Customer Reviews

SAMSUNG SCH U740 GOLD VERIZON CELL PHONE CAMERA VCAST

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this phone March 25, 2007 and am still working things out. The sound is good for calls and MP3.

Dialing - Dialing by voice works very well and without "training" the phone, whether it's my entries by name or I recite the phone number. I like it, but my Motorola V710 was pretty good too.

Speakerphone - It's loud enough, but I'm not confident about the pickup mic yet.

Bluetooth - I kept my old Motorola bluetooth headset and it was easily found by this phone. My connection has been crackly, but I'm not sure why.

Video Messaging - I just took my first video (up to 15 secs) and sent it to a friend. I'm told the sound came through also. Very cool! I still think it would be more efficient to have the option of voice messaging without accompanying video, but I'll live.

Video Viewing - Some buffering glitches, but I watched a couple Comedy Central vids and a Wall St. Journal one and the sound and video were as good as on my computer (for the size of the screen). I think they should have gone a little larger on the handset. With a bluetooth headset and voice dialing no one sees how big my cell phone is any more and why shouldn't it be my mini-TV with phone capabilities? I suspect the Apple iPhone will do the better job in this regard (but at about double the price).

MP3 Player - Adding and deleting songs is easy. A major drawback though is that playlists one creates on the computer do not come through as playlists on the phone. You have to tag each track on the phone as part of a particular playlist. I had a playlist with 66 tracks on it and no way do I want to repeat that effort! There does tend to be occasional skipping on playback though. The external touch keys are a great idea and work very well now that I'm familiar with them. Touch play/pause briefly and you toggle between the two. Touch that key longer and it's back to the phone. There's also Skip Ahead and Skip Back touch keys. The headphones that come with the VCast are ridiculously small for my head so I went to the Samsung website and bought the adapter so I can use my Bose headphones. Ah ha! The adapter arrived and I still can't use my Bose headphones until I purchase an adapter for the adapter! It takes the tiniest headphone plug rather than the mid-size one that the Bose uses. Assuming I can get such a beastie at Radio Shack (or find my old one) I'm still excited, but the volume toggle on the side of the phone is pretty close to where you put in the headphone jack. Not too smart there, but I can still use it and I'm not messing with volume too much (forgot to check if there's a built-in equalizer).

Keyboard - I like the QWERTY keyboard though it's a little small, but good for the occasional e-mail and I seem to be getting used to it.

Texting - I think voicemail makes more sense than messaging, but the texting feature works. I thought it had voice recognition software for voice to text, but it does not so you're stuck using the keyboard. You get used to it, but why can't I just send a voicemail via text like I can with the Pinger service? Well, Verizon!

Scheduler/Address Book - I have been waiting years now for a cellphone with a good address book/scheduler that I can use to replace my Sharp YO-520. We're almost there. One can schedule appointments in this device very easily, but only 8 for any given day! Further, that small keyboard means I'm more likely to send myself a future-dated voicemail (though there are limits to how far in advance Verizon lets you do that (hint, Verizon!)). My Sharp organizer has 1MB of memory and lets me enter as much info as I want per entry in my address book. This device only lets me enter a name, some phone numbers and e-mail addresses and some notes and limits the number of characters that I can use per entry and I have 2GB of added memory in here. The Verizon backup only is for names, numbers, e-mail, so any addresses or other info you enter is not backed up. Hello! This has got to change! The cellphone companies can't claim that these will be the only devices we need and then do nothing to make that claim reality. For now, I'm still carrying the Sharp along with this phone, and starting to use my Yahoo! calendar as I can text message a reminder of an appointment that way (Google calendar works also) but I really, really want to be able to have my entire address book online and on my cellphone. You would think the cellphone companies would be giving serious consideration to a "sticky" feature like that. There is a "Notepad" feature, but that's not linked to the address book.

Mobile Web - I've been paying for this for years and now I can use it decently. I check one of my Yahoo! accounts, but haven't figured out how to check all of them yet. However, some nights there is no web access and I'm in Silicon Valley, go figure!

Other Features - There's a world clock and a stop watch setting. I don't think you can do split times with the stop watch.

Optional battery charger - I had to go on the Samsung website for this (along with the headphone adapter for my headphones). I was expecting it to have its own power cord, but instead you have to use the one that comes with the phone (better not lose that!).

The thing I love most this phone besides the side flip out screen and easy keyboard for texting is the size and thickness of it.No bigger than a razor phone.No antenna sticking out is great too !I like the carbon fiber look wrapped around the outer screen.Both screens inner & outer very bright and colorful.Great reception anywhere.Mp3 works great as long as you get the music essential kit from verizon.Takes great pictures too ! They print out a little on the dark side,but nothing a good photo program cant fix.Battery life is great.I like the memory slot being on the side.Easy to get to.The wallpaper and ringtones are lame so plan on downloading some.All in all though an excellent phone.Love it !

One reviewer indicated that there was no speech to Text feature. There is.In the Text message screen press the left soft key that shoes Abc. One of the options is Voice. That reviewer indicated that you could not attach a note to the address information. If, when you are in the address book, you scroll down far enough, you will find the NOTE field.

Another reviewer indicated that the Landscape mode did not allow for full view with games, etc. I believe a press of the "UP" navigation key presents a full picture, at least it does in Vcast (I don't have any games).

All the reviews were, generally, right on. I might mention that one reviewer felt he had to use a USB cable for pictures or perhaps MP3s. The use of a memory card can accomplish the same thing, and, for Mac users, it solves the problem of not having the Windows video player for MP3 downloads and the implication that us Mac people are out of luck (we are not).

