[Soundy]

Sorry, but I've been browsing the accessories section of samsungmobile.com and came across something that just boiled my blood... I decided to take a moment to compose the following for Samsung's contact form:

When I went looking for a replacement for my HTC Titan, this phone looked by far like the nicest of Telus's offerings... but I almost didn't buy it, because it's a throwback to the last century with *proprietary sync and charging ports*. My RAZR used mini-USB, my HTC used mini-USB... I very nearly ignored the warnings about the newest HTC crop and was this close to getting a Touch Diamond instead, because it uses a standard mini-USB port that I can charge with any handy USB A-to-mini-B cable, plugged into any laptop or adapter, or with any of the half-dozen existing car and home adapters I already have.

But I went with the Omnia, and have found it's a very nice phone overall... as WHOLE, I love it. But this cable situation is pissing me off more and more and I'm tempted to start recommending that friends who've liked it steer clear. The more I learn about the cables, the more ed I get with Samsung.

For example: the packaged sync cable WON'T CHARGE THE PHONE. This is patently ridiculous. It will feed a trickle current enough to keep the phone alive but not charge it, but only if it's plugged into a computer with ActiveSync installed. If I plug it into any other computer, it won't charge. It won't work either of my existing car lighter-to-USB-A adapters. On a recent trip, I had to keep my laptop on in the car and the phone plugged into it just to keep the phone alive.

And now what do I find looking through the accessories on your website? There's ANOTHER sync cable that WILL charge the phone... that you'll be glad to sell to me for an extra $20?! EXCUSE ME?? I just bought a $500 phone and I can't even charge it through the included USB cable??? I could have spent $200 less for the Touch Diamond and had the ability to charge THAT with ANY common mini-USB cable! I could have dropped $150 more on a Touch Pro and been able to charge THAT through ANY common mini-USB cable! I could charge either with the mini-USB power adapter I already have in the car for my Magellan GPS!

So now I have to carry an extra cable in my laptop bag, instead of just having a single USB cable... I have to purchase a new car charger, or a second proprietary sync cable... I can't just get a new phone, I have to replace a whole series of accessories just to keep the thing connected and powered.

Are we not past this need to nickel-and-dime the customers to death with one-off proprietary accessories? When your competitors are adhering more and more to STANDARDS, a fancier phone will only go so far to entice people to put up with this BS behaviour. If I'd noticed this anomaly with the two separate sync cables before I'd bought this Omnia, that would very likely have been the final straw that pushed me to the Touch Diamond - think of all the accessories I could have bought with that extra $200!!

But I don't expect any of this will matter to anyone at Samsung... you already have my money, and you'll probably get plenty more from people who are wowed enough by how pretty the phone is. But for me... I've had six or seven cel phones before this, every single one with a different charging and sync connector, such that I now have a drawer full of useless chargers and sync cables. My last two phones, I got the RAZR and the Titan. Those used a STANDARD. They could use the same accessories. I figured the days of having to waste perfectly good cables were gone.

Guess I figured wrong.