Samsung E317 Phone (AT&T)

by Samsung

Product Details

Product Manual [1.15mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 3.3 x 1.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0002VQDVM
• Item model number: E317
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #297,274 in Cell Phones & Accessories (See Top 100 in Cell Phones & Accessories)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

With support for multimedia messaging, mobile instant messaging, and Cingular MEdia Net wireless Internet services, Samsung E317 is great for people who want to step into the next generation of handsets. It's also got dual color screens and a VGA camera-- a sweet combo for getting and sharing shots on the go.

Design

Click the image to get a closer look at the E317's features.

The E317 sports a slim, sleek clamshell design with a large 128 x 160 color display with 65,000 colors. A supplementary, 96 x 64 screen on the front of the cover also displays in brilliant, full color. With it, you can quickly see photos, images, time, call information, battery and signal strength, and more. A stub antenna is placed on the top right side of the unit. Up and down buttons for volume control are placed on the left side, and there's also a button for quick access to camera functions. Most of the phone's features and on-screen menus are controlled by a five-way center button on the handset's control pad. There's a standard jack on the top of the unit to accept universal hands-free headsets, while the phone's charging and data ports are placed on the bottom of the unit.

Calling Features
The E317 features 40-chord polyphonic ringtones, and in addition to the built-in ringers you can download music and "supertone" enhanced ringtones from Cingular's MEdia service. A vibrate alert silently notifies you of incoming calls when you want to be discreet. The phone's internal memory lets you create an internal phone book of 500 alphanumeric entries. Meanwhile, ringer and picture ID lets you assign photos and ringtones to callers. The phone is also compatible with Cingular's "Fast Forward" call forwarding device, which enables you to effortlessly forward your wireless calls to your land line phone.

Messaging, Internet and Tools
Powerful messaging and Internet capabilities are built into the E317. Support is built in for sending and receiving pictures, text, graphics, sound and video via MMS messages. When used in combination with the phone's built-in still and video camera, MMS opens up a whole new world of messaging fun. Instant messaging is also supported via AOL Instant Messenger and the phone ships with a built-in email client with support for POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP protocols. There's also a built-in web browser for MEdia downloads and mobile web browsing. Cingular's MEdia service lets you receive and send emails, read news headlines, get weather updates, download games and ringtones, and more. T9 text entry, which is a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit-- a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.

The phone supports the GPRS wireless data protocol, meaning that when used with Cingular's Wireless Internet Express data service and the phone's data port, the E317 can be used as a wireless modem for laptops and PDAs.

A number of handy software tools are bundled with the E317 including a calculator with currency converter, an alarm, a to-do list, a voice memo recorder, and a calendar.

Imaging and Entertainment
Kick the fun up a notch with the E317's integrated VGA (640x480) camera, which includes a digital zoom, a self-timer, brightness control, and multi-shot ability for capturing fast action. You can even use the phone's external display as a viewfinder-- great for getting self portraits.

The E317 allows you to set screensavers, themes and wallpapers to suit your tastes. The phone is Java enabled, meaning it supports games written on the Java platform. The unit ships with three games and more are available via the Cingular MEdia service.

Vital Statistics
The E317 weighs 3 ounces and measures 3.30 x 1.80 x .80 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4.7 hours of digital talk time, and up to 298 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the 800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.

What's in the Box
Samsung E317 handset, AC battery charger, lithium-ion battery, user manual.

Product Description

Featuring an integrated VGA camera, advance multimedia messaging services and a vivid external 65k TFT color display makes everything come to life on your phone including photos, picture Caller ID, and more

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars All the "must-have" features are perfect. (but...), December 14, 2004

By 

Ron Rothman (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Samsung E317 Phone (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)

I own and use this phone, and overall, it's excellent. Samsung got the important features right: Size/weight, battery life, reception and call quality, etc.

All the "must-have" features are perfect. I only wish they hadn't overlooked some "nice-to-haves."

