Customer Reviews

SAMSUNG SCH A930 VERIZON CDMA BLUETOOTH CAMERA PHONE

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

The reason why I didn't give it a 5:

I currently own a Audiovox XV6600 (a fully functional PDA with Windows Mobile 5, etc.., and activated the phone through Verizon). So you can imagine downgrading from a PDA to a run-of-the-mill / mainstream flip-phone explains why the Samsung A930 isn't the "fanciest" gadget I've come across. In other words, I'd give this Samsung a 5/5 if it wasn't for the PDA. I hope you find the following information helpful.

Ive seen and handled several types of cell phones and I'd have to say that the Samsung A930 is an excellent phone... for the price (compared to other phones of much higher value, and pooring ratings/quality). It's V-Cast compatible, and has a memory card slot for a SanDisk microSD disk which is useful if you listen to music on the way to work, school, etc..

Physical Features:
- Very well constucted; no flimsy/cheap made parts.
- All input connection ports (i.e. where you plug the charger in) have attached caps/covers to prevent any dust, etc. from building up- which can result in damaging the connection prongs, which is no good (especially if you dont have an insurance plan on the phone).
- There's no protruding antenna, (which i personally found both unhelpful and unneccessary with earlier phones) but despite this problem I've been getting excellent signal (but that may just be the area I'm in)
- The camera rotates 180 degrees (give or take) so you can face it forward, or towards yourself - and it also takes impressive pictures for being a camera phone, 1280x960 (pixels) maximum resolution. Plus it has many other camera features: flash, brightness, contrast, etc..

Software Features:
- The ringtone selection isn't very good, in my opinion. There are only a select few to choose from (You can always download ringtones off GetItNow though, if neccessary).
- The user-interface is very easy to use (I'm still getting use to mine so I've had a few mess-ups, pressing the wrong key and what not). The manual contains every bit of information you need to know on working your phone - plain and simple, with pictures and easy to follow instructions - down to every last option (which i find very helpful because some options seem to be hidden almost, and commonly manuals arn't written and put together very thuroughly - Hey, no offense all the cell-phone-manual-writers, just lettin out some steam, hah!.
- They're several pre-installed software applications built-in, unfortunately I can't list all of them because my fingers would fall off, trust me though, there are some real cool features: a calculator, a scheduler, alarm clock, and many many more.
- It includes GetItNow (for those not farmliar with GetItNow, its a application on the phone which allows you to connect to a Verizon server (Air time does not go against your contracted minutes) and you'll have access to hundreds of downloads such as ringtones, wallpapers, games, news, sports, and thats only to name a few. Its free to use, but some of the tones, wallpaper, etc.. cost a few dollars to purchase.
- Since i started a new contract I was eligable for 1 month free trial of V-Cast (Which I believe is about $15 a month) - it's pretty interesting/entertaining, you can access music videos, concerts, clips from your favorite tv shows, etc... In my opnion though i wouldn't recommend it, it's very over priced... $15 a month to watch clips of concerts and tv shows on a 1'' x 1'' screen? and how often are you going to watch a concert on your cell phone?

Phone Settings:
- There are countless adjustments and settings you can make to the phone to make it very customized, from different ringtones depending on the person who is calling you (you can even have a picture of the person display when they call, it's called Video-ID i believe)
- Voice Activated Dialing - you dont even need to had a pre-stored contact to call, you can simply say, for example "Call 5551234" and if it hears you clearly it will recognize the number and ask what you would like to do, "Call, store, etc.." (and when I was testing it I was speaking very quickly it worked dead-on the first couple times, but if it missunderstands a single (possibly 2) number(s) it will show you a list of similar numbers
- TIP: When using the voice recognition dialing, try putting on the speaker phone fuction first, I've found it can recognize speech a lot clearer (and make sure there isn't any loud ambient noise in the room (which would lead to a misrecognition)
- It's Bluetooth capabile for anyone interested.
- It also has a small input jack for headphones (i dont believe it's the standard 1/8'' jack though, any local electronics store I'm sure would carry an adaptor) so you can listen to music on the go. Also has playlist buttons are on the outside of the case to allow easier control.

Overall I'm very pleased with the phone (and you can imagine that going from a PDA to this... thats a good thing)

Don't take my word on it though, there are plenty of online reviews, and going to the store to try the phone out yourself before buying it is an awesome idea. I hope you found this review helpful.

Thanks for reading!

This phone is great! I've had it for a month now an have found some really neat tricks with this phone.

