Samsung SGH-A717 User Reviews

I purchased this phone because the Motorola RAZR V3XX was sold out at the time...and it was supposed to be the next best thing. My Cingular 8125 was acting funky, so I wanted a dedicated slim phone, versus the chunky touch-screen PDA "gotta wear a backpack to carry it" phone. Bad decision!

The phone I received looked great out of the box. It was slim and sleek, had a semi-hard outer shell, flat key pad and a bright inner screen. However, it was too slim to open with one hand, requiring me to fumble around with it on a one handed open...or simply use two hands. Great when your other hand is not busy. Once it opened, it did not seem to open flat enough. It had a sort of angled look to it and I felt like if I pressed it against my shoulder (my version of hands free) that it would snap and break. It felt too light and seemed cheap feeling also. The call quality was extremely poor and I am in a a very strong AT&T area. The software froze up several times and it would drop calls faster than a first time juggler at a circus. The volume (even on max) was too low to hear outside in normal enviroment situations...let alone traffic or other noises.

I did like the ease of the blue tooth connectivity with my laptop. I was able to sync the two and receive both pics and MP3's in a matter of minutes. The inner display was bright and visible in most situations. I also did not mind the small outer display (less to get scratched or damaged), but the numbers could have been one font size larger.

I did not keep it long enough to rate battery life, so I can't rate this area. I traded this phone for a Motorola RAZR V3XX (once it was in stock again) and I am much, much happier.

The Samsung A717 is the best flip phone I've owned. It easily out performs my RAZR V3xx. The call quality is exemplary, with warm and clear voice tones and a good range of volume adjustment. Even in weak signal areas this phone holds onto the signal and does not suffer drop outs. Build quality is excellent and the finish is very durable and not prone to showing fingerprints. With a great keyboard and nav pad this phone is a true pleasure to use. The large QVGA display is brighter with better color balance and saturation than the V3xx. Fonts and icons are approx 10% larger which makes for easy quick at a glance viewing. The 2MP camera performs better than any 2MP camera I've had on other phones. The UI is very easy to use, quite colorful and there are no delays when multitasking. Battery life is quite long and recharge times are short. Well balanced and light, this phone is a pure delight to use. I highly endorse this model.

Essentially a RAZR imitator, however it's the strongest phone I've ever had, it's what the RAZR series should have been, CPU performance/responsiveness, battery life, antenna performance, user interface, camera quality all completely have Motorola down on the ground kicking them... a completely superior product

Pro-
-Major battery endures heavy, long term use
-Camera quality is very good
-Sound quality, even on marginal signal, is indistingushablle from landline.... really really amazing sound
-first Samsung truly RAZR competitive form factor, same thickness and about 1/4in longer, easily pocketable in all clothing
-very light

Con-
-Not enough volume to really deal with extra loud ambient situations like VERY busy city streets / construction equipment... but it is enough for 99% of situations and wind resistance is very good
-I had to pay the premium to be an early adopter at $149 with 2yr commit
-keys require visual to dial as they are very flat to accomadate form factor
-it would be nice to have some more font options as the ones included are a little cheesy looking