Games/apps have to be d/led over phone network to be installed, subpar quality speaker
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yes
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In the past, I have been pleased with Samsung phones. Not the highest end phones, but dependable and seemingly well made. I had my eye on this phone for a while before I bought it.
Pros: Great looking screen. Best I've seen, without a doubt, for this price level of phone. (free-$80) Nice sounds when navigating the phone. Feels substancial when held. Has 30 Meg built in memory, with a micro SD slot, which I have a 1 gig SD card in. (Small print in documentation says that it only supports up to 1 gig SD card. I was about to buy a 2 gig before I read this, but 1 gig should be enough for me) This is a great phone if you do a lot of text messaging or games. The 2.0 megapixal camera works pretty well. The pictures aren't as clear as my old 2.1 MP sony camera, but very good for a camera phone. There are a lot of settings you can set for the phone, and video. The battery seems to have a good life. I don't talk too much on it, and only had to charge it 3 times in the 3 months I've owned it; I let battery go down to 1 bar before charging.
Cons: Firstly, you can not load games or apps directly to the camera. This is my biggest problem with the camera. You have to download them directly to the phone, incurring data charges. (I did not find this fact anywhere in documentation or on Samsungs website. Only after searching online was this confirmed for me.) You have to pay for the datacable separately. The speaker doesn't seem to be made with a quality speaker. There IS speakerphone, but at louder volumes it sounds like you are going to blow out the speaker. Lastly, the antenna is in the phone, and is even labeled at the bottom of the phone as inside and to "not block bottom of phone when using". Not really practical, even thought the phone is a little bigger than most clamshell phones. You have to hold side buttons too long for outer screen to activate to see time, battery, etc.
I am actually on my second phone. The first one was returned to the store (Radio Shack). The speaker, on or off of speakerphone setting, sounded like it was cracked. It was tinny, and sounded like a blown speaker. (those audiophiles out there who have blown a speaker will know exactly what I mean) The phone was replaced without incident (save for the fact I had to edit my address book again, and I lost my audio and pictures stored on the phone since that was before I got my SD card and datacable) If it wern't for the speaker and the way it handles downloaded apps/games I would have given this phone an excellent rating.
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