Samsung PM-A840
Average Ratings
Not bad; slow response to menus/keys; "Say a command" out of nowhere
A nice basic phone. I'm happy with the voice quality and battery life. Unlike some reviewers, I've had no problems with echo. The internal antenna is a nice touch -- no stub sticking out in your pocket.
I tend not to do much text messaging, so I won't comment on that.
Volume settings are handled nicely: for each of several categories of message and voicemail alerts, and the alarm clock, you can choose "Use ringer vol." OR a "Separate vol." I use this to set the alarm volume to maximum, so wrong numbers won't jolt me out of bed at night yet the alarm clock will still be useful.
A main volume of "Vibrate" or "Silence All" does override alarms and alerts, even when they're set to separate volumes. ("Ringer Off" and "Ringer Off + Vibrate" don't override separate volumes.)
SMALL ANNOYANCES:
Like many phones, 299 phonebook entries means 299 PHONE NUMBERS, which translates to fewer names if people have home, work, cell #, etc. An EMAIL ADDRESS also eats an entry.
I found the camera's picture quality to be rather poor.
Also, I find myself misdialing more than I'd like on the "cool" curved rows of the number pad. What's wrong with the familiar rectangular grid?
MORE SERIOUS CONS:
The phone responds noticeably slowly to scrolling and commands. If you press one of the left-side volume keys several times to change the ringer volume by several steps, it can still take about a second, with the phone displaying the graphic for each intermediate step. Similarly, it's slow in scrolling through contacts.
(The user-interface speed on my previous phone, a Samsung SPH-A680, was significantly faster. The 840's processor seems underpowered.)
Also, if the "speakerphone" button on the right spine is held down for two seconds -- which can happen accidentally in your pocket! -- the phone goes into voice-recognition mode and says "Say a command", even if it's set to Vibrate or Silence All. I haven't found a way to disable this feature.
Good entry-level camera phone
I upgraded to this phone with Sprint after having the Samsung SPH-N400 for approximately 3 years. So far I am completely satisfied with the upgrade.
Pros:
*Dropped calls are rare (located in Los Angeles)
*Internal antenna
*Sleek design
*Intuitive user interface
*Informative external LCD
*Good basic camera
*Loud speakerphone
Cons:
*Could be a bit slimmer
*Phone design makes it impossible to hold it between shoulder and cheek when you don't have a hands-free earpiece available
I'm on the most basic Sprint plan without PCS Vision, so I have to admit I haven't used the phone to its full potential. When I initially purchased the phone, I had no intention of using the camera either but I chose to get this phone over the Samsung SPH-A560 because of the poor reviews I read about it.
If you're looking for a phone with basic camera/PCS vision functionality and want something that just works when making calls, then this phone is for you.
Samsung A-840 Great Phone
I was thinking of two phones the A-840 or the A-940 but after alot a reviews on boith phone they are both great phone, but to make my choice was do I need bluebooth or not, and decided well I hadly even use a wireless headset. This phone replaces the old backup phone Samsung N-300, yes it was a great phone in its time, but the battery life seems to be getting worse and worse each time, so it was time for an upgrade and plue I got $75 credit. Overall, as far as I can tell, great signal anywhere I go in california, I can go any direction, and not a problem. I like the fact it mosly black which got my eye noticed on it. It even has a service light as well, which you see on most phone, a sleek not to heavy either, easy to go through the menu is a breeze as well. I bought this phone on friday and charged up up completly like it said 4 hours totally charge time, and it has only went down to 1 bar out of 3 in 2 days so I think this is a great phone for the battery, its loaded completly. I use the camera a few time yesterday and takes great pictures for a 1.3 mp, Calling quality is good as well. The ringers when either at a very louid area, bar, in the car listen to the radio you can mostly hear the ringer, they got that coveraged, thats what I like to hear if I can hear the ringer over louid music or louid noise, and the other fact if you put in the phone number it tells you where you are calling from, by just the area code, I havent used all the features yet, I am a samsung fan ever since the a few years when i bought the N-300, Ive had alot of samsung even before the n-300, I really like the digital dial voice, Just say the name and it will come up asking you home or mobile and you tell home or mobile and it will dial for you. more handsfree then going through the phone and looking for the phone number while driving. I also like the color display, and the color when you put in a new phone number you can change the color as well too. I would suggestion this phone to anyone
great phone
overall, this is a great phone. the camera is nifty, the signal is great here in sugar land/houston Texas, [gets signal where no one else does] and it does fairly well with accidental drops. the only things i dislike are the slow, almost buggy menus, and the shiny plastic, which seems to be a fingerprint magnet. this however, can be resolved by swiping the front of the phone with a Kleenex facial tissue or other smooth paper. the camera is fairly good, seeing as it's just a camera phone, however i wish it had video capabilities. but other than that, the phone is pretty good.
i would recommend this phone to users who don't necessarily need the camera, speaker-phone or any other feature, but would like to have it just as a nifty tool, if they ever needed it.
