Samsung Flight A797 Review

Introduction:

Last year we saw Samsung target the budget conscious text messenger with the square shaped design and entry level cost of the Propel. It wasn’t too fancy in the features department, but managed to captivate users with its slide out QWERTY keyboard. Building upon some of those foundations, the Samsung Flight SGH-A797 takes off with some impressive new features that’ll hopefully keep fingers moving with its QWERTY and touchscreen. With so many devices emphasizing heavily on text messaging, the Samsung Flight may have what it takes to jet above the clouds.

The package contains:

•    Samsung Flight
•    Charger
•    User Manual CD
•    Quick Start Guide



Design:

Thankfully the Flight’s design takes the same rectangular approach to its form factor that was seen on the Propel with some more real estate reserved for the screen. The hefty size is fitting for its class and doesn’t seem too overbearing. Although its form factor isn’t something to boast about, we preferred its plastic casing that emulated a metallic finish. Sure it may not be constructed out of premium quality materials, but it gives off a solid feel all around – especially in the sliding mechanism of the QWERTY. You’ll easily notice the weight (4.8 oz) that’s accompanying its girth – fortunately it still doesn’t feel like a brick, but it’ll cause a bulge when trying to slip it into a pocket.



You can compare the Samsung Flight A797 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The Samsung Flight steps it a notch by offering a 2.8” resistive touchscreen for navigating through the phone with a modest resolution of 320 x 240 and support for 262k colors. It’s nothing breathtaking to say the least when compared to the Mythic’s display, but it gets the job done with good detail and viewing angles. There are no light or proximity sensors to be found which means you’ll need to manage the brightness levels to conserve battery. When using it in direct sunlight, you’ll need to place the screen’s brightness on the highest setting to be viewable.

Directly below the screen are the three primary hardware buttons – the send, end, and back keys. All are flush evenly with the surface, adequately sized, and are accompanied with a solid tactile feel. There’s nothing too much to say for the rest of the other plastic buttons scattered on the sides – they’re fairly well sized with a good push feel to them. Samsung continues to move forward in offering the standard microUSB port that’s hidden away by a plastic flap for charging and connecting to a computer. Turning the Flight onto its back reveals a 2-megapixel camera with the speaker phone placed closely to it. After pulling apart the rear cover, you’ll get access to the battery, SIM card slot, and microSD slot.





Sliding the phone up will show off the 4-row QWERTY keyboard with its close confine of buttons. Although they are tiny and with no spacing in between them, the soft plastic textured buttons had a good tactile response. Fortunately they are raised high enough to make out with a finger, but probably too small to really speed type for those with larger hands. We especially enjoyed the bright white backlighting for the keys while numbers were colored in light red – making it extremely easy to see in any lighting condition.