Customer Reviews

Samsung a707 SYNC Red Phone (AT&T)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The Samsung Sync SGH-A707 is by far the best cell phone I've ever owned, and even though I've had it over a month, I'm still excited to have it. It's not perfect, there are some problems which I'll list, but the Sync SGH-A707 has all the features I could want in a cell phone, except for one major omission, voice dialing, and everything works well.

My number one criterion for a cell phone is voice quality. No matter what extra features the cell phone comes with, in the end I use it as a phone and I need excellent voice quality both for transmission and reception. The Sync SGH-A707 delivers. I've had no fuzzy calls, no fade-outs, and no dropped calls. All my calls have been clear on my end and when I've asked, I've been told my voice can be heard clearly at the other end.

The phone is large, but not too large and the weight is right. It fits exactly perfectly in my hand and the ear piece lines up with my ear while the microphone is right in front of my mouth. However, if you send a lot of text messages and are a speed texter with your thumb, you will have to get used to the phone's width. Since it is slightly wider than other phones I've used, it slows me down somewhat trying to stretch my thumb across the keys to enter a message. But I don't see this as a problem.

The Sync's screen is large, awesomely colorful, and the menus are easy to use. It's too bad you cannot change the order of the menus, however there is a configurable menu that is accessible from the Options key so you can put your most frequently used menu items up front. The keyboard has a four-way navigation key with a button in the center. You can configure what functions each of the four arrow keys brings up but you cannot change the function of the center key. When you are not in any menus, the center key always brings up the web browser. I don't have use for a web browser on a cell phone, the screen is too small, so I'd prefer it to call up a menu. But that's not changeable.

The Sync has six profiles, or modes, that change the way the phone operates. The profiles are Normal, Silent, Driving, Meeting, Outdoor, and Airplane. The Airplane profile allows you to listen to music, watch videos, play games, use the calendar or calculator or other programs but disables the cell phone function so you can use the Sync on a flight. The Outdoor profile sets the volume controls on maximum and causes to the phone to ring loudly and vibrate when calls are received. The Meeting profile silences the phone totally and causes the front screen to flash when a call or text message is received. You can switch quickly and easily between the Silent and Normal functions by holding in the hash (#) key for 3 seconds.

The Sync SGH-A707 comes with a 2 MP camera which takes fairly decent photos and movies for a cell phone, remember, it's not a camera, it's a cell phone. You can take a photo with the clamshell closed or open. Since it can take a 2 Gb microSD card you can take a lot of photos or movies and save them on the SD card.

The Sync can receive XM satellite radio (for an extra fee, of course), mobiTV (again, for an extra fee), and has an internal MP3 player and can take a 2 Gb microSD card which can hold several hours of music. The sound quality is good for a cell phone; remember it's not an iPod, it's a cell phone. I've loaded it up with tunes and listen all the time. It also can play movie files but I can't imagine who would want to watch movies on a 3.5 cm x 4.5 cm screen (one and three-eighths inches by one and seven-eighths inches). The MP3 player has external controls so you don't have to open the phone to pause or skip a song, however the controls are so very sensitive that if you lightly touch them they activate. Every time I put my phone in my pocket I end up either skipping a song or pausing. The phone corrects for this by making the controls inactive after 30 seconds. So once I start a play list I have to hold the phone for 30 seconds until the outer controls become inactive before I can put the phone in my pocket. To reactivate the controls you have to hold a side button in for 3 seconds. That means if you want to skip forward a few songs you first have to hold a side button in for 3 seconds to reactivate the controls. Or you can open the lid of the phone and use the inside controls. This feature is annoying, but it's even more annoying to have such extremely sensitive controls on the outside of the phone that you have to be careful what you touch.

