Samsung Rant M540

The newly released Samsung Rant is a powerful and extremely versatile Sprint cell phone. This mobile phone does almost everything from music playing to video capturing to email sending/receiving. The Rant is marketed as a messaging phone and it’s well suited for text-a-holics since it has two keyboards, a standard alphanumerical on the outside and a full QWERTY keyboard on the inside.

The Rant is a great phone for teens because it is exceptionally affordable with a two-year Sprint contract agreement and is perfect for texting, the main form of mobile communication enjoyed by teens. However, it is also actually a very functional phone as well, so all age groups may find this cell phone attractive.

Design and Features

This sideways type slider type cell phone comes in red, black and purple and includes a 262K color TFT screen that can change orientation based on whether the QWERTY keyboard is slid out or not. It is a little heavy at 130 grams; however the iPhone 3G is 133 grams, so the Samsung Rant is not exceptionally overweight for such a capable mobile phone. One break-from-the-crowd feature included with this cell phone is the ability to have its memory expanded up to 16GB, which makes it a good Sprint alternative to the iPhone 3G 16GB.

The Rant is an extraordinary messaging phone. It not only has an easy to use QWERTY keyboard for fast texting but it can also send all types of messages, including SMS, MMS and IM through AOL, Windows Live and Yahoo.

This Samsung cell phone is a competitive music phone that can play MP3s and is compatible with the Sprint Music Store and Sprint Radio. The Rant can multitask by playing music and running other functions of the phone at the same time. This cell phone is also compatible with Sprint TV, Sprint Exclusive Entertainment and Sprint’s made-for-mobile sports and entertainment video programming network. Of course, it also works with advanced stereo Bluetooth wireless technology, so music sounds great and is hands-free.

An interesting addition to this phone, that you don’t see in older cell phones, is the Live Search for Sprint feature, powered by Microsoft that provides access to directory information, GPS-enabled directions, interactive maps and one-touch click to call. These features are extremely helpful and set this phone ahead of basic music cell phones.

What’s Missing

This phone, odd as it may seem, is not WiFi compatible. It would also be nice if it could IM using GoogleTalk. The screen resolution is also not too exciting at only 176 x 220 pixels and it would be a better music phone if it could play more audio file types.

Summary

The Samsung Rant is an excellent Sprint music cell phone.