one could have. TMobile & Samsung should be ashamed for sticking people with this crappy phone.

If you want to find out for yourself - simply Google Samsung Gravity Smart internal memory errors & you'll see the sea of complaints about about this phone's ridiculously low internal memory.

I bought this Samsung Gravity Smart phone in November 2011 primarily because of the Wi-Fi calling, large screen & QWERTY keyboard thinking I really only needed to be able to make calls when I'm at home & my crappy TMobile reception fades out. This phone has a shamefully non-existent 150 Megabytes of internal memory compared to most phones that have at least 4 gigabytes.

So what does that mean for you?;
it means that you'll never be able to install ANY APP what so ever. It also means that you won't be able to receive any text messages because the memory will always be too low to allow the phone to receive messages. You'll be able to send them, but you'll daily have to delete every text message.

Trust me even if you're thinking that's okay, I'll only be using this phone for just this or that, I don't need a bunch of apps or games - it won't be okay... it won't :( You will be frustrated.

Even though it has virtually non-existent internal memory, T-Mobile & Samsung still chose to ship it preinstalled with 100 Mb of junk software that further helps to make the problem worst.

Please save yourself the inevitable headache that is sure to come & buy a different phone.

Also when you call T-Mobile to complain about the phone not functioning properly, you'll literally get a rep that tells you to check to see if apps are installed on the SD card. Well most apps aren't written to be installed on SD so that suggestion sucks. Also, even though an app may be saved to SD, the data it generates while you're using it goes in the internal memory. So guess what, you're still suck!

If you look on Samsung's site for internal memory problems, well here's how severe it is. They answer every other question about this phone online... YOU HAVE TO CALL THEM TO GET INTERNAL MEMORY ISSUES ADDRESSED!
That's how bad this phone is, they don't even want to answer the questions in a public forum. They throw rocks & then hide their hands! They're ashamed of even making this phone with this ridiculously low functionality.

If you only want a pretty phone that you can only make calls on, then this is the phone for you. It has pretty colors, nice screen, the keyboard isn't that good - it doesn't have arrow keys & a lot of the symbols take forever to get to like $.

Again to sum it up 150Mb of internal memory is a horrible thing for anyone, even a teen of housewife to deal with. And I got the phone free & I still paid too much for it. With an extended 2 year T-Mobile contract (which they messed up the billing & charged me 3 times what I should've been paying - TMobile you all have to get it together - please) & it still isn't worth what I paid for it.

It works for the people who are patient October 14, 2011

Reviewer:  LoveColey 

The phone is a good phone, I will not say the best, because I dont believe no phone is the best. Every phone has its problem, I have had this phone for about 3 months and it works fine for me. Yes it does its freezing from time to time like a computer when you start pushing too many buttons and trying to do things to fast. The sound on the phone is great, the speed on the internet it good, and the keyboard is great. I have always had touch screen phones, so it took me a while to get use to this one. But I will recommend this phone for anyone. Just have patience.

Good Bargain, But Limited Android App Compatibility December 10, 2011

Reviewer:  Anonymous Human 

This is a nice bargain for the price. Has most of the bells and whistles you might find with a higher-end model. Weak processor (about half the speed top model Androids) isn't really missed EXCEPT re: apps that are not compatible with the 600mz engine. Google Goggles, for instance, which I had hoped to take advantage of with this phone, will not run on a Samsung Gravity Smart despite the fact that the Android OS it runs (Froyo/v. 2.2) exceeds the minimum requirements (2.1) for the app listed on the Android Market. The Mozilla Firefox app apparently has the same issue. The slide-out keyboard seems a bit flimsy, doesn't lock in place, but is perfectly workable. The screen, while smaller than most touch screens, does just fine resolution-wise. You Tube videos look great, graphics are good, and game apps small but playable. You'll want to upgrade from the included 2GB Micro SD card, but that's true of most out-of-the-box Android phones.

Overall, I'm very satisfied, but the unforeseen app limitations (especially re: Google Goggles) leaves a slightly bitter taste in my mouth. It's annoying to buy a phone that appears to run all the apps you plan to depend on, only to find out otherwise after you set it up, get the contract, etc. I think the fault may lie with Google app developers on that one, though, rather than with Samsung.

While the phone doesn't light the world on fire, for the price, you could do a lot worse. I'm happy with it.

