Samsung SCH-A950 user reviews (Verizon Wireless)

Pros Insanely cool looks, solid phone performace, mp3 too

Cons Lack of play list capability.

Summary People want to trash this phone because it only has 1 mb for ringtones? Get a life! Why do people want to spend bucks on ringtones? Maybe its just me, but I totally dont get it.

The phone performs flawlessly in my world. To and from work, at home, in the office. Camera works well too, Mp3 to boot. I cant keep my freaking hands off this thing, not to mention my kids hands (maybe a con).
Check out the custom leather pouch available on the Verizon web site. I bought it with the phone, and it makes it even more *******'.

Bottom line, if you want to do some serious listening to MP3's, you should buy a dedicated player. I f you want a hot phone that works good, this wfits the bill nicely

Pros Menu, looks, functions.

Cons Reception, echo, static.

Summary We've had a Samsung for the past 5 years, and it was great! I would call across the US to family and they thought I was standing right next door. We recently decided to upgrate our phones. I did extensive research on the internet and it came down to two; the LG VX8100 and the Samsung SCH-a950. Even when we went into Verizon no one could really tell us which way to buy, so we bought one of each on the family share plan (2 lines).

Tried out both of their features and menus ---they are identical, both were great. We called our family across the US, and called some friends that were local. The LG VX8100 won both tests. The Samsung sounded like we were on a walkie-talkie, I couldn't hear the background noise at the various locations I was calling, so it wasn't like a true phone, plus after either myself or the other person would finish talking you could hear a slight echo. I believe the downfall of the Samsung is the integrated antenna.

I honestly wanted the Samsung to win, as I have many of their other brands of electronics and have found them A+++++, but not in this case. The LG VX8100 is the way to go when deciding on a cell phone, the quality is most like the Samsung I've had for years.

Pros Color, feel, call reception

Cons 1 MB ringtone memory = 5 true-tone ringtones

Summary I l-o-v-e-d this phone! LOVED IT. As an MP3 player it was okay but too me the MP-3 portion of the phone was just a bonus. I have an MP3 player and didn't much plan to use this phone as a player. I did want a phone that would play true-tone ringtones and have better graphics than my old phone. Honestly this phone seemed perfect. Until I started adding ringtones.

First off, Verizon does not offer the full Get It Now range of applications on this phone. The only true-tones available were through VZW Tones which is somewhat lacking in selection. I was a bit bummed but I hoped Verizon would add to the available applications in future. Verizon confirmed this for whatever that is worth. It is also incapable of receiving ringtones from any of the Internet sites and does not do to well with custom made tones....

I purchased 4 ringtones the first day and had a blast playing with the phone. Day 3 I decided to get some more ringtones. I purchased number 5 and went to purchase number 6 when I receive a message that the memory is full and I must delete some songs to purchase any more. Huh?!?

Surely this is an error, I thought. I called Verizon. They assured me something must be wrong with the phone memory and I should take it in. So, I took it back and got a new one. This time I didn't mess around. I purchased 5 songs in the span of a heartbeat and went for number 6. Guess what? Yup. Memory full message again.

I called Verizon (and managed not to curse) and found a very helpful customer service rep who proceeded to call Samsung. Everyone at Samsung said this phone designates only 1 MB for ringtone memory. I worked my way to a "Level 2 Tech Supervisor" (I shiver in awe as I write this, really) who confirmed what I had been told. The phone was only capable of holding 1mb of ringtone memory.

I exchanged the phone for the Motorola e-815 which is such a huge letdown after the flash of the Samsung but offers 40MB of memory for ringtones, pictures etc. (It's actually about 30MDs after the phone software.) It plays MP3s with the same sound quality as Samsung but offers no external controls. And of course it is gray... Oh well.

Verizon does not have a handle on this yet. Even they are unaware of the limited memory on this phone. If you are in doubt call Samsung directly. Even Samsung is unaware of the extent of this issue as I was constantly told to use a flash card memory expansion to hold more ringtones but this does not work, as ringtones purchased through Get It Now cannot be removed from the phone.

I think Samsung has made a grave error here. I would think the target market on this phone would be someone who would desire as much music and media capability as possible. To offer 5 ringtones seems insane. I hope that they will correct it in the future but that was a chance I was unwilling to take.

If you want a red phone and don't care about MP3 functions or ringtones than this is definitely the phone for you. It really does look and feel slick! But its form without function and I advise everyone to wait until the memory issue is resolved or look in a different direction.

P.S. I think the LG phones have a greater memory capacity but they too assign a limited amount of memory to each function. i.e. ringtones, games, video etc. I called their service line and was informed that the 8100 series did hold more than 5 ringtones but they could not disclose the memory allotted to ringtones due to the potential for "Corporate Espionage" (direct quote and no I'm not kidding.) I decided not to chance their unknown memory quantity and end up disappointed all over again. But the blue was tempting....

Pros Mp3 Player very good, good camera, very good sound, very good reception

Cons building MP3 playlists a tad klutzy, too few ringtones and wallpapers, additional cost to use MP3 Player

Summary I'm really impressed with this phone. I bought the phone 10 days ago, and have really been liking it.

The camera is very good. Nothing really to write home about, but, it's just a good solid camera with lots of options...resolution, flash, self-timer, picture quality, picture effects, color effects. You can save your pics, add them to your contacts info, the usualy cool stuff. 15 second videos are cool. You can record a 15 second message and then send it to someone if you like.

Texting is very good. But, again, I think most phones these days come with the full array of texting options...graphics, sounds, animations. All very nice.

Bluetooth is good...except for the usual compliants about Verizon dumbing down the options. Verizon fault, not the phone's.

I am not impressed with the # of wallpapers and ringtones. Verizon really neeeds to loosen up in this regard and stop worrying about squeezing every penny they can out of their users.

I have not used VCast. But, I hear it's pretty impressive also. Basically 2 complaints I hear: 1) voice does not synch up well with video 2) not enough content yet to justify the $15/month.

I really like the phone's reception and sound. Voices are very clear. Voice command activation is really sharp. Speaker phone is excellent.

Batterly life is decent. Not great.

Where this phone REALLY shines and stands apart from other phones is the MP3 player. wow. I am very impressed! I had really low expectations concerning this function. Initially I was angry over discovering that I had to shell out an additional $75 on accessories so I can use the MP3 player (you must buy the software, usb cable, and mem card). But, after I got it, downloaded some songs from my pc to my phone, and tried out the player, I was lovin' it!!

The front cover of the phone with the MP3 controls and ipod wheel is an excellent touch. once you start your music, you do not have to open the phone again.

Songs play continuously, and can either play all songs on card, shuffle, or create playlists. Everything I need.

The music pauses if you have an incoming call which is cool. Sounds great with headphones, and to be honest, sounds pretty darn good playing through the dual speakers on the phone itself.

I was really worried I was going to have to still buy an ipod even after buying this phone, but to my great surprise, I'm really happy with the Music Mastro!

Good looking phone (although, I'd prefer something a tad more "professional" looking). Excellent phone. Very impressed.