Decent Phone with Nice Features, but Occasional Echo
First off, let me say that it has great features. The phone is sleek. I love black phones, and Sprint hasn't come out wit many of those. I also love buying new phones. A lot of them. It's an addiction. I wasn't pleased from the start with this phone. I purchased two of these. One for me and one for my partner on my Family Plan. Right from the start, I had problems with the phone. If you get nothing else from this review and are too tired to read the rest, know that the battery life is good, but I have experienced software glitches on all three A840 (these) phones that I had the last month. 1 of my phones didn't charge, at all. The other one gave me a constant echo back. I returned it, and the current phone I have now does the same thing (minus the lack of ability to charge)... though when I move the power cord around, it turns on/off [charging]. Pathetic for a $220 phone.
PROS:
1. Great battery life. Talked for 3 hours and still had at least 60% of the battery life left. No need to waste money on a car charger.
2. Nice black and white external screen. See who's calling, battery life, see what kind of communication you missed (call, text, picture mail, or voicemail/voiceSMS, etc), and signal strength (and of course the time)... and when you are taking a picture, it doubles as a decent preview of what you're going to take a picture of.
3. Very clear screen and easy-to-push buttons. Buttons in the four-way pad are reprogrammable.
4. Nice features in general. Picture Mail, VoiceSMS (the ability to send a message to someone without calling them--good if you don't want feedback on what you're telling them or don't have time to listen to their response)... faster than typing a text message, right? :)
5. Great signal strength.
CONS:
1. Echo echo echo... I love my voice, believe me, but it makes me talk a lot slower when I hear myself. Sprint doesn't know why this happens.
2. Randomly tells you when running out of space for texts then doesn't accept new ones.
It's Ok
I believe this is a nice entry level phone. Would be fine for someone who is not wanting a lot of bells and whistles. This would also be a decent phone for a teen. For someone who uses their phone for everything, this would probably not be a good choice.
Pros: This is a nice lightweight phone, not bulky in any way. Very comfortable to use. The screens are clear and bright. The reception has been great. (I give that a 10!) I live in an area where it is difficult to use a phone with an internal antenna. The call quality has been good. Decent speaker phone.
Cons: The battery life is terrible. I have not talked on it more than 1 1/2 hr total in 3 days and it has been charged 3 times. This isn't even my main phone at this point.
Great little phone
I had the pleasure spending a day with this phone. The reception is not as good or strong as the Samsung 880 but darn close. This phone is also $100 or so cheaper. If you want a good speaker, camera phone with a great reception then this is your you.
Pros
-Great reception
-fast browser
-dedicated speaker button
-light and small (Not as small as the Samsung 880)
-great sound quality
-Bright display
Cons-
-feels almost like a plastic toy phone
A840
This phone is ok. i have had over 35 phones in the past eight years. I had to buy an extended life battery for this phone. but i also have had to buy an extended life battery for every phone i had inthe last 3 yrs. I guess i just do alot of talkng.
PROS: nice color screen
vga camera
2-way sms features
external display
CONS: poor battery life
pictures turn out poor
constant echo in backround
An honest review of this phone
Pros:
- Easy menus to navigate through like all
Samsung phones
- sleek look
- bright screen and takes decent pics
- decent speaker phone, better then some I
used. loud and clear.
- talked for almost 50 minutes and dint
even lose one battery bar on the phone.
Considering there are 4 bars, thats not
too shabby!
Cons:
- Echo! At least you don't
hear the other person's echo but you
certainly hear yours.
- if you have big hands this phone is
uncomfortable to hold
- Pain in butt to get the power cable from
not slipping out and getting off charging
- The way you hold the phone makes you
block the internal antenna with your
hands
- the shiny black plastic the phone is made
of makes it impossible to keep clean.
(fingerprint city)
- battery for a moment couldn't make up
it's mind. One time it showed it was on
on power bar 3 then power bar 4.
- on;y 2 of the 4 directional bars are
programmable, usually on telus phones
all 4 are.
Would I recommend or buy this phone again?
Well long battery life and phone clarity are the 2 most important things to me. This phone seems to have great battery life and clarity. The only thing that really annoys me is the echo.
The echo isn't bad enough to keep you from talking but is more like a minor annoyance and it comes and goes. So if you don't mind a little echo from time to time. Then yes I recommend this phone. Mainly for the nice menus, bright screen, clear speaker phone, and so far great battery life. Those who say the battery life sucks for this phone must not be charging their phone properly.
Would not buy again.
This has been a decent phone for the price, but i would NOT buy it again. Maybe I got a lemon, but I'm shocked to see such good reviews for this phone honestly.
This is easily the worst Samsung phone I've ever owned.
Pros:
-Decent Speaker
-Sleek Design
Cons:
-Terrible pictures
-When a text message is received, you have to navigate into the Inbox, rather than it being displayed on flip open
-Phone randomly power cycles
-Drops calls regularly
-Not enough memory for text messages/Does not auto-delete inbox when a new message is received.
