Samsung SGH-A717 user reviews (AT&T)

Pros Great call quality, Big display, Very well made, Terrific keypad, Easy to use, Very good camera,

Cons Low light indoor photos could be better. Outdoors their excellent

Summary A much better phone than my RAZR V3xx. Fast, light, well balanced and extremely well built out of excellent materials. Brilliant large, very clear & colorful display. Easy to use keys and nav pad. Very good battery life. Very sturdy hinge with perfect alignment of flip. Voice quality is ideal, and it connects and hangs onto the signal with no drop outs. Out of the 15 new high end phones I've had this year, the A717 is the best.

Pros very slim, nice camera, good UI

Cons battery could be better, confusing at first

Summary I just purchased this phone at my at&t store because i had been looking for a new phone. They had just received them so i got it before it even hit the shelves. the price came out to be less than 150, so i was extremely glad with that. I upgraded from the motorola slvr, which was a great decision. the camera is great and the feel of the phone overall leaves me satisfied. I have had the phone for less than a day so i'm still getting used to it, but all my friends who saw it love it. This is phone is well worth the price. I do wish the battery was better however. My main problem with the phone is that the outer button doesnt prompt the front display to light up, so to see the time i have to open the phone or flip it a little, which does get annoying. I definitely feel that it will be a great phone for the year that i will have it and recommend it to anyone.

Pros Camera, Light weight, Beatiful internal display

Cons Call quality, Battery life, Navigation, External disply, Speakerphone

Summary I had high expectations for this phone but it fell short in some very important catagories. Keep in mind that it only took me 2 days to find all this it out but I'll give you a breakdown of the A717 "Panther" as follows.

Call quality was terrible. Voices were distorted and raspy. Speakerphone was not nearly loud enoungh and it had the same tinny / raspy sound. The phone has to be "open" for use of the speakerphone. A friend could tell that I had her on speakerphone and when I switched back to the handset she said it was a "little" better. It dropped two calls on day 2. My "old" LG CG300 NEVER dropped a call so I really don't think it was due to at&t's "network".

Navigating the phones menu system is an excercise in futility. Very confusing overall and not user friendly.

Battery life was horrible. The first day I played around a little with the internet , the camera, video, and made some calls. About 3 hours of use and it needed to be charged. So I charged it over night. Day two saw much less use. Just a few phone calls and some pictures. It was on standby more than anything else and by the end of the day the battery was dead.

The phone locked up while I was taking a photo. I had to remove the battery then reinstall it to bring the A717 back to life.

The body of the the phone is very sleek and thin. A little too sleek in my opinion. Pretty hard to open with one hand. It was very light also.

For the little "surfing" I did, 3G is pretty fast. The phone kept switching between EDGE & 3G so out of the 5 sites I visited the speed was very inconsistant.

Gave Bluetooth a try and the phone failed to recognize any devices. Not one.

Takes very good pictures for a camera phone and the video wasn't bad either. I like the fact that the micro SD card is easily accessible from the outside and not buried behind the SIM.

The keyboard was nice too but navigating the phone phone was extreemly difficult. Samsung must not want people to take advantage of all the features this phone has to offer because everthing is buried in a maze of confusing configurations.

The outer display is awful. Very tiny and it doesn't stay visible long enough. The external caller ID shows you either the date or who is calling along with the battery life & the signal strength. That's it.

I have an iPod so I didn't bother trying any of the phones music capability.

I'm taking it back to at&t today.

Next up will be the LG CU500 or the Sony Ericsson W810i. I'm hesitant to try a Motorola Razr V3xx due to some major call dropping issues I had with my old Motorola V557.

The phone cost me $150 after "rebate". The "rebate" is a $50 Visa card from at&t. I also got a 1GB micro SD card and the USB cable + sync software. Total out the door with tax was $280 with a 2 year contract extension (that HAD to include a data plan). Pretty pricey for a paperweight and a USB cable + sync software that should come with the phone.

My wife got the iPhone the day after the release and, if it weren't for the insane price tag, I'd seriously consider buying one for myself

Pros I loved this phone for the first few months I had it! It worked perfectly. Awesome features and I love the clarity of the ear piece. It fits right in my pocket too!

Cons This phone is constantly roaming around trying to find a signal! The battery doesn't last long at all! It doesn't matter what I do it drops calls all the time!

Summary I paid full price for a phone that worked until the warranty was gone and now i am stuck with it!