Customer Reviews

Samsung M620 UpStage Black Phone (Sprint)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I got this phone after I switched from the T-mobile network to Sprint because of a great discount I got through my job. I gave up my Sony-Ericson W300i for the Upstage, thinking it would be comparable. I loved the idea of having a 2 sided phone. I found after having this phone for a few weeks that it is very annoying to have a 2 sided phone!! I'll just list the pros and cons for you....

Cons-
-flipping the phone back and forth just to make a contact entry
-flipping the phone back and forth just to view a text...originally, it shows up as a missed alert, in witch case it can be viewed on the phone side, but if you want to view it again, and let's say, reply to it, you have to go to the other side, and then flip again to text.
-the lock button is not a button, but an up and down switch, witch isn't always easy to maneuver, especially if you have long nails! If you don't keep it locked, you will dial numbers in your pocket, and when you do keep it locked, it stays locked, even when you have an incoming call. You have to switch the button down to answer and to see who is calling, and if you were using the mp3 player side before the call comes, then the caller id will be on that side...it's just a fu*kin hassle!!
-the battery life sucks!!!! Yeah, okay, so it comes with the extended battery wallet thing, that thing adds 50% more hassle in maneuvering the phone. When you close the wallet, the phone clicks in which means to see the mp3 player side, you have to pull it out. Also, when you go to talk, it looks like you are on a phone from the 80's because the wallet flap is hanging there.
-the touch pad sucks!!!! So you acclimate yourself to the touch pad, which is not circular like the IPOD, so if your used to that, your screwed. Also, when you use the touch pad as directed and use a sweeping motion up or down, sometimes the pad thinks your pressing the end button, which will bring you straight back to the main screen. If you are trying to change a setting and you are deep into the menus, it only takes a few times of this happening to make you want to throw this phone on the ground in disgust!
-The ringer and speaker phone suck, not loud enough!

Pros-
-It looks cool (when not in battery wallet)
-Beautiful screen (on mp3 player side)

So, at this point I am tired of typing, but if you must try this phone out for yourself, make sure you have a good return policy. Who knows, you might just love it! I know I wish I never gave up my Sony-Ericson, I miss that phone so much!!

I got this phone last month. It looks cool, but there are some drawbacks that I wish I had know about earlier. As someone has already mentioned the extended battery is super annoying when you get a call. I feel like an idiot with that thing flapping in my face. Also, if you get a call without the extended battery the phone in your hand gets really hot and of course your hand gets sweaty and the phone keeps sliding down your hand. The antenna is housed at the bottom of the phone so I end up juggling this phone around so my sweaty hands don't enter the antenna zone. I am still trying to figure out the battery and some functions. I haven't figured out how to change the length of time the backlight is on or how to increase the number of rings before it goes to voicemail... Frankly I wish I had a phone that looked a little less cool...

The Upstage is a beautiful phone and extremly different. I for one love it. The Good sides of having it is that it doesnt take too long to load the pages its fairly short. Its very cool looking and i have had people come up to me (whom i dont know) and ask questions about it and tell me that it is all that. Some negative feedback is that the phone side lcd screen is fairly small. but everything that u do on that side of the phone you can do on the larger lcd screen which is the other side except texting and calling out to people. Another thing is that when loading your music on the player of your phone it may take a while. in the begining i had almost 200 songs, and it took a very long time to load i would say half an hour.so i cut back and now have 47 songs and that takes about a good 4 mins. But the quality of the music is excellent. (Yes you can receive calls but it is not possible to make outgoing calls while listening to songs)Sprint itself has great music it compresses it so well that you can hold up to about 1000 songs, but you would have to buy them all on the sprint music store to hold that many. Last but not least The Larger Lcd side of the phone is very touch sensitive but you can change the sensitivity on the phone from 1-5. 5 being the hardest. overall The upstage is very unique and i would deffinitly recommend this phone becuase it had pretty much everything, TV, Music, On Demend, and camera (1.3) that works well for a phone. Thank You

CONS
-if u get a message u have to flip your phone to the mp3 side.. u could reply from here but it takes 3 times more to finish a text.. so u have to flip your phone ( back to the phone side) to reply... well..u just have to press the flip button and flip the phone and u can start texting.. so its not a big deal..

- the touch pad is okay but i dont really like it. i hate the "back" and the "end" button!!!! "when you use the touch pad as directed and use a sweeping motion up or down, sometimes the pad thinks your pressing the end button, which will bring you straight back to the main screen."

-the phone is NOT LOUD ENOUGH!!! the speakers are okay.. not too good... whatever... u think a headphone would change anything??? HELL NO!!! there is no EQ presets... and i compared this almost $400 phone to a $30 mp3 player!!!! the cheap mp3 player sounded much much better, louder than the phone!!!!!!!!!!! (maybe some eq presets would change this problem)

- pictures??? no zoom, no rotation function! :( ( i really miss this function!)

