Samsung SPH-A500
Average Ratings
Greatest Samsung Ever?
PROS: Everything! Strong flip mechanism--Great screen for its time--Very tough construction--Excellent keypad--Good reception--Great talk time with extended use battery Samsung threw in for free!
CONS: None. I mean it. I think it's the best phone Samsung ever built.
I used this phone waaay back--around 2002-03 on Sprint's network in South Florida.
My favorite Phone
I had a Nokia 3588i, but I dropped in the toilet and well, it died. so I bought this one. I LOVED IT. It was love at 1st sight. i had this phone for over two years but I recently upgraded to a phone with text messaging. I really do miss my a500 like whoa. It was my first true love.
I'd totally recommend this phone to teens who parents only want them to havea phone, with no extra perks. It is a color phone though
Best phone so far!
I work at Radioshack, and I see a lot of phones every day, and I buy several phones for both sprint and verizon a year; keeping that in mind, this is the best one I've ever owned. The only thing that holds this phone back from the perfect five rating is the lack of call screening and innability to download pictures and ringers directly from a pc through a cable, both of which you could do with the Sanyo 5000/5150 and 6000/6200 phones. Two valuable features that Samsung overlooked, but besides that no complaints. The TFT screen, though smaller than the 5150, is much nicer to look at, beats many TV's and computer monitors. Java gameplay is flawless, new Sprint Vision browser is fast and easy to navigate, despite the lack of useful content. I'm sure Sprint is working on that though. The reception is awesome, just as good as any Sanyo phone, only second to that of the Motorola Startac/Timeport. Battery life is decent considering the tiny size of the battery; I played Pacman with backlight and sound for over half an hour and saw the battery go down only one bar, as opposed to Sanyo's crabcatch, which is not only far less entertaining, but kills the battery in a matter of minutes. The digital camera attachment, though somewhat expensive ($100) for the use you get out of it, is very easy to use, but often takes several tries to upload pictures, and uses up precious few megabytes that sprint gives you for $10. Picture quality is not too great either, faces are barely recognizable. Smartest voice dial I ever used; you can dial a whole number without ever pressing a button, regardless of whether it's programmed in or not. Works great in noisy areas too. Intuitive and colorful menus make operation easy and pleasant. Calls are crystal clear. Very small and light, looks sharp and tough design and finish is hard to break, scratch, or chip. Endless features. Samsung finally made a winner, well worth $300.
SPH-A500 Rainbow
Ok the first thing I noticed about this phone was its stylish desgin. The second thing was the TFT color screen. The third WAS the free extended life battery. I fell in love with the phone almost immediatly. Yes the battery life on the slim line battery is poor, but with the extended life battery the life is greatly improved. I work for Radioshack⢠and have seen alot of cell phones come and go the A-500 will be around for a long while. This phone is perfect for business applications, it will also be kind to even the newest of users. this phone is the best that sprint has out so far Yes the 8100 and the 5300 have built in cameras and the A-500 does not, but if your not going to be using the camera then the A-500 is the phone for you. It also has dropped a greast deal in price which makes it a Great phone at a GREAT price.
Good Phone, Overpriced...
Well, here it is, Sprint's flagship 3G phone. This is the phone I currently own, it has some great features and is probably the top 3G phone (besides the Sanyo 5300) As a Sprint Employee I get to play with all phones so here is my take on the A500:
Good Stuff:
1. Great color screen, gets really good picture quality. Not a Sprint Phone out there besides the 5300 that can really match it.
2. Great web browser. I had the N400 for a while and the brower had some major problems, this phone is smooth and fast no problems as of yet.
3. Loud speaker, rings come through clearly and I can hear people talking a mile away.
4. Voice tools, voice activated dialing was all the hype back in the day, now this phone has Voice Activated tools including being able to access the web browser, phone book and dialing by numbers all by voice alone.
Yuck!:
1. Samsung has always been bad about signal strength (with exception of the I300) and this phone is no different. Better than the N400 though...
2. Battery life is very very low. If you really like this phone and have to buy it, get yourself an extended life battery.
3. Phone tends to get really hot after long periods of use, seen this problem alot.
4. PRICE! This phone would be good at 199.99 but it really doesn't have the features of a 300 dollar phone.
Overall: I really think the High points outweigh the low points on this phone. I've seen all the 3G phones in action and this is my favorite by far. The only thing I really have a problem with is the price, it's a little too much for the features, but otherwise a sweet phone.
