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Our
wireless plan was about to expire this September so I decided to shop for new
phones and plans. I looked around in many wireless stores but did not find the
deal that I was looking for. In the end I went to
Costco
Wholesale and looked around at the wireless booth there. I looked
through the phones and plans they had and decided right away which one’s I
wanted. The big day came and my contracts expired… I was a free man… for a while
anyways. I went back to that wireless booth and purchased my new
LG VX8100
and a Samsung A670 for my wife. The total for the two phones came out to be
about $325, but since I signed up for a two year agreement, I got this phone for
$10 and mine for about $110 after mail-in rebate.
OUR PLAN :
I decided upon the current Family Share Plan they had which offered 700 minutes
at $69.99 for two lines (this was about $25 less than what I was paying before
with the two different accounts). This plan also has free mobile to mobile
(calls, txt, pix, and flix). This required me to sign up for a new two year
contract with
Verizon. This is not a problem as long as I get
a good deal and a bunch of rebates on the phones.
THE PHONE AND FEATURES:
The A670 is a digital cellular phone that operates on the CDMA system; it can
handle digital and analog signals without any problems (sound quality with the
digital signal is always better).
This phone is almost the same size as my old
Samsung E105
but with a solid design. My wife was upgrading from my old
Samsung N400
that I passed down to her when I got my E105. It is about 3.30 inches in length,
1.80 inches in width, and 0.90 inches in depth. It weighs about 3.80 ounces.
The newest feature of this phone is the camera that can capture videos and
regular digital photos. It is text, pix (picture messages), and high speed
internet connectivity capable. It also has all of the regular features like an
alarm, calendar, calculator, and more.
The keypad is nicely designed because all the keys or buttons are placed in the
right place so you do not have to search for it. If you feel that a button
performs a certain feature, you are probably right.
There are two full color LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screens. The main LCD is
about 1.50 inches in length and 1.05 inches in width. Likewise the external LCD
is about 0.75 inch in length and 0.65 inches in width. The external LCD shows
the time and other status on the top. The main LCD shows everything including
whatever is on the external one. Both of these LCD’s are backlit (which can be
adjusted) and offer very nice image quality.
You can take good quality pictures and videos with this phone. You can choose
between three different resolutions for pictures which are high, medium, and
low; you can also zoom in and out at all resolutions except the highest. Videos
can be recorded but cannot be sent as a message; you can only set it as the
wallpaper. The quality of the videos and pictures are good but not of the
highest quality that can be printed and framed. The videos are not excellent but
good enough for those Kodak Moments. You can use the camera button on the side
of the phone to take self portraits when the flip is closed.
One of the excellent features me and my wife both like the most is the Voice
Dialing which works great once trained properly; this can be accessed by
pressing and holding the * (star) key. The voice recognition is enhanced enough
that it will recognize almost anyone’s voice, but if you train it, the accuracy
will be increased.
You can also browse the Internet with this phone via the built-in browser. You
can check your account balance with just a few presses of a button. I did notice
that it is much faster than all other phones I have used before. My wife says
that it is fast like my computer (DSL Connection), but she hardly ever uses it.
The menu structure of this phone is almost the same as my old E105, but is
easier to navigate through with out problems. If you have owned and used a cell
phone before you will be able to navigate through the menu option of this phone
with trouble.
There are some very easy shortcut buttons placed in the right places so you will
not have a hard time using them when you need them. For instance, the volume
control is on the right side of the phone which controls the master volume when
the phone is not in use, but the voice volume when you are talking. The camera
button on the other side allows you to take pictures and video with opening the
flip also.
By pressing the # (pound) key, you can quickly switch the phone to vibrate mode
and back to normal mode. This comes in handy when you do not have time to use
the volume control to decrease the volume level of the phone.
RECEPTION AND QUALITY :
I did notice that this phone has a better reception and sound quality; the voice
is very clear. There are some places where my wife's Samsung N400 - Sprint did
not get reception and my Samsung E105 – T-Mobile barely acquired the weakest
signal, but this A670 provides the clearest signal of them both. So far I have
never had a dropped or poor quality call.
THE PACKAGE AND ACCESSORIES :
The package has the Samsung A670, the 1100 mAH Li-Ion battery, the travel
charger and the manual pack. On top of this, I also got a cheap headset (wired),
car charger, and leather pouch free; this was a gift from Costco Wholesale.
Since my wife does not use a headset, the car charger, nor the leather pouch it
is just sitting in under the bed somewhere.
BATTERY LIFE :
This phone can give your about 2.90 hours (174 minutes) of talk-time when the
battery is fully charged. This actually gives me just a little more than two
hours of talk-time because likes taking pictures and sending me text messages so
that uses up a lot of battery life. I would say that she can get over two hours
of talk time if she just talked.
The standby time for this phone is 168 hours (about 7 days). My wife has never
gotten to the point that she did not use my phone for seven days so I cannot say
if that is the actual standby time or not. I mean if she did not use my phone
for seven days, she would not need the phone at all. Nevertheless, this phone
easily makes it through 2 to 3 days of normal use before needing to charge
again.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE :
My wife has used this phone for about a month now and she is very satisfied with
it. She says it is the second love of her life after me of course. This phone
feels solid and reliable; it does not look and feel cheap like my older Samsung
E105. This phone gives me longer talk and standby times. My wife always wanted
to try out a camera phone because she had never used one before, so after
finally giving it a try she likes it very much that I bought her this phone.
The signal strength of this phone is great compared to other older phones me and
my wife have used in the past. I have notice clear call quality and louder too.
The menus are easy to navigate through without getting lost, but you always have
the manual that explains everything but without much detail. If you really need
detailed information I suggest researching on the Internet.
FINAL THOUGHTS :
The Samsung A670 cellular phone is one of the best phones my wife and I have
used so far which has some cool features also. If your wireless contract is
expiring or if you are just looking to upgrade your current phone, I would
highly recommend this A670 from Samsung. |
