- Digital audio player/cell phone in blue with swiveling front cover reveals numeric keypad
- 2 GB of internal flash memory holds up to 500 CD-quality songs; easy synchronization to your PC via USB
- VGA camera, stereo Bluetooth streaming, optional GPS navigation service
- Up to 3.5 hours of talk time, up to 250 hours (10.4 days) of standby time
- Includes: Standard Li-Ion Battery, Travel Charger, Stereo Headset, USB Cable and User’s Guide
Amazon.com Product Description
At first glance, the Samsung Juke looks like a typical stick-style MP3 player, which it is. But swing open the swiveling cover and you’ll find a shiny keypad underneath that unlocks the advanced cellular features of this amazingly compact phone. It’s a great way to combine two devices into one, with the Juke offering 2 GB of internal memory and compatibility with a wide variety of digital audio formats. It also features USB connectivity for transferring music from your PC, stereo Bluetooth for streaming to wireless headphones, integrated GPS, a VGA camera, and downloadable games, ringtones, and wallpapers from Verizon’s Get It Now over-air service. In addition to blue, the Samsung Juke also comes in red and teal.
Offering powerful digital audio playback features, the Samsung Juke swivels to open up a wide array of cellular communication tools, including text/IM messaging and GPS navigation. |
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Verizon Service
This phone is compatible with Verizon’s Get It Now wireless pay-per-download service, which features application downloads, games and productivity tools. You can also personalize your handset with ringtone downloads using the Get It Now service.
With this GPS-enabled phone, you’ll be able to access Verizon’s VZ Navigator service (additional charges applicable) for voice-prompted turn-by-turn directions, heads-up alerts, local search of nearly 14 million points of interest in the US (such as landmarks, restaurants and ATMs), and detailed color maps. And Verizon’s Chaperone service lets you easily locate your loved ones from your Verizon Wireless phone or PC in real time. After defining a zone, such as an area designating a school or summer camp, you’ll be sent an alert via text message when the Chaperone handset enters or leaves the zone.
Note that this phone is not compatible with either Verizon’s V Cast music or Mobile Web services
Phone Features
The Samsung Juke functions flawlessly as a full-featured digital audio player. A navigation thumb wheel on the front allows for easy searching through music play lists, contacts and settings. The 1.45-inch TFT LCD has a 128 x 220-pixel resolution, support for 262K colors, and displays 10 lines of text. The 2 GB flash memory capacity will hold approximately 500 CD-quality songs, and it’s compatible with MP3, AAC/AAC+, and WMA/WMA Pro file formats. You can create and manage playlists on the fly, synchronize music from your PC to the phone, and multi-task using other functions on the phone while listening to your tunes. You can listen to music via the on-board speaker or the included color-matched stereo headset. Other features include a choice of music skins (visualizer or album artwork) and preset equalizer and 3D sound settings.
Amazingly thin and light, the Samsung Juke measures just 1.2 inches wide and weighs 2.82 ounces. |
This phone also provides Bluetooth version 2.0 wireless connectivity with the A2DP Bluetooth profile, which enables you to stream music to compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones or speakers. It also includes profiles for communication headset, handsfree car kits, audio/video remote control, and serial port/object push for vCard.
A little flick of the thumb and the display spins up to reveal all the keys you need to dial, text, take pictures or almost anything else you want to do. Support is built in for text messaging and mobile IM. When used in combination with the phone’s built-in still and video camera, MMS opens up a whole new world of messaging fun. T9 text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for entering text on handsets, is built into the unit–a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.
You can also snap photos on the go with the integrated VGA camera, which can capture images in three resolutions (640 x 480, 320 x 240, and 160 x 120 pixels) with variable quality settings. It features a night shot mode for less-than-ideal lighting conditions, a self timer, brightness and white balance controls, multi-shot capability, and choices for shutter sounds (including silent mode). This phone does not offer video capture capabilities.
The Juke’s internal phone book can hold up to 500 contact entries with five phone numbers and two emails per entry (as well as notes). You can also pair contact up with a group, a picture for caller ID, or one of 11 polyphonic ringtones. Other features include:
- Voice Commands: Voice dial, digit dial readout, call announcement
- Personal Organizer: Calendar with scheduler, note pad
- Tools: Calculator with converter, alarm clock, stopwatch, world clock
- Speed dialing
- Speakerphone
- 72-note polyphonic ringtones
- Bilingual user interface: English and Spanish
- Hearing aid compatibility: M3
Vital Statistics
The Samsung Juke weighs 2.82 ounces and measures 3.82 x 1.18 x 0.83 inches. Its 750 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 210 minutes (3.5 hours) of talk time, and up to 250 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the CDMA 800/1900 frequencies as well as the CDMA 2000 1XRTT data frequency.
