Samsung SGH-A707 multimedia phone

Also known as the Cingular SYNC, this HSDPA-enabled flip phone works with Cingular's new music service and promises smooth, skip-free mobile video. Philip Berne samples the A707's sights and sounds.

Design

Samsung's newest HSDPA flip phone, the SGH-A707 (now known as the Cingular SYNC) is a dramatic improvement over its last 3.5G effort, the disappointing SGH-ZX20. The design is decidedly modern, with polished and matte grey-and-black accents creating a smooth surface and rounded edges. The matte black keys seem to float atop their polished backing. Measuring 3.5 by 1.9 by 0.7 inches, the A707 isn't as thin as a RAZR, but the flat keys and clean, smooth surfaces give the phone an appealing look more in tune with Samsung's recent ''Black'' phones (namely, the BlackJack and the Black Carbon).

Music - Good

Upon release, the A707 was the flagship device for promoting the new Cingular Music feature, which lets you transfer tunes from the Napster and Yahoo music subscriptions services to your phone. However, Cingular doesn't offer (not yet, anyway) over-the-air music downloads la the Sprint Music Store or Verizon Wireless' V Cast Music. We tested Cingular Music with Napster (a 60-day free trial is included with the phone), and while syncing our tunes was a relatively simple process (though not as simple as with Apple's elegant iTunes software), it took an hour to transfer a full 512MB worth of music to the phone's microSD card -- pretty slow, if you ask us. The music player on the phone works fine, though the menu looks more like a folder hierarchy than a music player. Stereo Bluetooth setup was reliable and easy; however, we couldn't play streaming music from the included MobiRadio app over our stereo Bluetooth headphones

Calling - Very good

Calls on the Samsung SGH-A707 sounded loud and clear. The sensitive microphone picked up even our slightest whisper, which caused some problems on busy New York City streets, but nothing too troubling, while the speakerphone is louder than average. Conference calling required some light menu drilling, but the phone allows you to separate 3-way calls and end an individual connection. The phonebook allows for while-you-type searching, and has plenty of fields for a non-smartphone. Unfortunately, though MP3 ringtones are supported, you cannot use a Napster DRM file as a ringtone. Also, we were disappointed by the phone's complete lack of voice dialing.

Part 2

View images >
---

Samsung M500 launched by Sprint Nextel
Samsung SPH-M8100 Has it All

Samsung Phones News
News