Samsung MM-A940
Average Ratings
Great Camera Phone
Some people express disappointment with the 2 Megapixel camera. I too was disappointed when I first used it. I soon realized, however, that as with many of the megapixel cameras, you need to turn on the AutoFocus in order to get a clear picture. Once I did this the picture quality became crystal clear.
The internet connection is blazing fast. Power Vision rocks the world! I wish Sprint TV were less expensive, but the feature is awesome.
I have heard of a few programming problems, specifically issues with the screen going out, but those are the exception and not the rule, not nearly as frequent as the RAZR issues.
Great phone that works well on Sprint Power Visions network.
Quick science lesson. EV-DO data speeds drop with distance. Sprint uses 1900MHz while Verizon uses 800MHz. 1900MHz needs more towers to cover any given area. That is why Sprint has been tested at having faster network speeds for both of their network technologys. Take into effect that Sprint offers more EV-DO related content then Verizon. This gives Sprint an advantage in this area.
Now that I have said this, you will understand more why I love using this phone. I have had this phone pretty much from day one of it's sales release. I was using Sprint's TV and radio before they started offering EV-DO access, which now makes the services MUCH faster.
Pros: Great sound quality, removable memory card so you can always add new content to your phone, much better camera then I have used in other phones, access to great content from Sprint, phone does not get as warm as other phones, small size, pretty good battery life, and on.
Cons: Overall cost. I do understand why it cost what it does, but I would have liked to buy it for less. I would have also liked for the A940 to have a Obigo browser, but I know the MM A900 Blade will have that.
Great start for Samsung's EV-DO phones. More are coming, so I would like to see what they have to offer. The MM A900 Blade is getting great reviews from what I have read.
Excellent quality samsung cellphone
I had this phone for about 4 days already. All I can say is wow. A bunch of features in 1 little cellphone. No need to carry a bunch of devices with you at all times. Just open the phone, turn the screen to the side and take a pic or shoot a long video. Bluetooth works excellent with no problems. Advanced voice dialing is simply incredible.
Pros
Bluetooth
Pretty good battery life
Power Vision is very fast
Large internal memory
1st Samsung with a speakerphone
Loud ringtones- not as loud as sanyos
Mp3 player
Price of phone is good
Good quality pics in low lighting
UI looks excellent
Business card scanner
Cons
Transflash max is 512mb
No Readylink
Non Qvga screen
Shutter speed is slow for a 2mp camera
Doesnt support mp3 format ringtones
1.9" SCREEN
Im happy I waited a long time for this phone instead of paying over $400 for a Sanyo 5600. This phone will be a keeper for a long time to come. There are several reasons why this phone didn't get a 5. The first reason is the screen is fairly small at 1.9"!! The second reason is "Slow Shutter Speed". Also the last reason is that the screen is non-qvga.
pros and cons
what can i say 2MP/Flash/2X optical zoom/camcorder phone great!! Too bad u have to transform the thing just to get it going, then of course if you happen to breathe the picture comes out all blurred. its great if you put a 4gb card in there fr mp3s hell thats bigger than my ipod. so ,
Pros:
1. the flashlight is pretty bright
2.
3. it fell in a puddle of water and came back from the dead 2 days later
Cons :
1. have to open to use camera
2. slow software
3. a little clunky
4. if you take a picture of yourself the lcd screen is upside down
a rating of 3.5 somwhere between not having a phone and having the " jesus iPhone"
Worst Camera Phone Ever
I loved everything about the Samsung A-940. Bluetooth, speakerphone, mp3 player, expansion card, except for the main reason that I bought it. The 2megapixel camera with optical zoom. The zoom works great, but once you take a picture, you get a blurry shot 9 out of 10 times. The only way to get a picture without it being blurry is to either hold the phone still much like a tripod would accomplish, or take it outside. I would not trust the quality of the pics you see in the store. After all the stores are made as bright as possible, but in the real world your pictures will be disappointing. I've had the Samsung VGA 1000, and the Samsung MM-a700, and both took great pics, just at lower resolutions. With these previous Samsung phones they only took blurry pics in very very low light, and still didn't require you to hold the camera perfectly still. The A940 pixelates pictures so bad that it almost makes those pics that are clear appear cartoonish, or doctored. All the other features on the phone are great, and it works well. This has made me rethink about Samsung as the leader in cellphones. After all what's the point of a $400 -$500 camera phone that can't take clear pics. I've written Samsung about this, and would encourage anyone else that has been disappointed in the camera quality to do the same. Another great feature of this phone is that you can update the firmware without having to go to a Sprint store.