The two most major negatives for the phone in my opinion are the lack of voice dialing and the very badly written user manual. Whoever designed this phone and left out the ability to do voice activated dialing is an idiot. Why would I want to use a hands-free bluetooth earpiece and then have to open the phone to dial it? If you want a phone with all the features of the Sync A707 and you absolutely require voice activated dialing, buy a Nokia N75. The N75 is almost an exact duplicate of the Sync A707 with the differences being that it has voice activated dialing, it lacks the stereo bluetooth capability that the A707 has, and to access the N75's microSD card you have to open the battery case, while the A707's microSD card can be accessed from the side of the phone. (For me, I'd have had to pay $95 for the N75 while I got the A707 for free so I chose the A707.)

The second major negative is the lousy user manual. It is obtuse and doesn't explain everything about the phone, and what it does explain, it doesn't explain well. For those of you who own the phone, did you know that pressing the hash key (#) and holding it in for 3 seconds will quickly switch the phone between silent mode and normal mode? This is a feature I use all the time and it isn't mentioned once in the manual. I know about it because it is a feature of all Samsung phones that have a silent, vibrate capability. In many reviews of this phone that I've read online I've seen comments that it's too bad the phone is missing some capability that I know the phone has. But the reviewer didn't know about it because you can't find it in the user manual or it's not explained well in the user manual. For example, a reviewer here recently said the outside screen shuts off and you can't see the time unless you open the phone; in fact, if you press the left side volume key you see the time. (You can change the outside screen to stay lit longer but it sucks battery.)

In conclusion, on the whole, in spite of it's faults, I love this phone and I'd strongly recommend it to anyone.

I've always been cellphone-phobic, but this phone has completely changed that. Granted, I've always bought the most basic device available, and this phone is a huge upgrade. But it not only does everything I want; it's got me using functions I never thought I'd use. In fact, I used to have the cheapo 250/month plan and last month was surprised by a 100 minute overage. Now I've got 450 with rollover and may upgrade yet again.

I'm a pretty basic user. I want to make and receive calls and get messages, and I want flexibility in the phone's settings. The speaker has to be great, and my hearing-impaired Dad has to be able to understand me. I want to be able to see the display and feel the keys. I want to be able to dial it with my thumb while holding it in my hand. And the speaker phone has to be usable when I'm in the car. I don't spend all day on the phone; even if I used it at work I'd be running maybe 2-4 hours.

Nerd that I am, I sat around with the owner's manual when I activated it. I highly advise spending some time doing this; many reviewers simply haven't spent any time going through the well-organized menus, setting preferences, and learning which key does what.

Basics: The keys are large and highly visible, and the display is fantastic; I can easily see it without my glasses or in poor light & glare. The call quality is great, and the phone's speaker and the speakerphone are very clear. Even my Dad can understand what I'm saying. The keys are big enough that clumsy me can actually text a little (a completely new experience).

Glamour factors: The phone's feel is great. The exterior is soft and slightly rubbery in a good way, so it doesn't slide around and slip out of my hand or off the edge of the desk. I've had it bumping around in my purse for a month now and it has no scratches. Sure, the display shows fingerprints, but that's what shirtsleeves are for, right? I quickly learned how to open it with one hand; then I learned that you can silence the ringer or reject calls from a toggle on the left side while the phone is closed. The toggle doubles as a volume key. And I like the soft 'clunk' noise it makes when you close it, and have left the cute bleeping keypad tones (you can change that but it amuses me). I'm almost embarassed by how much I like to handle the phone. As for accessories, I plan to get a snap-on belt clip that doesn't obscure it's pretty color, and a headset adapter so I can use my favorite headset. And maybe a data cable and memory card...

Functions: There are options on options in the menus, which can be set to show sub-menus as drop-down lists. The soft keys are easy to set, and you can set tons of shortcuts in the options menu. I've actually used the camera and downloaded one ringtone, though I haven't bought a data cable or memory card yet. The phone charges quickly, and the charge lasts me a long time. ven when I was very ill, forwarded all my other phones to this one, and talked on the phone for hours a day, it took most of the day to run it down.