- if i got a music and assign it to a ringer it would work only UNTIL i connect a bluetooth earpiece!!!!!!!!!!!!! after i connect the earpiece the phone forgets what did u assign to the callers.. :((((((



PROS
+ looks sexy (small like an old nokia 8210!) (when not in battery wallet)

+ battery life is superb if u using the battery wallet !!! i talk 1-2-3 hour every day and i only need to charge my phone just every 4th day!

+compared to the eruopean version this phone has calculator, u can add an entry from the front, etc etc etc...

I can honestly say that my problems with this phone have nothing to do with Sprint (I LOVE THEM!) and everything to do with bad engineering. I gave this phone a GOOD try - 4 months before I finally have HAD IT and have bought a new phone. Let's start with some positives:

PROS:
1. Great sound - both on receiving and talking end. No more "WHAT???" and "I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" with this phone. People cannot tell I'm on a cell phone. [as long as that stupid external battery thing isn't on the phone]

2. SO TINY! It's fabulously tiny, it literally fits inside my coach wristlet and it so portable and wonderful. [as long as that stupid external battery thing isn't on the phone]

3. GREAT screens. This phone has WOW appeal. Everyone loves the look of this "candy bar" phone. The dual screens are amazing, resolution is fabulous on them and the camera is really decent.

4. The headphone adapter that comes with the phone is nice. I like being able to use my ipod headphones with it. Additionally, you can answer the phone with the headphones on and get sound in both ears. NICE!

CONS:

1. Where should I start? The external battery "case" is the worst thing ever. And you cannot *NOT* use it because the internal battery is so lame that it dies in a day. I do not have a land line so my cell gets regular usage and this phone is honestly not meant for someone that uses the PHONE part a lot. Regardless of the battery life, the external case also offers the added benefit of flopping around in your face as you're trying to talk on the phone such that you have to hold it away with your pinky (or at least that's what I do). In addition, the microphone rides up on your cheek such that people think I'm mumbling constantly unless I hold the phone a certain way. I guess a bluetooth headset would get rid of that problem but I don't use one of those. You're just screwed on the battery because the only fix is to use the poorly engineered "case."

2. The software is really buggy. There are times (and I still haven't figured out WHY this happens) when I cannot answer a call. I press "answer" a million times, try locking and unlocking the phone, to no avail. Eventually the call goes to voice mail despite my best attempts to answer. This is AFTER a call to Sprint where they upgraded my software - this did not fix the problem.

3. The dual screens. Yes, they are a PRO in that they are beautiful but flipping that darn phone back and forth is a PAIN IN THE REAR END!! And forget about flipping the phone while it's in that dumb case, it's SO awkward.

4. The MP3 player is ridiculous. This is NOT the ipod replacement that they claim it is. Every time you want to listen to something you have to wait while the phone first loads the player, then loads ALL of your songs off of the micro SD card into the player software. If you buy a 2 or 4 gig chip this can literally take a minute or two. JUST to get the player to load. And the software is kinda dumb - the shuffle doesn't really SHUFFLE it always goes to the same "shuffled" order if that makes any sense.

5. The touch pad to control the "MP3 player" side of the phone is also the most poorly engineered thing I've ever seen. I cannot use it! And my fingers are nice and small! And I swear I am a dextrous, piano playing individual who has never had so many issues learning to use something like this! It is an oblong rectangle but it is totally counterintuitive and I literally stopped using that side of the phone as much as possible because of this touch pad.

In summary, this phone is really badly engineered and it does not stand alone as EITHER an ipod replacement/MP3 player OR a phone. But like I said, SPRINT is fabulous and I do not blame them for Samsung's big mistake.

-Stacey

4.

I have had my Upstage for about four months.. When I first received my Upstage, it looked sorta weird.. I wasn't really use to that sort of phone.. I had trouble trying to get to the menu, flip to the other side, and etc.. I'm not trying to say that there was problems with the phone. It is just that it takes a while to get use to.. But as the months went by, I started to fall in love with my Upstage.. I would always make sure I have my Upstage with me..lol.. Anyway, this phone is targeted really for the younger kids.. If you are a business type of person, this phone isn't for you.. This phone is like an iPod.. just with a phone on the back.. So if you can handle an iPod, You Can Handle an Upstage..

