Samsung SPH-A460
Average Ratings
This isn't a phone.
This is, without a doubt, the all time worst phone I've ever set my eyes on. I must thank Sprint for giving me nine of them, because they all got to me very broken. One of them broke when they were registering it into the system.
Another lasted for one call, then turned off.
Guess what? It never turned back on. One of them never stopped heating up until I took the battery off.
If the happy company of Sprint PCS didn't offer a product replacement plan, I would have actually made the mistkae of paying for this phone. Which would have made me sink into a whole new level of anger I'd yet to live.
And yes, this phone IS that bad. The battery life was terrible, the reception was non-applicable, the buttons were impossible to navigate, it was sometimes too stingy to charge itself, it had the habbit of turning itself on and off... in the middle of a call... and the heat it would accumulate during a call actually would get so bad I'd have to inform the other party " Excuse me, but I'll have to call you back when my phone cools off. It's burning my skin. "
In one case, it got so hot that my sweat made its way into the button, shorted them out, and Sprint was trying to tell me they wouldn't replace it, because I " Should have purchased a case for my phone, because a cell phone's not meant to touch skin or stay in a pocket. "
I had to point out the fact that the salesperson was holding my phone in her hand, and had recently placed her phone in her pocket to get mine fixed. They just gave me a new phone. Which broke.
Fast.
There were two things I liked about this phone-
Blue lighting. It was easier on the eyes.
External caller ID.
Everything else, however, I hated every day of my life. Even the ringers... one of them was depressing. I don't remember the name of it anymore, but it even had a ringer on it that was as depressing as the fact that you owned the phone was.
Do not buy this phone unless you want to replace it every other week and throw it against the wall.
Not bad, not bad at all
I bought this phone as a quick, inexpensive (cheap at Costco) replacement and you know what, I like it. Granted, it isn't a Vision phone with all the associated bells and whistles, but it is a very good voice phone nonetheless. Others have experienced problems with it; I have not. My main gripe is the dullness of the blue LCD screen. Changing the contrast settings doesn't seem to help, either. I agree that the battery life is on the short side, but that's the trade-off for its small size, I guess. Besides, if you charge it nightly and/or while driving, no problem. I have not experienced the keypad getting hot on long calls. (My lost VGA 1000 got much warmer.)
PROS
-Excellent, clear sound quality and volume
-Brilliant blue keypad backlight
-Very good reception
-Very thin, very lightweight
-Tri-mode
I plan to keep my A-460 at least until some new camera-free Vision phones become available. I like it much more than I thought I would after reading some of the reviews posted here.
Mini Review Of The Samsung A460
1. Very neat blue backlight screen.
2. The menu system is nearly identical to the A400.
3. The phone is very slim and light, although it has a kinda funny shape to it. It is a "weird" rectangular shape.
4. The earpiece volume is CLEAR and LOUD. You can almost use it as a listen-only speakerphone.
5. Signal strength is strong so far.
6. The connection on the bottom of the phone is different from previous Samsung phones (bummer). It comes with a travel charger and the end power connector is small and round.
7. The buttons are flat, but are very easy to push and feel nice to the touch.
8. There is an "@" button on the phone which connects you directly to the wireless web.
9. The ringers sound wonderful: Nice, clear,
and "polyphonic". Only one problem: There are no standard ringers. They all either
sound "fruity" or "symphonic". If you are a business customer, you are stuck with the ringers, because they do not offer "ringers & more" to business customers.
10. The battery talk time is rated at 2.4 hours and 7 days standby, but the battery is pretty slim, so I'm guessing you could go with a little thicker battery and the phone would still be light and fairly thin.
11. External caller ID is great providing the phone number, signal strength, battery life, and day/date.
12. 3 games: Push Push, Fly Ribbon, Spider Hunter.
Preliminary prediction:
It is my opinion that this phone will be a huge success for Samsung and will a BIG seller for Sprint, even though the 3G capabilities are still in question. I say that it will be a success because it is basically a Samsung 8500, but thinner, lighter, clearer, and has a better signal, AND external caller ID. This assumes that the A460 does not have a major bug in it waiting to be discovered. I also think it will sell well because even though we are being told that the N400 and A500 will be out in June/July, most likely that may be pushed back as far as August.
Some early thoughts on the A460
Just picked up my A460 this afternoon, a replacement for my dying SCH-3500. It's a beautiful phone! The blue backlighting behind the keys is particularly striking. Here are a few first impressions:
1. The ringer and speaker volumes are LOUD. At maximum levels, I have no problem hearing in a noisy room or vehicle with the windows down. This was a big complaint that I had with the SCH-3500.
2. The A460 just arrived today, and unfortunately, very few accessories are available. Although most peripherals for the A400 should work with the A460, the cases will not, as they need a window for the external LCD. I'm going to have to seriously baby this thing until I can get a decent leather case to protect it from scratches. Also, it ships with a travel charger, which I found disappointing, as I really liked the cradle charger that came with the SCH-3500. They charge $49 for the cradle for the A460. Ouch. I don't need it that badly.
3. The polyphonic ringers are outstanding, and there is a good selection to choose from, though as previously mentioned, you won't find any "standard" ringers. This isn't really a big issue for me, as I leave my phone on vibrate while at work, but I can see why this might be a problem for some. You can download additional ringers, at a cost.
4. I'm glad Samsung continues to integrate voice dial, so I don't have to subscribe to Sprint's voice-dial service. I was sad to find, however, that there is no voice-memo recording feature on this phone (as was on the 3500).