Any downsides? OK, the power cord and headphone jack are one and the same, which is dumb but hasn't bugged me yet. I only use a headset for driving, but the speaker phone is good enough that I can just hold the thing in my hand. Speaking of headsets, I need to get an adapter, because it doesn't take a 3/8 inch plug, another silly thing; however, you can buy an adapter for under $5 on Amazon. Also, I'm used to having the display always showing as long as the phone is turned on, but the external display on this phone (which I have set to an old-fashioned analog clock so I can see it from a distance) can be turned on by pressing an outside button for a few seconds; however, it turns itself off after only 10 seconds.

I never would have tried this phone if it weren't free, but I'm delighted with it. I'm not about to get rid of my ipod, and I'm not going to start using my phone to checking email or surf the web; I don't want to be THAT connected. But this does the job delightfully. It's just too bad that it took me this long to get a phone that works for me.

I bought this phone after much deliberation. Previously I had the (not sure of the technical name) white slider phone from Cingular by Samsung, and I ADORED it, so when it got stolen I was crushed. Since I absolutely loved that phone, I bought another Samsung, hoping it would have the same quality.

Overall, it is just O.K. It is very large, and I'm not sure I like that. It gets VERY easily fingerprinted/scratched/dirty. The camera is pretty good, but only if you hold it PERFECTLY still, and it takes awhile to turn it on and zoom in etc. But its really very good if you have the right circumstances. The red color is hot, its not as cherry-red as in these photos.

It has some texting glitches, which bug me as I am an avid texter. I don't really use the music function, and I couldn't if I tried, because you have to pay extra to get a cord to transfer music from the computer to the phone. You can't use full songs as ringtones, either, and it is very difficult to clip them down. I don't use the internet or play games, so I have no idea how that works.

Basically, I text and call people. That's about it. The address book works just fine, the texting is buggy but fine, its all just fine. Call quality is mediocre to good.

Its just a FINE phone. I don't love it, I won't buy it again, and I'm looking to get the new Sony Ericcson.

UPDATE (12/6/08): Well, as time wore on with this review, I came to love the phone more and more. I think I just get attached to my one phone and then hate anything new at first, but it really is a fantastic phone. I don't find the texting to be "buggy" anymore and can't think why I thought that originally, and while the music feature doesn't REALLY work, a phone is a phone and not an mp3 device, after all.

The real pro about this phone is its durability. I dropped it in water twice and on the floor (including hard stone tile) more times than I can count, and the phone never experienced any problems. Sure, the display got way scratched up, but remarkably, the phone never stopped functioning. It worked perfectly right up until the day it flew out of my pocket while I was riding a motorcycle and got instantly run over. I nearly cried.

Overall, this is a great phone, and I would highly recommend it.

I've had good luck with Samsung phones in the past, and this one did not disappoint. I chose this phone because the font is larger than any other phone I've tested, and I have middle-aged eyes. I have an iPod so I don't use the music feature, but the camera is nice. I have had zero problems with dropped calls unless I was using my ex-Motorola Bluetooth headset, which has since been returned. Nice clear sound, easy to navigate the menu, easy keypad. No complaints.

We just upgraded our old v551's for v365's and this samsung sync, the latter based on the review in consumer reports. there are some excellent reviews already on Amazon so I will just add my pros and cons.

Pros: Cheap, you can get it for nothing on some ATT packages;
external micro-sd slot you can add 2 gig of music/podcasts to it without having to use slower bluetooth connections;
camera works well outdoors, as does music player if you just want to hear a song or better yet a talking book type presentation;
bluetooth works well and is fast with most devices (see cons below if you use Macs);
good connections but the earphone volume is low so it requires you to hold it harder to your ear in high ambient noise;
reported low SAR levels

