Customer Reviews

Samsung Impression a877 Phone, Blue (AT&T)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

NOTES:

If you want a phone that you can develop apps for, this is not it. The hardware is comparable to the iPhone, but Samsung has completely locked it down so I can't get any of my own apps or open source ones to run. Apparently they don't want to compete.

Melvin Cordoba is wrong: this phone has built in GPS and the 3.2 inch display works great with AT&T Navigator....however that app dims to a minimal brightness after the screen timeout expires so you have to keep touching the screen for the map to be visible - manually setting a 10 minute timeout every time you launch the app is a pain.

Also, if you want a phone that can run 3rd party applications or programs you write yourself, this is not it. Samsung has locked this phone down so anything you install on it will not run. It is has the hardware to be a decent smartphone, but Samsung won't allow that.

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I shopped for over a year before deciding on this phone and gave it 4 stars because of the weak battery and lack of WiFi.

I am happy with the features, but the battery is almost fully drained by only about 2 hours of web browsing or music/video playing. If a high-capacity battery becomes available, I'll get it even if it means the back of the phone bulges out.

Without using the media features, the battery lasts as advertised.

If you are concerned about cell phone radiation, this one of the *BEST* phones availble. Head exposures are all well below 0.5 while Blackberry, Apple, etc. cook your brain with 4-5 times more radiation.

SAR ratings from the Impression User Manual:

GSM 850:
* Head: 0.277 W/Kg.
* Body-worn: 0.916 W/Kg.
GSM 1900:
* Head: 0.147 W/Kg.
* Body-worn: 0.547 W/Kg.
WCDMA 850:
* Head: 0.195 W/Kg.
* Body-worn: 0.384 W/Kg.
WCDMA 1900:
* Head: 0.349 W/Kg.
* Body-worn: 0.833 W/Kg.

Other notes:

Even with low SAR numbers, I've had excellent reception so far.

Phone is very stable to hold when the keypad is out, but is slippery and can easily be dropped while deploying the keypad. If a silicone case becomes available, I'll get it.

Does not have a 3.5 mm headphone jack but an adapter is available for about $10. Using the cheap headphones that came with my first generation Zune, this phone produces some of the best sound I've ever heard from a music player.

The CPU seems more than adequate for all applications, but it can heat up (the back of the case near the camera gets warm) and that probably accounts for the fast battery drain.

Despite the 400x240 resolution, video is only supported at 320x240 or lower.

Screen is bright with excellent contrast and color even at the dimmest setting.

I have had this phone now for a little over 72 hours. It's my first smart phone*, so unfortunately I don't have much to compare it to in that vein, but I do have some thoughts on the phone itself. I'm using it with a 1GB card.

I'll start with what I like:
- The screen - it's beautiful and vibrant. The touch screen works well and I have yet to encounter any issues.
- The qwerty keypad and auto orientation - it responds well and the buttons are not so small that you hit the wrong keys, but it's not at all bulky.
- Call quality - excellent call quality. Speaker phone is loud and clear on both ends of the call.
- The camera - I've never had pictures look so good on any phone I've ever owned. They're sharp and clear in daylight conditions and in low light or indoor conditions, they're much better than most mobile photos I've seen.
- Widget function - allows your most used tools to be available on the main screen at all times.
- Size and weight - not too bulky, not very heavy.
- Connection to USB - I love that I can essentially have this phone function as an external hard drive and drag and drop files into it from my PC as well as edit file folders on the phone from the PC. It makes file transfers and organization so much more simple.
- Smooth internet use - it is pretty easy to navigate around internet pages on the phone.
Overall, the phone works very quickly and smoothly transitioning between screens and functions. I'm quite happy with that aspect.

What I don't like:
- No contacts or calendar sync! Even my old low-tech phone had the ability to sync my contacts to my computer for easy editing and backup. There is no way (that I could find in the bundle) to view, edit or backup your contacts to your computer from this phone. Data sync cable does nothing for this.
- Ringtones must be under 300kb - quite a bit smaller than my previous phones (but I'm not sure if I was just spoiled before.) The phone comes with this program called PC Studio Manager which is supposed to be able to compress your files for this purpose, but I have yet to get any of my music to compress to the size needed for a ring tone.
- PC Studio Manager - seems to work a bit like Media Monkey or iTunes in that it organizes and backs up your media files. In my limited use of it, it's been frustrating and somewhat redundant particularly since I wouldn't want to use it to manage all of my media files. It is not the most intuitive program and not much direction is offered within the program itself or within the digital manual online (you are given a CD which links you to the internet manual since no paper manuals came with this phone.)
- No flash on the camera. Still does pretty well in low light, but I was used to a flash on my old camera.
- No GMail support - it supports Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail, etc... but no GMail. The downloadable GMail mobile doesn't work perfectly with the phone either, but it functions... sometimes.

