Samsung Wafer R510
Average Ratings
Can you hear me now?... Hello?... Hello?
It's a small phone that's got some cool stuff.... but you have to be under a tower to get the "phone feature" to work.
My Opinion
This phone is very small, fits easily in your pocket, good features, etc. I love the phone except for one thing... Everyone that I talk to complains that it is really hard to hear me. I have only had the phone for two weeks and I thought that it was just maybe at first for some reason, but it still hasn't gone away and it has become such a problem that I have decided to get a new phone. As many good features this phone has...the people I talk to need to be able to hear what I am saying. So, for this one reason, it ruins my good views of the phone.
BLUETOOTH FALSE CLAIMS!!
Just got the Wafer and had big plans for the phone. The wafer claims to have newest and coolest Bluetooth platform. With standard Bluetooth and Stereo Bluetooth with A2DP. I am with Alltel and this is the only phone they sold with Stereo Bluetooth.
Here was my plan:
After reading about the wafer and wanting an Iphone. I knew I would never pay $500 for a phone and Alltel doesnt carry it anyway so I decided to get the Wafer. Alltels site claimed it plays MP3s and has bluetooth. I planned to get a 4 gig transflash card which would turn the phone in to a pretty cool 4 GIG I POD/Phone. Not an Iphone but close enough. The phone was only $40, I can get the 4 gig card for $30 off ebay and I also had to purchase a Bluetooth adapter for my Laptop so I could connect the phone $14. Total cost at this point $85. I buy the phone online Thursday, comes in mail Friday. Hooked up USB Bluetooth adapter, turned on bluetooth on the phone and phone connects to computer but guess what it does not support file transfer from PC to Phone with bluetooth. My wife has a 2 year old Motorola E815 with bluetooth and I can download all the files from her phone to the computer(Pics, Vids, Mp3s). I can also upload any file to the phone, including sound or mp3 files and set any of them as a ringtone. THIS IS A 2 YEAR OLD PHONE WITH THE OLDER BLUETOOTH!! The only thing it want do is stream the Audio to a Wireless Bluetooth headset, or car stereo adapter. You have to play the songs with a wired headset or speaker phone. Again this is why I got the Wafer so I have a truly wireless phone. I called Alltel and they confirmed you cant send files using blutooth. USELESS!!!!!!!!! The only way you can get songs on the phone is to buy the USB date cable for another $60. Bringing total cost close to $150. Then you still cant download any of your photos or videos to the computer(as far as I know). I am thinking of taking the phone back and waiting till they get a truly wireless phone.
Major Recall needed
Just picked up the Wafer by Samsung for Alltel.All the warnings regarding echo are true.Software fix doesn't work.Alltel should pull this phone off the shelf.DO NOT BUY THIS PHONE
Pretty good
Disclaimer: this is the first phone I have owned, and I have had it for less than a week, but I have used others.
Overall, this phone has been quite good, but not perfect, under different conditions. I'm trying to decide to keep it or switch to the U520.
Pros:
- Bright & crisp screen, visible in sunlight
- Good key placement
- Good battery life
- Slips in pocket, feels good (except if it falls over in bottom of pocket)
- Loud speaker, strong vibration
- Easy & fast interface - seems faster than U520
- Optional GPS navigation (through telenav.com)
- XM radio through Axcess (surprising)
- Feels light and strong
- Good voice dialing
- Charger is small
- Voice recorder
- Good ringtones
- Nice tools, MP3 player
It has pretty good sound quality and reception - I get unbroken voice down to the point where it's flickering around 0-1 bars of reception (out of 6 or 7 max). I got a dropped call when at bars and switching to roaming. The local representatives told me that most phones don't make it as far as this one did. (Alltel, West Michigan) My overall impression is that it is well thought out and put together.
Cons:
- No custom MP3 ringtones
- D-pad is notably small
- Battery must be removed to access MicroSD
- Vibrate only works at loudest ring or when ringer off
- Charger/headphone port covered by flimsy door
- Charger cable easily moved to where it will stop charging
- Speakerphone is several key presses
- Cases double size of phone
- Headphone requires adapter
Despite initial store rep assertions, this phone apparently will not allow you to use your own MP3s as ringtones (I have talked to Alltel and Samsung both about this). The phone seems capable, but it's understandable given that they want to sell ringtones. I've heard there might be a way to do it with a USB cord. Not a deal breaker for me, anyway. The D-pad (slightly recessed) can be hard to press unless you have fingernails.