Worse phone I have ever owned May 8, 2012

Reviewer:  Lynette M. Kelleher 

I have exchanged this phone 3 times and the battery once. It has a multitude of problems, from terrible reception as everyone tells me that they catch every other or every third word. This is also when I leave messages. Nobody can understand them. Constant failures on text messaging. Need to pop battery out at least once a day to reset or send messages. They chose blue as the color for the numbers on the ( alt ) key. Does not have a notification light that notifies you if you have a missed call or message. Does not go to silent only to vibrate, even though it shows as an option it doesnt actually work. often when I go to send a text as certain letters will pop me into my email and wont allow me to type a text. I again have to shut the phone down and release the battery in order to refresh the phone to allow me to send a text again. As soon as I go on internet it drains the battery to the point of putting me in low battery mode. The phone heats up while talking on it and charging it. Everyone of these problems has happened with each of the 3 phones that I have had. This is the biggest piece of garbage and isnt worth $50.00 DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE, IT SHOULD BE TAKEN OFF THE MARKET!!!

don't get this phone!!! May 8, 2012

Reviewer:  Jodi 

I got this phone because I shattered my old one and am not qualified for a new one yet. What a piece of crap. I have to keep taking the battery out to get it to unlock and the memory is horrid. I am actually on my second one because the 1st one completely crashed after about 3 months so I was able to get that one replaced. Both of them had the memory bottom out to the point I can't make calls or send or receive text messages within a month. The first one I ended up having to go in and get it factory restored at the T-Mobile store, which helped. I am hoping it will on this one and also my daughter's who also got one of these when the screen on her much better one shattered and this was our cheapest option. I think it only took about a month or so for her memory to max out to the point she can barely use the phone and it won't work with text messaging due to the full memory. We only have a couple games on the phones and that is it for memory. I have cleared out all pics and that also doesn't help the memory status. Do NOT buy this phone. If you pay $5, you paid more than it is worth!

All those pre-loaded apps severely limit the phone's usefulness March 16, 2012

Reviewer:  MZ 

About 3 months ago I received this phone sight-unseen from my carrier as a warranty replacement for my G1, which was old and tired and had problems not receiving calls. I was pleased with how much faster it was than my G1, not just in reaching web pages, but general processing speed. I won't get in to details and specs because, frankly, most of that goes over my head. Let's just say that it was fast. And it had a lot of room for me to install my must-have apps and to try a few others. I was happy.

And then the updates started. Not with Android itself, but with the 4,385,621 pre-loaded apps that I could not remove from the phone without rooting (which I am terrified to do, see above comment about specs). Updating these pre-loaded apps made them bigger and I got a low-memory warning. So I moved all of my own apps to the SD card. No problem, it was plenty easy, and I figured that would give me room to add even more apps. Then another update of those pre-loaded apps caused another low-memory warning. Funny enough, my own apps don't update that often. Anyway, I fixed the low-memory problem that time by hitting the "clear data" button on many of the unused apps clearing up more room. And then another update came along. Sigh. I scrolled through my list of apps to see which I could do without and deleted a few, and I learned to shut down the phone, turn it back on, and force-stop the apps that I'd never even opened that were running in the background somehow. I did this about every-other day. And then there were more updates and more low-memory warnings. So I deleted the apps of mine that I didn't use often enough to be worth this hassle, and found replacements for some of them that were smaller whose functions I did want to keep. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I'm now down to six of my own apps. SIX APPS. That's all that will fit on this phone now. Doesn't matter if I stop programs or delete data or restart the phone or factory reset. SIX APPS is all that fit. And they're on my SD card so I don't know how they're affecting the phone's memory so much. Want to know how many apps it came with? 49, of which I use only 12. So there are THIRTY-SEVEN apps on this phone I don't use and cannot delete. Who thought this was a good idea?

Last night I realized that life is too short for me to be angry at my only phone every day. That's just stupid. Were it not for all those bloat apps taking up all the memory this could be a pretty good phone, as I've got nothing to complain about except the lack of memory. Just last night I decided to read up on how to root it when someone told me they could use it, as for the most part he doesn't install extra apps, and is currently using a much older phone. So as soon as I get a replacement I'm gifting this one. It should be a decent phone for him.

