Merlyn_3D
07-21-2005, 12:24 AM
I've had this phone for 10 hours today and have been playing with it non-stop. I love this phone, I love it so much it pains me to say some of the things I have to say about it.
What I like:
Form: This phone's very very easy to operate with one hand, slider included. Very nice design and good buttons.
Screen: OMG the first time I saw it I wet my pants. It's an awesome screen! In addition, you can have videos and animated gifs as backgrounds. I love the falling leaves/snow/clovers/whatever effect. Very soothing.
Camera: WOW....best camera on a phone by a mile. This is probably due to the use of a CCD imager instead of the traditional CMOS used in most phones, but still, WOW. The business card reader function works very well too
Ringers: Ringers sound very good on this phone, and very very loud, I can't tell which is louder, my MM7400 or the A800. Both have subtle differences to the sound, I think the MM7400 might produce cleaner audio out of AAC ringers though. And I LOVE how you can set it to vibrate independently of ringer volume, all phones should do this.
UI: I've never seen such an animated and simply beautiful UI on a phone. Everything's very very pleasant.
Roaming: I like how it doesn't search for sprint signal when you place an outgoing call while roaming (unlike the sanyo's for some reason).
Browser: As fast as the one on the 7400, you can see more, but nothing really better about the browser. Like the 7400 you can choose the font size as well.
What I don't like:
SMS: eZiTap is crap. It takes me soooo long to type in messages, and ezitap doesn't help wtih puncuation either (apostrophes etc). BIG BIG mistake to leave out T9. The speech to text is okay, works most of the time, not some of the time, and forget using it in a noisy environment (which ironically enough is where I SMS the most because it's too tough to make a call). And finally, I can't believe you can't change the font size the SMS text is displayed in. It just looks like the letters are too big to me. This is something the 7400 will do, and you would think with a QVGA screen they woulda put an option for smaller font sizes.
Customizability: Quite frankly, it feels like samsung only went halfway when they could've done more. They could've set an option in there for the slider to close all programs when closed, or to not to anything (like the 7400 has an option for with its flip). You can't customize the soft buttons, or the quick menu when you hit the soft-right key. As for the keyguard, I really don't see why you have to hold a button down for 3 seconds and then hit another. Why not do it like the nokias and hit one then the other?
Speakerphone: or lack thereof, with a phone this big, it really should be in there.
Earpiece: yes, you heard me, I don't like the earpiece in this phone. Many others have said it's the best they've heard, quite frankly, it doesn't sound much better than my 7400's, just less bassy. IN ADDITION, when I'm talking to someone who speaks softly, their words get cut off (the infamous samsung noise cancellation thingy). I hate this and I don't understand why I should pay $500 for a phone that doesn't let me hear correctly? The 7400 is better in this department, more of a solid feel to the sound quality, and more bass (which isn't necessarily a good thing, but I must be used to it despite the fact that it muffles the sound a little).
Reception: the A800's reception is NOT as good as the 7400. I've tried this in a fringe area at work where both phones teeter in and out of sprint coverage and a moderate coverage area (2/4 bars on the sanyo and 4/6 on the samsung). In the fringe area where the 7400 would be at 99-101db's the A800 would be at 103-105db's consistently. And in the moderate coverage area, where the 7400 would be between 88-91db's, the A800 would be at 92-95db's. I was surprised as I had read reviews showing reception on the A800 to be stronger than this. Now I haven't had a dropped call with the A800, but it seems to lose reception more often at my work than my 7400 does.
It really pains me to take this phone back, but it's what I'm going to have to do tomorrow. It sucks, but when it comes to phone functionality, this $500 A800 doesn't do it for me like the 7400 will. It's beatin in reception, call quality (noise cancellation issue), and SMS, perhaps the 3 most basic functions of the phone. Someone had mentioned that this is just a nice camera with a phone attached, whereas the MM5600 is a nice phone with a camera attached. I'm starting to think they're right. Save your money, this phone's not worth $500.
What I like:
Form: This phone's very very easy to operate with one hand, slider included. Very nice design and good buttons.
Screen: OMG the first time I saw it I wet my pants. It's an awesome screen! In addition, you can have videos and animated gifs as backgrounds. I love the falling leaves/snow/clovers/whatever effect. Very soothing.
Camera: WOW....best camera on a phone by a mile. This is probably due to the use of a CCD imager instead of the traditional CMOS used in most phones, but still, WOW. The business card reader function works very well too
Ringers: Ringers sound very good on this phone, and very very loud, I can't tell which is louder, my MM7400 or the A800. Both have subtle differences to the sound, I think the MM7400 might produce cleaner audio out of AAC ringers though. And I LOVE how you can set it to vibrate independently of ringer volume, all phones should do this.
UI: I've never seen such an animated and simply beautiful UI on a phone. Everything's very very pleasant.
Roaming: I like how it doesn't search for sprint signal when you place an outgoing call while roaming (unlike the sanyo's for some reason).
Browser: As fast as the one on the 7400, you can see more, but nothing really better about the browser. Like the 7400 you can choose the font size as well.
What I don't like:
SMS: eZiTap is crap. It takes me soooo long to type in messages, and ezitap doesn't help wtih puncuation either (apostrophes etc). BIG BIG mistake to leave out T9. The speech to text is okay, works most of the time, not some of the time, and forget using it in a noisy environment (which ironically enough is where I SMS the most because it's too tough to make a call). And finally, I can't believe you can't change the font size the SMS text is displayed in. It just looks like the letters are too big to me. This is something the 7400 will do, and you would think with a QVGA screen they woulda put an option for smaller font sizes.
Customizability: Quite frankly, it feels like samsung only went halfway when they could've done more. They could've set an option in there for the slider to close all programs when closed, or to not to anything (like the 7400 has an option for with its flip). You can't customize the soft buttons, or the quick menu when you hit the soft-right key. As for the keyguard, I really don't see why you have to hold a button down for 3 seconds and then hit another. Why not do it like the nokias and hit one then the other?
Speakerphone: or lack thereof, with a phone this big, it really should be in there.
Earpiece: yes, you heard me, I don't like the earpiece in this phone. Many others have said it's the best they've heard, quite frankly, it doesn't sound much better than my 7400's, just less bassy. IN ADDITION, when I'm talking to someone who speaks softly, their words get cut off (the infamous samsung noise cancellation thingy). I hate this and I don't understand why I should pay $500 for a phone that doesn't let me hear correctly? The 7400 is better in this department, more of a solid feel to the sound quality, and more bass (which isn't necessarily a good thing, but I must be used to it despite the fact that it muffles the sound a little).
Reception: the A800's reception is NOT as good as the 7400. I've tried this in a fringe area at work where both phones teeter in and out of sprint coverage and a moderate coverage area (2/4 bars on the sanyo and 4/6 on the samsung). In the fringe area where the 7400 would be at 99-101db's the A800 would be at 103-105db's consistently. And in the moderate coverage area, where the 7400 would be between 88-91db's, the A800 would be at 92-95db's. I was surprised as I had read reviews showing reception on the A800 to be stronger than this. Now I haven't had a dropped call with the A800, but it seems to lose reception more often at my work than my 7400 does.
It really pains me to take this phone back, but it's what I'm going to have to do tomorrow. It sucks, but when it comes to phone functionality, this $500 A800 doesn't do it for me like the 7400 will. It's beatin in reception, call quality (noise cancellation issue), and SMS, perhaps the 3 most basic functions of the phone. Someone had mentioned that this is just a nice camera with a phone attached, whereas the MM5600 is a nice phone with a camera attached. I'm starting to think they're right. Save your money, this phone's not worth $500.