Samsung UpStage M620
Phone Scoop Review
Apr 19, 2007 by Eric Lin
Our in-depth review of Sprint's two-sided music phone. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Don't beleive everything you read
First off there is not one perfect phone the market, secondly I'm disappointed the writer of the main review left out so much detail about this particular phone, let me fix this.
FORM
The constant flipping can get annoying but can be mastered. There is nothing wrong with the navigation pad on the media side either as you can have just as much trouble with an ipod.
MUSIC
The music will load slow,it takes maybe 20 seconds or less to play a song, but it never gets in the way of phone calls and text messaging, it is a phone first and $ foremost. A plus for this phone is it will play any song in MP3 format, or just use the sprint music manager to convert it, other phones will display certain Map's but wont be able to play em.
DISPLAY
while the screen on the opposite side is small, i've had the upstage 2 months and yet have i found myself unable to read anything on that side. All the other things belong on the media side anyway.
CAMERA
The camera isn't meant for indoor use in any form, but it can take wonderful outdoor pics, and if that aint good enough plug the micro sd card and adapter into your own camera or someone else's.
BATTERY LIFE
Now the phone itself isn't gonna last very long, thats why they added the extended battery wallet, leave it plugged in and you can listen to music and take calls all day, and when the phone 's batter is dead it will cancel music, internet, etc but calls and text can be made with the last of the wallets battery.
WEB BROWSING
I dont even wanna go there, phones maybe except the Helio Ocean and Iphone aren't meant for this, that's why there called MUSIC phones.
The other problems are common among phones, like not being able to change the default menu shortcuts, freezing and poor pic quality remember it's a phone and its the first of its kind, glitches should have been expected but it be nice to see a phone without them. All other problems stem from people not picking the right kinda of phone for them.
Excellent trendsetter....Terrible phone
Where do I begin?
I owned this phone for approximately 3 weeks and when I got it, I knew I had a keeper...
My new phone is on its way today!!
The features I did like about the upstage were:
-The clarity of the pictures was exceptional
-The look of the phone is extremely attractive and I look good with it up to my ear lol
-The extra battery comes in handy (I haven't had to charge my phone in the last three days)
-The multitasking feature, which allows you to listen to music while browsing the web and such
-The memory is more than enough for my intended use; it has a memory card up to 4G
The features I didn't like:
-Without the extra battery the phone's internal battery sucks
-The phone becomes awkward to speak on when the battery pack is attached.
-Signal strength is not always good. I am afraid of my phone bill this month because of all the roaming it was doing.
-The touch pad even with getting used to, is extremely annoying
-The need to constantly flip back and forth has really started to bother me
-How can I play tetris on my phone with that horrible contraption called a touch pad?!!!
-The ringers are ascending, and I often miss calls
If functionality (U actually want to talk on it) in a phone is what you're looking for this is not the phone for you. I consider myself very electronic savvy and I have no interest in mastering this catastrophe of software glitches and poorly integrated features
Not worth the trouble.
I got this phone about 4 days ago and loved it when I saw it in the display case at the Sprint store. I picked the phone, originally, because of the thin design and mp3 capabilities. It's a new design that looks very modern and looks like it would be full of great effects and options. Also,I had heard good things about the phone.
However, when I got the phone home and began to use it, my opinion rapidly changed. The battery life is the biggest problem for me. I let the phone charge a full time before using. However, the next day and everyday since I have had to plug the phone up and let it charge completely at least twice during each 24hr period. There are some glitches in my screens as well. If a text comes in while you're sending another, the phone locks up. Just tonight the 'Looking for Service' message was on my screen for hours, even though I was using the phone and had signal - It was simply stuck. The buttons on the main side around the OK button, as far as I have found, are not programmable. You cannot read previously read texts or outbox texts without flipping the phone. Alarm cannot be set from only one side. The list goes on.
The one upside to the Upstage that I have found, other than the neato look, is the signal strength. This phone picks up EVERYWHERE. I have Sprint in KY where we have lots of mountains and this phone has no problem reaching signal anywhere/everywhere.
