Samsung Fin
Phone Scoop Review
Sep 5, 2007 by Eric Lin
Helio's first flip phone washes up on shore. Is there a shark in the water or did someone's surfboard crack on the rocks? With Video Tour. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
SOOO MUCH BETTER THAN THE OCEAN
I have gone thru 4 Ocean devices. The other day I was on the verge of cancelling service but the really sweet guy in cancellations said that he was sorry that I have had so many problems with the OCEAN and that he could send me a new device. I asked for a different model and so he said that he could send me the Fin. It was delivered via FedEx yesterday and I love it. Its a very thin but sturdy phone. Love the dark blue. It has some really cool menu options that the Ocean doesn't have. The only 2 applications that the Fin doesn't have is YouTube and Opera Mini which is something I can do without. I gave the Fin 4.5 because the battery life could be better.
A Fintastic phone
I personally loved this phone,
its has style, its thin its smooth and its durable but it has its flaws like any phone does.
Pros;
-The phones buttons was one of the only phones that actually impressed me with how its a complete flat surface and yet the buttons are still their and they dont break like a normal phones does and it doesnt have heat sensored so you never have to worry about the sersor going bad.
-nice 3mp camera
-really thin for a phone thats this hitech
-hard shelled durable non wear and tear outer appearance
-beautifull large internal screen
-fast internet service with H.O.T.
-internal antenna
-really fast phone
But for a phone this hot it shouldn't have these flaws, yet they did it any ways.
cons;
-The manufature of the phone decided to make a tiny little ugly screen on the front which killed its outter appearance.
-even though its a really thin phone its abnotiously wide
-The battery is as bad as a prepaid phones battery, it only lasts for approximately 3 hours and if your using the camera or your browsing the web on myspace mobile or even using your Global Positioning System it kills the battery much faster.
-The idle time is said to be 8 days its really only 4 to 5.
I rate this phone a 4 out of 5 due to its poor battery life and the outside apperance. Its really a great phone i would recommend it as more of a kids phone rather then a business phone. Age rate; 8 and up
The best ultraslim flip currently on the market
As of the writing of this review, the Fin (a.k.a. the Samsung SPH-A513) is simply the best device in its form factor category. I have used pretty much all of the others, including the new RAZR2, the previous Samsung ultra series handsets, the older RAZR V3 (and the billion modifications it spawned, which vary widely in quality), the A707 Sync, Sanyo Katana series, etc. Some of these phones are very nice, but there's just nothing to compare to the Fin.
Pros:
Excellent call quality, even on low signal strength.
Camera is insane for such a thin device.
Included Helio software is superb in general; Google Maps in particular works well and is of amazing utility.
Helio plans are very generous with regard to data usage and messaging.
Device can be synced to transfer pictures, messages, contacts, etc.
Internal screen is very bright, crisp, clear.
Large internal memory, can be expanded by 4 GB.
Very high performance, including great 3-D game performance and high download speed.
Extremely thin- fits in any pocket.
Cons:
Music player can't run in background.
Exterior display is mediocre, easily smudged and hard to read in sunlight.
Keypad
Exterior paint scheme is easily subject to scratches and chipping.
Can't download custom apps/games due to Helio's lockout.
Battery life isn't exactly stellar. It typically runs down in about 3 days at most, with average use.
Not the cheapest device, though you get what you pay for.
The Fin probably isn't the best phone out there, but it's definitely the best ultraslim flip. It is definitely a lot better than the newer and far more hyped V8/V9 RAZR2. The only real contender on the Helio lineup is the Ocean, which is a totally different type of device. Chances are you'll know which you want just by glancing at them, but the Fin is an attractive enough device that people using ultraslim phones on other carriers might want to consider switching to Helio.
"Thin is In!"
I've had this phone for about 10 hours now, and have been using it every second. So far I love it!
PROS:
-3mp Camera takes NICE pictures with lots of options
-HelioUP works great
-Size! It's extremely thin..
-I like the idea of the small external screen, it saves battery life and nobody needs the big colorful ones anyways..
-More customizable than any phone I've had. You can even change the universal phone font and size.