First off it is not an MP3 phone!! It only plays WMA music files. BUT! no worries its really easy to convert your MP3 music files into WMA (using "Plus! MP3 Audio Converter LE") & they sound completely the same. Going to www.microsoft.com download center you can download this software fast, easy an most importantly FREE. ok. The next thing I learned was that I could make my very own RINGTONES on my phone. Yup. That's right, I can grab any MP3 song slice a small clip (using "MP3 Cutter Joiner version 1.17") that I want from it an transfer it to my phone (using SD transFlash Card) and use it as a ringtone.

So check it out. With a little patience an learning a thing or to about audio files this phone can offer you Free Music, Ringtones & Pictures. All from your computer. Remember though!! I use a microSD/TransFlash Card to transfer all these files to my phone. So if u want to take full advantage of this phone your going to need one. 256mb is the one I use.

The Reception is great. So Far no dropped calls. I'm also a big texter ,seriously I txt all day everyday about 6,000 a month, well after txting all day the battery does tend to get low. Especially after a couple phone calls. But it has never died on me. I also play music all day and yet has never died. So in the end the battery is good.

Now If you read some of the other reviews somewhere someone wrote that since it has no front display you cant tell if u got a txt message, phone call or missed call etc. That is somewhat true. After 2 min it disappears but if you press the speaker button (or any other button on the outside) for 1 sec it pops back up again for another 2 min letting you know you have received something. And if you haven't it simply displays the date. ALSO!! the front display on this phone NEVER turns off. it always displays reception, time (not the date), and battery life.

so to sum it all up..

Good:
Reception
Battery Life
Add your own music and ringtones
Has Dust Covers
Rotating Camera

Bad:
Speakers could be a wee bit louder
& Verizon should hand out free accessories for this phone.
I know Sprint does with all of its Samsung phones.

Feel Free to email me at Hernizzzle510@sbcgloabl.net an I'll gladly help anyone needing help wit this phone in any way I can .

I've had this phone for about a week now and I really like it. I get great reception indoors and out; in a direct comparison with my friend's newer lg phone (vx5200 I believe) and older lg (model?) it gets better reception than both. The sound quality is great and the phone feels very solid. I have had no problem hearing through the earpiece on buses, etc. where there is a lot of background noise - this was always a problem with my previous phones.

This phone DOES display missed calls and messages on the front display; the lower half of the display disappears after about a minute to save battery life. If you hold the speakerphone button for a second, it will light up again and display missed calls and messages, so you can check for messages without having to open the phone.

In short, here are a few things I really like about the phone:

-Great reception
-Nice loud earpiece and speakerphone
-Loud ringer
-Very good sound quality
-Voice recognition works well
-Beautiful internal screen
-Feels solid
-Nice large keypad and navigation buttons
-Camera takes decent pictures and video (for a cell phone)

Here are a few things I'm not crazy about:

-Speakerphone button can be easy to inadvertly push, although I'm now
getting used to the location and press it less often
-Speakerphone echo in car (other person hears echo); only seems to occur
when talking with flip closed in car
-Ringtones aren't the greatest
-USB cable and headphones not included with phone

Overall I think it's a great phone. It's not advertised as an .mp3 player, so I don't know why people get upset when they find out you can only play .wma files. I haven't tried V-Cast or the navigation system, but I've heard other people say that they work very well on this phone. The outer display is not for everyone and may be difficult to read if your eyesight isn't the greatest, but I personally like it. This phone deserves much better than one or two stars.

Gorgeous sleek and packed with features! -

I only went into the store wanting a phone with a camera. When I saw the Samsung A930 I fell in love.

The fact that the top screen is on ALL the time is great. When I'm searching in the dark, or in the dark recesses of my purse, there's the phone. Very easy to find.

The battery it comes with is 1000mah. You can get an extended life battery for about $40 bucks.

I get great reception.

I tested all the phones in the shop, and most of them were pretty complicated when it came to figuring out how to take a picture. This was the only one that was actually point and shoot. Nothing to figure out. That sold it for me right there...

The ringtone selection is abysmal, and that's because they want you to purchase more ringtones. Makes sense from a marketing standpoint. So, I purchased more ringtones. No big deal, considering I got $100 bucks off the phone from Verizon as my upgrade bonus.

Visual screen = w 1.25" x h 1" Very clear picture.

I have never hit the speaker button by mistake. If you use the right edge of your thumb instead of your whole thumb, you won't run into that problem. However, I am a woman, and I do have small hands.

