It’s understandable if you get a sense of déjà vu when you see the Samsung Rant; it’s a nearly a dead ringer for the LG Rumor. They both look like a candy-bar phone from the front, and both slide out horizontally to reveal a wide QWERTY keyboard underneath. Moreover, both messaging phones are offered by Sprint for $49.99. However, the Rant has EV-DO and GPS under the hood, making it a better value than the older LG device.
Design
Designed for constant communicators and serial texters, the Rant and the Rumor are around the same size and weight (Rant: 4.5 x 2.1 x 0.7 inches, 4.6 ounces; Rumor: 4.3 x 2.0 x 0.7 inches, 4.1 ounces), and both have a 2-inch, 220 x 176-pixel screen. The screens on both reorient themselves when rotated, and two soft keys appear under the repositioned on-screen menu options.
The Rant’s keypad is about an inch wider and therefore roomier than the Rumor’s. Samsung put the extra real estate to good use with wide keys and spacing to minimize mistakes. While the keys are not as rounded or responsive as on a T-Mobile Sidekick, thumb-tapping is easier than on the Rant, which lacks raised edges on the sides.
The Rant’s navigation array is awkward. Three raised buttons—Speakerphone, Menu/OK, and Back—partially obstruct access to the surrounding toggle switches for the soft keys, Talk, and End, necessitating more-careful button pushing.
Features
The resemblance between the Rant and the Rumor ends with these physical similarities. The Rant is a far more full-featured device, with EV-DO Rev. A, POP3 and IMAP email, GPS capabilities with Sprint Navigation, a full music player (albeit with a 2.5mm jack instead of a 3.5mm jack, and there’s no earbuds included), and a 2-megapixel camera and stereo Bluetooth—amenities all missing on the Rumor.
One Click Navigation
Sprint’s One Click navigation gives easy access to all the Rant’s goodies. Along the bottom of the screen is a carousel comprised of a series of application/function tile icons that you right- or left-click to step through.
You can easily customize the carousel by adding application/function tiles, such as direct access to Web-based news headlines or the weather, or you can add a shortcut to the shortcuts tile. This customization definitely speeds up access to functions you’d otherwise have to drill though menus to get to, such as the music player.
Multimedia
The Rant is compatible with Sprint’s TV service; we watched streaming clips from ABC News, CNN, Comedy Central, E!, ESPN, Fox Sports, and NBC News, all of which loaded quickly and played with minimal buffering delays. But the Rant’s LCD has a narrow viewing angle and appears polarized when shifted off-center.
The Rant can accept microSD Cards up to 16GB in capacity. We loaded 6GB of music; while our tracks sounded decent through our own headphones, playback is marred by having to wait nearly a minute for the phone to collect and display your song collection.
Pictures taken in sunlight by the Rant’s 2-MP camera had above-average color and crispness. Indoor shots were not as bright, a little less colorful, and a little less focused.
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