I have not tested the camera or bluetooth.
Good feel, quality and full of features
I am a Senior Wireless Consultant with Alltel Wireless and have been using this phone of the past 3 weeks. I want to mention I am a heavy Motorola user, and am VERY impressed with this handset! It's easy to use, chock full of features. The only gripes I have, and this goes with most of the current LG, Samsung harem, is the limited connectivity of the Bluetooth. Alot of BT services, concerning connectivity with a computer and handset to handset transfers is limited/disabled. I am assuming it relates to proprietary file types. I enjoy creating my own ringtones and wallpapers and miss this ability. Other than that small gripe, it's a very good handset for a great price.
Pros: slim design, good clarity, full of useful features, A2DP (stereo Bluetooth)
Con's:limited BT connectivity, handoff in low service areas(could be related to the recent deployment of EVDO in this area)
Nice Handset
I just purchased this handset several days ago and so far the service has been great. I have worked for mult. carriers and I must say this handset is by far the best I have seen in quite some time from Alltel.
So lets start with the PROS:
Camera works well in most light or lack there of
Signal strength ( I live in a metro EVDO market)
Good battery life for such a small battery
Nice bright large LCD screen
Mult BT profiles
Low price point for such a feature rich handset. ( $49.99 after $50 MIR )
Now the CONS:
Lack of OBEX profile for BT( used for pushing my contacts and ring tones)
Besides that, this is a great handset for all users!! Hope this helps!!
Cheers
Still not ready for primetime
After a long backorder due to the popularity of this phone, I received mine yesterday from Alltel's second batch of Wafers, hoping that Alltel and Samsung had now conquered the infamous echo problem you've surely read about in the reviews below and in the threads on Howardforums. Unfortunately, that is not yet the case. Although the Wafer is admittedly a very nice phone in concept, it still is unable to serve the primary purpose of having a cell phone - to make phone calls - in its current state. Technical support is unable to provide any suggestions other than to turn the phone off then back on and exchange it for another one.
Pros:
- Very thin, attractive, and easy to pocket.
- Surprisingly easy to use keypad despite its small size, with the exception of the directional pad, which requires fingernail presses.
- Earpiece volume is sufficiently loud.
- Interface is typical Samsung stock, very simple and responsive with minimal tweaking by the carrier, unlike Verizon or Sprint.
- Nice default ringtones, though I don't particularly care about special ringtones.
- Reception seems pretty solid, at least according to the on-screen bars. However ...
Cons:
- Despite having full signal strength, the person you're talking to constantly drops off into silence, making it very difficult to carry a conversation without constant repeats.
- The infamous echo is still noticeable to the person on the opposite end, occasionally soliciting complaints like, "Are we on speaker? I can hear myself." It isn't constant, but it comes and goes.
- Activation using *228 was successful, but did not seem to program the Wafer correctly. Calls were possible, but the MIN was programmed incorrectly according to customer care. I had to manually overwrite mine.
- The Wafer can supposedly download new firmware over-the-air, but it doesn't work on mine. The server just times out. (S/W version R510.AB21, H/W R510.07.)
Wait until the bugs are worked out of this one before buying.
Dunno what this guy is smoking
Pros - Thin. Nice screen..
Cons - People on the other end of the line say the interference is awful. Signal strength is not nearly as good as my Krazr. Phone gets hot against the eat after only like 3 minuts of talking. Ringers aren't that loud..Bluetooth works but not as quickly and not as responsively as my Krazr...
I was really excited about this phone before it came out - Now I think I will probably be returning it right away..
Not For Multimedia
I've had the r510 for a week and there are a few major multimedia issues that I've seen.
1: Kind of works with a 2gb microsd card. Sometimes the mp3 will just stop playing during a song. Sometimes the play list will show all the mp3s and sometimes it won't. When it won't, it doesn't always show the same songs.
2: When playing in shuffle, there doesn't seem to be a way to go straight to the next song. You have to go back to the play list and select another song.
3: It will only play 10 minutes of video. If you have a .3gp movie on your microsd card, it will still only show the first 10 minutes. That seems to be hard-coded. I noticed that it can only record for 10 minutes at a time, too.
4: You can't see the clock from the mp3 screen. That's a very minor complaint, but it's still there.
5: You can hit 1 key to start the mp3 player, but you have to run through the menu to get to movies (or hit the camera key twice and then the videos key).
There you have it. This is my first stab at mp3/video phones. It is cool, but there are better things on the market (I'm looking to trade for an lg wave).
JJ
