- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 38 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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9 out of 11 people found this review helpful
1.5 stars
"many problems with this phone"
Pros: something different other then the old fashion flip
Cons: battery life, half duplex speaker phone, signal dropping and a bit big and bulkie
Summary: After reading the cnet review about this phone, I felt that this was a must have for me. I was dead wrong about it after using this phone for half a day. I talked for 30 minutes after a full charge and the battery died on me. So I went back to the store and got a brand new battery replacement and only to have the same problem occured. I was forced to charge the phone every day. After using this phone for 3 weeks, I notice that the screen has a popping message that comes up very often. It reads "Leaving service area". So I went back to the store and asked why and they told me that they have same compliants from almost all of their customers. Some how that was draining the battery sucking the life out of it. I also notice, everytime I turn off and on the phone, the "Network" switched back to "HOME ONLY" instead of "Automatic-B". I've called technical support about it and they said that was not normal. So I went back to the store and got a new phone and that did the exact same thing. At this point, I'm stuck with this phone for a year or until a new firmware comes out to fix the problem.
Also, speaker phone is only half duplex instead of full. Think of it as a walkie talkie. Only one can talk at a time. If I wanted that I'd go for nextel. This phone have totally made me lost confidence in Samsung. If you're going to make a product, make it right and make it perfect! Also, test it for at lease a month before releasing it.
- 2 replies to this review
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I too have experienced very quick draining of battery due to this "Leaving Service Area" and "Entering Service Area" notifications. Every time this notification pops up, the LCD glows and sucks the battery and it keeps happening every now and then. I tried to turn off this feature but there's no way I could do it. But yes, in the Sounds-->Alerts-->Service Area, I have turned off the alert. Also, I have selected Power Save on in Display-->Backlight. This at least helps me run my battery almost for two days without charging. I work in the basement where no signal reaches. During this condition, the phone goes into "power save" mode, which I think conserves the battery. But yes, SAMSUNG must provide a way to turn off this notification alert. Apart from this I haven't face any other problem with this phone.
About the speaker being half duplex, I am really not sure, because I have had really long talks using speaker phones and it seems to be working really good.
Another probable reason of battery drainage could be an often use of vibtonz. Needless to say that the more phone vibrates, it sucks the battery. So I have set up for vib+ring, so that it vibrates thrice and then rings. Minimizing the usage of vibrate feature surely helps and it is true for any phone.
Hope this helps.
Ace -
There is something unusual about it being 'Home Only' when walking out of the store with it. However, being 'home only' is NOT a firmware error. You have to change the settings in the programming menu. If you cant find out how to get there on the internet, then take it back to the store and tell them to.

