Samsung SCH-A990 Review

The Samsung A990 is the latest high-end cell phone offered by Verizon. It's the successor of the A970 and it has an even better 3-megapixel camera. One of its main features is there – the swiveling display that makes it look as a camcorder.
The retail package includes the A990 phone, standard 1000mAh Lithium-Ion battery with cover, wall charger, 2.5mm headset adapter, TV-out cable, hand strap, and user manual.
Some features that set the A990 apart from any other phone in US is the 3.2 Mega-Pixel CCD Camera, MicroSD slot, WMA Music Player, Stereo Speakers, Bluetooth, and QVGA 240x320 Pixel 262K Color TFT Internal Display.

When looking at the A990 for the first time you might not think “high-end”, but the looks are deceiving.  The A990 is a flip phone that fits well in the hand or pocket thanks to its slim design and internal antenna, which cuts down on the overall height. It measures 3.80” H x 1.88” W x 0.82”W and weighs 4.40 oz (including the standard battery).  The shell of the phone is comprised of black matte plastic with silver accents.  This gives the phone an “Executive and Professional” look; unlike the A950 and its “toy” look.

The front of the A990 is very simplistic and unobtrusive.  The Bi-Level External Display is located in the center.  The top part of the display is Blue TFT, which shows the current time, signal strength (1x/EVDO, or Digital), Bluetooth indicator, and battery level.  The bottom section is 128x96 Pixel 65K Color TFT.  This is where the wallpaper will be shown along with the current date and any alerts (TXT, Pix, or VoiceMail).  But there are a few downsides to the external display of the A990.  The backlight only stays on for 5 seconds and the TFT stays on for 10 seconds.  This means that after 10 seconds you must press one of the side buttons for the display to turn back on.  For example, if the phone receives a message and you are not in the same room, then come back after a few minutes, there is no way to tell that you have received a message just by looking at the phone.  You must press a side button to turn on the external display or flip the phone open.  We feel this is a poor design.  When you receive a message, the external display should not turn off until you open the phone and read the message.



When a wallpaper is set on the external display, the image appears to be much darker than when viewing it on the internal display or computer monitor.  The only way to correct this problem is to first use your computer to brighten the image before transferring it to the phone.  This is a minor inconvenience, but still something that should have been addressed before the phone was released.

The Music Player control buttons (Rew, Play, FF), Speaker, TV-Out connector, and MicroSD slot are all located on the left side of the A990.  The right side comprises the second speaker, Camera “Option/Function” button, Wide Angle/Telephoto Zoom buttons (which also doubles for the Volume Up/Down), Speakerphone button, and Camera Shutter button. The 3.2 Mega-Pixel CCD Camera, with Flash, is located on the back.  There is also a built-in lens cover that must be opened and closed by pushing a small switch with your finger.  Below the camera is where the battery and battery cover are installed.  Located on the bottom of the phone is the combination Charger & Data Port.  The TV-Out, MicroSD, and Charger Port are all covered by a protective piece of plastic.  The plastic port-plugs are connected/attached to the phone, which will prevent them from being lost.

The A990 flips open very easily and feels quite solid.  Once the phone is powered on, the first thing we noticed was the quality of the Internal Display.  This is due to the 240 x 320 resolution (76,800 total pixels) and 262K colors display.  Most other phones only have a 176 x 220 Pixel display (38,720 total pixels), which causes text and images to have jagged edges.  This is not the case with the A990. 

The keypad is located below the display.  The buttons are a good-sized and easy to press with thumb.  They are made of black plastic and the numbers and letters are white.  The backlight of the buttons is also white, except the SEND having green backlight and END having red backlight.  Most other phones feature bright blue backlight on the keypad.  The white backlight on the A990 keypad is a nice change, but might be too dim for some people's taste.  The numbers and letters on the keys are large and easy to read.  This is useful when text-messaging.

Located at the top of the keypad are the 5-way navigation keys.  This provides one-touch access to Mobile Web 2.0, Get it Now, Pix & Flix, and Calendar.  Located in the center of the navigation buttons is the OK button, which provides access to the Main Menu.  Directly below the 5-way navigation is the Clear button.  To the left is the Message, Camera, and Send buttons.  To the right is the Contacts, VoiceCommand, and End buttons.  The only button that we felt was too small and difficult to use was the OK button.  We often ended up pressing one of the surrounding buttons by accident and had to clear out of the menu.  Since the OK button is used often, Samsung should have made it larger and not so slippery. 

