Simple Technology Choices - Cell Phones - Sprint Samsung A900 Review

The Power Vision Phone A900 by Samsung

Ease of Use: Overall Rating:

Reviewed by Jamie Lendino 7/15/06

Thin is in, and the A900 doesn’t disappoint. The A900’s recessed keypad, like T-Mobile's PEBL and the Verizon's RAZR V3c, is easy to use and feels like it will withstand the test of time. We particularly liked the oversized Talk and End buttons; Samsung makes good use of the A900’s length and width. This phone’s screen has to be seen to be believed. It’s high resolution and brightly lit, with crisply drawn fonts and icons.

The A900 has a lot of adjustable settings and features, which is great in terms of value, and we think Samsung did a nice job in laying out the menus given everything the A900 can do. But certain features that are key to voice calls, such as what key to press when answering a call, and ringer type, are buried alongside much more esoteric options for configuring the phone’s initial setup and access to its (admittedly great, if complex) Power Vision network.

Call quality was mixed; we had no problem understanding the other person, but we weren’t thrilled with the A900’s high tone sound. Those sounds were somewhat sharp. Verizon's RAZR V3c manages better voice quality, despite of similar size and shape. No phone camera takes great pictures yet, but the A900 does nicely, with a good balance of contrast and highlights. There’s some loss of detail but the photos are useable as is.

Like the LX350, you have to set up Picture Mail before sending your first photo. Unlike the LX350, however, this was needlessly confusing, requiring many button presses and a manual search for the Picture Mail setup page, since after the phone tells you that you haven’t set up Picture Mail yet, it just leaves you hanging. The phone sports a neat swiveling camera lens that you can use to take pictures of either another subject or yourself; no other phone we reviewed to date has this feature.

Make no mistake; we’re fans of his highly capable, beautiful phone. But its menu system betrays its long list of features. If you’re comfortable operating a PC for day to day tasks, you won’t have much trouble with the A900. Aside from Picture Mail setup, once we figured out where something was located, it made sense and didn’t require extraneous key presses or additional screen pages. The A900 is a great phone, but if you just want to make calls, you might do better with a simpler design like the LX350.

Pros: beautiful screen, slim design, swiveling camera lens
Cons: crowded menu system, slightly tinny sound quality, mediocre battery life

Details:

Samsung A900
Carrier: Sprint
Price: $149.99 w/2 year plan
Dimensions: 3.9 x 2.0 x 0.6 inches
Weight: 3.6 ounces
Camera: 1.3 megapixel
Bluetooth: Yes
Card slot: None
Battery Life: Up to 3 hours talk time

Ease of Use Rating: 4 stars
Overall Rating: 3 stars