Samsung SCH-A870 / Siren
Average Ratings
cute, compact, lots of features
I absolutely adore this phone.
Pros-
- The design is really cute and is very slick. It's small enough to put into your pocket, but big enough to hold comfortably without dropping it.
- There are so many great features about this phone and the VGA camera has a flash. The pictures are not as clear as say if you used a digital camera, but it works!
- You are also able to put songs and picture ID's.
-Theres a currency converter that is very useful if you travel a lot and even a world clock.
-The sound quality is excellent and you almost always get service.
- The buttons are flat and therefore makes it easier to text message or surf the internet.
-The sound quality is absolutely fantastic. It's clear like if you are listening to an mp3 player. The phone also vibrates and beats to the song/tone. It's great!
i don't have many bad things to say about this phone, however there is only 1 con.
con-
- The charger hole and the hole for the earpiece has a little flap over it that you have to remove and when you are charging, it feels like the flap is going to come off.
Not a bad phone
I've had this phone for a few weeks now and it's turned out to be a very good phone.
PROS:
- Using speaker phone while phone is closed.
- Bluetooth
- The camera part isn't too bad, but not great.
- Signal is GREAT with Verizon Wireless, esp. in rural areas and basements.
CONS:
- Uses polyphonic ringtones instead of real tones.
I really couldn't find many cons for this phone, it's just a good phone all the way around. Verizon did good with this phone and I recommend anyone that has Verizon to get this phone, you won't be upset.
Awesome as a basic phone
Replaced and older Samsung with this guy and I'm pretty pleased.
It's a fairly basic clamshell but it comes with outside display for picture ID, camera with flash and speakerphone. Gotta love it.
Personally I'm not a fan of the internal antenna, but I live in a weak signal area so as long as it's not covered it works well.
Battery also lasts about two days on a charge. I use it quite a lot, I text and talk often and play games here and there.
This phone is also really durable. On 4-3-07 I dropped it in a parking lot where it was then picked up and plowed into a snowbank. There it sat for about two hours. Upon searching for it, it stayed alive in the snow and was audible although buried about two feet under the snow. I dug it out and with the exception of a big scuff near the top (camera lens and outside screen were unharmed) everything still works great. I lost my previous Samsung to water damage so I was pleased to know this one survived. I'd surely recommend it.
PROS:
Small, comfortable size
Camera with flash
Speaker phone isn't bad
Very durable
Outside shortcuts to speakerphone and camera
Battery life (if treated well)
CONS:
Internal antenna (personal opinion)
Key setup (tough to text)
Great replacement for the A670
I bought an A870 to replace a loaner E815 I have been using since June. The A870 is very light, and is a nice size. The keypad illumination is great & the buttons are easy to see in the dark.
I don't use EVDO, so lack of it is not an issue for me. I live in a weak signal area & the A870 gets the same reception as my E815. Both can make & answer calls where my housemate's RAZR cannot. The internal antenna seems to work perfectly.
The voice quality is excellent. I called my landline using the A870 and my housemate's RAZR. He could not tell which phone I was on and commented they both sounded excellent.
The Bluetooth paired perfectly with my Plantronics 645 headset and I am able to control the voice dialing with the button on the headset.
I have not found the Verizon interface to be a problem. The menus are very quick with no lag. You can remove the ERI banner, and have different wallpapers inside & out. You can remove the ERI banner & have different wallpaper inside & out. You can also set individual reminders for texts, pic messages, missed calls & voice mail.
The phone does only have a VGA camera. I occasionally email pictures to friends and while they are certainly clear, they are not on par with the 1+ mega pixel cameras. For me, this is not a big deal as I mostly use camera pics as wallpaper on the phone.
Samsung took out the ability to quickly switch to vibrate mode by holding the * key. On the A870, you have to open the phone, and use the volume key to scroll until you are on vibrate mode. This takes a few more clicks, but the upside is you can't accidentally change the ringer style with the phone closed in your pocket.
I removed the extension from an MP3 ringtone, emailed it to the phone, and saved it is a ringtone. It worked perfectly.