This is my first “fancy phone” that is able to do things other than just make phone calls. I was originally skeptical, but for the most part I am impressed by the Juke.
Music capabilities:
People complain about the inability to use V-Cast on the phone, but that doesn’t bother me at all. I am just thrilled that I can plug it into my computer and transfer mp3s to it (using included equipment) like I would for any mp3 player. The 2GB capacity (something like 1.7 or 1.8 GB real volume) is not huge, but certainly sufficient for something that’s a phone. And while you’re transferring new music to it, it’s also recharging. The interface is adequate, and the included headphones are nice.
My biggest complaint in music is that it cannot handle ogg-vorbis audio (.ogg), especially since Verizon salespeople told me it probably could. Since Motorola makes mp3 players that play .ogg files, I hope that there will be a firmware upgrade coming soon.
Also, what would be awesome would be the ability to just set one of your mp3s on the phone as a ring-tone, but I kinda doubt that’s happening any time soon.
Camera:
Okay. The picture quality is all right, but the display screen is a little small. The biggest problem is the “take photo” button is placed so that the easiest way to hold the phone and press it is while covering the camera aperture.
Overall use:
Exterior screen lets you see txts and caller ID before opening the phone. Opening the phone is slightly unwieldy tho. It’d be nice if it swiveled in both directions. A recommendation I would make for them would be to be able to press a button to turn on the clock while the phone is closed. But for the most part, slim, and snazzy.
And as advice to Amazon, I think it makes sense to have the reviews for all of the colors show up together when someone visits any of the phones. I would think that someone who is considering buying a teal phone would like to know what someone who owns a blue phone thinks.
Rating: 4 / 5
I’ve had my phone for a few days now and I really like it. It is short on some of its capabilities, but still a good phone. I used to make my own ring tones and wallpapers, but you can’t easily transfer data aside from music.
The phone is light weight and stays in my pocket, where as my old razr fell out every time I sat down. The ear piece is loud and clear and easy to position. I have simple phone needs and this phone satisfies with unique style. the voice recognition is excellent, and word typing as much improved.
All in all, I love this phone. It’s great if you have simple needs. I find it to be very functional. The blue is almost impossible to see unless under very strong light.Its a great color if you can see it.
Rating: 4 / 5
I have had my phone for about two months now and it’s great. It’s easy to use and it actually takes really good pictures (most Samsung phones are the way to go, besides kyocera). Anyhoo…. I have the navy blue one, the other colors didn’t appeal to me. I have dropped it twice on the cement and it still looks brand new. It’s more durable than it looks and it fits just about anywhere. Its a cool little phone. It also gets really good reception….and I live in the middle of nowhere!
Rating: 5 / 5
I impulsively purchased the Juke when I went to Verizon and had to set up a new contract. I knew one way or another, I would have to suck it up and accept a few downsides to a phone this small. I’ll briefly describe what has really appealed to me (besides the convenient size):
- All mandatory functions (i.e. speakerphone, calculators and converters, ordinary tools, etc).
- Decent HD space for music player.
- Intuitive uploads through VCAST media player – took no more than a few minutes to figure out.
- Voice-activated text/pic messages, playlists, etc.
- Fun design.
- Great battery life.
- Decent speaker for a small phone to play music.
However, the Juke really drives me crazy sometimes. For example:
- When the swivel is closed, you can receive texts, but cannot dismiss them. This means that until you open the swivel, the text will stay on the outside display.
- Texting is a chore and a half. The auto-word is decent, but hitting those buttons is extremely difficult. I am not a hobbit, Samsung. I have huge normal people fingers that need more space.
- No modifying the screen when the Juke is closed. Trivial, but would’ve been a great feature. Instead, it just shows a digital clock.
- The only two phone display themes stink. The default Boombox is okay, but the Vivace is ugly and almost makes the screens inoperable. I am unsure if more can be downloaded.
All things considered, this isn’t necessarily a bad phone. It could use some improvements, but I’m pretty happy. Enjoy!
Rating: 3 / 5
I’ve had this phone for a long time now, and I still love it. It’s a great size, nice and small. I use the Mp3 feature a lot, usually when I’m out and about and would like some music, it’s much easier than bringing an ipod everywhere. Music files are easy to transfer through your computer. Not a good phone if you like extra high tech features that most new phones offer. It lacks in certain features that you will notice only after you start using it. For example, storing old text messages- after your inbox gets to about 100 messages, it gets full and you have to clear out the inbox. Same with the calendar, the storage space is smaller than most phones. Not a big deal if you don’t mind clearing that stuff out frequently. Overall, great, fun little phone. I’d recommend it to people who like the Mp3 feature.
Rating: 5 / 5