iPhone 3GS from AT&T. Free Shipping
- Average user rating: 4.0 stars out of 174 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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34 out of 35 people found this review helpful
4.5 stars
"excellent phone...but still has its drawbacks"
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.
- 4 replies to this review
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Don't feel alone, you aren't the only one the phone freezes on. I've had this phone for nearly a year and sometimes I feel like i'm dealing with a finicky pc when I have to basically restart my cell phone.
My boyfriend has a Motorola RAZR and it just does not have the high quality graphics the S710a does by comparsion. Anyone who has seen both phones would easily know. It is like looking at an old Macintosh computer in color. Games on the S710a are better by far as well, since the pixel count is lower for the poor RAZR it seems like your playing a S710a game that has been zoomed in.
I would have given this phone an 8.5, but only because my phone froze while i was charging it. (which made me late for work because my alarm didn't go off!) -
do this from the main screen:
Right, *, Left, Left, * Left *
(right and left meaning the directional pad)
then select "service info" and then "software info" the top line will be your firmware version (I have R2A016)check to see that you have it as well and not the R1A033 if you do then you need to upgrade to the R2. -
The closest my phone has come to freezing is when I go to the pictures (under the my media folder) there is an animated photo preinstalled that seems to take a lot of the processing power to load...so I just try to avoid that photo when I am in the folder.
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I don't know how that happened for you but my s710a doesn't freeze, just lag.
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