-Cool pre-loaded ringtones
-Music player is just like an iPod
-Fast browser, with youtube (not everything, but the good stuff)
-Google Maps is faster than ocean (I compared with a friend at the phone store today)
-Sturdy feel, cool color
-Photo Studio is GREAT!! you can change the way pictures that you've already taken look, add things, and even resize them to something smaller if you accidentally took a caller ID photo at 3mp full res.
-It's nice having headphones and data cable in the box. Also the Samsung PCLink Pro software is amazing.
-More
CONS:
-Battery life isn't so hot.
-I don't like the way you search through contacts. (ex. if you type "I" it will come up with ~30 results with people having "I" somewhere in their names or email, you have to continue typing to narrow the contacts search)
-Keypad is nice and flat, but feels sort-of cheap and plasticky compared to the rest of the phone.
-No Opera Mini yet as far as I can tell
-QWERTY would be nice, but for such a small phone it's really not possible.
Overall, this phone is excellent. I am in love with how good the camera is for such a small phone. I can't even feel it in my pocket and I'm hiding a 3mp camera in there, among other things.
If you want Helio and can live without QWERTY, the Fin is for you!
A few shortcomings, but I love it
Pros
Flickr integration
Google maps
GPS
3 megapixel camera
RSS
Message center
Cons
Battery life, shortest I've seen
Menu is not easy to navigate
Cannot find keys by feel
Low volume on speakerphone
I've had the Fin for 2 days. I've made a few calls, took some pictures and uploaded them to Flickr and tried out Google maps.
I'm not impressed with the sound quality or reception. I live in Georgia. Outdoors I get one or two bars, indoors I'm lucky to get anything. My T-Mobile Nokia always gets a good signal here. I haven't been out of town with it yet, so that may be a local problem. Everyone sounds like they are far away. The ear piece helps, however it uses the same plug as the charger and usb connector, so you have to choose between them. The speaker phone is not very loud. In a quiet room it's ok, but in a car it's not even usable.
Despite being 3 mega pixels, the camera needs ideal conditions to take a really good photo. It's best in brightly lit situations. It has a night shot mode, but it seems useless to me. For a phone, it's pretty good, but it's still just a phone with a camera on it. It has a few adjustments, like white balance and lighting, but it's still best for snapshots. It takes a few steps to get Flickr set up, but it's all explained on the Helio website. After you take a picture, you can choose to save it or upload it immediately. You can upload to the Helio album, which I haven't even looked at, then upload to Flickr later. You can also choose to upload directly to Flickr. You can select a saved location to geo-tag the photo or use your current location.
Google maps is very cool, but not completely accurate. If you don't have a clue where you are, it could easily throw you off. The closest it has come to my actual location was one street over. The farthest was 1 mile away. As long as you know that, and can read street signs, it's still usable.
Despite the negatives, I love it. The things I like about it make me want to overlook its faults.
dolFIN
I am pretty excited to have a phone that is so small and has so much. I have had the XV6700 from verizon then I went to helio and had the kick flip, then to the ocean, and now the Fin.
I will say the best feature about the phone is the way helio lets you switch between phone with just the click of the mouse.
Pros
Super thin
3.0 camera
IM software
Email Software
Photo Editor
Blue tooth, Mp3, Headphones, ringtones, and all that stuff phones should come with.
Cons
I wouldn't mind a larger external display, but it does fine.
Battery life could be better, but being that the phones battery is about the size of a 50 cent piece I am impressed.
I would like to see groves on the key pad. It is hard to tell which number you are pressing unless you are looking directly at the phone.
GREAT PHONE. AND HELIO"S CUSTOMER SERVICE HAS BEEN WONDERFUL TOO.
FIN is good
Pro's- FIN is sleek, great design externally, 3.0 MgPx camera is great. Very nice, I own a HELIO store, and reception isnt bad, however its not a big seller yet, phone price needs to drop to be competitive with Razr, etc.
Con- The way the phone book search works, I type in I and every name with an I in it comes up. I have not found a waay around this yet.
