The official A-670 review thread!

[orioles150]

If anyone else has this phone please write a review on it! I am possibly getting this phone so I am trying to find as many reviews as possible!!! (I know there are a few reviews scattered in the other A-670 threads but I thought this would make it easier to have them all in one thread)

[orioles150]

ok, so I felt bad because I saw people reading this thread and as of now there is no actual info on the phone so the following are reviews by other members thus far on the phone:

posted by gman_gsxr750:

I got the a670 yesterday. It's a cool looking phone, good graphic quality and sound quality. Camara has 3 different resolutions, zoom (on lower resolutions) and a flash. You can download through the phone with GetItNow or purchase from other sites. I was looking yesterday as well and saw that you can purchase from Samsung's website as well. Go to the FunClub section. Cust. Service told me you could even upload from the PC using the data kit (free... cha ching) but I havent' verified this. Phone is too new for much info.

posted by yalistra:

I got the a670 yesterday. It's a very cool phone. The flash is an LED which hopefully means it's not much of a battery draw. The phone can even take up to 12 seconds of video, but the video can't be sent anywhere from the phone. Still cool. The phone takes very good quality pics considering that it's a phone.

The only problem I've had so far is on incoming pix messages, there is an option to "save picture" from the message. I tried it, and it does it successfully, but then the pic is no where to be found on my phone or in the website folders. When I go to save it again, it says the file name already exists. I've read the whole manual and it doesn't even mention this feature, only a "save msg" function that just moves the message from "Inbox" to "Saved" folder on the phone. If anyone else has tried this and gotten the incoming pic into their gallery please let me know! I have a feeling this is a bug to be fixed.

Well thats all I see for now, if you have a review to give, please post!

[FOT]

As a new VZW employee I CSR'd my way into getting 2 a670's as test phones

The quality is OUTSTANDING as I have already dropped one of them off of the balcony and the antenna didn't break off. As far as features go, the camera and video work great. I read that it doesn't have video sending capeabilities but hope that the EVDO/1900 upgrade we are doing in the SoCal market will take care of that. I am not that fond of the voice setup/etc however. And as expected the battery life is OK to fair even with the extended battery. My first Samsung's but so far so good!

Now ... If I can figure out how to get into the test mode, life will be good!

[morey000]

I'm hardly a cell phone expert, and I've only had this baby for a day. It's a very zippy phone with a nifty camera. The only thing that made me choose it over the LG 6000 was that it was a bit smaller. Although, the LG6000 has a nicer looking external display. The external LCD display on the a670 isn't visually very clear, and you pretty well have to use the 'digital' clock, as the analog one is barely readable.

The little nits that I've found so far are: When you put the menus into 'list' mode (really called animation mode) you only get to see 3 items at a time, as the rest of the screen is filled with silly color animation stuff, that is essentially useless. I'd prefer if you could set it so that you'd get to look at a full page list of menu items.

Second complaint is that the selection of ring tones are pretty poor.

Third complaint is that you cannot shut off the camera shutter sound, but I guess I understand why this was done. Probably a good idea.

The camera has a flash!!!, but every time I try and use it in low light, the photos just come out pale blue??? Other than that, the auto white balance works pretty well for a cell phone camera. scrolling through pics is a bit slow.

Long list of things I really like about it however. Great reception. fun camera. very small size. extendable antenna. belt clip rotates. Oh, and it comes with a travel sized charger.

Any reason I should trade her in (within 15 days) and get an LG 6000 instead? In comparing it with my wife's new LG 6000, the LG may have just marginally better reception.

[corona2581]

DO NOT TRADE IT IN! The LG 6000 is becoming more and more outdated by the day with the newer phones coming out. There is no flash on the 6000 and the picture quality on some resolutions is questionable(from my experience with the 6000). If u wanna read the external display, hold the left side button(not the camera button) for 2 seconds. The external display will light up. I guess Samsung did this to save on battery life. I agree with you on the lack of ring tones, but there are more serious lacks in my opinion, such as lack of video messaging, mobile web 2.0 and mildly, the lack of wallpapers and screensavers. But I would definetely choose Samsung over LG.

[orioles150]

Ok, I have now had this phone for a week or 2 so I feel as if I can write a pretty thorough review.

Unlike most people I am going to start with the bad and end with the good.
Cons:
-- software glitch which sometimes displays a missed call when yuo finish your conversation.
-- If you have call waiting during a call, it doesnt store the time on the original phone call in the call log.
-- the clear key is a little wobbly, while it doesnt affect usage at all its just one of those little annoying things you will always notice
-- as with all color phones the battery life isnt great.
---- The ringer is not very loud (this is the only big problem, but I am giong to try and fix this by cranking up the volume of a MIDI file on my computer before sending it to my phone)


now for the good stuff:
Pros:
++ The voice recognition is great! it takes it 1 step further than the 4500. With the 4500 you could only call the default number under any one contact, the 670 asks you which of the numbers you want to call.
++ Picture ID (I know its stupid, but its still fun)
++ Small form-factor yet very sturdy feel
++ dual color screens
++ Easy to download custom ringtones (check 670 ringtones forum to see how)

Overall I think this is currently the best phone in Verizon's lineup. Its form factor mixed in with its features make it second to none.

I didnt mention reception yet in this review because I believe its on-par with most other verizon phones (so not a pro or a con) its just average.