Cons; no voice dialing without paying att another $5 A MONTH;
proprietary charger/headphone jack, you can use stereo bluetooth phones but it will eat the battery;
small battery capacity (spares are only a few bucks however);
standard ringer volume is low, especially in a protective case;
its a plastic phone - it will scratch as soon as you look at it, doesn't look like it would take a fall from a pocket or purse to a hard floor;
doesn't support iSync on the Mac, though you can read and transfer all the non-locked files, photos, music, ringtones etc you want with the bluetooth exchange program (the motos are supported for isync) - however you can copy your contacts to the phone from a mac, just not read or edit them;
battery life is not great;
expensive to use the medianet links, though if you are into it - we only use it for traffic and weather maps - its quite handy if you can squint

overall we still like the motos better as phones, but will keep this one as more a phone with aspirations - after we have had it for another few months we will update our experience

I looked at red phones forever, before deciding on this one. I looked at the red pearl and others. I really did not like the looks of the pearl, and I like a flip phone because I always call people from my purse with others. Anyway, I went to the cingular store and this phone stuck out from across the room! It is an awesome shade of red. When I got it home, I played around with all of the features and grew even more fond of it. I love this phone. I had a razor before, and I still plan on using it sometimes, if I can ever put this one down.

I have had no problem with dropped calls, like I did with my razor. There is one spot on the bridge that my razor would always drop on, but this one does not. As for the battery...I have had this phone for exactly one week and charged it once. I am always on the phone and my razor never lasted this long.

I have never enjoyed a phone this much! It is sexy and functional!

i have had this phone for a few months now, and i swear i love it more and more every day!!!. i have had other phones and this one by far is the best!! with my last phone i was so used to the bad reception, to the point where the only place i could get a signal in my home was if i was standing by the window in my bedroom literally. i always have good reception with this phone, it has only dropped a couple of calls. i can go a full week before i need to charge my phone. i think that for a phone it takes really great pictures. it has a large display, with big keys(my mom who has the same phone absolutley loves this about it) texting and e-mailing from a phone has never been easier. i will say i do wish that i could arrange the address book how i want it and get rid of all of the pre-set contacts. but all in all i love this phone, and my mom who dropped hers and busted the front display screen still thinks that this is the best phone ever

If you want a decent CAMERA phone and don't want to spend to much money, this phone is pretty good.

Pros:
1) 2mp Camera, works very well. Outdoors, on a sunny day, the photos look as good as an regular inexpensive 2mp camera. You really can't tell the pictures are taken on a phone.
2) Looks nice.
3) Connecting to the Internet is very quick.
4) Expandable memory with MicroSD cards.
5) Works with gmail and google maps.
6) Can be used as a bluetooth modem.
7) Can take self portraits when the closed using the display on the front.
8) Can assign individual ringtones and message alert tones to different people in your address book.

Cons:
1) Not enough internal memory. Fills very quickly, you need a MicroSD card.
2) Video is only MMS resolution.
3) No flash for indoor photography. So unless the room is brightly lit, pictures can be blurry. There is also no optical zoom, but most cell phone cameras don't have this either.
4) Internet Browser is slow, and has problems loading normal web pages. Says they are to big. You can run the OperaMini Browser, still a little slow but works with larger web pages.
5) To many steps to send a quick MMS or text message.
6) You cannot leave active ringtones and caller id photos on the memory card, they will be copied to the phones memory when in applied.
7) Can use mp3 ringtones, but message alert tones must be midi or mmf files.
8) Won't record audio in wav format.
9) No way to enter Wait in DTMF dialing. And Pause requires you to hold down the * button for a few seconds.
10) Cingular/AT&T has locked some Pictures, Sounds and Programs you cannot delete them.

Little background information:
I live in a medium-size metropolitan area in the deep South where there is no 3G coverage. I bought this phone before Cingular was bought out by AT&T, so you can see I've had it for six or so months.

On to the review:
I bought this phone after doing a ton of research. I'm a techie, and I'll spend weeks researching to find the product that meets my price/performance/featureset balance. This phone struck that balance pretty well: Two MP camera, ability to play MP3s and WMAs, plus (from what I'd read) decent call quality.

