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"You get what you pay for." on by tychocat
Pros: Great display, great camera, nice interface!
Cons: Expensive; also, Cingular has hobbled WAP
Summary: I simply do not believe the reviewers who complain about the "easily scratched" QVGA display, or comment on the alleged size of the S710a. I can only assume they haven't actually used one to review (and I dubiously note a lot of these "reviewers" only show up once, and claim to use and throw away $500 cellphones like old newspaper! Yeah, and I'm replacing my Maserati with a Porsche next week to improve my gas mileage...).
I've had the S710a for over a month, and once I did put the phone in my pocket with my car keys. I freaked out 15 minutes later when I realized what I'd done, but the display was fine. Not that I'd do that twice, certainly not on purpose, but I think SE put together a reasonably rugged phone for its apparently worried users. Keep it away from your barbed-wire and diamond-saw collection and I think you'll be fine.
The S710a does a ton of PDA stuff, though I have the minor complaint a lot of alarms are fixed to their choices. (Ringtones are infinitely selectable, but alarm signals are not.)
Connectivity via IM, text message, SMS, and e-mail is great! My minor complaint here is that you can't alias your identity with Cingular; your cellphone number is your phone's texting address. This hasn't been a problem for me, but your mileage may vary.
My main diss of the phone is not of the phone, but the fact that Cingular has crippled the WAP so you can only access the Web via their portals. Feh. At least Bluetooth and IR work as expected, big plus over Verizon's crippled Bluetooth phones.
As I said in my "Pros" on the phone, beautiful bright color display, and I'll stack my photos against any 4-MP standalone camera on the market. (Yes, I realize the S710a's camera is only 1.3-MP, but I'm bragging.) Keep in mind that in low light, the camera's shutter speed goes down to 1/15th of a second, which is tough to do handheld. Color balance and contrast are much improved over the old attachable MCA-25 camera which I used on my previous T300. Did I mention I love the S710a's camera?
Big con to the S710a - it's a Cingular exclusive, so there's no discounts. You have to really want it at Cingular's prices. Let's just say I'm not buying any more toys through 2006.
You can buy the similar S700i on the open market, but that doesn't come with EDGE (it has an FM radio instead). Also, the S700i is for European cell networks, which are only partly the same as US frequencies. -
"excellent phone...but still has its drawbacks" on by sage1
Pros: great camera, mp3 player, cool design
Cons: slight lag time when navigating menu/texting. phone freezes
Summary: ok..i was debating whether to give this phone a 9 or a 10...but i guess a 9 is fair, because i dont think any phone is personally a perfect 10..there can always be room for improvement.
so now..i've had this phone for almost 3 months now and i wanted to use it for a while and learn all about the phone before i posted a review..like some people here who review after only using the phone for less than a week, thats a joke.
ok, back to topic. ive actually had TWO of these phones. the first one i bought in may and after about a week and a half of use, the external speaker stopped working altogether. i didnt know why, because there is no way i'd let a $400 phone drop and hit the floor in only a week. so i brought it back to the cingular store i bought it from and on the spot they replaced the broken phone with a brand new one. i've had the new one ever since and i havent had any problems like that, so i guess it was just that one defective phone off the assembly line.
ok,lets start with some pros. this phone has an excellent camera. the quality is good enough to give you great 4x6 or probably even 5x7 printouts if you have a good printer to go along with it. however, if you are taking a picture in anything less than broad daylight, you better hold the phone as still as u can while taking a picture, because the image will blur otherwise. the light for the camera comes in handy, but if its left on for too long, it does some damage to your battery life. the video recorder is also pretty good for a phone..but if u want to record stuff, get a separate device, this recorder isnt something i'd trust to capture memories, etc.
the mp3 player on the phone is very good. it is very easy to use. the headphones that come with the phone have surprisingly good bass, however i wish they could go louder. the external speaker also plays the mp3s pretty loud, but on some songs it sounds like its crackling.
next, the screen. this screen has a beautiful and vibrant display. it is very bright and can be viewed in direct sunlight. if you plan to buy this phone, buy a case. dont risk stratching the screen buy accident.
besides those features on the phone, another pro is that it just looks good. the design is a real eye catcher everywhere i go. the swivel feels sturdy enough to last for the duration of my contract, if not longer.