Keep in mind, that people who feel the need to leave reviews are ones that are unhappy with the product. I'm leaving this review so that you know, not all users feel that way. I assume that most of the happy users are out yapping on their fancy new phone :)

i have had this phone for over a week now, and i am very satisfied. let me tell you for the price you are getting is a steal. how can one make money by getting a new phone? i dont know but i dont really care either.

yes some of the cons include the easy to hit speaker button and also the fact it cant play mp3s. however i bought a data cable and it syncs up with windows media player 10 to do simple conversions and transfer of mp3 files to your phone. there was no problem. i just recommend you get a microsd card if you plan to do any kind of multimedia use.

the picture quality on the phone is awesome. camera, games, everything is very clear. speakerphone is clear. the external display always stays on by default turning brighter when in use. i like this rather than having to click a button to turn the external display on. a good looking phone that is perfect for the average person.

March 25, 2007 - Please see my previous review below. I can't find fault with this phone. I have been trying to justify buying another newer Samsung or LG not Motorola. I have had them, my wife has the Moto Razr and my son has the K1m all of which are okay, but frankly the Samsung A930 is better than any of those. I can't justify getting rid of this phone because it is AWESOME. The speaker phone is the best I have ever had and my wife wants to know if I can turn it down. The ear piece volume is awesome she wants that turned down too. I play Texas Hold'em every day at lunch on this phone for about 1 hour and never have run out of power. I have never dropped a call, lost a call, etc. I have never not had reception. I couldn't write a bad review on this phone if I tried to. Please see below:


"I bought this phone the first week it came out and I love it. You can pretty much count on Samsung for a quality product, unlike the over-rated Motorola. My wife has the Moto V3M, it is nice size but lacks quality and performance. I love the looks of the A930, very sexy, sets apart from all the other look a likes.

I have had lots of cell phones in the last 15 plus years. This is my favorite. Good volume and very simple to use the speaker phone. I am a big user of speaker phones on cell phones. When I use it the party on the other end of the phone never knows I am on the speaker.

I am also very suspicious when I see a single star review among other considerably higher reviews. Like there is an agenda. Can all of the rest of the reviews be that far off?

You owe it to yourself to take a look at this phone and find out for yourself.

It really depends on what features you really use every day. The rest are just fluff.

Whenever I buy a new cell phone the first thing I do is go on the Internet and find a longer lasting battery. So, I do have an extended life battery. But, I always do.

This phone is well designed and the Menu is one of the easiest I have used to get around my phone. It is extremely easy to disable the EVDO. You only need it for VCast which I rarely use. The Menu is designed to switch back and forth easily whenever you want. By disabling the EVDO, you will immediately get more talk and standby time out of your battery. With other phones like the Moto V3M, to disable the EVDO, you actually need a printed page of instructions.

I really like the exterior display. It is simple and very easy to read even in strong sunlight. The exterior function keys are all well designed and easy to use."

I bought this phone to replace a 4 year old LG-TM510. Right off the bat let me say that you need to have a Windows XP machine to take advantage of some of the extra features this phone has. This is important to me because I work in IT (Information Technology). Connecting this phone to your computer will allow you to back up your calendar, contacts, & pictures. You can also upload your own wallpaper, ring tones, and music. With the 32MB of built in memory you can upload around 4 songs, 5 wallpapers, and 4 ring tones. This is good for me because I can just swap out the music, wallpaper, and tones every few weeks. I will tell you this; don't buy any of the accessories from Verizon. I found the holster and data cable on EBay for about 40% cheaper.

Now lets move on to the phone itself. The security is crap compared to my LG-TM510. The LG would ask for a four digit pin before every call thus preventing unauthorized use and could be locked by holding the star button. This phone has to be manually locked via the menu screen and is either fully locked or unlocked. It is a bit tricky opening the phone but after I added the holster, I can open it quickly and without pressing any buttons.

The 1.3MP camera takes clearer pictures than some of my friends more expensive phones and it has a digital zoom and brightener. It also has a 15 second camcorder for recording "flix". The speaker has about eight settings that range from "Vibrate only" to "High" which has scared my wife a few times. There is a programmable "shortcut" key that allows you to create a shortcut to a commonly used feature. However there is only ONE shortcut key. The caller ID only displays names in your contacts when you enter the area code along with the phone number but you can link a picture to each contact.

It is very light weight and does not heat up on long calls like the LG-TM510. I love the sleek black flat and polished finish combination and the sliver buttons just add to that. Overall, I am happy with my new phone and only give it 3 stars because of the some of the marketing driven features and the really bad OEM ringtones. I must say if you purchase this phone, DO NOT buy any of the accessories from Verizon. [...]

