Samsung SGH-T209 / X495 / X497 / X496
Average Ratings
Good basic phone
If you aren't into taking pictures or playing games on your phone, this is an excellent cost effective choice for a cell phone. I like its well designed sleekness over the old Motorola I used to have. It's a cool looking phone. My only complaint is that the wired hands free headset doesn't work hands free. I even bought another one that Samsung support said I should buy from them...it looked exactly like the one I bought from my carrier, T-Mobile. But it still didn't work. Despite that, I still like the phone (I hate Samsung support) so I'm going to keep it.
Samsung X497
I'm too lazy to write out all the pros and cons, but this is such an amazing phone. It does everything you need in a BASIC cell phone, and just a bit more :]
X497 sucks... period!!!!!!
I upgraded to the x497 6 months ago, and I am regretting it!! I have had nothing but problems since I got it, the only thing cingular can do is keep replacing it with the same phone cause it is still under warranty. I had a Motorola V220 prior and never had a problem with it, even when I dropped it in the snow.
With the x497 I get a TON of dropped calls, recently I haven't been able to get any in coming calls. I have had this phone silence it's self when it is just sitting on my counter. It shuts it's self off while I'm using it.
Text messaging takes anywhere from 3 minutes to 24 hours to go through and receive. I don't realize I'm missing calls till all of a sudden 3 hours later it beeps and shows the voice mail icon.
Signal strength has nothing to do with it, cause I have full signal when these things happen. I have a hard time placing calls, the phone will say call not allowed. It takes me a half hour to place one phone call. The only good features to this phone is that it is a flip and it has speaker.
My opinion Samsung should just recall these phones, and replace them all with what ever phone/brand we choose. I know a few people with this phone, and I am not the only one having these problems. I will never get a samsung cell phone ever again!!!
If who ever is reading this is thinking about purchasing this particular phone don't do it!!!
Small phone with good audio
I wanted a small phone that would fit in my pocket easily. This phone does that. At 3.03 ozs., it's the lightest phone I looked at. However, it's probably too small for me, and I expect to return it for the Motorola v190 instead. The x496 is small enough that I have trouble holding it and using the keypad. Part of that is due to my big hands. I like the speaker phone. I wish individual phone book entries could store more than one number like my old Samsung. I don't like menu's use of icons - just give me a text explanation of each menu option. The exterior display is sleek, and I like it. But this phone has too many annoyances for me.
VOLUME BUTTON
I work for Cingular Wireless and every X497 that I have ever sold has come back with more complaints about the volume button than any other phone that I know of. The button on on the left side of the phone that indicates volume is accessed too easily so that whenever a customer drops it into her purse or into his pocket the volume button goes up or down. Customers complain of the phone ringing when it should be silent or not ringing at all leaving them with many missed important call. Also, why does Samsung insist on forcing its customers to individually copy each number to the sim card? Why can't they come into 2006 and have a copy all setting? I do not like to sell Samsung to my customers. They always bring it back. Other than that the phone is great.
Nice Basic Phone But Poor Reception
I had two of the X495 models with activation on T-Mobile. Nicely designed phones with intuitive controls.
Some of the features are very nice, such as hitting the "#" key to put the phone into silent/vibration mode. Nice.
I like the outside screen, too.
Voice quality for a call is superb. Very clear. One of the best ever.
My only problem with this phone is the reception. Dreadful. I picked up a Nokia 6101 on eBay and found THAT unit to have MUCH better reception than the Samsung.
I'm dissapointed
I was offered 2 free phones with Tmobile if I signed up for 2 years. I have 2 older phones that had great reception, a nokia and a samsung R-225. Although I liked all the things the 495 offered, there is a huge difference in voice quality and dropped calls. In fact, it's so bad that I have gone back to the old phone. I don't have all the goodies with it and the battery doesn't last but at least I can get good reception and I don't get disconnected. I use to think it was all about the company you were with but I have been wrong. I have tested the quality with both my phones and the difference is glarring when it comes to reception. Same provider, different reception. So, it sits on a shelf. My 14yr old has the other phone we got free and she complained about it before I even mentioned the problems I was having. So, it's both phones. I can't get reception with the x495 like I do with my good old R225. By the way, if you order a battery from Tmobile they require you are home when UPS delivers. They will not leave it with just a signature. I couldn't get my battery delivered because I work during delivery times. Turned into a nightmare to get that sorted out.
SGX 497 was FREE , but NOT worth price
Got a great deal on the phone from Cingular, but problems (ALMOST) ever since.
Started failing for no apparent reason 27 days after activation, told Cingular, had to wait for a Mail-out relacement which I had to pay shipping for.
Cingular in particular is NOT customer-friendly in this regard, which I had NEVER switched from Nextel !
Now THIS phone also appears to have internmittent malfunctions (power dropping out, missed calls, same as other contributors).
Another feedback complained about the ring feature changing (volume/vibrate/none) when bumped, and I AGREE COMPLETELY that this is a SIGNIFICANT drawback.
MAY be an OK phone if you mount it to a wall, and DON'T touch it until it ringd!
Samsung and Cingular: Why BOTHER putting out such inferior, problematic equipment??
Overall good phone
Having gotten this phone for free... its really hard to complain... you get what you pay for..
The speaker phone is somewhat lame... it only works one the call is answered... so you have to sit there listening until someone answers... and then put it on speaker phone.
When the phone sits in my pocket... the phone will go to silent... pressing on the side keys enough will place it on this setting.
I bought the data cable for it... so uploading mp3's and graphics are a snap and when uploading the graphics fill the entire screen without that annoying white border.
Long battery life... dependable reception...
No camera.. but I bought it knowing it would not have one..
The speaker phone feature is the most annoying part...
And if you are buying it for the Yahoo Messenger.. don't bother... I have gotten two new phones from Cingular and a refurbished... and in all of them... the messenger has not worked
Basic, yet loaded with features
I got this phone a couple weeks ago, and with my first one had a software issue related to the Instant Messaging... I brought it back to the store, and got it easily replaced. My second unit has performed impeccably. Service is adequate (good for rural North Jersey), and is great in NYC. The phone is a good size, feels solid (but not heavy), and has an overall sleek look. The external display is very helpful, and although other reviewers have mentioned that the external OLED is hard to see at times, one just has to hold the volume rocker down for a second and it lights up. The internal display is large and sharp. The buttons have a sturdy feel to them. The preloaded ringtones are average in quality (there are about 20). There are only 7 wallpapers (including 3 animations), but I'm sure there's one for everyone. The speakerphone is of high quality, although you must press a softkey twice to activate it. It plays through the actual earpiece, not a separate speaker, so the result is an earpiece that has sharp tone quality when used without the speakerphone. To silence the phone, you just have to hold down the volume rocker on the side... very simple and convenient to not have to open the phone. A small added feature is rainbow-dialing... not that many will care, but my friends found the multi-colored numbers a nice little touch. There are two games, which actually involve skill- a bejeweled-type game and a unique one called Snowball. There are other bonus features like voice recording, 3 alarms, unit converter, stopwatch, and timer (although many phones have these as well). Overall, this is a high quality basic flip phone that has some extra little features that make it a good buy.
