Review disparities?

[dan.droid]

A friend of mine came to me today with questions about buying her first Android phone, since I've had mine for two years now. So, I looked at the specs and said it seemed like a decent entry-level android phone, but I wanted to look at reviews first.

So I went to various sites, like Cnet, and saw that it had a generally decent review score from the professional reviewers. Then, checking the user reviews, they were pretty universally bad scores. Cnet, specifically, had a 3.5 star professional review, but only a 1 star average user review.

That leaves me a bit worried. The Gem is obviously not meant for people like me, who've had an Android for some time now. But my friend is a smart phone 'newb'. I don't want to sour her on Android on her first outing.

Since this forum is dedicated to the Gem, I figured the people here could give me a better idea of whether or not to recommend the phone. Thanks in advance. (and she says 'thank you', too.)

 

[netizenmt]

I wrote up a pretty detailed review myself here http://androidforums.com/samsung-gem/386302-all-samsung-gem-owners-need-read.html

Which will answer a lot of your questions.

My daughter has a Gem, and it is her first Android. She absolutely loves it, but has begun to feel the effects of being limited by the storage space and inability to move apps to the SD card. Until Android 2.2 is adopted by all vendors of this phone, or someone manages to root it successfully and hack the ability into 2.1, that is going to be a big limitation to consider.

Bottom line: if your friend is looking for a reliable phone to get some familiarity with Android and isn't likely to want a lot of apps, the Gem is a great little phone. If he/she is going to want it to do things like Netflix, run a gazillion apps, etc, then I would suggest a higher-level/more pricey model, such as the Droid Incredible 2.

 

[dan.droid]

Cool. I'll read your review.

My friend is the type that is always asking 'what else can I do?'. I'm a little worried that she might outgrow the Gem before she qualifies for a new one. I can already tell she's going to be 'app-crazy' from the questions she's asking me. I'm wondering if the other phone she's considering (LG Optimus U) would be better suited for her.

I've read your review and based on what you posted, I think she'll definitely outgrow the Gem before she's up for renewal. I think the LG Optimus U will work better for her, since it doesn't seem quite as limiting.

 

[myphonesukks]

a friend of mine came to me today with questions about buying her first android phone, since i've had mine for two years now. So, i looked at the specs and said it seemed like a decent entry-level android phone, but i wanted to look at reviews first.

So i went to various sites, like cnet, and saw that it had a generally decent review score from the professional reviewers. Then, checking the user reviews, they were pretty universally bad scores. Cnet, specifically, had a 3.5 star professional review, but only a 1 star average user review.

That leaves me a bit worried. The gem is obviously not meant for people like me, who've had an android for some time now. But my friend is a smart phone 'newb'. I don't want to sour her on android on her first outing.

Since this forum is dedicated to the gem, i figured the people here could give me a better idea of whether or not to recommend the phone. Thanks in advance. (and she says 'thank you', too.)

do not git this phone ihave it and its terrible its slow and very annoying and it turns off out of no where for no reason