Interface:

One disappointing aspect of the A990 is the menu system.  It uses the Verizon standard “red bar” menus that were introduced nearly 2 years ago.  However, the LG VX8300, which was introduced 2 months ago, as well as the new VX8500 Chocolate, use the new FlashUI menu.  We believe that this is a major mistake made by Verizon.  A phone of this class, with all the latest hardware, should not be using this out-dated menu system. It is possible that some people may be put off by this and decide not to purchase this phone.

The only option for customizing the menus is to change the theme color.  There are 6 color selections to choose from: Default, Business, Tropical, Blue, Green, and Red.  This only changes the colors of the menus, not the menus themselves.

There is an option to change the way digits are visualized when dialing a number. There are several templates and with most of them each digit is displayed in different color so that they can easily be distinguished when you look at them.



Even though the A990 is using the older menu system, it is very easy to use and there is no lag-time.  To get to the Main Menu, press the OK button.  You then have 5 Menu Directories: Get it Now, Messaging, Contacts, Recent Calls, and Settings & Tools.

Phonebook:

Adding a person to your Contacts is a simple task.  With each contact you can enter the Name, Mobile 1 number, Home number, Work number, E-Mail 1, Group, Ringtone (Ringer ID), Mobile 2 number, Fax number, E-Mail 2, Notes, and Picture ID.  With Ringer ID and Picture ID you can easily assign a specific ringtone and/or picture to each of your contacts.  When a person calls, the A990 will play the ringtone assigned to them and display the picture on the external and internal displays.  Once contacts are added, you can then assign them to speed dial and groups.  A total of 500 contacts can be added with 98 assigned speed dials.

Voice dialing is speaker independent and works by pressing the Voice Command button on the phone's keypad.  You can say “Call Home”, and the phone will call the number that is stored in the contacts list under “Home”.  If you just say “Call”, the phone will ask you for the number.  You then say the digits of the number to dial.  The Voice Command calling feature works a majority of the time without any problems.  The Digit Dialing is a useful feature when driving and can be used with handsfree earbuds or Bluetooth earpiece.  Voice Command has other functions as well.  You can use it to send a message, go to a specific menu, and check the phone's status (date, time, battery life, signal strength, missed alerts).

Organizer:

The phone's built-in Calendar is an easy way of keeping track of appointments and important dates & times.  Once a Task is added to the Calendar, the phone will alert you with an audible tone and have the information on the screen.  Tasks can be added to each date with an alert.  If you need to look up a specific date, you can go to the Calendar and navigate to that day, month, and year.
There are three alarms that can be programmed separate from the Calendar.  You can choose the date, time, ringtone, and how often (Once, Daily, Mon-Fri, and Weekends).

The A990 has 72MB of usable internal memory.  Everything that is downloaded from Verizon, such as ringtones, music, wallpapers, TXT/PIX Messages, and Get it Now applications are all stored in the internal memory.  The A990 does come with a MicroSD slot which will allow you to install a MicroSD card for additional memory.  MicroSD cards are available from 64MB to 1GB (with 2GB coming soon).  We recommend going with a MicroSD card with the largest amount of memory.  This is because any pictures that you take with the A990 and all WMA music files that you transfer from your computer will be stored on the MicroSD card.

Messaging:

The A990 is not only capable of sending and receiving text messages, but also pictures and video.  Sending a text message is simple to use with T9 input.  Sending a picture or video message works the same way as a text message, except for the fact that you can attach a picture or video from either the phone's internal memory or from the MicroSD card.  Picture messages can be sent to other capable Verizon phones or to any E-Mail address. 

The A990 also comes with a Mobile Instant Messaging application that works with AIM, MSN, and Yahoo.  I was able to use it with AOL IM (AIM) without any problems.  It woks in a similar fashion as sending a text message, except that it goes to people you select on your Buddy List.  When they send you a message, it will be displayed on your phone's screen.

