Samsung Impression SGH-A877- black user reviews (AT&T)

4.0 stars

"Beautiful screen," on April 10, 2009 by Herr Hexenmeister

Pros: Ability to use either touch screen or keypad to type.
Beautiful, bright screen (love the AMOLED)
Solid feeling in the hand.
Impressive camera quality.

Cons: Lacks self-portrait mirror (for us narcissists).
The lock button is hard to press quickly.
Browser scrolling a bit sluggish.
MicroSD slot in under the battery cover and hard to get to.

Summary: I'm not usually one to be an early adopter and I'm very picky when it comes to cell phones. I had tinkered with my brother's Eternity. I liked it, but I didn't like the idea of being locked into using the screen at all times to type. Hence being drawn to the touch screen/qwerty slider that is the Impression.

To start, the phone feels solid in your hand and doesn't suffer any creaky plastic. I know this phone will last me a couple of years. The slider is also smooth and firm and I have few problems typing with the keypad. Having a keypad does make the Impression thicker than the Eternity, but it's not enough to really notice it. It's still pretty thin, in my opinion.

The OS is simple enough to use and navigate and is virtually identical to that of the Eternity.

The screen is responsive, though I found maneuvering around web pages to be a bit sluggish and has a learning curve to it.

Call quality is great...crisp and clear and noticeably better than my older Nokia.

4.0 stars

"solid texting phone" on May 1, 2009 by habfan24

Pros: its a samsung, great keyboard, awesome display, touchscreen, 3 megapixel camera, good call quality, 3G, UI, microSD slot, good music player, AGPS, looks great, decent web browser

Cons: the top row of keys is a little close to the screen and is a little bit annoying at first, but if even the smallest things bother you, you can still get used to it and ditto to everything Kent German said but the non-rotating wallpaper is no big deal

Summary: Just as a little background as to what I demand from a phone. I owned a first generation Iphone and hated it because it lacked so many basic functions that every phone that costs over $30 has, i.e. no stereo or phone to phone bluetooth, no MMS, no even forwarding messages or deleting just 1 text message, call quality was bad and I couldn't delete just 1 recent call. The list goes on. So eventually I went back to using my old samsung sync even though i text a lot.
So after a lot of research making sure my next phone would have basic functionality, I picked the Impression. And so far I am pretty impressed with it. My biggest complaint after a few hours with it was that when typing the letters on the top row, I noticed that the display kind of got in the way of my finger. You can still properly type with it without a problem, its just one of those annoying things that I will probably get used to. The web browsing, although far from perfect, got the job done and is fairly comfortable.Texting is a joy on this phone despite the above mentioned keyboard "problem". It has predictive text if you want it, but it is not needed on a qwerty keyboard. For a phone it is pretty heavy, but is not uncomfortable to carry around. Compared to other phones, it is a little bit of a pain to remove and put on the back cover. To access the microSD slot, you have to take the cover off but not the battery. (But seriously, how often are you going to be changing the battery/sim/SD?) It comes with a CD with a bunch of links on how to use your phone and a download for a media manager. Unlike the Iphone, you can minimize apps which I'm pretty sure all touch-wiz phones do, also all winMO, blackberry, palm & other smartphones. (This is not a smartphone) Another complaint is that there is no wi-fi, but I came to the conclusion that it is not a big setback. No 3.5mm headphone jack, but I plan to use bluetooth headphones anyways. This is also not a smartphone so you won't be able to get business email on the device. And if you don't have an email from the one of the selected services, like AOL, Yahoo!, etc., but not gmail, then you have to use the browser rather than the special mobile email which is not bad if you save it in your favorites.
If all you want is a good texting phone with a great keyboard that can do just about everything pretty well, then I would suggest this phone for you.
But if you want the great mobile browser that doesn't have flash (hulu, youtube not in that stupid little app) with a million useless free apps right now, then I suggest shopping in the Iphone camp.
p.s. Samsung has released an SDK for developers for all touchwiz phones, which means that 3rd party developers will be able to make apps specifically for the device which us consumers will be able to get our hands on sooner or later. This novelty was made famous by Apple.