[Steve B]

I've had the a670 for about a couple weeks now. I am really impressed and happy with the phone in general. I will list the "Pros" & "Cons"

Pros:

*Excellent sound quality.
*Excellent reception.
*Nice and compact flip phone.
*Visually appealing.
*Camera with flash.
*Keypad is designed great. Good spacing between the keys.
*Both screens' quality is excellent.

Cons:

*The preloaded ringer selection are ok, but needs major improvement.
*Doesn't have good "text message" alert ringers. It only uses the preloaded ringers.
*The external display is hard to see most of the time.
*It uses the 4-Bar signal indicator instead of 5.
*Not enough room for more videos.

I think that pretty much sums it up for me. It's been my experience that Samsung makes excellent handsets. They work excellent and they look visually appealing, unlike the UGLY LG Phones. Samsung is doing very well for themselves.

In repsonse to another post. I notice that some people are having problems finding pix msgs. I don't have a solution for you. I can just say that I have gotten pix msgs and haven't had any problems finding them at all. No issues such as that with my a670.

[DDRGuy]

Interesting. I dont seem to have the cons you pointed out oriels. Maybe it's subjective to each individual phone?

The ringer on my a670 is, as one of my coworkers said when I forgot to put it on silent, "the loudest he'd ever heard". And my Clear button is sturdy as ever.

Also, I wont call the lack on preloaded ringtone and alert sounds a con, since you can easily get your own on there in a jiffy.

My 3 big gripes are:
1. No way to silent the camera shutter shound (which is *really* loud on my phone)

2. The outer LED only seems to light when the phone is ringing or charging, or if you have Service LED turned on, flashes green when you have a signal. But I wanted it to flash when I have voicemail/texts so I could see from across the room that I have something.

3. The animation slow down and stop (see my other thread on this)


This phone is pretty much everything I ever wanted in a phone.

Very small in size. My roommates have Samsung camera phones as well, but this one dwarfs it, great picture quality, flash, self photo mode, voice dial, voice memo, tons of internal memory.

In short, I love this phone!

[estrella371]

This phone is really cute and small!
However, there is something wrong with its call long which is quite annoying...and after you spend an entire day on the phone with verizon and samsung representatives trying to explain to them that while you are on the phone with someone you also get a missed call from that same person you tend to overlook its cute appearance.

What happens is when you look in your call log (recent calls or press SEND button) it shows you two calls from a person that just called you. One as a call waiting and another as missed even though you were just talking to this person. Plus it does not show you the duration of your call.

You CAN get rid of that problem, but resetting ALL your settings. But then you'll be stuck with that annoying default ring and won’t be able to change any other settings.

Hopefully Samsung will be able to fix this and come out with an upgrade. Call them and bug them about it!

[llanico421]

It is true. There is a call log problem. In your call log, it will say that you have a missed call and a call waiting from the same person even though you have just spoken to that person. The only way to correct it is to set your phone to the default settings. But, that means you cannot change the settings to ones that you like because if you do, the same thing will happen again. Samsung has said that they already know about this problem and are working on a new software upgrade. However, if you want a fast solution, call Samsung and bother them about it. The more people who call them, the harder they will work to find the solution. Trust me, at first you may not think it's annoying but after awhile, it really gets to you.

[orioles150]

yeah it is pretty annoying but not annoying enough that I would like to reset my phone to default settings. hopefully the firmware upgrade will be out soon.

[orioles150]

oops and i forgot to say, Welcome to Wireless Advisor! there are lots of people here who know tons of information so if you have any questions just ask!

[Jodi]

I've had my phone for about 3 weeks now and love it...I'm not having any of the "dust" problems and my call log seems to be working okay to date.

I've downloaded ringers from eringers.com for a variance from the preloaded ringers.

I like the volume quality and the ringer loudness. The clarity of the calls are superior (and i thought I'd never say that after having my Motorola v60i!!). The battery life is better than my v60i as well.

The camera phone is a fun feature...it bugs me that my custom wallpapers don't fill up the screen, but this is a luxury rather than a necessity and I can live with it!!

Even my husband, who has a fickle preference for phones, likes this phone...

[twopiece]

Originally Posted by morey000

Any reason I should trade her in (within 15 days) and get an LG 6000 instead? In comparing it with my wife's new LG 6000, the LG may have just marginally better reception.

I wouldn't trade it in either. A friend of mine went to VZW to compare the Samsung A670 and LG VX7000, but the salesman tried to push the VX6000 on him which he didn't want at all. They must have a huge overstock on the 6000.

[Jodi]

Originally Posted by twopiece

I wouldn't trade it in either. A friend of mine went to VZW to compare the Samsung A670 and LG VX7000, but the salesman tried to push the VX6000 on him which he didn't want at all. They must have a huge overstock on the 6000.

That's interesting! When I went in to my VZW store, I told the CSR I needed a phone that had a good ringer, steady reception and voice clarity...I wanted voice recognition and easy maneuvering through the menus. The first phone the CSR showed me was the a650...the 2nd was the a670...He also showed us a tri-mode (can't remember which one at this point), but we jointly decided that 99.9% of our use never involves analog services.

The LG was never shown to us by the CSR....

[hacktothefuture]

Thanks for all the great reviews it helped me to decide on the a670, I posted a review on this thread if anyone is interested: http://www.wirelessadvisor.com/forum...ead.php?t=2854