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Connectivity:

Bluetooth is also a useful tool that is incorporated into the A990.  However, typically for Verizon, they have limited the Bluetooth functionality.  It will only support Wireless Headset, Handsfree, Serial Port, Dial up Networking, and Printing.  Not all OBEX profiles are supported, and Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP) is not supported.  We feel that Verizon should not block any Bluetooth profiles in their phones.  It only limits phone's functionality.  When using the A990 with a Bluetooth earpiece, it will integrate with the Voice Command Feature to allow Voice Dialing.

Internet:

There is a standard WAP 2.0 browser that will provide you with access to Verizon's Mobile Web site.  There is a lot of useful information available from the Mobile Web site (News, Weather, E-Mail, Sports, Entertainment, Shopping, and Account Services).  You can also use the WAP 2.0 browser to visit any other WAP site.  You can browse normal HTTP web sites, but the phone is limited to only displaying text and small pictures.  Trying to view a large picture-intense HTTP web site will cause an “Insufficient Memory” error message.  WAP sites load quickly thanks to Verizon's EVDO coverage.  Otherwise the A990 will use the slower 1x network.  The Verizon Mobile Web page will load in 5 seconds when using EVDO.  Normal HTTP sites will take longer depending on content.  As of now, only SmartPhones come with a standard web browser and can view normal HTTP sites without problems.  We believe that with current cell phones advancements, the WAP browser is at the end of its life and needs to be replaced with a HTTP browser on all upcoming phones.  This would allow users to visit normal web pages and viewing them properly.  Overall, the A990's WAP browser is easy to use and works well, despite its limited capabilities.  Mobile Web is available for $5 a month or is included in the $15/month V Cast service.

Music can be downloaded from Verizon's V Cast Music Store.  You can jump to “What's New” and “What's Hot”, or browse by Genre, Artist, Album, and Song.  The easiest way to find what you are looking for is to use the Search feature.  You can listen to a 20 second preview of each song before purchasing.  Songs cost $1.99 to download.  You can have the song saved to the phone's internal memory or to the MicroSD card.  You also can download a free version of the song on your computer.  A 5MB song only took 40 seconds to download using EVDO. 

Camera:

The A990 continues the tradition of incorporating a camera built into the phone.  What is unique about the A990 is that it uses a 3.2 Mega-Pixel CCD Camera.  This is the first camera phone for Verizon to use a higher quality 3.2MP CCD camera sensor.  The only other phone to use a CCD sensor was the LG VX8000, but it was limited to 1.3MP.
The operation of the camera is also unique for the A990.  First, flip open the phone.  Then rotate the display 180 degrees and flip it back down.  This activates the camera.  Just remember to first flip the switch next to the camera to open the lens cover.  You then hold the camera so the screen is in landscape mode.  On top of the display are the status icons.  These include Options, Signal Strength, Flash, Image Resolution, number of pictures that you have room to store, and Battery level.  Located on the top of the phone is the Options button, Zoom buttons, and Shutter button.



When you press the Option button, you are given a list of camera options that is displayed on the bottom of the screen.  You can move between them by pressing the two W/T zoom buttons, and selections are made using the red Shutter button.  The options are Picture Mode, Flash, Self Timer, Multi-Shot, Quality, Resolution, Brightness, White Balance, ISO, Color Effects, Metering, and Settings.
In the Picture Mode menu you can select Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Night, Daylight, and Backlight.  We found that Auto works best. However, if you want to take a Macro picture or Photo at night, you need to select those modes.



The Flash allows you to choose Flash Off, Always On, Auto, and Only This Shot.  Again, Auto works best.  The Flash would automatically turn on when the camera would sense that it needed to use a flash…just like a real camera.  This is a handy feature.  Self-Timer gives you the choices of 2sec, 5sec, and 10 sec. Multi-Shot allows you to take multiple pictures fast in a row.  I didn't find this useful since fast moving images would come out blurry.  Quality has settings for Economy, Normal, and Fine.  It is best to leave Fine selected.



Resolution gives you several options to choose from.  The highest resolution is 2048x1536 (3.2MP).  Other Resolutions are 1600x1200, 1280x960, 1024x764, 800x600, 640x480, 320x240, and Picture ID.  The Picture ID will take photos sized 128x96.  Photos taken at the 2048x1536 resolution average about 1MB per picture.  There really isn't any reason to take pictures using the lower resolutions, but it's nice to know that the options are there.