Battery life is comparable to others in this category, esp when you figure in all the extra things that the FIN does (a good selling point for HELIO service)
OVERALL the fin is a good phone, few shortcomings but overall a 4 out of 5 rating.
aim'ers should stay away
I'll try to touch on something that nobody has yet. I actually really love everything about this phone except for texting. Let me be a little more specific...texting to phone numbers is fine but when using the aim or yahoo there is a lag that is really annoying. Another con for me is having to cycle through "T9", "123", "korean", then finally "abc" to get to the way I text. The other thing I really dont like is the lack of grooves. I can live without grooves on the keypad but on the directional key I find myself hitting any of the U,D,L,R instead of the helio button aka enter key. I just wanna do things fast and not worry about hitting the wrong button.
Overall Disappointed - I Will Be Dumping Helio
Initially I was quite impressed with Helio's value for service (unlimited plan) as well as the Fin w/ it's coolness factor & features.
That said, I can't wait to get rid of it & get out of my contract.
This is my business & only phone so I have higher expectations than someone using it for personal use.
Helio rides on Sprint ntwk.
PROS:
Great 3mp camera & video camera - even w/out a flash
Lots of built in ringtones
voice memo - but can't put it on speaker
nice big screen
highly customizable - wallpaper can be anything-photo/video
Google GPS maps - when it works- i had problems getting it to work north of the SF bay area as well as tampa bay sometimes - and some of those times I really needed it
Cust svc & tech support was top notch - no waiting on hold forever either. Complete opposite of my Nextel customer service experiences for the prior 5 years.
CONS:
Speaker is a joke - totally worthless
Talk time 2 hrs tops.
Surfing- NOT recommended
No 3-way calling with helio - if someone calls in while you're on the fone- you answer it & drop the first call.
When entering contact or calendar event or voice memo etc & a call comes in you lose everything you were doing
No Mac support
Can't helio up or email files & videos over a certain size. Get them off using external SDcard?
forget sending text & email - major headache. Receiving emails is ok. I've had issues with accessing & having to reset the PW on pop email accts
I don't see what the big deal is with the 3G network.
in a side by side test with an iphone on that 'slower' network, and my fin with a full 3G signal, the iphone beat fin to emails & websites everytime.
Best for last:
Reception is terrible where I live.
After the fact, helio tech said my zipcode was in the only bad zone for sprint in my area (tampa bay). great.... Lots of dropped calls. Unknown amount of missed calls - they don't even show up on the online phone records - I only know someone calls if they leave a VM. Totally unacceptable!
NOT SO GREAT!
I had sprint and thought i would try out helio because of their $99 plan but didn't cancel with sprint yet bc i wasn't sure if i was going to keep helio...so i purchased the fin and was NOT AT ALL pleased with it. I had this phone for 4 days, and was very disapointed...and coming from a LG FUSIC, you would think it would beat the fusic because of the 3mp camera, HAHA...thats a joke, the camera doesn't even have a damn flash, WTH!!...This phone is not worth $130...the pictures weren't that great. You don't even have customizeable skins for different color themes, and the TEXTING sux on the fin. You can't customize anything on this phone except screensavers, and barely ringers! There isn't even any big LCD screen on the front which sux, so NO picture caller id which i love. You can't even set a signature for texting or anything. This phone is by far the worst phone ive ever had. Camera sux, texting sux, customization sux. So i took this phone back, and those damn bastards made me pay a restocking fee...pshh..and then you can't even cancel your service at the store, you have to call customer service to do it, thats a pain in the A$$ if you ask me, and then thank god i cancelled within 4 days, I couldn't even keep them for EVEN A Week, thats how bad it was. then i look online and there tryin to charge me $308...well [...] that BS!!...So now im back with sprint and UPGRADED to the muziq ive been dying to have and let me tell you, THE MUZIQ KICKS THE FINS A$$!...
I Could have even gotten the ocean phone and didn't even want that bc all there phones are exactly alike.
so much for trying SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
DON'T SWITCH TO HELIO JBC OF THERE PLANS, THERE A SCAM AND A RIPOFF AND THERE PHONES SUCK!
Ed. note: removed profanity
