Samsung SCH-A950
Average Ratings
A Great Phone
I am going to make this short and sweet: This is one great phone!
PRO's:
-great call sound quality
-Voice Signal name and digit dial system works great
-RF better than most phones in weak signal areas
-speakerphone works with flip closed.
-good battery life - 4 days for me
-more camera features than competitive phones
-mp3 player with jog wheel
-capable of 10 min videos with MicroSD card
-solid build quality with eye catching styling
Cons:
picture sharpness could be better
T9 word entry not expandable
EXCELLENT PHONE!!!!!
I don't even know where to start. Im a person who loves phones and knows a lot about them, so you can trust me when i tell you this phone is amazing.I first got Verizon about 3 1/2 years ago and I started with motorolas. All the from a v120,to a c333,to a t730, and a v810(straight from motorola). Th're okay but not the best. Then i went to an Audiovox cdm-8900,then an LG vx8000,then an LG VX8100,then an Audiovox cdm-8940, and finally this amazit'ing samsung sch-a950. It's the best phone overall that i've ever had. It may have it's little issues, but then again doesn't every other phone. The two LG's were okay, however, they tend to break a lot and aren't a very solid phone (the new LG's anyway).The audiovox was decent except for some lacking features and a low volume speakerphone. This Samsung has amazing features,an amazing camera, and amazing clarity. It's so cool how you can take 10 minute videos, and are by far the best quality videos out of all my video phones(the video doesn't break up nearly as much). Also, the camera is very clear, but you need to be in good lighting. The speakerphone and the speaker in generalis great. Very loud and very clear for both calls and MP3'S, which by the cway is a great feature.
Pros:
-Great Reception (especially for an internal antenna
-Call quality is amazing
-Phone build is well designed
-Internal Intenna is great
-Nice camera and camcorder
-Screen is very clear
Cons:
-picture wallpapers don;t fill up the screen, no matter the resolution
-must be in great lighting for pictures
-external screen shuts off fast and you have to hold for a while to get back on
-limited ringtone choices(although you CAN record your own)
The rest of the phone really speaks for itself. Although is has some cons, they are issues that aren't a big deal. Overall, i give this phone a 4.9 out of 5. I definatley recommend it!
Great Phone
I really like the quality of the phone build. I didn't think the software was all that bad. I don't like the "intenna". When ever I put my finger over it, my call gets dropped. Camera quality is really good.Nice Big Color screen on the front.
PROS...
1.Great Build Quality
2.Great Camera Quality
3.Removable media
4.V Cast
5.mp3 Player
6.Stereo Speakers
7.Loud Speaker Phone
8.Big Main Screen
9.Good Wallpaper
10.High end look
CONS...
1.Not a Big selection of ringers
2.No regular ring
3." Not So Great (I like the look though)
Overall it is a Great Phone.
I highly recommend this phone!
Love my 950!!!!
I was tossing between this phone and the LG9800, and decided on the a950. Size and form factor (I like to eat my candy bars, not talk on them...I just prefer the flip phones) were the main factors, plus my good experience with my previous a670. Also I don't text much, so the QWERTY keyboard and screen of the 9800 would have been overkill for me.
Good battery life, great phone sound, loud ringers (just very limited), decent MP3 sound, very solid phone. The scroll wheel could be a bit quicker to move through the MP3 list, but it's a phone. If I want really good music sound and navigation, I'll use my iPod. Remember, its a phone first, the other stuff second.
I was nervous about no external antenna, but my signal is as good as on my 670, which was one of the best phones I ever had (South Jersey/Philadelphia area on Verizon). I got a good new every two deal, plus the rebate...well worth it.
PROS
Signal strength.
Solid phone.
Loud ringers.
Fast GIN connections.
Great ringtone sound.
Good speakerphone.
CONS
No transflash card (not that big a deal).
No holster.
Few ringtones included.
Scroll wheel is slow for a long MP3 list.
Blacked out screen takes a bit of getting used to.
Great Features, Solid Phone
This is a great phone, one of the best I have ever had>
Pros:
- Reception is Great
- Screen is large & bright
- Bluetooth works well
- Good Camera Quality
- Speakerphone
- MP3 player
- Solid Feel
- Sound Quality
- Internal Antenna
- Small phone for the amount of features offered.
Cons:
- No normal ringtones
- Verizon UI, but I guess I will have to get used to this since all phones from Verizon will have this.
All in all this is a great phone with lots of features. I would definitely recommend this phone. Hope this helps.
good phone
Good phone overall. I switched to this phone from the 9800 because the 9800 cost way too much for me.
PROS:
1. Sound quality is pretty good.
2. Speaker phone very loud.
3. BT is pretty good.
4. Camera and Camcorder has a lot of options. I haven't really tested out the quality though. I like the fact that you can switch between 15 seconds and a couple of minutes for the camcorder.
5. You can set sounds as ringtones, something missing from the 9800 and 8100.
6. Some cool tool features.
CONS:
1. Calendar doesn't seem to do reoccurring events properly. I'm probably doing it wrong though.
2. Reception is alright but not as great as the motos or the 9800.
3. Menu system still needs some work on. I feel a little bit of lag when going through the menu system really fast.
Overall it's a really nice phone.