I chose this phone with our new 2-year contract renewal because it was the highest rated Verizon phone from Consumer Reports. I was interested in Bluetooth, and while I wasn't sure I really needed to play music, that was an extra "perk". Overall, I have been satisfied with the phone; I'm not a heavy phone user, but it has everything I need.

I use a Jabra BT150 headset, and the Bluetooth works well with that. I have heard (but haven't confirmed) that some of the other Bluetooth features have been disabled by Verizon, and I can vouch for the fact that they push the VCAST features pretty heavily (all of which cost more than I think they're worth). I purchased a 1 GB micro SD card to fit into the phone and a USB adapter for the SD card so that we could transfer files from the computer to the SD card. This is useful because you can use the card to transfer pictures and songs to and from your phone (w/o paying Verizon for this "privilege"). MP3 files can be converted to WMA files on a PC via a free add-on to Windows Media Player (available from Windows), so with a bit of effort you can transfer music onto your phone without having to buy the "Music Essentials Kit".

Some have complained that the speakerphone button is easy to hit accidentally. I personally have never done that, though it is on the side of the phone and if you hold the phone a certain way I could see how that would happen. You might visit a Verizon store to actually hold one before you buy.

Overall, I think this is a solid phone for routine use. The camera, music player, Bluetooth, etc. aren't top-of-the-line technology, but comparing prices, I felt this phone was a bargain for the price.

I don't know why people rate this phone so bad, when it really isn't so bad. I'm writing this review for my mom since we both own the phone right now (My name is Keli speaking for mom - Deslina). We got it as a deal by just going to the Verizon store (2 phones with new contract for $100 with a $50 rebate = $50 spent for 2 of these phones). That was just the first positive option I found for this phone.

Secondly, I had an LG phone before and an older Samsung model which both had terrible reception along with many dropped calls and this phone has only dropped calls reasonably for me (going underground on the train, under thick tunnels, etc.) and it works much better than my older phones.

Thirdly, although the ringtones and music player both have to be modified, if you just look online there are MANY helpful links that instruct you how to fix this and upload it to the phone. My boyfriend only needed 30mins-1hr to figure out how to work these options. And yes, it is not advertised as an MP3 player but as a media player (.wma) so don't get upset about it. Read carefully next time.

Fourth, I love the camera. The clarity is much better than the Razr and many other phones my friends have such as the Sidekick 3, etc so don't knock it till you try it. Also you have options which many other phones don't offer since you're working with a 1.3 megapixel camera. AND is has a camcorder and by simply hitting the camera button twice you can use this option.

Fifth, the sound quality is nice and loud so I have no issues hearing it and if you complain about going through a few screens to activate the vibetonez option or just to have it vibrate, I would say don't quit your day job.

Sixth, the option of using a sd card is great. I can change the size to whatever I want which allows me to save more stuff or add things back and forth to this phone. The size to make pics fit exactly on the screen I believe is 174x183, but experiment and research if you really want to know more.

Overall, I love this phone. The only issue I had with it was the fact that I had no way to put it on hold so once in a while if i leaned on it while it was in the pouch, the music player would start up on it's own. Best thing I'd advise is to learn to not lean on it. That probably damages it overtime. Learn to use the phone or just switch it for one more difficult or older and easier to use. Also the battery life does go a bit faster than my older phones but if you're like me and actually listening to the media player or constantly talking to people, then expect it and be prepared. It does hold out pretty well however when it's close to dying so, no worries from me.

I think it was a worthwhile purchase because I spent the time to learn how to use it. I have the option to change what I want to what I WANT and I pretty much love that.

The a930 is a pretty solid phone, you can drop it, it won't break.
The goods: It won't break easily, good sound, great camera that rotates!! with pictures and video capabilities, and a bunch of expected stuff like ringtones, shortcuts, color lcd, plays .wma's, speaker phone, etc. Its loud and soft, crystal clear sound. DUN, bluetooth, microSD expansion slot. And Vcast.

In other words, if you're looking for a good phone-- this is it.

Now verizon has this sick idea of selling you stuff...that doesn't work.

Bluetooth--forget it, I've tried connecting with every single service, and even the same phone, it won't work. Why? Verizon blocks it.
Mp3- this phone can play mp3s, it can even play .wav's. What happened? the mp3 playback is in a hidden menu (search forums) and the .wav has to be disguised as a midi file.

Its a wonderful phone. If you want bluetooth, DO NOT USE VERIZON. Don't buy an accessories from them either, use amazon to find something good. eBay works well too.