Remember to always keep that phone in the extended battery case!!! Because if you drop that phone and if it is not in its case, you better have insurance.. Because that big screen can get scratched and cracked if you drop it.. Also, a lot of people seem to complain about the Upstage being frozen and etc, but it never seem to happen to my phone.. But that ususally happens if you sweat in the phone.. Like if you are sweaty and you are talking on the phone, sooner or later, your phone will freeze sometimes and you have to push the buttons hard or for a long time to get your phone to respond.

Also, when I said "If You Can Handle An Upstage, You Can Handle An iPod..", I wasn't joking. On the mp3 player side (the side with the big screen), You have to be able use the touch keypad.. You can't use it like the iPod, by using the circular movements.. Don't worry though, the phone has a tutorial, installed into the phone.. I think it is under Tools.. Anyway, on the side, there is a "Flip" button, that button is for you to flip between both sides(mp3 side and phone side).. Unfortunately, you can't use both at the same time unless you want to send a text message while playing music.. On the phone side(the side with the smaller screen), You can only have a few menu items.. Like Add New Entry, Send Text Message, and etc..

*Like I said before keep the phone inside the case! If you leave in the case, that phone can last 4 days! But without the case, I think it can last 2 at most..

To conclude my review for the Upstage, it is a great phone! But, Samsung made this phone for younger kids.. That is what it is targeted to.. But If You Can Handle An iPod, You Can Handle An Upstage..

(To clarify, it does not "Upstage the iPhone")
This phone is Sprint's best phone to date, and more then likely will be for a long time. Samsung, back in 2005, created the best Sprint phone, and it was called The Blade. And it was leading the pack even in 2007 -- besting even the new Moto KRZOR. The Upstage is now crowned the best.

But why? Most people hate the phone -- and I think thats because they can't get use to the nav-pad, which is nothing like the Apple iPod. In fact, if you try to scroll the way they tell you to (they as in everyone who has complained about it), it IS annoying. However, if you act like the nav pad is a directioinal pad like the ones you see on the SNES controller -- instead scrolling on the left/right sides of the pad, where you might touch the back/end buttons -- then you will be fine. To further explain, instead of using the sides to scroll -- move your thumb up or down on top/bottom of it, where you can't hit those back/end buttons. Also, tap WITH pressure right or left (directly above the back/end buttons) to move left/right.

This phone is amazing for all of it's features. It's weak points, however, are as follows:
You can not make your music a ring tone. Oh well.
You have to choose the option within the phones GUI to use speaker phone -- should be a button ON the phone.
It does take a couple of minutes to fully grasp the new design. But it's not hard, just different.



Buy the phone now, at amazon --
Samsung M620 Upstage Black Phone (Sprint)-- or go to a sprint store and try it out (make sure it has demo's up -- moast big stores will).

:-D I love my phone.

The phone looks great and gets a lot of WOWs when people see that it has two sides. Not many apps are available on the phone yet, but that is changing. The major problem right now is that data entry takes for ever. When using the big screen, you'll have too keep flipping to the front over and over to enter text and then go back to send it. Makes things take a lot longer than it should. Anyways still not a bad phone.

First of all I have had this phone for almost a year.At first I loved this phone,now it's annoying.
1.I have to press the reset button 3 to 4 times a week because the phone freezes up.
2.The battery life only lasts a half of a day now.
3.I can be talking to someone and the phone will hang up on the person.This only started happening recently (No the phone doesnt lose signal)
I called Sprint to see if I can get an exchange for this phone.After talking to 8 different people 1 person said I could upgrade.I ordered the upgrade,waited for a week,and no phone.I called back and was told after speaking to 6 more people that I could not get a new phone.That I had to drive to the nearest Sprint store (160 miles away) so they can look at my phone.The day my contract ends is the day I dump Sprint and throw this phone in the trash.

I really do not like the Upstage by Samsung. Yes, the concept of having a 2 sided phone is cool but its just down right annoying! Every few seconds you have to flip your phone. It get's extremely annoying. Also In the Upstage's Music Library, you cannot go from Z to A, or like once your at Z you have to go back up to get to A. you cannot just click down once more and go right back to A. You cannot search for you songs, you have to manually find them.
I do not know what Samsung is thinking. WHY WOULD YOU NEED A TINY SCREEN ON THE PHONE PART AND A HUGE SCREEN ON THE MUSIC PLAYER PART. This makes no sense at all. Its hard to read txt messages on the small screen. Headphones and chargers use the same plug, so you cannot charge your Upstage and listen to music with your headphones. Also the Upstage program that allows you to put your songs in playlist on your computer does not work on my computer.

The Upstage has a good screen and a "ok" camera. The case of the Upstage acts as a extented Battery

BUT COME ON PEOPLE THIS PHONE ONLY COST 70$ GIVE IT A BREAK. THIS IS PROBALY THE BEST PHONE YOU CAN BUY FOR 70$