Samsung SCH-A950
Average Ratings
Good features, but still lacking
I finally decided to trade in my trusty lg vx-6000 after nearly two and a half years.
I've had the Samsung a950 for 3 days now.
Pros
- Screen is excellent
- Bluetooth is great
- Camera is amazing
- speakerphone is pretty clear
- good display for contacts (you can press left/right to flip between numbers in an entry)
- mp3 player is nice
- evdo is quite fast
- wap 2.0 works well.
- no antenna stub
Cons
- The interface still seems to need some work
- you can't send a call straight to voicemail
- you can't set the default entry for txt messages to predictive entry
- I use to be able to press the side button on the lg and use the phone as a clock, now you have to hold down the button for a couple seconds. Also the lg shows missed calls on the external screen.
- Settings are randomly scattered about the interface
- no normal rings
- the screen turns off while you are on a call, so you can't see the timer.
I think I'm going to return it and wait for the cdma razr.
red hot. like a burning flame.
yo it's your boy g back at you again. let me tell you this phone is HOT sun (pun intended) i like this phone man
This Phone is a Great "MUSIC MAESTRO"
First of all, in response to the review below, this phone was renamed the "MUSIC MAESTRO" by Samsung after the VCAST MUSIC service was introduced! So, no it is not an MP3 player, but BETTER. Syncing music works great on this phone, functions better than the MP3 player because now you can make playlists, manage your music better, see album covers and titles while listening to your music. This is a GREAT phone!
Disappointing step back in technology
This phone has everything you want, unless you want a phone.
There is no one-touch silent mode operation. If you desire silent mode, you have to click the volume down button several times to reach the "vibrate only" mode. To return to the volume you had previously selected, you have to click the volume up button and remember the selection you had previously set.
The buttons on the front do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING unless you're using the phone as an MP3 player. The buttons could and should be used to browse the missed call list when the phone is closed, but no. To view missed calls, you must open the phone and press 2 more buttons to scroll the list.
If you want to change the volume while talking on the phone, you have to click the side buttons, then pull the phone away from your ear to accept the new setting by clicking "OK". Why have buttons on the side of the phone if you still have to pull the phone away from your head?? This is most useless when checking voice mail, when adjusting the volume and selecting numeric keys becomes impossible, because the phone waits for acceptance of the volume change before allowing input of numeric keys.
In summary, this phone has so much potential in features, but lacks the everyday necessities I enjoyed in the 2 year old phone I replaced.
I will probably return this phone. Don't give me a camera and video recorder and MP3 player if you can't even get the basic features of a phone down pat.
Make a decent phone please.
I had the phone in Salt Lake, UT
I have to give it almost 0 rating, the 2 weeks I had it I missed several calls and lost many other calls.(Not cool at all when customers are calling you for jobs)I never had this problem with ancient Samsung I was just upgrading. I carried wifeâs dinosaur Moto with me which had 2 bars were I had no signal on A950. I recalled dropped calls on her phone, which got tons better clarity. I agree with all the cons others posted. Very disappointed with the phones Verizon is carrying I like Moto E815 best but still leaves some to be desired. Charge port,vibrate,couple others nothing major.) I did like looks better than E815
Pros.
-Camera was good better than others - but it's not close to replacing a decent digital camera.
-Fairly good stereo speakers on side (liked better than on back of phone were always gets muffled by your body).
- If you want it to double as MP3 player outside controls are cool.
Cons.
- Reception!, Reception!, Reception! Maybe others had better luck this is the biggest reason I gave it a zero. I probably would have kept it minus that.
- Menus - I guess traditionally Samsung menus are very well liked. Well not this phone. You can customize 1 button, why bother. I like to use the calculator, calendar, voice recorder, show off pictures easily, changes setting quick,.... none of this is easy with A950. Everything on this phone points to VCast. E815 is Sooo Customizable and you can put VCast out of your way.
-Ringers- They ****, all few of them. You can NOT set your own MP3 clips as ringers. (You can on E815 30 seconds or less).