Overall, I enjoy the phone but my peeves are still pretty frustrating. I hope updates will become available particularly the contacts sync because as of my writing this (4/13/09) there isn't much information available in that regard. I haven't yet been able to wear down the battery in normal use (internet, occasional chatting, general playing around with the phone & standby) so I have no complaints about the battery at this time. I'm not 100% sure I'd recommend it to my best friend just yet. Just know exactly what you're getting.

*edit - cnet categorizes it as a "Samsung Smartphone" other websites call it a non-smart phone... doesn't matter since I'm not comparing it to other "SMARTphones" all personal comparisons are done against other old phones used over the past 5 years which were not SMARTphones.

The Samsung Impression is an awesome phone that definitely deserves your consideration if in the market for a new cellular device.

Here are the pros:

-The touch screen AMOLED display is very bright and detailed. I was also very surprised how responsive the screen is. Since it is a 3.2 inch screen it is also very easy to read.

-This phone is very compact,thin and lightweight. It feels very good in the hand and also feels very durable.

-The slide out QWERTY keyboard has chicklet style keys that are very easy to use. The space bar is good size and there is a dedicated message key on the keyboard which makes it very easy to send a quick message.

-Call quality on this phone is great. Speaker phone is loud and very clear.

- Texting is unbelievably easy on this phone. The user-interface is simple and makes texting even easier.

- The camera is a 3.0 megapixel and takes very good photos. Video capture is also decent.

- 3G is fast and browser is good enough for light internet browsing.

Here are the cons:

- No Wi-fi. This feature would have bumped this phone into the smartphone department and it would of been awesome.

- With heavy texting (500 Msgs a day or so) the battery will drain quick. But with light texting and phone calls the phone will last a week or so.

-If you want to put your own custom ringtones on this phone they have to be under 300Kb which is ridiculously small. They force you to buy a ringtone from AT&T if you want a decent one.

-The software it comes with is called PC Manager and is atrocious. It makes putting content on your phone very complicated. Your better off getting a MicroSD card and managing your content that way.

- The LOCK key on the side of the phone is too flush mounted and is hard to push without fingernails.

Overall, this is a quality phone. This is as close to a smart phone as can be without paying for an expensive data plan. If you want the wi-fi and other features then your better off getting a smartphone, but you will be paying for a data plan.

First let me say that I had a chance to see and work with this phone over a weekend about 2 1/2 months prior to it's release. The whole family fell in love with it and decided to wait for it to launch - even my 14-year old - and this was going to be her 1st cell phone!

The good:
Excellent high end feature phone look/feel/most functions (note: not a true smart phone), and for a high end feature phone it's a very well-rounded package. Good size, good feel, just the right touch screen haptic response when you select something, and a great feel to the keyboard when pressing the buttons. It takes up to 16 GB microSD memory cards, has a 3mb camera and the screen is very nice - though not dramatically better than non-AMOLED screens as I would have expected from the marketing hype and all the pre-release buzz around this phones AMOLED screen. No, there is no hint of any 3D effect in the AMOLED screen as was talked up in some of the pre-release reviews. But the screen is bright and vibrant - though in the sun it washes out considerably more than my old Palm Treo I gave up to get this.

The Cons: We bought 3 for our family so we'd all have the same phone, accessories, etc. for convenience. First, 1 of the 3 had to be sent back as defective. To their credit, Amazon handled it very, very well. Also however, we quickly started experiencing several dropped calls per day per phone and all 3, and a few times a day that the phone would respond when attempting to make out bound calls with "Emergency 911 calls only" (apparently the built in response when there is insufficient signal.) A call to first AT&T's Tier 1 (to have all of the account settings checked) and then an escalation to Teir 2 Support resulted in being told that I was in a small area (appx. 1/2 by 1 mile) that had moderate 2.5G (Edge) coverage, and only low 3G coverage... and the Tier 2 rep stated this phone is a 3G ONLY phone... which turned out to be apparently entirely untrue. I had anticipated as soon as she told me... to my knowledge AT&T doesn't even make any 3G-only phones. But there does appear to be some problem here which they desperately still need to work out related I suspect to the phone transitioning from a 3G signal to 2.5G (Edge coverage) and back... If I watch the signal strenght on 2 phones side by side, first 1 and then the other will drop from 3-5 bars, immediately to zero bars, then slowly climb back up over a 3- to 15-second period. This is exactly what's happening I noticed when the calls were dropping or the "E911 calls only" message is appearing. Additionally, we will often get voice mail notifications after the phone never rang, and sometimes even the voice mail notification will be delayed as muh as 2 full days after the voice mail was left. Also as stated the screen washes out horribly outside in any sunlight and unlike the pre-release phones, the screen unlock button has to be held down for a long time - and unfortunately it's small and placed right next to where the phone begins to slide out for the keyboard, making it very difficult to unlock quickly with one hand (minor complaint.) While this location was good on the AT&T Samsung Eternity (which has no slider) on the Impression the placement of the button makes it rather awkward to unlock.