My wish list:

* [major] Give us a speakerphone, man!
* [minor] The display breaks phone numbers up at the 5th digit, so dialed numbers look like this:
718-55
5-1212

* [medium] The call logs only indicate the names of friends--not their numbers. I.e., it will tell me that my friend "Joe" called, but not whether it was from his home, his office or his mobile (if I have all three in my phone book). This is especially inconvenient when it comes to using the "recently dialed calls" list.
The same problem applies to the caller ID screen that appears when a friend calls. Even with called ID, I find myself asking friends who call me, "Are you calling from home or from work?" because all my caller ID reports is that "Joe" from my phonebook is calling.

* [minor] It's currently difficult to find accessories for this phone--in part because of Samsung's questionable decision to use a completely non-standard jack for the headset connection.

I'll leave it at that. All in all, an excellent performer and a great, fun phone. But a phone at this level should have its user interface thought through a little better.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT PHONE...... But it has its flaws, November 28, 2004

By 

NIKKISIXX "nikki" (OC/California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Samsung E317 Phone (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)

I Just Bought This Phone A little while ago and when i bought it they made sure this is the one i wanted because of complaints that the sound quality was bad. Well that is if you are in certain areas that dont get the best reception because it sounds just as good as my nokia and sony ericsson and my sidekick 2,but it has alot more features that are well worth the money( dual color screens for the photo viewfinder and as a photo caller id, lights up bright on the front with a multi color,changable service light,has a great quality vga camera with effects such as frames, black and white,sepia tone,negative and it can even make a picture look like a sketch,and it does this all sharply so it doesnt look cheap. also it gets great reception and has a vibrant color screen with animated backrounds. it has great battery life and loud crisp clear ringtones including mp3 and polyphonic.You can change your message tones, powering on and off tones, folder tone, and set personal ringtones so it is highly customizable. The phone itself is also very attractive and small. It is also light so it has alot of pocket appeal. The Bad good call quality but still not the best if you are looking for the best i would go for the motorola v400/v551. Also you have to keep the same shutter tone on all the time you cant change it or make it silent, the keys are a bit small but not to where youll be hitting 2 keys at once. It also runs on GPRS not edge so downloads are a bit slow. other than that no problems, and even better it runs on AT&T/cingular's gsm 850/1900 service so youve got great reliable coverage.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Review E317, November 7, 2004

By 

L. Hammons "Ortho" (IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Samsung E317 Phone (AT&T) (Wireless Phone)

I have been a Sprint customer for 2 years with a Samsung A500, was a very reliable phone except for sprints coverage area. Now to the E317 and Cingular. I read the E316 reviews prior to my purchase and thought that there is now way that this phone (since it's a samsung) is that bad. Well I was wrong, it definitely has its share of problems. I have no gripes with cingular, this is on the phone only.

1. The E317 has very, and I mean very, poor sound quality. Unless the person is speaking very loud or has a deep voice it is very difficult to hear them, even with the volume turned all the way up. This is why I am looking into returning it. Heck, this is the most important thing.

2.It does not have the standard 2.5mm Hands Free jack but instead one that is proprietary to samsung.

3.The volume control on the side controls the keypad volume when not in use, it DOES NOT control the ring volume or send the phone to vibrate mode like my A500 did (I am not sure if samsung has changed all their phones to act like this). Vibrate must be set by the keypad and the ring volume requires you to navigate in the control menus. The side button will control the speaker volume when you are talking on the phone.

4. Has a fair amount of background static that is always constant at some level. Much more than I ever had with the A500.

5. The speaker produces more of a computer generated voice than most people will be use to or will like. My A500 sounded more like the phone would in your home, where the E317 sounds like you are talking to someone through the computer.

6. The Good - Small and light weight with good color displays. Easy to use camera, even though low picture quality. Easy to navigate phonebook and phonebook is easy to setup.

Well I hope this helps you make an informed decision and even though you like the looks of the phone, just stick with something like the Motorola V400. I really look for Cingular to pull this phone off the market within 6 months due to complaints (This is not unheard off).