Samsung SCH-A310
Average Ratings
Plenty of bang for the buck
I just converted to this phone after having owned the Motorola T720 for about 3 weeks. As time went on I got frustrated with its slow response and numerous software glitches.
Tonight I switched to the A310 after having sold a good number of these phones to friends and co-workers. I am impressed... more than I ever was by the T720.
The interface takes a bit of getting used to, but having played with the A500 a bit I was somewhat accustomed to it. It takes some getting used to but it's not the most difficult interface in the world (Motorola Talkabout T2260, anyone? ;)
The ringers certainly aren't the loudest they could be, but the earpiece volume during a call is outstanding, good for folks like me who drive a loud clunker of a car a couple hours a day. Contrary to some reviews here, I've found the audio to be quite crisp and clear, though I have done some back-end tweaking of the phone's vocoder setting (e-mail me, steve@stevecrow.net) for help changing this, it'll really improve sound in most markets.
As for the battery life-- yes I know it sucks right out the box, but like someone else reported here it does get better with time. You can also make your battery life a lot longer by changing the phone's Slot Cycle Index (how often the phone "talks" to the network while it's idle, checking for calls) and again you can e-mail me if you want to try this.
On MobileWeb, this phone ROCKS. I have never seen a phone this responsive on the wireless web. I think it's about 6 lines of text on the screen in the browser, and the text is just the right size, too.
The voice activated dialing is great, easy to program and very accurate. Little-known feature: the Voice Answer function, similar to that of the Sanyo 6x00 and several other Sprint phones, which turns the phone into an answering machine/call screener. I do wish this phone had the new Digit Dial found on other Samsungs.
All around, a great phone, especially for the $99 price tag.
The BEST phone verizon has....
I've had this phone for about 10 days now and love everything about it. the screen is bright and easy to read, i love the customization features for callers, i.e. diffrent colors, ringtones, group lists. the size is great, i'm still waiting on the mail in holster to come through. i've had the v60i and i think this phone is MILES ahead of that one, the interface on the v60i looks somewhat archaic and can't hold a different ring for different callers, a MUST in my eyes. My reception has been fine and my battery life has been ever improving as well. you must run the battery down and charge it up fully again. i've charged the phone about 6 times. I find the battery lasts about 36-48 hours when i talk about 60 minutes, send/recieve about 15-25 text messages, and leave it on standby the rest of the time. the text messaging and "keypad intensive" functions tend to drain the battery more than any other function, including using the phone for it's main function, talking. Since i'm in my 15-day guarantee period, i went to look at the new T720 today and was NOT IMPRESSED at all. the casing felt flimsy, like the startac, the screen was VERY dull and the interface is still the archaic one used with the v60i, it just has a color screen. The downloadable features are nice, but hopefully the a310 will have a firmware upgrade for that down the line. If you want to go for a powerhouse of a phone with good looks and GREAT "phone" features, go with the A310. The T720 is a sharp looking phone, but i'm more concerned with functionality and quality, than I am with color screens and cheaply made phones.
ringers and calculator
Regarding two previous posts: I do not believe the a310 will allow you to assign a specific ringer to an phone book entry. You can assign different colors for the external display, but only for an entire group, not an individual entry. I would be happy for someone to prove me wrong, however...
And this phone does indeed have a calculator, under Menu, 5-Planner, 9-Calculator.
I've had the phone for about four days and am generally pleased with it. I do wish Samsung could have provided a regular ringer, but I can certainly make do with what's there. Also, the phone went into roaming once when it should not have; the next time I drove the same route it stayed in network just fine...?
One other minor annoyance - be careful the order in which you make phone book entries as you cannot reassign without overwriting. You should be able to "insert" an entry and have the rest shift down a number. Again, this is only a minor inconvenience.
Call quality has been excellent, even with the one bar of signal strength I frequently get in my home.
a310
I like this phone a lot. It is a good phone and it works very nicely. My wife, Loretta, my kids, Bill and Francesca, and my boss also own this phone. Though we do not agree all the time, we all agree that is phone is very nice for what it is- a phone.
Best Verizon phone out...for a few more days
I've had this phone for a little over a week now and let me tell you, I've had it give me the low battery notification ONCE! The only time this phoe is off is when I'm sleeping or it's charging (usually one in the same). The ring tones are fine for now, there's still a possibility of changing them. And if nothing is "professional" enough then there are bells. Like a nokia single tone playing a Prince song is any more professional? As for voice quality, everyone that I've talked to has said that it sounds like land line. RF has been really good as well. In my home town i live in a heavily wooded and hilly zone. Nobody gets service on one side of town but this phone actually popped onto analog there and was able to find a signal where nothing could. As size goes, it's pretty dang small...but all the buttons and such are easy to use. The rocker for menu control in great...it takes a few minutes to learn to avoid the i-net button, but it didn't bother me. The phone book is great, as well. There are a few little quirks like only one voice dial per phonebook entry, but that's no big problem for me. And the color backlight on the external LCD as AWESOME. I tell you...if I felt there was anything significantly wrong w/ this phone for my usage, I wouldn't give it a five. Maybe I'm optimistic about the phone syncing, but that's just me. I hope this review is helpful...if not a little disjointed.
Do yourself a favor and read this!
After spending several days frustrated, I finally learned how to set the outer display to show the callers name too. I learned this via the internet. When entering numbers into the phone book, include the area code WITHOUT A 1 BEFORE THE CODE. Now you can view the persons number too with the phone closed. This is my first Samsung and I had read reviews stating the phone is not user friendly. I have found this to be true visa vie Nokia phones. Other than the manual being vague and having to push multiple buttons for a simple task, this phone is great. Only had the phone for 5 days though so my feelings could change. The manual is PATHETIC and for such a large "book" I would expect in depth explanations.
good phone
Great looks, Great performance in digital areas..not so great in analog. User freindly..love the way the navigation keys are set. The only complaint from customers are the ring tones. Not a very good selection. Over all a good recommendation.
Samsung A310
I love this phone! After reading some of the reviews I was a little worried about my choice of phones, but I'm perfectly comfortable with this one. Clear display, reception is good, webbrowser responds very well, and the voice dial is impressive.
If you want the works and looks this phone got it.
I had SCH-A310 for over 2 weeks now. I used to have Sprint and all I had was problem. I called sprint services to complain but customer service just kept informing me it's my phone that has a problem not the service. So I changed my phone and same problem persisted. I called the Sprint services after changing my phone but they were no help but started telling me that it might be my phone again. I gave up on SPRINT after using it for 2 yrs and a half. But now with (VERIZON)A310 I have clear connection without getting disconnected. I like the looks and connection. I love how it has up to 6 different colors for different types of group of people. I must say I feel good knowing that I am getting my moneys worth. I think anyone spending money on the phone and service should at least get connected and know they got there moneys worth.
TWO THUMBS UP FROM ME!! A-310 (SAMSUNG)
Stupid stupid scratches!!
I love this phone. It's cute and little. My biggest complain about it is how easy it is to scratch the screen on the inside. There is not enough padding to prevent the piece between the buttons from clicking against the screen when you close it. I keep good care of everything I own, and I was really annoyed that no matter how soft I close the flip top of it, I have two huge parallel scratches on the face of the window. Rawr. The phone is great other than that.