Questions about phones or Sprint? Email me at --
Awsome phone but SOME bad parts...
Lets see, this phone is completely awesome in every single frigging possible way except for one. The TFT screen is 4096 color. When having an picture on it, u can see a NOTICABLE difference between shades of colors, giving the picture a horrible look. the rest of the phone is great though. Cm-on, what kind of phone can u say "digit dial", then "736-3759" and it dials it for u? The phone is awesome mainly cause the sleek design and of course the TFT display. 4096 color sucks though. Would you rather have 4 level Gray color, 256 colors, 4096 colors, 16,000 colors, or even 250,000 colors! I would get the 16k or 250k. 4096 is good but others are better. the phone tends to have a signal from 1-3 bars mainly. the camera works only if u don't move it and u have good lighting. this is the coolest design phone in my opinion. u need to get this phone.
The Search is Over!!!!!!!!!!
I am truly impressed with the a500. I LOVE the TFT screen and the external display. THE SCREEN IS LIKE LOOKING INTO A PC'S MONITOR. The calls are crisp and clean sounding. The reception is about the same as my Sanyo 5150-I dropped one call since I had it and that was in Walmart where my 5150 dropped also. I think the battery life is very good but not excellent (neither was my 5150 battery life excellent). The only con I see in this phone is Sprint holding back the ability to import pictures and ringers via a data cable...I think in time that will come. I searched 5 days to find this phone...and I must admit this phone is more than just hype. Sure I miss my ringers on my 5150 but they aren't missed enough for me to go back...
NOT WORTH THE PRICE
This phone promises a lot and appears attractive in the beginning, but has serious flaws which only show themselves after an appreciable amount of use.
First off, in theory this phone is a great idea. The interface is well thought-out, the screen is crisp and bright, and the audio is superb. Web browsing on this phone using Sprint PCS Vision service is also remarkably fast, compared to other Vision phones I've seen.
On the other hand, these strengths are made unusable by the fact that this phone's browser is, at best, a work in progress. It crashed frequently, and whenever the slightest error was encountered, the browser became unusable until I power-cycled the phone. Battery life was dismal, and not even approaching half what the promised talk and standby times were as listed on the website and on the box. Lastly, the phone could not hold a call to save its life, even in a well covered area. In a 15-minute call made in a 3 to 4 bar area, I experience no less than three drops, requiring me to redial. This was a trait that appears to be largely typical of all the SAmsung 2G phones I had tried and I hoped that they gotten things right on the 3G model. How wrong I was.
In short: it's sad when Sanyo's 3G entry-level phone, costing just a little over half the price of the Samsung, can glowingly outperform this phone. Save your money: this phone's not worth the price tag.
Best Samsung so far
This phone has exceeded my expectations. The greatly improved voice dialing has made this a usable feature. The vibrant color screen is an extra added bonus. The menu is rather intuitive so I haven't had to open my instruction book to date. I do wish it would let me add lists in my phone book rather then just use the four default ones. I'm in San Diego and using Sprint PCS (obviously) and have had no problems with signal strength and even less dropped calls then I had with the 3500, 8500, n200, or A400 (all Samsung). The only down fall I have encountered is the battery life on the stock battery I can make it two days without charging it but that is stretching it so make sure you either send away for the extended battery or charge it everyday. The price is kind of high but this phone has been worth every penny I spent. In fact I am hard pressed to say I will be changing handsets anytime soon.
This phone is tight!!!!!!!
I've only had a Sprint service plan since June and I have already had 3 Sprint phones. First the LG 5250, which didn't even last me a week. Got rid of that and got a Samsung A460. That phone was nice. But when the A500 came out; it was a must. So far, I've had no dropped calls even in a 1-2 bar area. My only con is the browser, if you start gettin errors your best bet is to log out or power cycle the phone. One other thing is, they should of made the screen size bigger to compete with the Sanyo phones. The TFT screen on this phone is sick though. The brightness will amaze you just as it has all of my friends. Not even the sun can bring it down. The phone size is very nice and I found it easy to hold in my hand. The voice command feature is a definite plus. It worked in even some of the worst noisy conditions. I am simply waiting for the A600 to drop so i can upgrade from the A500. Make it quick Sprint. I wanna built-in camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