1.0 stars

"DO NOT GET" on July 29, 2010 by RRRivka

Pros: The pro's of this phone
- sensitive touchscreen
- bright colors
- can make text larger or smaller

Cons: The bad definately outweigh the good
- "Freezes" often
- physical keyboard either aren't pressed or come out multiple
- sometimes only the touchscreen works
- butt dials

Summary: Okay, so when I bought this phone and thought it was amazing, how wrong I was! Within the first days, my phone would "freeze" often, and the messages would not send no matter how many times I press "retry?". The only cure is to turn your phone off, than back on, than wait about a minute than you can resend. Another con about the texting is that the words appear like this [took a random sent message of mine] what. Can. I say I lke to walk.. Wheeveri go ouut, i walk abouut 2 miles" when you press the spacebar, it sometimes counts as two spaces and when there is two spaces, it automatically adds a '.'
Within the first five months of having this phone I tried to get a new one, do NOT get this phone it is the most irritating phone I have ever had!

4.5 stars

"LovE lOVe Love this phone" on April 23, 2009 by nanders5

Pros: Beautiful Bright and Vibrant Screen-Colors ar vivid
Great speakers! Probably some of the best I have had on a phone.
Touch/Keyboard. Ability to use both.
Font change and setting of themes is pretty nice
Seems sturdy and durable
Vibration on touch

Cons: No word doc/excel support
Camera is only decent
Screen view doesnt change from horizontal to vertical.
prompts for Password only when phone is turned on, not when it goes dark from lack of use/unlock

Summary: I went to the ATT booth in the mall with the intention of getting a blackberry bold (which is still very amazing by the way.....check out the blackberry bold...beautiful). And I was going to get it until the Samsung Impression caught my eye. The sales guys were really promoting it because of its very recent release (They gotta sell those phones!)

It was buy one get one free, and a family member needed a new phone...so I sacrificed my bold for something I didn't know too much about.

I am quite pleased with it. It definitely has surpassed my expectations. I love the way it feels, it has a smooth finish, and it doesnt feel too sleek like it will slip out of my hands. (If it did that I couldnt bear it, because I tend to be clumsy).

I am a 20something college student, so I wanted something with a good middle between business and entertainment. I think this phone is more on the enetertainment side, but I am still pleased. I love all the features, mobile tv, xm radio etc. I am in entertainment, trying to do tv production, so it was necessary that I had access to all latest media with the touch of a button.

I am sad because I did want something with word, excel, or powerpoint. Which for that, I woulda had to get a phone with windows mobile. But I don't mind the trade off as this phone is definitely great. I can still read my pdfs and thank God for that.

I like the option to make whatever video you are watching fulll screen, as I have bad eyes and I need it all!
The keyboard is firm and smooth on my fingertips. I love the ability of having a full keyboard at my fingertips. I tried the touch screen keyboard as well and was shocked at how easy it was to manage. It didn't lag or anything. I touched and it responded immediately. So they did a good job there. I prefer the touch screen keyboard sideways though as it shows full keyboard on screen.

The view does change for some things such as photo by simply turning it horizontally or vertically. It will change according to how you hold it. But it doesnt do that for the home screen. I dont really mind though.

Browser is fast, I love it. Definitely quick to navigate through all the pages. I watched videos via youtube on my phone and there were no issues there. Came out clear n crisp.

The music player is wonderful. And I love the speakers! By far some of the best speakers ever on a phone.
I wish I could say the same for the camera. I had the HTC TIlt before this, and that camera unfortunately is better than this one. But I will make do. I didn't buy it for the camera

Fingerprint staining I suppose on screen is a price you pay for touch screen? No clue.
But only shows through when screen is dark and in a bright room.

I like that I can access all my emails and have it message me when there is a new email.

Overall this phone is more for the entertainment folks out there. Those who are searching for something with aesthetic appeal and fun features. It is not for the full time business folk. I made a choice and I am pleased. If you are looking for business, go Black berry Bold.

Updated on Apr 23, 2009

Oops, forgot to add, the battery life for me has been fine. I talk to my boyfriend a lot all day. As well as occassionally surf the web and play some games here and there. Listen to the music player. Still have 3 bars.
So I am unsure why other people have big issues with the battery. -Shrug-