Samsung SPH-A680 / VM-A680
Average Ratings
reliable, durable, and lasts forever!
I have owned this phone for over 5 years. That's right, 5 years. I have had newer phones a few times but I always choose to go back to this one. When I say I have had this phone for five years let me please explain that I mean that the phone I use every day is 5 years old. I have never needed a replacement. I have dropped it hundreds of times, and even gotten it wet a bunch of times. It just won't die. I am a working mom, and if you need a phone that will last through years and years of rough wear and tear this would be a GREAT choice. Most people would freak out if a one year old was walking around with their cell phone, worrying that it will get damaged. Not I, because my phone is the most durable phone I have ever seen. I lock my phone so my one year old can't make calls and away he can go with it. One of the best things about this phone is even though it is 5 years old it still looks brand new. If you look closely it seems to be a little scratched but from even 10 inches away it looks brand new. They sure don't make them the way they used to.
Outdated replacement
I got this phone from my cousin as a temporary until I got my UpStage fixed (in all I owned it for 2 months) and by the time I got this phone it was quite outdated. The battery was OK but the reception was next to awful. I could not text on it either. The camera was OK but all the pictures I took with it appeared somewhat "washed out". The plastic over the screen on the front of the phone was very weak and it broke very easily. Internet was slow and at times it would make the phone shut itself off and sometimes people calling me got sent directly to my voicemail and when they left their message it could take days for my phone to tell me that I had a voicemail. I also hate to say this but the ring tones that came on the phone were somewhat "lame" (not very loud either) and the vibrate function was very weak. I also had many pictures of the inside of my pocket. On a final side note, the alarm clock function did not always work and when it did it would sometimes not go off at the right time but go off a couple hours early or a couple hours late (which is very bad).
The best phone I've owned
The Samsung A680 is great for people who want the fancy stuff like pxt and video. I would recommend this phone to anyone!
Pros:
Camera takes awesome photos for a cell phone
Video - never had a video phone before but surprised by the high quality.
Looks really stylish with the colour
Mirror is great after 25 seconds of non use
Very strong - Although had a hard life - It's still going great.
Cons:
Doesn't have games
No extra faceplate's
The keypad is not that great making it hard to text
Bad battery life (But can buy new ones for only $10!!
Thats all I can think of at the moment.
So far I've had around 18 phones and this is by far the best. To anyone thats thinking or looking at buying on - I say, Go for it!
Good while it lasted
I've had this phone for almost a year and a half, and while it was a good phone with good reception, it certainly had its odd behaviours that progressively got worse as it aged.
Firstly, if I closed the flip without sticking a finger in between the "halves"to soften the blow, the phone would turn off probably because the battery would momentarily lose contact. I would have to turn the phone back on manually. I sent the phone away for repair and that didn't help.
Now, within the past few months, it has been acting even more strangely. Although the reception had been outstanding before, the phone has started to sound like a 20 year old cheap cordless at times. I have to hang up and redial and then the connection improves. Maybe it's dirty, who knows.
In case you're thinking my phone is simply a lemon, my sister bought the same phone about a week before I did, and she has been noticing the same degredation in call quality and in general functionality of the phone.
If you're looking to buy a phone off ebay because you lost your old one and are in a contract, go for this phone as it's fairly good even when it starts its downhill spiral. If, however, you're considering buying this phone on a contract, i would say don't sign anything longer than a year because your phone won't survive longer than that. If you want, get the protection plan, but my experience has been that nothing actually gets repaired.
This phone's longevity is either due to "planned obsolecense" or just shoddy Samsung construction, and as this is my 2nd Samsung phone, I'm much more likely to believe it is shoddy construction.
Of course, that's just my two cents.
By the way, a great way to save power is to turn "power save" on. Your screen will be dimmer, but it's still plenty bright enough. One of the major pluses of this phone is the insanely beautiful LCD
Cool
I Know that they don't make this phone anymore but i recently got and i love it
Pros: mirror on front screen
awsome camera for a phone (way better than my moto v220)
takes video
great signal (sprint)
voice dialing (all i have to do is pen my phone)
Cons: man, battery only one day of using games, video , camera
So far its been great
I Loved this phone
I loved this phone. I recently just upgrade to the LG-225 and it's a good phone but it had nothing on this Samsung 680. The ONLY thing that the samsung was missing was the speaker phone option. Other than that it was the best. I did have some problems with mine, the sound went out on it for no reason, when someone would call me it would sound that music on a radio station that wasn't coming in all the way. When I took it into sprint they said it had to of been my fault so they wouldn't fix it so I had to upgrade to something different.
But I have to say if that wouldn't of happend I would still have this phone because I was the best !!!! I wish it wouldn't have got discontinued cause I would have just got another one. :o)
So to anyone that has this phone, You are a very lucky person, hold on to it for as long as you can!!!
Pretty much the best phone
I love this phone. So much, that I decided I'd become one of those consumers who posts a report on the internet.
It's small, sleek design fits easily in your pocket. The screen is bright and colorful (although a little difficult to read in bright sunlight). I've never had reception problems, even in remote areas.
This is my first camera phone - I was a little skeptical about buying one at first, because I figured I've never really need or use it...that's what my digi-cam is for. But since I've had it, I've snapped all kinds of fun pictures that are cool to put as your screen saver or as a caller's ID on the outside LCD.
The external LCD is great...it keeps the time when idle, and tells who's calling with Caller ID (again, with ID picture...very cool).
It even comes with tolerable ring-tones, which is sometimes hard to find. Buy this phone!
Sprint - Samsung SPH A680
I would never recommend this phone.
I dropped the phone once and the LCD cracked. Now the phone does not ring. From what I read about in other reviews, there is a bug in the phone, but Sprint will not take ownership of gettting it fixed. So, now I am stuck with a phone tat does not ring - only vibrates. I would recommend NOT buying this phone for this reason alone. Additionally, Sprint needs to take ownership of their product line and announce recalls when customers find a common problem that impairs use of a phone. What good is a phone that doesn't ring?
One GREAT Phone
THIS IS ONE GREAT PHONE! I got this phone through Qwest and it is just amazing! It has GREAT resolution for both camera and camcorder. It even has a bright flash and movie light! (It is amazing how one small light can give off so much!) Nice small, compact, sleek design. Although some people don't like how the keyboard gets warm while the lights are on, I think of it as a hand warmer! :-D Even though Qwest doesn't have the greatest network I still get AWESOME reception and people hear me real clear! If you are able to get your hands on one of these I absolutely recommend this!