Disappointed March 6, 2012

Reviewer:  Coach Reed 

I originally got this phone as a replacement for an even worse Android. The good thing about it is that it enables me to tether my computer as a wireless network (working like a wireless hotspot). That is probably the only good thing about it. It has extremely low memory, so downloading apps is basically not an option. I keep receiving a message that said my message memory was low, and that message sometimes remains there even after I had delete all of my text messages. When I enable the bluetooth while driving my car, the screen usually blanks out, requiring me to have to remove the battery to restart it. When your phone is unable to even make phone calls, it is worthless. If you don't need a phone that does a lot of stuff, don't waste your money on an Android. Just get a flip phone. My phone barely functions, and I only have apps for Bank of America, ING, weather.com, Evernote, barcode scanner, and maybe two or three others. Since T-mobile no longer has a free upgrade for two-year subscribers, I am basically screwed. Do not make the same mistake I did. Do not buy this phone.

Horrible Paper Weight! December 20, 2011

Reviewer:  ITmacpro 

This phone has horrible internal memory.
Battery life was pathetic!
The phone kept freezing and I had to keep buying new sd cards since that was the only solution that kept it from freezing randomly.
Save your money!
If you are a cheap consumer then this is the phone for you, but don't expect to do anything special with it.

The only phone samsung makes worth a ish is the galaxy!

Don't buy this phone, it's a ripoff December 25, 2011

Reviewer:  Captainbob  (Atlanta) -

I got a Samsung Gravity Smart about a week and a half ago. I immediately started having problems with very short battery life as well as low memory warnings on the phone. I went onto the T-Mobile support site and read many complaints on the Gravity Smart regarding these same two issues. There is very little memory on the phone when you get it, and just loading up a couple of APPs overloads the phone and you have to start deleting things otherwise it won't receive text messages or it will shut down. Samsung and T-Mobile have no solution for this problem, other than telling you to upgrade your phone to one with more memory. Of course they charge a $50 restocking fee and if you bought a case and screen protectors that's another $30. So it's an $80 lesson for a brand new phone.

I decided I didn't want to live with this phone for 2 more years, so I bit the bullet and paid the restocking fee and got a Samsung Exhibit ll 4G phone. It is 1,000% better, had 4 Gigs of memory versus 800 megs on the Gravity, a faster processor, and the list goes on and on. It cost about $100 more than the Gravity Smart, and is well worth it.

The sad part about this is that T-Mobile knows this is an issue with the Gravity Smart, and yet they will not wave the restocking fee. That's poor customer service in my opinion.

This phone has a catch January 1, 2012

Reviewer:  DD 

ok this phone appears to be $30 but there is a catch. thats only if u add a new line or make a membership with tmobile. if u have an existing account, it cost $80. i dont know how the overall quality of the phone is but i thought i should just warn u...

Not a fan... October 10, 2011

Reviewer:  Bryan Ladd "Dj Bryan"  (Dj for 20 years) -

Currently, I'm on my third phone the Smart Gravity, in 2 months, Failures. First of all, this phone has poor phone quality. It's been well documented by various online reviews, from CNET, Pc Mag, and others. It's a slow droid will a pretty small screen. It constantly lags, and freezes.

I get only 6 hours standby time, with basically nothing running in the background. Using web is difficult because many sites require a "flash", this phone is incapable of using.

If you have a teenage kid who wants to text, this ok, but as a cell phone, it's a toy. Tiny keys, small screen, poor sounding calls, and below average battery life, this is unacceptable.

I wanted to get an upgrade, but in waiting for another phone to be shipped to me, It was past 14 days, and I lost my deadline to do so, ala buyers remorse. About half the calls I receive, I have to call back on landline phone, so I can understand them. Currently there are no apps available as an eq to help the cut the large bass boost in speaker phone.

Update, while checking an email, the screen went dark. After taking battery out, and trying to use phone, the screen died. This is ridiculous. T-Mobile told me tonight, these are on back order, so I have a dead phone, will expensive options. Stay away from this troublesome toy.

waste of money May 7, 2013

Reviewer:  Deidra Preston 

Loved the keyboard, that's it. The phone never performed as expected. Too many problems to list, the phone should have been recalled.

Worst Cellphone I Have Ever Owned - Has "Known Issues" December 27, 2012

Reviewer:  C. Clay "drakkar91"  (St Paul Minnesota) -

I acquired this clunker of a phone in the summer of 2011 when I renewed my contract with T-Mobile (i.e. locked in 2 more years to get this piece of junk phone for free). It's not worth $2. My Samsung flip phone has better call quality, better battery life, and far greater reliability!

