Samsung Sync SGH-A707 user reviews (black, AT&T)

Updated
I had the opportunity to own both phones at the same time and here is my comparison of the two models. In general, where one phone was weak, the other was strong. If you could combine the strengths of both phones you would have something close to ideal. In the end, I went with the LG CU500. Here’s the rundown:

Samsung Sync: Large beautiful screen. Clear, vibrant colors and the screen can be seen at virtually any angle. I nearly went with the Sync just because of the screen. The brightness is also fully adjustable. Truly impressive. Score: A+

LG CU500: Relatively small screen in comparison and the resolution is fair at best. The screen must be viewed straight on otherwise the screen looks overexposed or black. In my opinion, the screen is a major flaw of the cu 500 and there is no comparison when put side by side to the Sync. The syncs’ screen blows it out of the water. Furthermore, there is no brightness/contrast adjustment on the screen (shouldn’t this be a standard setting?) Score: C-


Samsung Sync: The speakers on the sync had incredible rich sound with lots of bass when music was played. It almost fooled you to think there were larger speakers hidden somewhere. Likewise, sound quality on voice calls was excellent and sounded rich. Only on busy streets did I have difficulty hearing people on the other line. Score: A+

LG CU 500: The sound quality for music playback is average at best and there is poor bass. Although there is an equalizer (which the sync lacks) there was little improvement on quality. Similarly, sound quality is average for voice calls. There was almost a little too much treble and not enough bass in the speakers. The volume was quite loud on city streets though. Never any trouble hearing the other person. Score: B-


Samsung Sync: A significant reason for me deciding on the cu500 over the sync was the incredibly annoying wake feature to activate the external screen. At first I thought I could deal with this, but it makes you pis*ed really fast. How stupid do you look when someone asks you the time and you have to pause and press the soft key for 3+ seconds before telling them. Why even have an external screen? Score: F-

LG CU 500: Instantaneous external activation when the soft key is pressed. Score: A+


Samsung Sync: Great hinge construction. The phone is on the ugly side, but once you get over that, it’s a nice size and was easily opened with one hand. The phone closed nicely and had a great sound when closed. This sounds funny, but compared to the Lg this was heaven! Score: A+

LG CU 500: The hinge construction is garbage! Straight out of the box the screen was loose. You can even feel the screen rattle in your hand when you talk/text/etc. Also, when the phone closes it makes a loud CRACK/SMACK sound.
Besides the hinge construction the overall construction is decent. Score: C


Samsung Sync: The camera on the sync, although 2mp, was horrible at taking clear photographs except under very bright lighting. Don’t plan on using this camera in the evening or on any type of moving objects. Sync = Bluuuuuurrrrry photos. On the plus side, the photos that were taken of still objects under bright light came out excellent.
Score: B-

LG CU 500: The resolution isn’t as high as the sync, but the image quality is much better under low lighting. When photos were taken with each phone, loaded to my computer, and compared, the lg produced much higher quality images. Also, the rotating camera is a plus. I was able to set the phone down, set the timer, and take a photo of a friend and I with little problem. A-


Samsung Sync: Horrible MP3 controls. You must hold down the soft key for wayyy to long before activating the controls and the “touch” controls are awkward. Also, you can’t feel the buttons in your pocket if you want to skip forward a song. Poor design. Also, when MP3s are playing you cannot multitask. The phone may as well be locked when the MP3 player is on. Score: F-

LG CU 500: The external controls on the lg are on point! No lag time in activating the controls and the buttons are simple to use. The way it should be! I can even skip forward songs and adjust volume while the phone is in my pocket! Yeah! Also, you can still browse files and your phonebook while music is playing. Photos are not an option, though. Score: A-


Samsung Sync: I use a Mac and thus syncing either phone was not an option for me. Thus to transfer files I used a memory card reader and directly transferred files to the card (after extracting the card with tweezers). With the sync I was able to create play lists on my computer by dragging songs into folders. The phone was great at recognizing these folders without issues. Score: A+


LG CU 500: I tried to create play list folders on my computer and the lg would not recognize the folders. It simply dumps all the song files into the same folder on the phone. If you want to create a play list, it must be done on the phone which takes 4ever.
Score: C-


Samsung Sync: Since syncing the “sync” with my mac is not an option, I opted to use Bluetooth file transfer to transfer my contacts from my computers address book to my phone. This method worked great! Over 100 phone contacts transferred seamlessly from my computer to my phone. Yes! Score: A+

LG CU 500: Although my computer would recognize and transfer files to the cu500, the phone would not accept all my contacts at once. I would have to transfer EACH contact individually. This would take forever!!! Thankfully, I was able to use the SYNC to store my contacts onto my “smart chip” and then switched chips to the LG. Whew! Score: D-


Samsung Sync & LG CU 500: Both phones had poor micro card slot construction. Although the sync is poorly constructed and difficult to remove the card, the lg takes it a step farther and puts the card under the battery! Why? Also, tweezers have to be used to remove the card. Its like doing surgery on your phone every time you want to switch cards- which really isn’t all that often anyway. Scores: D-


Samsung Sync & LG CU 500: Another note, both phones appeared to have equal reception and I’ve only had a couple dropped calls on the Lg in the past month. The descending ring tone on the Lg was not an issue since i usually use the vibrate mode anyway. Another note, the sync doesn't have a silent mode! Ahhh! This should be a basic function Samsung!

So, there you go. I mulled over the two phones for about a week before I decided to go with the Lg CU 500. The primary reason I chose to purchase a music phone in the first place was for the music player and the camera. If neither of these tools can be used properly with the Sync, then I figured why should I go with it? Although I sacrificed a better sounding call, larger screen, and better hinge construction by going with the Lg, I am happy with being able to utilize the phones features and most of all, the external display!!!

Hopefully this will help you make your decision.