The camera is nice. No flash and the pictures tend to lean towards a green color saturation, but they're very nice for a camera phone and the green hue isn't egregious. This was actually one of the main reasons I bought the phone, and I've not been disappointed in the slightest.

The MP3 and WMA capabilities are also very nice. The player comes with a built-in player that does a pretty good job of organizing and playing your music. I'm sure there are some great java applets out there that play music much better, but I don't care that much to look. Regardless, many a time when I was without one of my real MP3 players, I would load up an artist or album on my sync, hit the play button, then close the phone and clean or cook or whatever I had going on. The play quality was decent and the speakerphone reproduced the sound as well as one could expect. I would say the music-playing capability of this phone is close to top-notch.

Call quality is much worse than I had read. Many times I can barely understand the other end, and my phone conversations are accented by more "whats?" and "huhs?" than any other phone I've ever owned. The sync seems to do really well when you have a strong signal, but three bars or less and it sounds as if the other end is completely mumbling. I think this is partly because of the phone and partly because of AT&T's terrible service. Several other people in my office don't use AT&T, and they can always tell when someone in the office is using an AT&T phone because of how often that person has to repeat themselves. I doubt it's lack of 3G because these non-AT&T coworkers don't have 3G either. It's very frustrating to spend more of your cellphone conversations repeating yourself and asking the other person to speak more slowly and clearly than you spend actually talking, but like I said, I don't know how much of that is the phone and how much is AT&T.

Other problems:
About a month into owning this phone, I would completely lose signal while in the middle of the call. The other person could hear me, but I couldn't hear them. The phone would lose all signal and I would have to power-cycle the device to reacquire it. This would happen on almost any call longer than 30 minutes. This began happening maybe a few weeks after Cingular's service was switched over to AT&T service, so I suspect that may have been the problem. The phone doesn't exhibit this behavior much anymore, though it does occasionally crop up.

The problem I have with it now is that it loses data signal about an hour after it's turned on. This sucks for me, as I pay for the unlimited MediNet so that I can surf the web, check email, get directions, or whatever else I need. Again, the only way to fix it is to power-cycle the phone. The phone began exhibiting this behavior roughly a month ago and has not stopped.

The menus are entirely too complicated. You have to go through at minimum five menus just to send a text message, even if you use the little shortcut menu. I'm a software developer who's worked on websites and windows applications, so I feel no sympathy for Samsung for not having an easily navigable user interface.

Having to hold the volume button for four seconds to have the front LCD come on so you can check the time or for missed messages is absolutely inexcusable. I can only assume that this was done to extend battery life, but it's ridiculous. Who holds down a button for four seconds just to see what time it is?

The batter charger uses a proprietary plug. While I absolutely detest this practice, it's been the norm for manufacturer's of USB devices for several years, and I don't think it's going to change. If you're like me, you already have a shoebox full of all the different phone chargers for all of the phones you've owned/still own, and this will be another to add to your collection.

In all, this phone is barely above okay. As great as the camera and music-playing capabilities are, if a phone fails in it's main responsibilities of cellular phone calls, then it's not much of a cell phone. It really saddens me to have to replace this phone, as I love it's features and could live with its overly complicated menu structures if the call quality wasn't so terrible. But like I said, if a cell phone doesn't make decent calls, then it's failing in its main area of responsibility.

I love this phone! The color is pretty, the sound is great, and the battery on this thing lasts forever! If I'm not using the phone much, it can wait two weeks before it gets charged; if I use the phone once a day or a couple of times a week, it lasts a week on a charge; it'll still last two or three days on a charge if you're a heavy user. I can only think of two negative things about this phone, one being the fact that the battery charger shares the same slot as the earbuds. That means you can't use your earbuds and charge your phone at the same time if you're in the car. The other con is that this phone offers limited characters when text messaging. Some of the most common symbols, such as the parenthesis or the "and" symbol aren't present, while there seem to be an abundance of the symbols one doesn't seem to need. Who uses the greater than or less than symbol when text messaging??? I would definitely get this phone again, though!