Neat phone in theory but will be going back to the store tomorrow. I hate that too... I was looking forward to it.
great idea, poor execution
not gonna spend a lotta time rehashing the good points, which are plentiful.
First I will say that I like the battery wallet concept. for those who don't like the bulk, you likely are missing the point. If I don't have my bluetooth turned on, the phone will usually last all day, unless I use the mp3 or internet a bunch.... thats without the battery. With the battery it last me all day, period, and sometimes two....and thats with me being on my bluetooth constantly, which lets me keep tha phone in my pocket, and therefore negates the complaint about the "bulky" case (which is no bulkier than most closed flip-phones).
Secondly, anyone who has a razor, blade, or katana can attest that sucky battery life is part and parcel to the slimline phone craze.....and you want bulky and ugly, try slapping on the extended life battery for one of those. So give samsung kudos for an innovative idea, even if the execution could be better(like one of the body-glove type cases).
UNFORTUNATELY..... I got my upstage 2 days after they were released, and am now on my third handset, which sprint is trading out for a Musiq this week for my troubles(hope this one is better than the LG phones I have had in the past). All three started malfunctioning, and wouls eventually lockup to the point where the reset feature did NOTHING. the second one locked itself into some weird download mode in the middle of a phone call, and none of the controls would work, so you could not shut it off (and since the battery is not accessable, you don't have the usual emergency option). By the time i got it to the sprint store, it had melted its little brain, and they could not even salvage my phone book....R.I.P.
The problem appears to be that with all the functions and that everpresent big screen(which you can program to shut off whenever you like)that it generates a lot of heat, which is magnified by the sealed case design. Heat+CPU= bad Things.
So cool idea, but too many bugs.
Great MP3 Player
This is my third Samsung phone for Sprint in a row. Ive had a a920, m610, and now the m620. After only having it for 3 days I can already say that this phone is far superior to my first two phone, or any other phone ive played with to date, but only if you want it as a mp3 player.
PROS
The MP3 side of the phone.
Can handle a 2gig flash card.
The other phones i have had only handle a 1gig.
A2DP bluetooth profile(Stereo Audio Transfer). Not all bluetooth capable phone are equal. I pair this with a Sony car deck with A2DP capabilities and it rules. I am waiting to get a pair of bluetooth headphones but havent seen any i think are worth giving out $100 for. I did play with the phone hooked up to a pair of Motorola s9 headphones and they seemed to work very nice. Anyone complaing about the wierd headphone jack, try useing the phone for what it was made for. BLUETOOTH. It makes the Ipod seem cumbersome.
Extra Battery. The case with the extra battery is wierd, but not as wierd as holding your dead phone wondering how to call someone. The battery life is simply amazing on this thing. No other phone I know of competes with the talk time of this phone. I bike alot and the combination of the two batteries is very handy.
CONS
If you buy this phone for what it is billed as, a MP3 player phone, there arent any really. Maybe making it a little bigger and able to use a SDHC 8 gig card would be very nice. I did see a 1.8" 32 gig flashdrive from samsung (i will just keep my fingers crossed.) If you just want a phone to talk on the LG TP-5250 is a very nice phone, you can probably pick one up very cheaply, and it is probably very easy to use.
All in all i really like this phone. I played with it for about 3 hours after i got it really trying to figure out everything the phone can do. It doesnt work like a normal phone. Make sure you spend the time to figure out ALL of the menus and what they do. It will make you flip the phone fewer times
i am impressed
this device, i must say, surprised me. in how it works, capabilities, the whole package.
id like to first note as others might have, this device is first and foremost an mp3 player and then a phone. that should be obvious noting the design.
pros:
texting is better than any other samsung i have ever had, and the fact that you can scan your recieved texts for words not already included in t9 is fantastic
the camera is also the best 1.3 i have seen in samsung. very crisp. the camera also has an option that after you take a pic, you can select "postcard" option, take a picture of text, and it will scan the text and impliment this into the photo. it even gives option to change color and reposition the text on the pic. very nice. video while slightly pixelated during playback is nice as well
i could go on with pros, but im sure you will get the idea with other reviews on here.