As a matter of interest I would like to mention that Quicktime (the latest version) can convert any picture format it can read into a 3g2 export (the native format of the carriers video handling scheme). I was able to convert a 90 minute video of a play captured in MPG2 that was playable in Quicktime to a 3g2 movie and place it on my memory card. How about watching an hour and a half movie on this phone!

Just got it on Feb 24 from Verizon with a new 2-year plan. This thing is awesome. First of all, phone sounds very good! The flip hinge so that I can text or add contacts with a real live QWERTY keyboard is FANTASTIC. The camera quality is amazing for a 1.3 MP built-in! My husband commented on how great the photos look! It looks so sleek and cool. A friend thought the keys were too small, but I got used to a Treo 600 so I have no problems. It's a super fun phone that does absolutely everything I need. Love it, love it, love it.

I got this phone the first day it came out with the assurance from the Verizon crew that Samsung makes awesome phones! I have had it now for about 3 weeks and can't say anything bad about it! It gets great reception and has worked in places my old motorola e815 did not. It is perfect for those of us who cannot text using the number keys and this thing fits in my jeans pocket almost exactly like a Razr.... I love how thin this phone is!

I can't seem to get any new ringtones on it... but I haven't had time to try and figure it out! I am sure it connects to Sony or someone to get all the latest tones. It only comes with about 15 and they are all really lame. The camera has been taking some great "phone quality" shots and it comes with a flash which really helps! The battery life is fabulous, I have been charging it every other day with all day phone calls and texting!

By far the best part is how thin it is and still has the enV style keyboard and swivel flip - I chose it over the enV because of the size and I think I made a great choice!

Bought this phone a few months back to replace the Razr V3c on the Verizon network. I loved the Razr and this was going to be tough to beat.

Appearance: I have the gold version and actually prefer this one to the black one. It is more noticeable and a few people have asked what phone I had while talking on it. It's nice to have something that sticks out from the norm (IMHO).

Size: Very comparable to the Razr. Slightly larger than the Razr but noticably slimmer than the functionally similar Env. This was one of the major specs that led me to purchase this phone than the Env.

Interface: Much improved that what I had on the Razr. Loved the fact I could turn off the power on/off sound without having to set it to vibrate mode. Quick start up and power off. Quick learning time if you're already familiar with other Verizon phones.

Camera/Video: Camera is decent. Only could use zoom if picture quality is not on maximum. Image quality is not as good as Env or Razr, but certainly gets the job done. For best results, you'll need plenty of light as pictures may come out too dim. This part should be in the interface, but I don't like the preview mode. The pictures are not displayed full screen (portrait or landscape). It's harder to see details. Pictures are a bit larger (viewing) when taken with the phone open.
Still don't know why Verizon limits the time to only 15 seconds. Just a minor gripe, but sometimes wish that time was longer. Video quality is decent. Volume is great though during playback.

Reception: never had a problem with reception. Always has enough reception for good clarity on both sides. Never had a dropped call.

QWERTY: as others have mentioned, the keys are a bit small and would be tough for big fingers. It took me a while to get used to the smaller keys, but can text at a rapid rate. I don't send text often, but glad that I can use the keyboard. Still have to backspace sometimes because of extra keys pressed, but getting better at it.

SD card: Really love this option as I recently put in a 2gb card. Tested by putting music, picture files into it. The pictures was unable to be previewed (I didn't resize) it so it might be too big for the u740. The music files are easy accessed (landscape mode) and controlled with the touch sensitive keys on the back. Volume is great when you need. Lock key on the side to turn on/off the touch sensitive keys are a bit too easily pressed. sometimes notice that they are on while in pocket/case and have to turn it off.

Overall happy with the phone and see myself holding on to it for the duration of my contract.

this phone is the best buy for your bucks.I think it is better than the en-v or the v because it is as thin as the razor.it has alot more features than the phones that are out there for the same price.I got it with the 2 year agreement and is worth the whole time having it.the phone has video,camera with flash(something that the razor does not have),choice of aol yahoo or msn instant messaging,and alot more things that i am still finding out.get this phone if you want all the diferent things that come with it.

If you're a text messager and a music person, this is the perfect phone for you. I love the dual flip because while I knew I needed a full QWERTY keyboard to support my text message habit, I also didn't want to sacrifice the ability to flip my phone open vertically to answer a call. The sound quality is great, and even when I'm driving on the expressway people on the receiving end say they cannot tell I am in the car when I use this phone. I haven't used the music player yet, but I have a 2 GB micro SD card in the mail so that I can have all my favorite songs available. The camera is quite decent for a phone and the flash is very helpful. My only peeve with the entire phone is that when a picture ID is displayed, it doesn't fill up the whole screen, and it's surrounded by a lot of white wasted space. But that is pretty inconsequential compared to the excellence of the rest of this phone. AND everyone is jealous of the cool dual flip.

First, the pluses: great speakerphone, great voice dialing, nice two-way hinge, connects to my bluetooth headset easy as pie.

Minuses include: teeny, tiny, ridiculously small buttons that a person with large hands will find frustrating to use. Music sounds tinny on the speakers, no universal headphone jack.

I've had this phone for nine months and dropped it countless times. It is durable, but the small buttons are a pain in my patoot. I think I might have been better served with an Envy.

Major problems:
1. Slips out of your hands because it's too thin.
2. External speakers distort when using on a call.
3. Can't see screen outside in sun.

Finally got a bluetooth Plantronics 510 headset working with this phone (the plantronic 510 is probably the best headset made). It must have been a bad headset because it wouldn't call or hang up reliably. I exchanged the first 510 with a new one and now it's working much better. Now that I got that working I'd raise my star rating one star if I could. It is a very slick phone and bound to win a lot of people over even with the flaws.