Why is it bad? Let's start with the "known issue". T-Mobile admits to it, but neither T-Mobile, nor Samsung (nor Best Buy Mobile where I acquired it) are going to do anything about it. In other words, the consumer is left with no options but to suffer using the phone until their contract is up, or shell out big bucks for a replacement phone. I have many Samsung products, and it's shameful they produced this device. The major issue is the phone's memory is about 80% FULL when you get the phone out of the box! And you CANNOT delete the built-in applications whether you like them or not. This makes downloading / installing most new apps nearly impossible. And forget about downloading updates - there is no space for them!

Sound quality is far inferior to my flip phone - which I have had to use when T-Mobile was having technical issues. This phone could not make a connection to their network. But my flip phone could! As soon as you get to the zone of 2 bars, expect to have dropped calls. It struggles to send text messages with 2 bars as well, often requiring I connect to my in-home Wi-Fi.

When the memory does fill up, it's a painstaking process to clear it. In the meantime, you will likely lose incoming messages.

It's phones and service like this that will most likely have me going to a no-contract service - at least if the phone is more basic, the price point for the service will be much reduced, and no contract to keep you in bed with the provider.

died a week out of warranty December 12, 2012

Reviewer:  PaBassGirl 

Bought it August 2011. Loved it. Worked great. Easy and fun to use. BUT the display stopped working Sept 2012 - a week after the warranty ran out. My opinion went from 5 stars to zero stars.

No internal memory = NO APPS!! December 5, 2012

Reviewer:  Juliecakes 

Have had this horrible phone for 15 months now, can't wait for upgrade in 9 months! Do not buy this phone!

My 5 year old phone works 10 time better November 23, 2012

Reviewer:  Jillian Morales 

I don't know how to put it better. My OLD phone works sooooo much better. I have been in my apartment 1.5 years and only this phone has poor reception. It drops calls, or looses connection to the network altogether. I have tried upwards of 15 times to make a phone call only to be denied service. My friend GAVE me this phone after she had gone back to Verizon and it wasn't/isn't old. Now, I see why she gave it away. It will be a toy for my ten year old- an mp3 player and she will be able to play games on it as well. My old phone is NOT a smart phone, but it allows phone calls at any time and it works. This phone is an embarrassment to the brand "Samsung" and truly ought to be recalled. I would be humiliated to call this a product of my company if I were them, but I am not so the most I can do is stop using mine and warn others. =)

loved it at first after yr September 23, 2012

Reviewer:  C. Light  (Central, Texas) -

never had good reception but Id use wi fi for it. after a year the bottom keys just stopped working..unfortunately too many programs relied on those keys... the screen now I can only see in a dark room.

NO memory. RUNRUNRUN August 9, 2012

Reviewer:  S. Swanson 

I went to the trouble of rooting my phone. Which means that I was able to delete many of the features/apps pre-loaded on the phone.

I deleted nearly everything that was "accessory" such as the 2nd GPS program and Drive Smart.

In addition to that - literally - EVERY app (except the 2 for rooting and deleting apps) were on my SD card.

STILL receive errors that I can not receive texts or download anything because the memory is too full.

This is ridiculous that T Mobile would even sell this to me. This is robbery. I can't even have 2-3 apps on a SMART PHONE that can not handle anything a smart phone is suppose to do. Even the apps I load from my SD card are laggy and often bug out - when I remember my old Motorola Cliq being 2G (vs this 3g) and running faster than this thing with nearly no bugs. This phone is garbage.

YOU ARE SELLING A PHONE THAT CAN NOT HANDLE THE OS THAT IS ON IT. WHAT. EVEN. IS!?

I have had nothing but issue after issue with every phone from T Mobile, this being the worst.

RUN.

I will live with it July 14, 2011

Reviewer:  Erik D Plumber  (Kenmore, WA, US) -

I tried this phone out at the T-Mobile store, too bad they didn't have a working model otherwise I would have gone with something else. The volume button gets in the way when I use the key pad for texting, the screen touch keypad has very small letters and with my fat fingers its difficult to get the right letter. One last dislike, I traded a Blackberry in with a track ball because the ball sucked, well I just got a new problem with the slide, you see I get dirty hands with work and moving parts are just a pain. Too bad I didn't think about it a little longer.