the update went rather smoothly once i found a windows pc available to recognize my usb connection.  of course, it turns out my third-party usb cable seemed to be holding back the ability for my phone to be recognized as a shared drive, a problem i thought was to blame on either the phone or my os.  the original usb cable proved to be required for the phone to be seen.  noted for future reference.

i have to say that i really love the update.  aside from being able to run some apps that run under android 2.0 and up, the interface is much improved.  and some of my apps which did run under android 1.5 run much better under 2.1.  sprint boasted of these improvements:

of course, i don’t care at all about pandora since it is lame.  the swipe to unlock feature is very nice.  the camera responds better too.

the bigger of the two problems was my battery life. it showed significant drains after half a day of average use. patch now shows accurate power level which means my phone won’t shut down with a half loaded battery.

other people made references to the gps eating up battery cycles, and i’d noticed it appearing to struggle to get a signal whenever i had it active. now, it doesn’t continuously probe for satellite signals anymore and seems to pinpoint my location promptly.

the battery fix is why i upgraded and has made my experience with the moment so much better. and i was hoping this patch added over the air (ota) abilities for future upgrades.  brighthand posts that if i want to get upgraded early, i can take it into the store.  ota upgrades will come a couple of weeks later.  if i can get the upgrade this coming week, i’d spend some time in the sprint store.

pros:  the screen is very nice.  there are a bunch of apps that have been already built for android.  plus i can get an sdk to build app myself.  i like having a better browser to hit the net compared to a stripped down version on my rumor.  google maps plus the device’s gps is a great combo.  i found a nice secure shell (ssh) app which drops me right onto any unix/linux box for which i have credentials.  integrating my google calendar with my device’s calendar is a huge time saver.

cons:  the camera is a little delayed to taking pics, as i have read–still adjusting to that.  i have to get used to plugging in my phone to keep it active in the twenty-four.  i am still learning to be more careful with it since the screen is very important.

i am also hopeful that the change in plan to accommodate the new phone will resolve the billing issues i had with sprint last time i made adjustments.  at this point, i’m good with things.  all is finally good.  this makes me happy with sprint again.

some of the other things i find gloat worthy:  i had cut/copy & paste from day one.  i can run multiple apps at once…from day one.  have better coverage than, say, at&t from day one.

i’m happy with this purchase.

the videos below demonstrate the unboxing of the moment and an initial review of the phone.  the phone is reviewed having android 1.5 (cupcake).  there is integrated gmail and google calendaring support, youtube video application, exchange server connectivity (which i probably wouldn’t use), and an exceptional amoled display.  he does give the keyboard a bad rating, but this guy doesn’t seem to have used a phone with a slider keyboard before.  having the separate row of keys for numbers is way better than having to hit some shift key to type them.  having to do that currently is not convenient.

samsung moment for sprint (part 1 of 2)

samsung moment for sprint (part 2 of 2)

you can get some more details and some pics on engadget’s mention of the moment.  it comes out on november 1, next sunday.  outside dealing with sprint’s sales people and current contracts, i hope to make a smooth transition to this phone.