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"It had a lot of potential" on by daveyboy1969
Pros: Attractive design, solid feel
Cons: Poor reception, really small font
Summary: My two-year contract was up with Verizon, and since I didn't want one of the monster all-in-one phones, I chose the SCH-A850 even though it had very few reviews. I thing the Verizon cell-phone selection is very poor, especially in terms of size and looks, but this was the best looking of the bunch. I'd also been happy with a really small Samsung (forget the model) that I had before.
On the 850 I was told that I came through loud and clear on both the speaker and in normal mode, and sound through the earpiece was generally loud and clear. The speaker worked pretty well and is a great feature, but it drained the battery really quickly.
I thought the phone was designed pretty well physically - fit nicely in the hand, pretty small, a little different look, but there were a few design drawbacks too. The backlighting of the keys was dim on the outside edges, making it difficult to read the letters/numbers at times. Also, you really needed a microscope to read the menus because the font was so small, a problem I tried to fix for a little while but then gave up on. The screen was also effectivey made smaller by the bands on the top and the bottom. The camera seemed to work OK - was the first camera phone I'd had. The web browser was a little slow I thought - don't know if that's the phone or Verizon's problem.
The real problem was the reception. There were four possible bars, and most of the time, even in Manhattan, I only had three. The Motorola v120 I had been using briefly after my old Samsung broke got significantly better reception than the 850. I also had to redial a number of calls because when entering numbers/letters to work my way through a menu, or even on Verizon voicemail, when I pushed keys it often wouldn't transmit, and I'd get kicked out - incredibly frustrating. I gave the the phone almost two weeks, but gave up and I returned it today for an LG6100 - much better reception already. The SCH-850 was a nice design, but there's no excuse for not making a phone that works well. -
"Absolutely good looking phone" on by lnewman
Pros: small compact size, nice loud ringer
Cons: may have a break up in call. signal was going off and on
Summary: I never used an all digital phone before. I always used trimode. Unfortunatly,I can't compare this phone to any other phone since I have never used an all digital before. I'm going to see within the next few days if the service is better. I experienced intermittant hearing on this phone too many times.
I love this phone and sincerely hope that it will provide better service. If not, I will go to the LG vx 6100. Thank you for the opportunity.Updated
I have been using this phone for over one week now, I still love it but I find that my trimode was able to get a better signal. The signal isn't bad. I've used the phone many times now and the sound was nice and clear. I think this phone is a nice size and very stylish.
When I asked about how to improve the signal, I was told that when I go from state to state I should update the signal, (towers). I'm going to see if that improves my signal.Updated
I changed this phone to the lg vx6100. So far, I have been very pleased with the signal and I know that I made the right decision.
I hope that people reading this review would realize the importance of having a great signal as opposed to have a signal of one or two bars. -
"Probably not a good choice" on by RRM936
Pros: Easy to use and appears well constructed
Cons: Poor reception and unreliable voice communication
Summary: After using this phone for several months and making several visits back to the store purchased and to a Verizon service center, I returned it. I now have a much lower opinion of Verizon and the store where purchased. I manage my account on line and tried to contact Verizon using thier "Contact Us" feature their website and was totally ignored. The problem with the phone is poor reception which results in incomming calls not making it through, or dropped calls. I can be working in my home office where the phone indicates 4 bar reception and I'll get a voice mail notification for a call that was placed just a couple of minutes before. That happens quite often, but lots of times the voice mail notification comes hours after the message was left. In areas where the phone indicates 3 bars or less, I generally experience poor voice quality, dropped calls or calls that go to "missed calls" or "voice mail" after a couple of rings. Of all the problems I've had, I don't know of an instant that Verizon's text message notifying me that my monthly invoice is ready to be paid (even though it is on a draft. I find the low res camera of little use since all the pictures have to be emailed at $.25 each. The phone comes with a limited selection of ringtones and additional ones have to be downloaded at about $1.00 each. It's obvious that the main purpose of this phone is to generate extra revenue through text messaging, downloading ringtones and emailing pictures. I need reliable voice communications in my business and Verizon and Samsung did not provide it with this phone.
