[funkxl]

Through A620 VS 8100 review

A620 (firmware update wl15)

Owned 8100 for 7months, owned a620 for one month.
Other phones owned

Sanyo 4000, 4700,4900, 6400
Samsung sch 8500, 3500

Features

-a620 has better battery life

-A620 has a much more vibrant interior LCD. The outer LCD is sub par though compared to the 8100

-A620 Superior Voice recognition technology vs. 8100. No programming required. VERY ACCURATE

-Camera is vastly superior to 8100. Has built in flash, over a dozen ‘funframes’, allows 3 resolution settings lowest being 128*, highest being 640x480. The lowest setting allows for the storage of 127 pictures, while the high setting allows for 27 pictures. Also allows for multishot

-a620 has 3 alarm clocks, scheduler, countdown timer, and to do list.

-Vision browser is MUCH MUCH faster on the a620. It is actually a pleasure to use.

-a620 allow for each section of the launch pad (the button in the middle) to be programmed (up, left, right, and down...)

-a620 allow for organization of phone book by groups of people, family, friends, co-workers etc…

-a620 has 1000kb of memory vs 8100’s 500kb

-a620 runs java applications much faster and smoother than 8100

A few quirks with a620 features….

-The a620 doesn’t allow quick access to incoming, outgoing, and missed calls.

-a620 also doesn’t display which number you called or is calling you. For instance say you had a phone book entry MOM. Mom has three phone numbers, work, mobile, and home…..the a620 just displays the number and the name MOM. You don’t know whether she is calling from home, work, or mobile. This is especially annoying when trying to access numbers through recently missed/incoming/outgoing calls.

-With the Sanyo 8100 if you tried Calling Mom’s mobile number, and no one answered you could push END, and then Menu and an “alternate number” option would appear allowing you to see her other #’s quickly and promptly allow you try and retry the call. The a620 does not allow for this.

Winner A620

Reception/clarity of calls

-A620 has a much clearer EARPIECE, you nor the party you are speaking to can tell you are on a cell phone.

-A620 max volume is lower the 8100. A620 earpiece stays clear even at the highest setting.

-Reception on both phones is about equal. The a620 shows only one or two bars 90% percent of the time but makes perfectly clear phone calls and holds onto the signal. I haven’t personally compared the DB values but made a significant real world test tonight. I was traveling on a train (400 mile trip) with my friend who owns a 8100. We both were on the phone at the same time the majority of the trip. When I lost service he lost service. Sometimes I would drop a call and he would hold on about 5 seconds longer(but his audio went real bad) and other times he would drop a call and I would hold on about 5seconds longer…it all evened out.

- I honestly was afraid about how the reception on the Samsung was going to be but it surprised me in a good way. I found it to be equal if not better(to do better sound clarity on both ends) then the 8100.

-I have experienced ZERO beeps or white noise during calls on the a620.

Winner: Samsung (mainly because of clarity of the earpiece

Ergonomics

A620 feels slightly heavier than 8100. To me it feels like its better quality.

A620 buttons light up better than 8100

A620 Feels a bit awkward to hold during conversation compared to the 8100

A620 buttons are sort of flimsy. 8100 buttons feel much better

BUGS

-with my 8100 (latest firmware update) navy blue I experienced random power cycles and random shut downs. Not often but they did happen on several occasions. It also randomly made data transmissions sometimes which wouldn’t allow me to make calls.

-I have not experienced any of the beeping, white noise or other issues talked about on this forum. The only bug that I’ve experienced talked about on this forum is the data exit bug….It hasn’t happened often but sometimes when looking through the menu or using the camera I will be kicked out to the main screen. One other bug which I have found is that if you are using the camera in sketch mode and try to take a self portrait at high resolution the picture is corrupted.

Overall

Hands down Samsung a620. haven't owned one in a long time, hate them because my girlfriends a460. But the a620 has changed my heart and mind. The 8100 isn’t a bad phone but still not nearly as good at the a620. I also believe the a620 still wins hands down when comparing features/clarity of calls to the 4050, and 4500(of course the 4500 camera is better and takes video, but I’m referring to PIM software and voice recg.