The Brightness is set at 0 and can be changed from +4 to –4.  The White Balance has settings for Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Tungsten, and Fluorescent.  The Auto setting works best most of the time, but we did have to change it to Tungsten on occasion when taking photos indoors under incandescent lighting.  White Balance seems to be a problem on most camera phones, but not as much on the A990.  However, it's nice to see the option there.  The ISO settings are Auto, 100, 200, 400, and 800.  ISO settings are used to adjust the amount of light needed for the image to have the proper exposure.  For pictures taken outside in the sun, a low ISO number (100) would give the best results. Indoor pictures would use 200-400, and pictures at night with a flash 800.  Leaving it set to Auto is best and should only be changed if the images are too dark or too bright.



Color Effects are more for fun than function.  You can choose Normal, Black & White, Sepia, Negative, Emboss, and Sketch.  We have never seen the Sketch option on any other phone.  When a picture is taken, it turns it into a Black & White sketch drawing, almost like in PhotoShop.  Very interesting, but I doubt most people would get much use out of it.  Metering give you the choice of Average, Center, and Spot.  The default selection was Center, but after a few tests we found that Average gave the best results.  The images were more in-focus and had better exposure when using the Average setting.



The Settings menu has several choices.  The first option is Memory and allows you to choose either the Phone or MicroSD when storing pictures.  The next option is Auto Focus.  It is turned on by default and I highly recommend using the Auto Focus system.  When using the Auto Focus, the camera will take 3 seconds to first focus on the image before taking the picture.  This provides the best image quality.  The Auto Focus works best when taking a picture of a subject that is not moving.  However, for moving subjects, you will need to turn Auto Focus off.  The last option in the Settings is for turning on or off the shutter sound.  It is nice that the A990 includes all of these settings for the camera, even though all the choices may be overwhelming for some users.  As stated earlier, the Auto settings work best a majority of the time, but manual settings can be used when needed.
When using the Auto Focus setting, it takes 3 seconds for the camera to focus and take the picture once the shutter button is pressed.  If Auto Focus is disabled, it only takes 1 second to take the picture.  After the picture is taken it will be displayed on the screen.  You then have to choose to erase it or save it.  There is no option to have the camera automatically save pictures without asking.  This option should have been added so you would not have to be asked after taking each picture.  When using the Auto Focus, it takes 3 seconds to take the picture, and then 3 seconds to save it.  All together you are looking at 6 seconds between being able to take pictures.  Turning Auto Focus off will cut down the time to 4 seconds between taking pictures.



Picture quality on the A990 is better than any other Verizon phone currently offered.  This is due to the 3.2MP CCD camera sensor.  It is nice to see that Verizon has finally released a phone that takes photo-printable quality pictures.  Outdoor pictures came out very nice with good color reproduction and detail.  Only around the edges was the image slightly out-of-focus.  Indoor pictures taken under incandescent light also came out very pleasing.  The less light in a room, the grainer and darker the image would become, while loosing color saturation.  The LED Flash is useful when taking a picture of a subject that is up to 5 feet away.  Any further and the flash loses its effectiveness.  The LED Flash on the A990, or any other phone for that matter, cannot compare with a flash on a standard camera.  Because of this, taking pictures at night is not one of the strong points of camera phones.  Phone manufactures should think about using a brighter LED Flash, or have a larger Flash that will produce more light.

The Camcorder mode allows you to record and save videos to the internal memory or to the MicroSD card.  Videos can be recorded in either 320x240 or 176x144 resolution.  If the 320x240 is selected, videos cannot be sent using Flix Messaging.  They must be saved to the MicroSD card and then transferred from the card to the computer.  Videos recorded at 176x144 can be sent using Flix messaging, but only if they are less than 15 seconds long.  You can also have videos record up to 1 hour, as long as there is memory available on the MicroSD card.  Therefore, selecting 320x240 will give you the highest resolution, and it can record up to 1 hour.  A 2 minute video record at 320x240 uses 4MB of memory.  A full hour video will use 120MB.