So my advice for now: although this is a wonderful phone overall for a feature phone/non-smart phone, and though we waited for it seemingly forever (just ask my 14-year old), unless you live in a very urban area with great, consistently strong 3G coverage throughout the areas you will be calling from I'd recommend you consider waiting until they fix these signal transition problems before buying one, unless dropped calls and very delayed voice mails are not really that big a deal to you. Another note: this is still a great phone if texting is your primary use. We've had virtually no text message issues. I suspect this is because SMS messages are queued in the network so a temporary drop in the signal just means a few seconds delay in the message, which goes completely unnoticed. This is still a really great texting phone, regardless of the current voice signal issues.

I've had this phone for a month now and I really like it. The reason for 4 stars is the web browser. When I get a message or try to get online sometimes its says forbidden and I would have to turn it off and turn it back on and it worked but it got old after awhile. Called at&t and they said it was issue samsung was working on and aware of. I called amazon and they sent a replacement right away. Love Amazon. My new phone has not gave me that error, let's keep our fingers crossed. Texting is a breeze with this phone and the touch screen is amazing. The only other thing I can say is a downfall is the sound. Seems like the alarm doesn't ring as loud as my old cell phone, but maybe I need to check on the settings and make sure it's set high as possible. Overall this is a great phone. A must have for people who text alot. I also like the fact that you don't have to have internet as with the iphone (30.00 extra) and that's why I got this phone. Good luck and hope this helps.

I got a new Samsung Impression in early May to replace a HTC tilt and have used it for about 3 weeks. I was not using all the features on the tilt and the interface was not user friendly. I had nicknamed my Tilt "the brick".
Here is my take on the Impression. On the software front I heard a lot of problems with outlook sync and Gmail access. The outlook sync is easy to fix. I downloaded the eternity pc studio software instead of the impression software and outlook sync was easy. This Eternity version works on Windows XP but wont work on my vista at home as claimed by Samsung (as of May 20, 2009). Luckily, I have XP at work and was able to sync about 400 numbers quickly. Hope Samsung restores the outlook sync feature that they failed to add in the impression version of pc studio and also fixes the vista bugs. ATT or Samsung may not advise us to use the eternity software for Impression but I know that Outlook contacts and calendar has become essential for most of us.
I have not found a way to activate G mail but I am prepared to wait. If that does not happen, I may have to forward to hotmail and work through that. Samsung has a lot of work to do with the PC studio to say the least.
Other software aspects include a nice camera interface that's easy to use and takes good pictures. The Telenav system is also easy to use. However the Media net browser is definitely below standards. The Media Mall app store too does not have enough useful apps. Anyway, I do not use much of these on my phone ...... I am still a bit old fashioned and do all the surfing on my laptop.
On the hardware front, the ANOLED screen is great and the slide out keyboard is a huge plus. The Camera takes clear pics with appropriate lighting. The big drawback is the on / off button on the right side. The position on the base makes the phone slide out every time you press it and the button is also not prominent and easy to operate. Future versions MUST fix this and position it on the top rather than on the side to overcome the slider function. Another useful feature that is missing is a separate audio port. Battery life is average and is not in the same league as an old Razr that I had for a very long time. With average use it lasts me for about 2 days. As a precaution I have a charger at work and at home in addition to a car charger.
The impression is very comfortable for messaging and is a good phone with only rare dropped calls. Remember it is a basic phone and not a smart phone. Overall, it appears to be a winner in a swiftly shifting device market.

