Customer Reviews

SAMSUNG SCH-A870 VERIZON CDMA CELL PHONE CAMERA

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

First of all, the Samsung a870 is nothing spectacular. Thankfully, it's not billed as such--it's a phone. The extras are basic, but functional. Reception is great, call clarity is good. Call volumne and speakerphone volume are similarly top-notch. Bluetooth functionality--well, it functions. Design is good, menu is generally intuitive. It's also very solid--an attacking zombie would likely get stunned if I threw it at his head--probably wouldn't knock him unconscious though (I acknowledge that is a potential downside of this phone).

If you're looking for a cell phone that will make your jaw drop and/or make you wet your pants, this isn't the one. If you want a cell phone that allows you to make good calls and adds on a few extra functions, it does the trick. For the price, it'll do ya' right.

While one of the most detestable off-shoots of technology is the multitude of mindless fools who think everyone else cares what they have to say and, therefore, must inflict their babble on the rest of us, it is clear there is a need for cell phones. It's not clear, to me at least, why so many people think they need all the peripheral garbage companies tack onto cell phones. There's certainly no need involved for the vast majority of us. Still, all these capabilities attract buyers who fall for the marketing.

This Samsung phone is pretty basic as phones go. It has a camera that I would never use--last time I counted, I had 18 cameras. Apparently you can buy games, ringtones and other silly stuff. Who needs it? Not me. All I want to do is have a phone handy when I need one. Being a phone is something the Samsung does extremely well.

The sound is amazingly clear unless you turn up the volume to distortion levels. The speakerphone option is nice for hands free use. The graphics are readable and basic. The phonebook is relatively easy to negotiate. Reviewing messages is fairly simple. It's small--maybe a little too small for my large hands but it's usable nonetheless. The only problem I've encountered has been that the second a870 I bought for my wife had a bum battery. Verizon exchanged it and it has held a charge ever since.

It's too soon to tell how well the phone will hold up or how good Verizon's service will be. I expect it will be better than my old service from AT&T and then Cingular.

If you want a camera, buy a camera. If you want to play games, go to an arcade. If you want to listen to music, go to a concert. If you want bells and whistles and "stuff", I'm sure there are a lot of expensive cell phones out there to choose from. If you just want a phone, this is a pretty good one.

I have resisted cell phones for years and years. In fact, I hated them. I finally gave in, and I got this Samsung b/c it was cheap without being suspiciously cheap (i.e. "free") and received a good review at CNet. I have to say, I have been very impressed. Yeah, I'm a rookie when it comes to these things, but I've been using telephones for a good long time. What I know is that between the Verizon reception in my area and the phone itself, I have call quality that is far superior to the setup I had for the last year and half on VOiP. Granted, VOiP perhaps just sucks, but I didn't think that in going cellular I would actually have better call quality. My brother used to hate talking to me for more than 20 minutes. With the samsung and verizon, we have far more enjoyable conversations.

What I wanted in the phone was: voice, affordability. Those things are well provided here. I didn't need a crappy mp3 player with annoying software, or a "good" camera that was still far lousier than my 3 yr old digital camera. That said, the extras that it does have function well (for what they are) and it's fun to play with while procrastinating. The voice dialing function seems to work pretty well with minimal training (granted I have used this very little as I don't have a car), and I gather that I could get directions if I was lost or I can connect mobileweb. I even used the stupid tip calculator at a restaurant; it was actually really helpful for a large dining party.

Battery life seems decent; I charge every three days or so, and it only takes about three hours to get a full charge. Better than I was expecting.

It's a very good cell phone. Sound is very clear and loud enough for your freind to hear even in a very noisy area. Much better than my first LG cell phone

This is a true story... my husband accidentally left his phone in his jeans pocket about 3 months ago, and it was in the washer for about 15 minutes before he realized it was there. He took it out and I really didn't have any hope - I tried drying it on the heat vent and sure enough, after a few days the screen was still a little foggy but it worked!! Everying, photos - contacts, etc. were still there.

But it gets even better. Several weeks ago he was on a dock and dropped his phone in the lake. We thought it was gone for good but divers for the City recovered it, and since my husband works for the city and manages the dock he got it back!!!
I'm not kidding, we dried it in the sun for 2 days, plugged it in and tonight it's still working!!! Screen is a little foggy, but contacts, ring, pictures, reception and everything. Unbeleiveable. If nothing else, this thing is darned durable.

I got this phone back in December and haven't ran into any problems at all with it.
I use the VZ Navigator tool a few times a week and won't be purchasing any new phone without navigation built in.
Good sounds quality, good for it's price, over all a solid phone that gets its job done.

Had it for 8 months, so far so good.
I liked the sound quality, battery life is good, someone mentioned rubber cap for the charger but mine is a plastic cap and it was easy to pull out.
The camera quality is low and the flashlight is a joke, the software needs some improvment as well, they should make the arrow keys programable at least. However at this price, you can't really blame anything, after all this is a decent phone for everyday use, you shoudn't expect anything fancy from it.

I love my new Samsung. It's very easy to use. The sound is clear and perfect. I really don't need any camera, MP3 player or FM radio; I only need a good cell phone and this is it. Take advise that the clear button is also the back button.

This phone looks much better than its pictures and has basic but good functions, which is good for users like me who need just a decent phone. Both speakerphone and speaker sound clear and loud, which I like a lot. One problem for me is that I cannot see clock in standby mode, and I need to press any button to see clock.

It's an obsolete model now, but that's why I just got it: that's the "sweet spot" for price/features value for electronics. LetsTalk paid me $50 to take it! Reception is good and the keypad is fine, it's a solid phone. It was one of the first camera phones so of course it's not as good as the newer ones, but it's also one of the last phones to have analog reception, which is still in use in rural areas and likely will be for at least another year or two. (If you're really way out in the boonies you may want to get one of the 900 series phones which have a jack for attaching an external antenna). In another two years Verizon will give me a new phone to re-up, and then I'll get one of the current models that will then be obsolete because it "only" has a 2MP camera and 1GB MP3 player, when the new phones have PS2 games and Gigabit ethernet, blah, blah...