Some of the video settings are the same as the ones when taking pictures (Resolution, Flash, Self Timer, Quality, Brightness, White Balance, and Color Effects).  However, once a video has started recording, you cannot access those menus until it's stopped.  The top of the Display shows you status icons, including how much memory is left for recording.
Videos recorded outdoors have good color and decent quality if you use the 320x240 resolution.  Indoor videos are also good as long as there is plenty of light.  If it is too dark the Flash will stay on to provide additional light.  Unfortunately, the range of the Flash when recording a video is only 2-3 feet.  Videos that are transferred to a computer will require the latest version of Apple Quick Time in order to play.  The recorded videos have jagged edges and the quality is far less than even VHS quality, but not terrible considering the A990 offers the highest video recording resolution than any other Verizon phone.  Still, since the A990 has a 3.2MP sensor, the video resolution should not be limited to 0.0768MP.  We wish that recorded videos could be taken at a higher resolution, like 640x480 for example.  The only downside is that it would use more MB/sec, but with a 1GB MicroSD installed, that would not be an issue.

Multimedia:

The A990 has the capability of playing WMA music files from the MicroSD card.  First you must purchase a MicroSD memory card and USB Card Reader for your computer.  Before transferring any music to the card, it must be formatted.  Place the MicroSD card in the A990 and go to Menu, Settings & Tools, Memory, Card Memory, Options, and Format.  This will format the card and create the proper directories to store music, pictures, and videos.  Once this is done, connect the USB reader to the computer and insert the memory card into it.

On the computer, open Windows Media Player (version 10 or 11) and Sync to the memory card.  Windows Media Player has to convert any MP3 files to WMA files before sending it to the memory card.  This is because the A990's software only supports WMA.  After Media Player converts the MP3 files to WMA it will transfer the songs to the memory card.  You then have to go to Windows Explorer and Cut & Paste the files into the “my_music” directory.  Then you remove the memory card and insert it back into the A990.  Go to Menu, Get Tunes & Tones, and Manage Music.  It will take a few minutes for the file list to be created for the first time.  Music is listed by Genre, Album, Artist, and Song.  The screen will show the current song playing, album art, and music timer.  The A990 can be closed while the music is playing.  On the left side of the phone is the Rew, Play/Pause, and FF buttons.  When the phone is closed, you can use these buttons to Rewind, Pause, or Fast-Forward the Current song, and skip to another song.  The W/T buttons on the right side of the phone are used for volume control.  Overall we were very happy with the quality of the Music Player and didn't experience any problems.  Music playback is loud and has very good quality through the stereo speakers.  Stereo earbuds (2.5mm) can also be used. It is unfortunate that Verizon disabled the Bluetooth Stereo headset function.  The only negative about the A990's Music player is the need to convert MP3 files to WMA in order to listen to music.  There is no reason why you should be forced to do this.  The A990 uses a Qualcomm chip that is capable of decoding MP3 and WMA files.  However, the Verizon Software on the A990 will not read MP3 files; only WMA.  For people that have large amounts of MP3 files, this poses a serious problem.  Verizon should have allowed the software on the A990 to read MP3 files.  This would eliminate having to convert them to WMA.  Hopefully this will be added in a Software upgrade, considering the new LG VX8500 Chocolate can read MP3 and WMA files.

Like all other Verizon phones, the A990 uses Qualcomm's BREW format for application.  There are no preloaded games on the A990.  They must be downloaded from Get it Now.  Games range from Action, Sports, TV/Movie, Classic, Puzzle, Casino, Strategy, and 3D V Cast.  Most games cost under $3 per moth for a subscription or $10 for unlimited use.

Verizon also offers V Cast service for $15 per month (unlimited Mobile Web is also included).  V Cast has pre-recorded video clips, updated daily, that you can play on the A990.  The main categories are New, Sports, Entertainment, and Weather.  News clips are available from NBC Mobile, CNNtoGO, ABC News Now, Market Watch, and CBS News.  Sports clips are from ESPN, FOX Sports, MLB.com, V Cast Sports, and NASCAR.com.  Entertainment has selections from AtomFilms, V Cast Showcase (Movie and TV clips), MTV, Comedy Central, Music Videos, Nickelodeon, E!, Sesame Street, CMT, Fox Mobile, ABC, VH1, Cartoon Network, and Loony Tunes Cartoons.  Weather forecasts are available from AccuWeather.com and The Weather Channel.  The resolution of the video clips are 176x144 and the quality is somewhat lacking.  Videos will playback in a small window on the internal display.  The Display can be flipped around (like if you were using the camera) and the Video will then change to full screen.  This is the best way to watch the video clips.  The Rew, Play/Pause, FF, and Volume buttons on the side of the phone can also be used.  V Cast provides a useful service when on-the-go and you need to access this information.  It does not compare to Sprint's new Media Service which has access to live TV broadcasts, since V Cast videos are all prerecorded.  In 2007 Verizon plans to launch their MediaFLO network which will allow users to view live TV broadcasts.  However, since MediaFLO is not released, it is unclear if current Verizon phones will be able to access this service. 