I would recommend this phone. To summarize:
Pros:
Great size & weight
Excellent reception
Good sound quality
Fast menus
Cons:
VGA camera
Method of switching between vibrate & ring
I like this phone (Samsung SIREN A870 Verizon)
I really liked this phone. I have had 2 of these. The first one was my fault that it broke and the screen got cracked because i dropped it flipped open
I was looking on the internet and I found out that I could get one for cheap and I just jumped litterally for the offer. The only problem I can seem to find is that sometimes the camera is blurry, and also if you have the phone on silent or viberate mode and you want to take a picture, then the phone shutter sound still goes off. I got a chocolate as a replacement for the first one and it broke and I tried one of the gzone boulders, it's just not holding a charge, so I am hoping I can stay with this one for awhile.
Great phone!
Have had this phone for a week and it has none of the sound qualities some have mentioned. In fact, it sounds like a land-line phone. The callers also sound as if they are right next door. Battery life is excellent; charged it on a Saturday night and has 3 out of 4 bars left on a Tues. eve. with intermittent calls and playing with the settings.
Pros:
Quality sound
Light weight
Great screen quality
Good pics
Verizon reception
Nice style
VZ Navigator (free 30-day trial until the 9/22 or thereabouts. must call VZ to get.)
Cons:
Can't change text size.
I would get another one of these in a minute. Don't use for music as I have an mp3 player. If you're looking for a basic camera phone with VZ Navigator, this is a fine choice.
My First Review
I purchased this phone last night as an upgrade to LG 8100 and needless to say it was promptly returned to VZW. It just didn't fit my needs and the things that I liked. Granted I only used it for like a few hours, but here are some pros/cons. Granted I am no expert on cell phones, but I wanted to give some feedback.
Pros:
It is very light and very compact size
Much lighter and thinner than the 8100 ( yes I realize the Vcast and all but I have hardly ever used that feature, so wasn't a huge selling point)
I like the voice recognition on Samsungs, always seem to pick up more than my old Moto or even this LG
Has Bluetooth
Cons:
Unlike my LG there is no button on the side to touch to activate the Voice Recognition for the BT, there is a speakerphone button, but I pressed that and no luck.
To use the VR on the Bluetooth you can set phone to activate on flip or by pressing zero, not all that handy for me, I prefer to press button on the 8100 to activate BT.
The text on the Web is really small, again something that I prefer on the 8100 is that I can see the text clearly and is visibly not distorted.
Other than those few things, the phone is really nice and I am sure will fit other peoples needs, just wasn't for me.
Again, this is my first attempt at a review, but I thought it may help.
Poor Signal Strength in Rural Area
Despite all the phone's great features, RURAL signal strength was weak at only 2 bars, and was dropping calls.
Otherwise it would be a great phone - easy to use, good volume control, "metallic" plastic cover doesn't show smudges. The flip hinge felt stable, keypad numbers are easy to select and push, good backlighting on keypad too. I'd recommend this phone only for people in metropolitan areas.
If the phone had an external antenna and better reception, I wouldn't have returned it to the Cricket store. I selected the Kyocera Slider Remix as its replacement, and get a full 4 bars of signal strength, indoors too.
Best Little Phone
O.K. Where to start? I had the E-815. I had the LG VX 8300. And now this is a keeper. I hope nothing better comes out, as I am paying retail for all these phones. The 8300 was giving me fits. The voice quality was not what I was looking for. Lots of bells and whistles. Whoopee. This is a phone for me and that is the most important function. The clarity of voice of the A870 is great. No dropped calls. Good Signal. The 8300 Bluetooth would have a bad connection about 10% of the time. Very frustrating when the other party can't hear you and vice-versa. I travel a lot and can't wait to get on the road with it, since it is the first tri-mode I've had in awhile. If you want a phone that is a phone, I highly recommend this one. I can live my life fully without the frills. Everyone has to find their own comfort zone, so keep trying until you get the one that works for you.
survivor
ive had this phone for over 15 months and its still going strong , i have had other phones in the mean time and have passed it to 2 other people in the mean while but has come back in the same condition. few scratches, and ts a bit chipped up from the falls it has taken , but it does not keep it from working . only down part is that it holds very bad signal at my new apartment but thats not the fault of the phone , but my carrier