now some cons. this phone has slow key response when texting, and especially when navigating through the menu. when navigating the menu, the delay is slightly longer than when texting. i have to slow my fingers down when im in the middle of a text message so that the phone can keep up with me. it doesnt bother me much though, i've gotten used to it and now it seems fine. if this is a big thing to you, then do not get the phone because it will annoy you. if not, then go out and get it!
my second con: for those of you that plan to use the AIM or yahoo messenger, etc, on this phone, when you are signed on and leave your AIM, yahoo, etc idle, you're pretty much not online anymore. you wont be able to receive or send IM's, and i don't know why. everytime i leave my screen name idle for more than 15 minutes, i have to sign off then sign on again just to refresh my buddy list or send an IM.
my last con: i don't know if this happened to anyone else because i didn't read all of the reviews, but my phone will freeze from time to time. i don't exactly know why the phone freezes, because i don't attempt to use to many features of the phone at once, but still it freezes every now and then. when it freezes, any button i press does not work, and i have to old the power key down and restart the phone. one time i even had to take the battery out and then put it back in and turn on the phone, because even the power key didnt work when i would hold it. altogher, the phone has frozen on me i'd say about 5 times at the most.
all in all, this is an excellent phone. the pros greatly out weigh the cons, and i am very happy with this phone.
well thats it for the review, i hope it answers any questions, doubts, etc you might have about this phone if you were interested in purchasing it. -
"Excellent entry into convergence device..." on by abates25
Pros: Beautiful screen, great speaker, easy interface
Cons: Memory limit, so-so camera, battery life
Summary: Forgive me. I love cell phones and tend to have whatever isn't available here yet. I recently sold my s710a (before that, had had a z600) in favor of a K750i. I wanted a smaller package, better battery life, more usable camera and real storage space. But, before the s710, I didn't even know I wanted them!
The s710a is an excellent phone that, in recent months, has become reasonably priced ($249 w/2-year). The screen is amazing, really the best colors I've seen on a phone, and uses the same no-scratch technology as on the Sony PSP. The call quality is very good on Cingular as it is an 'a' phone and operates on the 850Mhz band (good for the US, less useful anywhere else). The speaker on this phone is superb - crystal clear, loud, with good response.
Get the phone!
However...only get the phone if you want the best phone currently offered by a major US cellular provider. Otherwise, look at somewhere like myworldphone.com to find amazing deals on phones which offer a slew of more potent options. The S710a has too little memory flexibility - this was it's biggest failing in my eyes. 256MB max?! Not going to stop me from carrying around my iPod. And photos that, though take at 1.3MP, look like they were taken on a .6 - .8 MP camera, plus, with NO FOCUS! Not going to stop me from carrying my camera as well.
If you want to see what convergence could do, this is the phone for you. If you want to really experience convergence though, go for the w800 or k750i (soon to be released for T-Mobile as the D750i). -
"This phone does it all, with style!" on by ultravioletrayz
Pros: Huge, brilliant screen, Great camera, Good phone functionality, Intuitive OS, Excellent external speaker,Bluetooth+IR+expandab le memory+EDGE = cutting edge connectivity, Super sleek styling
Cons: Tactilely weak keypad, OS on the laggy side, Expansion memory is limited to 128 MB cards, A wee bit thick, but just think of what's packed in there!
Summary: If you don't need a PDA then this is the phone to get! Although it does have PDA functionality it isn't nearly as robust as your Blackberries, Palm phones or Windows CE phones.
Having said that, this phone does everything else you could want and does it with style. Have had it for over a week now and EVERYONE that sees it is impressed, even women who don't normally give a flip about new tech.
I've been waiting for several months now to find that one phone that puts everything together and makes it click (no pun intended). It's a great phone, an awesome camera and a decent mp3 player to boot.
BTW, I was going to give the phone a 9 until I read some reviews which were obviously intended to lower the user rating so its only fair to balance things out a bit. -
"Good phone... Expensive... Too many gadgets" on by Tiramisu4me
Pros: Great camera resolution and big screen
Cons: Design... almost impossible to do it one-hand
Summary: Had it for couple of weeks. Great camera compare to the rivals. Almost drop the phone a few times using one-hand operation. My fingers are always a couple of seconds faster than the phone when entering number and choosing various functions... which bothers me... Sadly returned the phone to Cingular and stick w/ my old phone. Back on the market for my perfect GSM (US) phone... Why can't we have those nice looking phones like in Europe and Asia
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