Phone Awesome - Verizon Not
While the phone itself is great I cannot believe that Verizon is so greedy as to cripple the very features that would make this phone an outstanding product.
Pros:
~ Good reception and sound quality
~ Decent camera with flash and output options (B+W, posterize)
~ Solid construction and internal antenna
~ Screen on front and flip
Cons:
~ Bluetooth crippled for all but headset use
~ Transflash card not included
~ Verizon interface geared towards their pay services, and not the user
~ no assurance from Verizon that data cable will allow data uploads to transflash card
As said before the phone is great, but the a950 is supposed to be an MP3 player and a camera/video phone as well. The fact that user cannot get the data to make these features work onto and off of the phone without using Verizon's services is a travesty.
1st View of the SCH-A950
Well,
I got one for my wife and I yesterday at Circuit City and one for my friend as well.
It is definitely the nicest of the (all in wonder phones) IE. E815/8100/9800 etc. It's size and overall build quality and feel is awesome.
The inside screen is very nice and of course it now incorporates the LG style menu system like most other new Verizon Phones.
The outside display is fine and has plenty of Resolution and color.
Ringer volume is very loud and nice, they don't supply to many but so what.
The Camera is excellent so far and takes very nice photos and very decent Camcorder videos.
The Speaker Phone is questionable. Sometimes it seems really good and sometimes people here some feedback. But remember so does the E815. The E815 speaker goes from great to aweful from time to time.
The bluetooth seems okay and we have a few of the new Jabra headsets 350 model and it works okay. Bluetooth to me is somewhat useless as the voice quality in a phone conversation is crucial and Bluetooth regardless of who's it is reduces the sound quality and makes for a mediocre conversation. I have not heard a Bluetooth connection with the sound level like the earpiece.
Voice Dialing is good and is the same level as the E815.
The overal sound quality to the person on the other end is somehting to think about. It is the D/A convertor's that make this happen. Seems each phone has a different quality. We tested the 950 against the E815, Samsung A630 and Samsung 670 and Samsung 850 today.
The A670 still has the best sound quality to the other party. The 950 is somewhat on par with the other Samsungs maybe a bit worse and all the Samsungs sounded better than the Digital Sound of the E815 Moto.
Continued ---
Great Phone!!
This is a great phone. I have had this phone since June 2, 2006. Call quality is great and call and ringer volume is very loud too. Though they are not as loud as my Sony Ericsson z520a, but they are great. When I switched from GSM to CDMA I could tell there was a big difference. When talking on a GSM phone the voice quality sounds like the person was right next to you talking in you ear. When I switched to CDMA you can tell the voice quality is not as good a gsm. It sounds like they are talking in a can, so the voice quality is a little muffled. But, CDMA beat GSM any day as far as signal goes. I just switched from Cingular to Verizon, and am loving every minute of it. This phone is great on there network and so is the LG VX8300 that my brother has. The only thing I had a problem with was switching to extended network from Verizon and Vice Versa. This part of the review is mainly focused from going from Tallahassee, FL to Sopchoppy, FL and Vice-Versa. When I would go out of verizon wireless coverage area into alltel(that is there roaming partner down there) the phone would hold onto verizon even though it showed on the map that I was dead center in the extended coverage area, and when I would finally switch into alltel and go back out of sopchoppy into Tallahassee, FL I would still be using alltel's network until about an hour or two before the phone would switch back into Verizon Mode.
Pros:
Loud phone(mean in every way)
Backlighting good
Screens very colorful
Cons:
OBEX is disabled on Bluetooth I hate that
When closing the phone the outside display is not bright. You have to hold one of the buttons to make it brighter.
Overall Great phone!!!
Good technology crippled by Verizon
The "mp3 maestro" has nothing mp3 about it!
A great basic phone for the average user, if normal use consists only of making phonecalls and rarely taking pictures. Good connections to bluetooth headset, good speakerphone, clear screen, etc. The foundation of a good phone is there. But....
A HORRIBLE (cannot stress this enough) phone for someone who explores all the phone's features and actually uses the technology it offers.--Most features that make this a "great" phone have been permanently disabled by Verizon.
This phone is an acclaimed piece of hardware, even the first featured product on the frontpage of samsung.com (as of 2/26/06). However, KEY features have been disabled.
1) menus have been authored by verizon and are completely counter-intuitive. It takes a minimum of 7 button-presses to open a photo in your album. (Otherwise you could turn on the camera, wait for it to load, then switch to the album). A minimum of 5-presses to open a song. I owned an older Samsung phone, which broke, and I wish more than anything that i could have it back. It was much easier.
1.a) This phone is capable of transferring phone numbers via bluetooth, but verizon disabled this feature. And good luck finding a Verizon store that does it, (i went to two and both couldnt)
2) text message entry does not remember new words! This is a STANDARD feature of T9 text. Why the *%#* did Verizon disable it? Even my older samsung had it.
3) Key music transfer features have been disabled, namely BLUETOOTH and/or USB transfer!!!! This phone is called the "mp3 maestro"! the only way you can get mp3s on it is by paying verizon per song! I can't put my own recordings on it!
4)The miniscule memory card is the only way you can transfer files to it; by physically removing it, putting it in an sd card adaptor, hooking it up to your comp, etc. Keep in mind this is not a standard SD card, and it is much more fragile. Even Scandisk claims this card is "not for file transfer".