My First Samsung
My last 3 phones have been Sanyo's and I thought I'd take a chance and try a Samsung. This is one of the best phones I have purchased. I have had the phone for almost 2 weeks and have adapted to the differences between the Samsung and previous Sanyo's. Here is what I consider the Pros and Cons of the phone:
PROS
Great feel holding the phone.
Power Vision is GREAT.
Signal strength matches Sanyo but is very good considering the internal antenna (Clearwater, FL).
Camera and video quality.
Menu animation/color/appearance.
More than adequate battery life.
(considering a lot of use of Power Vision and text messaging).
Camera design (flip/rotate view screen) grows on you and gets easier with use.
MP3 playback through headphones.
CONS
Speaker phone does not match the quality of Sanyo speaker phones.
Ringtones in phone seem antiquated especially compared to Sanyo's pre-installed ring tones.
Checking my Earthlink mail is a longer process due to the drop-down boxes.
Camera location (I always seem to touch the lens removing it from the case).
All in all the pros outweigh the cons. It took me about a week or so, but am glad I purchased the phone. I wouldn't say the price is right, but you get what you pay for. Also my plan now costs more per month because of moving up to Power Vision. What used to be a $50/month bill is now at $65 because of the Power Vision and having to pay for text messaging (which with my regular Vision was unlimited and included in my $10/month plan.
Using Power Vision is incredible - so fast!
I highly recommend this phone and as it is my first Samsung, I'm glad that I purchased it.
Voice call clarity is excellent and not having to worry about extending an antenna is nice.
Samsung A-940 - A COLOSSAL WASTE OF MONEY
I bought this phone when it first came out. The first few weeks I had the phone, it was cool, till I took a picture with it. PICTURES WERE BLURRED TO HELL!!! If you don't stand completely still, and your subject don't stand still after taking the shot, a blurry picture is the result. Also, the battery is a piece of crap. I usually keep my phone on at work and before I leave, my battery is near dead. The web access stayed hung up on the phone. I would usually have to turn the phone off and take the battery off and of course by that time the battery was almost dead. Yes it has all these "great" features, but for the money you spend, IT IS NOT WORTH IT. It also drop calls real bad. Of course all the bad stuff happened after it was too late to return the phone. I also had the Samsung e105. I WILL NEVER PURCHASE ANOTHER SAMSUNG PHONE AGAIN. Stick with Sanyos and Nokia phones. Samsung phones aren't worth the money you spend purchasing them.
Great Phone?? Sounds Muffled +horrible camera
If people call this one a great phone, then it is no more wonder to me that here-in United States we get the WORSEST CDMA TECHNOLOGY and the worsest GSM PHONES!
People are more worried with being able to download ring tones, taking stupid blurry pics with fake camera phones and talking in walkie talkie rather to paying attention to the earpiece sound quality of the phone!
SAMSUNG'S 2MP digital camera:
Samsung produces very low quality regular digital cameras. So how can you expect it to be decent in the cellular phone???? This phone's camera has absolutely no manual separate controls (so it's a joke).
SOUND QUALITY OF THE PHONE:
This is another issue on all Samsung phones
(including GSM ones). But the extreme horrible sound of this specific phone has more to do with GARBAGE CDMA NETWORK!
CDMA is perferc in JAPAN AND KOREA but not here!
I'm sorry , but I have to give this phone
0.0 points, because I simply get headaches
after I talk to someone on this phone for oever 5 minutes ( due to traditional unproportional CDMA sound quality, plus due to traditional Samsung's muffled sound!).
Major Issue...
I used this phone for a couple of days and for a Samsung, I was impressed.
HOWEVER, there is one major flaw. When the device was low on battery and I could not use the camera, I hooked it up to the charger. I tried to use the camera while the phone was on the charger and it STILL WOULD NOT let me use the camera because the battery was low. What's up with that? Shouldn't the device still allow you to use the camera and pull from the charger? Major issue!!
Great phone, but.....
I've had the phone for almost a week now and am very impressed with its capabilities.
The display is uterly fantastic. Picture quality and clarity are great.
Web access is quick and easy with very fast download rates. Impressive!
The camera is pretty easy to use, but it does take a little time to set up your shot. Also, it would be nice if you could take a picture without having to twist the display.
Speaking of twisting the display, it has detents that provide a nice amount of resistence under normal usage, but as someone else mentioned, opening the phone one-handed can be a little challenging and will require a bit of retraining.
The contact list is easy to edit, though the symbol usage is annoying. The grouping feature is good, but there's no capability to customize the group names, so you're stuck with the defaults.
My biggest problem with the phone is battery life. I'm getting about 6 hours of standby time before the battery goes dead. I checked with Sprint and their tech support verified that standby life is 5.5 hours. Very Disappointing!!!! I'm looking into getting the larger capacity battery to help a little. Powersave mode did absolutely nothing to help.
