Samsung SPH-M300

The Samsung SPH-M300 is a brand new low end phone designed specifically for Sprint in the United States by Samsung's cellular phone division. It is regarded as a low end or entry level phone primarily due to its major lack of features that all of the high end phones have. However, despite its low end status, the Samsung SPH-M300 does actually come with GPS capability that can take advantage of Sprint's pay to use GPS service.

On first glance, the Samsung SPH-M300 looks like any other low end Samsung flip phone. It comes in one of two colors, red or silver, and has a grey plastic coating on the front to give it a relatively unique look. Also on the outside is a small LCD screen that is capable of displaying the time (in digital format) and a few other items like most clamshell phones. On the inside, everything is standard affair with no real originality whatsoever. This phone is designed to get the job done as a phone and that's that.

Because of the Samsung SPH-M300's spartan design, there is not much to be expected out of it - and Samsung delivers on people's expectations. The inner display is small and only able to display a handful (65 thousand) of colors, making it one of the lowest end displays on the market. Furthermore, the camera is only capable of VGA (0.3 megapixels) resolution, so do not expect to use it for any heavy photo work.

Aside from the built in camera, the Samsung SPH-M300 is essentially featureless. Sure, there is Bluetooth, email access, and a speakerphone - but all phones have these features these days. Really, all that the Samsung SPH-M300 is the built in GPS functionality - and you even have to pay a monthly fee for that too. And because the Samsung SPH-M300 is designed for Sprint, it is CDMA and cannot be used in many places outside of America.

Despite the glaring lack of features, Samsung somehow managed to cripple the Samsung SPH-M300 even more by reducing the battery size severely. While most phones in the low end range are able to get at least five hours of talk time, the M300 can only mange to make just over three and a half hours of talk time - absolutely terrible for a phone that really cannot do anything right.

Pros

• Cheap (free)
• Decent design with a few unique colors
• Designed for those who use a phone to talk and nothing else

Cons

• CDMA (may be a pro for some people)
• Display could be better
• Low quality camera
• Few extra features
• Battery life could be better

Overall

Even though the Samsung SPH-M300 is a low end phone, it simply cannot be recommended to anyone. It is just far too devoid of features. Just spend a couple of bucks more and get a phone that is actually usable - you will be happier if you just avoid the M300 at all costs unless you are terribly in love with the design and spartan functionality.