Included with the A990 is a TV-Out cable.  When the cable is connected to the phone, you connect the other end to your TV's RCA input (Yellow = Video, Red/White = Audio).  You can have your TV act as the phone's display.  The phone will not display V Cast, Mobile Web, or Get it Now applications on the TV.  The best thing to use this for is to display photos and videos.

VZ Navigator is a new service available from Verizon.  The application uses the GPS locator in the A990 to give you turn-by-turn directions.  You simply enter an address in and the application will tell you where you are and how to get to the destination.  If you do not know the address, you can also enter the Street Intersection in or Airport.  When used while driving, the screen shows you the next turn and street, while a voice will tell you what to do.  If you happen to miss a turn, the application will then recalculate the map and tell you how to get to the destination.  We used this program in South-East and South-West Florida.  It was very useful in an area that you are unfamiliar with.  The directions on the screen are easy to follow, but the best part is having the voice guide you.  You can download a free month trial of VZ Navigator on the A990.  After the first month it is $10/month.  Airtime is also used when downloading maps and directions.  When used in a car, I highly recommend using a car-charger to power the phone.  It took 2.5 hours to drive from Ft Lauderdale to Naples and the battery was almost empty after using the Navigation.

Performance:

Even with all the advantages of the A990, the most important feature is the voice and call quality. I am happy to say that despite the antenna being internal, the call quality was one of the best we have tested. This proves that it is possible to manufacture a phone that has good call quality without the antenna sticking out on top. When using the A990 and talking to a person using a land-line, their voice quality was excellent. When reversed, the person on the land-line said that they could not tell a cell phone was being used. The speaker volume is good and a setting of Medium or Medium-High was loud enough to hear in most environments. When used in fringe areas, the A990 was still able to place and receive calls even with zero to one bars showing. Since the A990 is a Digital only phone, it will not work in Analog only service areas. The A990 also features a Full-Duplex Speakerphone. When using the speakerphone, the volume had to be turned down. If it is set to Medium or higher, the voice gets too distorted by the speakers. This is a common problem with most phones. The Speakerphone can also be used when the phone is closed. This is a nice feature since most other phones require them to remain open when using the Speakerphone.

The overall performance of the A990 is excellent. Call quality is excellent and sounds like you are using a landline phone. The Speakerphone works well as long as the volume is turned down. The Menus on the A990 are easy to navigate, but they lack attractive graphics and are out-dated. When using the standard battery, battery life is rated at 4Hr Talk Time or 13 Days Standby Time. I got 3Hr of Talk Time or 8 days of Standby Time. Since the Internal Display on the A990 has more pixels, it requires more battery power that most other phones.

Conclusion:

We think that the Samsung A990 is the best camera phone currently being offered by Verizon. It is well constructed and seems like it will hold-up if not abused. The black matte plastic with silver accents gives the phone a professional look. It fits very nicely in the hand and is not too noticeable when in a pocket, thanks to the internal antenna. The 3.2MP Camera provides the highest quality pictures that we have seen from any Verizon phone. The QVGA Internal Display is excellent quality as well, but it is apparent that corners were cut with the External display. Voice Command is very convenient when driving and when using a hands-free device. The Music Player works well and songs sound great with the stereo speakers. It is unfortunate that the A990 will only play WMA music files. Mobile Web and V Cast will keep you up-to-date with the latest news, weather, and entertainment information; while VZ Navigator will get you where you need to go.

The Samsung A990 appeals to customers that are looking for an all-in-one device that does everything well. The A990 incorporates a phone, camera, music player, and GPS navigation in one device. The A990 accomplishes all of these functions well. Most other phones do not. Voice quality is good and sounds better than several other Verizon phones. If you are looking for a high quality All-in-One device, the A990 might be your next phone.

	Carrier	Price Today	Price after rebate
		$349.00	$250.00