-Vibrate is not strong. Friends Nokia vibrates my whole sofa. I couldn't feel this one in my car. None of verizon's flip phones have a good vibrate though - even E815
If the features are out there and youâre going to charge more for phone why digress!
SCH-A950 A poorly executed phone
1. Lousy user interface. Miminal menus instead of a GUI
2. Main features are hidden. The MP3 Player is hidden in the Get it Now or the Tools menu.
3. Can't use the jog wheel when selecting multiple songs from inside the phone.
4. Bluetooth support for mono headset. No support for Modem, serial port, Phonebook synching, Calendar Synching, or file transfer.
5. Transflash used improperly. The Transflash card is fragile and, according to the manufacturer, "Due to the ultra small size of the Sandisk Transflash, it is not intended to be handled or removed on a frequent basis."
There is no USB or Bluetooth connectivity supported. Therefore, you must use the Transflash card to move files back and forth between the phone and your computer. The card and the receptacle in the phone are going to fail. Better get that extended warranty!
6. MP3 software lacking. There is no way to create, manage, or store play lists, view songs based on artist or genre, or shuffle play. This phone is called the "MP3 Maestro" by Samsung. What a joke!
7. If a call comes in while your laboriously selected group of tunes is playing, MP3 playback ceases as one would expect. However, once the call ends, there is no way to continue playing your list of songs! You must go back into the buried menu, select the songs one by one all over again and then hit the play button.
8. Overall the SCH-A950 is an attractive-looking phone with a list of nice features. The devil is in the details however, and this phone completely fails when the details are examined. For reasons known only to Verizon and Samsung, the A950's software has been poorly implemented and key features that the hardware is capable of providing are not implemented in the phone's software.
Telus Samsung A950
Even with all the bad review of this phone I thought I'd give it a chance.
Pros
- Camera photos are crisp
- Vibrant display
- Good earpiece volume
Cons
- Speakerphone is way too quiet
- Can't use camera zoom when set to 1.3 mega pixel
- Delay in camera between the sound and the actual photo... so your pictures always look smudgey
- Setting the ringer to silent only silences the phone calls. Text, voice, and Picture messages still ring... WTF?!
- The scroll wheel is pointless
- Its hard to hold the phone without touching the antenna...which makes a huge impact on your call quality
- Have to hold the outside button for 3-4 seconds just to see the time.
- Covers on the trans flash slot and headset jack are flimsy
As you can tell i'm not impressed with this phone. The Telus UI is good and I have no complaints in that department. The phones flaws stem right from the source... Samsung.
If you live in Canada get the NOKIA 6265I from Telus... its a north america exlusive and a stellar phone. And the icing on the cake is thats it costs less and has a 2MP camera
YUCK
had this phone for 3 weeks...
the sound was horrible! and it moved extremly slow!
get the razr v3c thats what i did.
Best Phone I have Ever Owned
Never had one problem or replacement, and it's a trooper and strongly durable.
mine went through water damage, being thrown, and many scratches but still worked as good as i got it. great for texting, and i even broke speaker covers off it, and still worked great. it looked like [...], but was not and the battery lasted forever.
Ed. note: removed foul language
this phn really sucks
i have used a lot of phone and out of all of them this is the most crappy phone
i have used tmobile SDA nd other samsung phone... now i am using samsung T629 and thats a really great phone... but samsung sch a950 is just horrible
the only good thing about this phone is the way it looks and the camera everything else in this phone really sucks...
cons...
it has internal antenna which mean when i talk in the phone i wear a ringing
the music player... when u buy this phone nothing comes with it.. for vcast u have to pay another $50 for it nd u have to buy the computer sync USB or the memory card... other wise u cant hear music at all..
in tmobile SDA the USB nd memory card comes with it
the speaker phone is really loud
there is no games in this phone.. and it only have crappy limited ring tones
the voice dialer really sucks because it gives u alot of option to choice from
the messaging isn't that good either
the menu really SUCKS ... its SO simple
because of internal antenna i have lost so many calls ...
its SO heavy for a cell phone
pros
perfect good camera
easy to use
small
it looks really cute
verizon is a ripe off .. they charge u so much for everything... i recommend not getting this phone because its just a waste of money
