The folks over
at Phone Scoop have put the skinny and metallic
Samsung
A900 through its paces. While it might not be the most powerful phone around, they think it might resound with
business users who want a sexy handset but can sacrifice the multimedia and a bit of battery life. The phone has a
solid feel, with a durable hinge and comfortable rounded corners. The keypad is plenty usable, with large metallic
keys, but the recessed d-pad makes navigation a bit of a chore. The Phone Scoop guys really liked the QVGA screen,
which was readable in bright sunlight, and highlighted the Samsung interface, but unfortunately the phone doesn't do
much beyond the basics. Its 1 megapixel camera is a bit slow, and the 50MB of memory constrains the phone from many
video captures or Sprint music downloads over EV-DO. The battery life is also a little constraining, at around 2 days
under heavy use. Luckily the signal is strong and the phone's sound quality keeps it a good option for those
non-conformists who like to talk on their phones.
posted Mar 20th 2006 4:03PM
This phone would freaking rule...if it was GSM. Why oh why (besides the fact that you didn't want to be in direct competition with the Razr) did Samsung release the A900 as a CDMA.
My biggest problem with this phone is that T9 doesn't learn new words. This is totally frustrating for those that text a lot and wish to teach the phone new words/slang. Fix this and the phone is near perfect for me. Samsung, what are you thinking taking away this very basic feature of T9? Why did you take a huge step backwards?
I work at a Radio Schmack, and we just got a store model A900.
I haven't done much with it other than play around with some of the built-in stuff, as it's not activated yet.
I thought the review was pretty much on target from what I could see.
My only differing opinion so far is that I thought the D-Pad was pretty good, and that it seemed a bit snappier navagating through menus than it was given credit for.
Hopefully they will activate it so I can put it through it's paces doing the EVDO stuff.
"Why oh why (besides the fact that you didn't want to be in direct competition with the Razr) did Samsung release the A900 as a CDMA."
I'm not sure if you are aware, but between Verizon, Sprint, Alltel and US Cellular, there are over 100 million CDMA subscribers in the US. And until very recently, none of those subscribers had access to the RAZR or any ultra-slim handset. I am sure at least a few of them were interested in getting a RAZR or a similar phone; so, rather than allow customers to churn over to Cingular, Sprint bought this phone from Samsung. Make sense?
Additionally, CDMA is the de-facto standard in South Korea, home of Samsung. The technological sophistication of Korean phones is astounding; the A900 was released in Korea almost an entire YEAR before it launched for Sprint. All sprint had to do was customize it for their network and they have a RAZR competitor and FINALLY have a handset that will turn heads.
I've had the A900 since December, and I agree with the review for the most part. The reception, which I initially thought would have been weaker than my Sanyo, has been excellent - I can only remember one instance where I dropped a call, and that was driving through a rural part of Virginia. Voice quality is also excellent.
Some negatives discussed in the review are true. The D-Pad is frustrating, especially when trying to play games. Not precise at all, and I usually use the number pad for controls.
I still to this day have not gotten bluetooth to work correctly. I have a headset, but it is staticy and the volume is low. I don't mind that much, but it'd be nice to have usable bluetooth.
I'm happy with it - not as a RAZR-KILR, but as an all around phone.
Indeed, I do not keep track of those numbers, but I have no doubt that releasing the A900 as a CDMA phone was the best thing to so in terms of the market. My sadness is that as a Canadian, I will not be able to get it because it is a CDMA phone, and our dumb CDMA Carriers will never have it. If it was GSM, I could get it no problem.
For the most part I agree with this review -- the A900 has a nice smooth feel with the rounded corners and fits nicely in your hand. The multimedia sound was impressive from my first initial experience. The D-pad is a little slick and it would be nice if it was easier to use with fingers my size. With only 50mb -- that is defintely a downer for heavy media users. Otherwise, this is a great phone I would highly recommend.
whatever suckaz...beyond the 50mb limit and no mem card, sweetest phone ever released for Sprint....ev-do laptop hookup is the bomb. 100+k/sec
Big R,
The A900 *does* have T9 learning. It is just implemented in a rather counter-intuitive way. I believe you have to spell the word as it would be using T9, delete the word, and then re-spell it using direct-keying. Check hofo for a detailed thread on this.
It's a shame that the phone has no expansion slot. 50MB is not much memory for music that you might purchase from the Sprint music store.