Updated
My Verizon dealer replaced the first SCH-A850 with another one. This phone displays all of problems of the first phone and is totally unreliable for receiving calls. This afternoon I stopped by the Verizon booth at the local Costco and casually asked the attendant which phone had the best reception now and he pointed me to a Motorola model (their least expensive one). I asked him about my phone, and when he saw it, he told me that it had the worst reception of any on the market and that they had packed all of theirs up and sent them back. He also said that Verizon and Samsung both know there is a problem with them. I've just spent quite a few minutes on the phone with both Verizon and Samsung and received absolutely not satisfaction. I bought the phone without doing my research because of the faith I had in Samsung products. I'm composing this review viewing one of several Samsung monitors I've owned. You can be certain I'll never own another Samsung cell phone, and the Samsung flat panel mointors that I've been looking at will probably turn into a Viewsonic or some other brand when I buy. -
"Very Good All In all" on by jump511
Pros: Great camera! Camera and Speakerphone buttons on side. If you close the phone, the camera stays on, so you can see a mirror of what you're taking a picture of.
Cons: Terrible Ringtones! Bad selections! Have to buy one to be happy! When camera is closed, it saves it to the gallery if you want to or not.
Summary: I absolutely loved this phone it is outstanding! Just a few problems here and there, that don't make it perfect. But I love everything except the ringtone selection! I truely wish there were better ones! I had to buy one off of the "Get it Now" service to be satisfied. All in all this is a perfect teen phone, not a good buisiness phone. The speakerphone was mostly good. The reception was fabulous because even with 2-3 bars, I stayed on the line. Even in the Great Smoky Mountains I had 3 bars! (4 bars is the max. on the phone anyways!) So I reccommend this phone to all of you!
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"very simple, works great for basic cell phone" on by tele2000
Pros: looks good, sleek and simple, great keypad, comfortable, good reception, menu is very easy to use
Cons: could use more choices of ringers- there are only 10. my other Samsung (a670 has 18), delay in making settings
Summary: Overall I think this is a very nice phone. I have a Samsung A670 and a lot of the features are similar. It's very similar in features and menu to LG phones, very simple. I have very good reception with the A850, even when there are no bars indicating ZERO signal!!!
I love the stubby antenna, no need to worry about opening and closing of one, or breaking it.
The screen is very nice, both on the face and inside. I read the reviews on this phone prior to buying it, and the reviews were not good, which worried me. Most were nit picky things, but I just need a basic phone. I have no need for a camera phone, bluetooth, internet access. The text is consideralby smaller compared to the A670, but that allows more to be seen on the screen, which personally I like.
I don't know what the battery life is like yet, but if it's anything like the A670, you should have a very good battery life. Samsung phones, from what I hear and have experienced with previous Samsung phones, can be charging constantly without having to worry about letting the battery get low before you charge again. When the phone is plugged in using the included travel charger, the phone simply runs via AC current. I'm not sure if the battery is bypassed, but in my previous Samsung A670, I left it plugged in constantly while I was at home.
The A850 seems like a very rugged and sturdy phone. The size is average, like LG, so if phone size is of concern and you like small phones, this is not the phone for you. I kind of like phones that are a little bigger.
The accessory pack comes with car charger, hands free earpiece, and leather case with belt clip. The leather case in my pack was a little hard, and it didn't seem to fit the phone snug. But I'm sure that time will make it fit better. I also thought about steaming the case to soften the leather and plastic windows, putting it on the phone and let it dry for a more snug fit.
Overall, great phone. I wish it had more ringers though. You only have a choice of 10 ringers. I think Samsung could have added more. Sometimes you wonder what the manufacturers and engineers are thinking when they design things like this.
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