The Samsung Intrepid ships with Windows Mobile 6.5 and comes with a Blackberry-like full QWERTY keyboard on the front panel.  Designed for business users, it’s a world phone too, a capability which tops off the wide range of features Samsung threw into the travel-friendly device.

Physically, it’s not as striking as many current phones.  In fact, the design is more industrial and utilitarian than anything else.  It sports boxy corners, slim 0.51-inch lines and a width that’s just enough to fit into your pants’ front pocket.

A 2.5-inch 320 x 240 pixel touchscreen sits in the front, which is a bit bigger than what other phones with similar form factors usually bring.  Windows Mobile 6.5 looks good on the display and is a great fit for the touchscreen panel.  The keyboard and navigation array offers a very positive user experience.

As a phone, the Intrepid manages very good call quality, with rich and clear voices, along with very little background noise.  Speakerphone wasn’t as consistent, though, but it was decent.  Overall device performance is good, with minimal sluggishness – an excellent change of pace for a Windows Mobile smartphone.  Battery life is rated at a talk time of up to six hours, an excellent number for a phone that you’ll likely be traveling with.

The handset comes with 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, making for rather fast data speeds.  Large websites load in mobile IE along the same pace as most modern smartphones on Sprint’s network, along with smooth streaming video playback.  As a world phone, it automatically switches between CDMA and GSM networks, depending on which country you land.

Wide range of features include GPS, stereo Bluetooth, microSDHC expansion (up to 32GB), an AV remote, personal area networking and plenty more.  There’s also the usual stretch of goodies that come with Windows Mobile handsets, including Office Mobile and extensive messaging support.  A tight, little addition is Microsoft’s impressive Tellme service, which lets you perform a whole lot of tasks using just your voice.

If you buy it from the US, you get built-in compatibility with Sprint’s wide range of entertainment services, along with a dedicated YouTube app and support for a large variety of media formats.  The 3.2 megapixel camera module offers a hefty set of editing options, with above average picture quality.

Overall, the Samsung Intrepid is one of the most feature-rich smartphones available for business travelers today.  It’s also not locked to Sprint, allowing you to switch up to a foreign SIM card during your trips to avoid expensive roaming rates.  While much has been made of the Blackberry Tour, I think Samsung brought a capable competitor here – one that I actually find to be a better purchase.

http://www.phoneblog.com/cell-phone-reviews/samsung-intrepid-boasts-rich-features-excellent-performance-for-business-travelers/