Samsung I997 Infuse 4G

SAMSUNG I997 INFUSE 4G REVIEW

The Samsung Infuse 4G may be AT&T's first true 4G cell phone, but AT&T doesn't appear to have the network to back up the Infuse's HSPA+ 21 speeds. The Infuse is the first phone we've tested that packs an extra-large, 4.5-inch touch screen. The 4.5-inch, Super AMOLED Plus glass capacitive touch screen looks amazing in person, with brilliant color and deep black levels. Super AMOLED Plus has the pure blacks of AMOLED, with better visibility in sunlight (that's the Super) and better colors created by a new arrangement of subpixels (that's the Plus.) With a 4.5-inch panel, though, it's time to go to a higher resolution than 480-by-800. This is the first time I noticed individual pixels in fonts on a 480-by-800-pixel screen. That said, the on-screen QWERTY keyboards are huge, even in portrait mode. Both orientations made typing long messages a cinch. Dialing numbers was also easy and fast. The Infuse 4G is a quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and tri-band HSPA+ 21 (850/1900/2100 MHz) device with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. It also supports HSUPA for faster upload speeds, and it works as a mobile hotspot for up to five devices with the appropriate AT&T data plan. But AT&T hasn't built out HSPA+ across most of the country yet, and it isn't available in my area outside Boston. With an average of 1.8Mbps down, with 138ms ping rates and upload speeds averaging 375 Kbps, the Infuse 4G was clearly limited by AT&T's network. The Infuse 4G measures 5.2 by 2.8 by 0.35 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.9 ounces. Even though it's razor-thin, the Infuse 4G is long and wide enough that anyone with small hands may have trouble holding it up to their ear for long conversations. The phone's crisp lines and nicely textured back panel help offset its plastic body. The overall effect looks trim and reasonably high-end.

SPECIFICATION & FEATURES