CONS:
1.whenever the phone rings, its always acending the ringtone. weather its a text or call or voicemail. its very annoying and imo the most major dissapointment
2. when a blutooth headset is connected the phone, the phone does not ring. it does announce whos calling through the heaset, which is VERY nice indeed. but i still want my phone to ring as well.
3.on the mp3 side the icons on the lower portion of the sreen are uncustomizable. and unremoveable. as i dont always want to play music, buy music or sync my phone, the option to alter the shortcuts whould have been very valuable
everything else on this phone, unless one receives a defective model, is nice. actually in my experience the only two other things one could possibly complain about is that its a tad difficult to read incomming text on phone side and the phone takes awhile to charge. but those are minimal and easily resolved. this is an outstanding phone. and while the touch pad can be a bit tedious at first, its not bad. i must admit tho, it would have been way more effecient to make it a limited key pad.
Interesting little phone
I went to return my Samsung M610 the other day because it was not loud enough for me. I saw this phone and knew I absolutely had to get it.
After it was all activated the phone had a nice tutorial showing the ins and outs of the phone. Texting at first is a little confusing but after the first day you get very used to it. The call quality is A+.
A few negatives on the phone is that very few applications support this phone. There is a total of FOUR games that this phone can play, which sounds crazy. Not to mention playing those games are rather difficult. My phone also locked up on me and since you can't take off the battery the phone is very difficult to restart.
Overall its a real fun alternative phone. I can't wait until more applications and games support it.
Great phone
Now unlike most people on this site that claim they are cell phone addicts... I can honestly say that I am with confidence. I just have to have the newest gadget. Over the past 2 years i have owned:
Palm Treo 650
PPC 6700
Samsung a900
Samsung a940
Treo 700p
Blackberry 7130
LG Fusic
Sanyo M1
V3m
L7 slvr
I just bought this phone 2 days ago and I LOVE IT!!!
PROS:
*TINY!!!! Just cant stress that enough. Fits in my pocket so well that I forget its there
*Great camera quality (looks nice on that big beautiful screen
*Call quality is AMAZING!!
*Reception couldnt be better
CONS:
*Battery life (not about to carry around this wallet. But if you just call and text mainly... batery life wont be a problem becasue it doesnt take much power to use the small screen on the phone side)
*Flipping... can be annoying at times
*Non-replacable battery. (so if your battery goes bad... youll have to replace your entire phone
*MP3 player could be louder
All-in-all.... BEST PHONE IVE EVER HAD!! HANDS DOWN!!
It just feels right
Yes, I bought the UpStage before I really knew if it was going to be worth my while. I never do that. Usually I give a phone a month before I consider buying it. So, after almost 2 months of owning the 620 I feel I am an authority on the Sprint iPhone alternative.
Pros:
*form factor - slim, slick, sleek
*screen size (mp3 side)
*battery life
*ability to send an application to the background
*music clarity
*2 gb card capable
*music store - all added music is put into your music store and not the media player (good for organizing)
*t9 and personal dictionary
*camera - you can use the previewer on either side of the phone
Cons:
*call clarity - others have trouble hearing me at times depending on how I am holding the phone
*touchpad - cool idea but it makes some operations hard (especially games)
*ascending ringtones
*slow - it seems like the phone has a bit of delay between my key choices and the reaction time
*background manager - when sending the music player to the background and then texting, it stops the music
*bluetooth - call clarity is sketchy
*useablity - a lot of customers would not be smart enough to use this device
All in all, this phone is a great buy. It is reliable and good looking. It definately is an eye catcher and has a boat-load of features. So, if you're technologically savvy and want a phone that makes you look as good as you are smart then this is the phone for you. Be careful though, if you're not the sharpest tool in the shed this phone will make you look like a moron faster than drinking milk at a NASCAR race will.
Good phone with a lot of bugs
I have had a lot of Samsung phones and they have been great but this phone has a lot of bugs.
Pros: Good phone with nice design concept and the voice recognition works great.
Cons/Bugs:
1. Allows you to make a roaming call without hitting an extra key even when the feature is turned on.
2. When you set a video ring as your default ring it switches back to the default ringer after turning the phone off.
3. When in airplane mode the alarm will not go off.
4. Will not play music threw a normal Blue Tooth headset