PS. I was able to successfully install the "new pc studio" onto my windows vista at home. It is important that you simultaneously install the second file for drivers to get the whole thing to work. I was also able to sync calendar, to do list and memos in addition to contacts from Outlook. I am close to changing my rating to 5 stars. The g-mail issue remains to be settled but honestly, i dont think i want to be slammed with a barrage of e-mails coming to my phone as yet.

I had this phone for five days before returning it just today. I am very sad because I loved this phone and it's features. However, the phone has one HUGE flaw. Call volume fluctuation.

I took my phone to a local ATT store to see if they ever had a similar issue. He had no idea what I was talking about. He was amazed when I pointed out the flaw, and assumed it was a defect with my phone (note it also did the same thing on my bluetooth headset so it's not a speaker issue).

On a hunch I took a look at the two demo samsung impressions in the store. They had the exact same problem! Not only that, both Samsung Eternitys (which use nearly identical software) had the same volume issue. At this point the sales guy at ATT is baffled (especially since the volume issue appeared on his demo models). He apologized and had me test a few other phones. Long story short, I have an LG Xenon on the way that does not have this volume issue.

*** The Bug ***
When talking to anyone on the phone, as the person starts talking the volume is very low. As they continue talking the volume gets very loud. When there is a pause, the volume will reset, start low again, then increase in a yo-yo like effect. Not so bad if it only happens a few times, but not every five seconds for a half hour. The issue is also present on bluetooth headsets (tested with two different kinds).
*

I loved the phone and it's features, but it came back to basics and I could not use it as a PHONE. Thus a warning to anyone interested in a Samsung Impression, or Samsung Eternity. These phones are flawed, be it a hardware or software problem. If you don't mind listening to conversations that sound like the person on the other end is pulling the phone back and froward away from their mouth, be my guest and try it. But I personally do not recommend anyone get these phones unless Samsung updates them (which they have not and hardly ever do for phones).

Until recently, I have steadily refused to become involved in texting or features of my phones beyond the use of the camera and making/receiving calls. Very basic stuff.

This phone is my first step out into the world of texting, web browsing, GPS, etc etc.

First, I do like this phone and I have customized a great deal of it to my satisfaction, even learning how to make my own ringtones (free) from music on my computer. I was most attracted to the slide out QWERTY keyboard because I'm old fashioned and I don't like texting with the regular keypad. The slide out keyboard is my favorite.

So far my main two drawbacks are the battery life, which even for someone not picky about phones like me, seems low. The second is the camera. I'm not impressed at all with it. Maybe I just need to use it more but as far as I can tell, it has no zoom. My last phone, a Sony Ericsson, had a great camera that could zoom in and took nice shots, and also had a light on it. This Samsung does not. I guess I will have to stick with dragging my digital camera around to anything I really want shots of and save the camera phone for those spur of the moment things you tend to snap pictures of then hope it's good. I will say that the camera has caught some shots pretty well which I thought would be blurry (operator error).

I'm still working on learning to navigate around and adjust settings but so far, I do like the phone overall, it just has some minor drawbacks.

I just got text messaging added this week and after I master that, I may move on to using the internet on the phone ;-)

I went to three different websites to compare the price on this phone, after reading all the good reviews about it on At&t. On Best Buy it was $50 with a new 2-year At&t contract. On At&t it was $199.99 with a new 2-year contract. But on Amazon it was $.01 with a new 2-year At&t contract...yep, only a penny. Plus on Amazon I didn't have to pay for an activation fee. DEFINITELY buy it on AMAZON, I am in LOVE with this phone!!! Plus the phone's color is a dark midnight blue (almost black really), not sky blue like the picture -- definitely better looking!

The lack of contact sync is almost unbelievable to me.

Does Samsung think we have five or ten numbers to keep up with?

I really like the we the phone operates. Menus and configuration and everything is easy and intuitive. Call quality seems great. Battery life is not great but live-able to me...

I would prolly give this phone five stars if Samsung would send some lackey out to my house to program all my numbers (printed out on an outlook contact sheet active-synced from my old Blackjack) into this phone.

EDIT: The Samsung Eternity has an updated PC Studio suite. It has a more well rounded set of features including contact and calendar sync as well as a dialup modem driver to use the handset as a 3G modem for a laptop.
Ive attempted to install and use this software with the A877 Impression. It recognizes and connects to the Impression but I cant get it to do much more than that. It errors out as it is unable to create a file needed for data exchange with that handset.

If Samsung will update the PC Studio for the Impression to just at least offer the features that the Eternity's PC Software has then I will be extremely happy.

/Me crosses fingers...