5. The displays are very clear, with excellent contrast and backlighting. I wish you could enter longer names in the phone book, though. You're limited to only 12 characters.
Overall: So far, I love this phone! I agree, that it should be a strong seller for Sprint, despite its mid-upper price range. It has a great blend of features and quality construction, and it just looks and sounds great!!
Better than A400
I bought, used and returned an A400 after I learned that the A460 was coming out.
The main improvement that the A460 has is the external LCD screen. This allows you to see who's calling, what time it is and signal strength all without opening up the phone.
The keys are also nicely back-lighted in blue and the screen is blue, both changes from the A400.
Other than that, the phones are very similar. Both are very small and very good.
I'd like to echo the comments made by other reviewers about the ringers. The ones that come on the phone are a bit unconventional. And, only songs can be downloaded from Spring.
Also, unlike other Samsung phones, you can't set the A460 up to both vibrate and ring (or maybe I just can't figure that out).
Great phone, bad service
I've had this phone now for about 3 months and its been ok. This is one of the best flip phones out on the market right now. I've tried out many others before buying this one including Motorola V60, and the V66, a series of LG phones. It's perfect in terms of size; neither too small nor too big. The "flip" action is very smooth unlike the Motorola phones where it¡¦s VERY hard to flip with just one hand. The phone itself feels solid but not heavy and definitely not plastic-ky. That said, however, I have several complaints about the phone and mainly Sprint's service. After about 15 minutes of conversation time, this phone heats up and the keypad can actually burn your face. Also, when the phone is off or when it cannot find a signal, it will not display any "miss call" messages for calls that were missed during that time. This becomes inconvenient when your friends call you without leaving a voicemail. It's even more inconvenient since Sprint's signal is SO WEAK. Forget what they advertise about their "crystal clear" service, none of it is true. Sprint must have one of the worse signals (even worse than Cingular which also has very weak signals). I was with my friends in the HUB at University of Washington and one with Verzion had 3 out of 5 bars of signal and another with 1 out of 4 using a Motorola V66 from T-mobile while I didn¡¦t have a signal. At my house, (which is 15 minutes from downtown) I usually get 1 signal bar with this phone but on my OLD Ericsson phone on T-mobile, I get 4 out of 5 bars. Sprint also has a horrible customer service and their online account is down half the time and updates VERY slowly. Good thing I got this phone for only $5 (rebates after rebates). Since this phone only works with Sprint, go with the Samsung S105 from t-mobile both for the phone's color screen and t-mobile's stronger signal and better service
Samsung A460
I have used the Samsung 3500 (poor) Samsung 8500 (Very Good) Samsung A400 (Great). My new A460 has great graphics but doesn't pick up a signal as good as the A400. My biggest complaint is the melody ring tones. It has no regular ring tones! Very unprofessional for a business person. Sprint PCS will not let their business customers download regular ring tones. I hope they get this fixed soon.
A slight bit different than the A400, but better!
I like it. That would be the simple review.
I purchased the Samsung SPH-A400 as an upgrade to my previous SCH-8500. I liked the changes. The screen had smaller pixels, ringers were better, buttons were better, yadda, yadda yadda...
The SPH-A460 is an improvement over the A400 in that the buttons are even more thought out in placement and design (easier access), the front of the phone featured a caller id/signal strength, battery level backlit LCD screen with animations as well (v-mail notification, alarms, etc). All in all, I think the A460 is better than the A400, and the blue buttons and blue screen are striking too. It's a refreshing change from the green everyone's so used to. Samsung integrated a new ringer system with this phone as well. The ringer has a bass level as well as treble, making it sound more like an actual speaker rather than a multi-tone buzzer. The ringers actually harmonize and have a bass line!
The only two complaints I have with the A460 are its shape and the lack of a cradle charger. I really liked the "rounded-ness" of the A400's top and bottom, however this drawback (for me) isn't worth not getting the phone!! The charger, however is not of the cradle-style that you are probably used to with Samsung phones. It comes with a travel-style charger that plugs in the wall (it's very similar to the DC charger for the A400. All in all, I give this phone a 9 on a 10 scale.
Too bad it wasn't mine...
Before I purchased my first phone (a Samsung SPH-A560, which is a worse phone than a toy one might I add), I frequently found myself using the phones of family members if they were around to lend me their phone. My mom and my grandma used to have their own A460's and they were very nice. Sound quality was good, battery life was excellent, and the only major con was the monochrome internal LCD. I miss those phones - although my grandma still has hers, and I frequently find myself using it because my A560 is in for repairs 2-3 times a month.
Hmmm....Interesting
Okay so, here's the deal. I got a summer job and I needed a phone because my dad cut me off of his contract ($500 bill). I went into a cell phone shop and saw that the SPH A-460 was on sale with activation for only 59.99! Of course I bought it, i mean, man, that's cheap. Once I got the phone, I loved it, the huge screen + the outside screen were very useful. I loved the little backgrounds offered. The games had MUCH to be desired, but then again, older people aren't really looking for a phone wih games. About a year later, i still have my phone. My screen is blank! Many people have this problem with this phone and this has to be some kind of bug or sumthing. my outside screen freezes and gets messed up. whenever I close my phone and open it the screen is either super dark blue, blank, or is doing some funky thing. The battery also heats up after 5 minutes and burns your skin like seriously. Because of this it does not charge properly unless you are off the phone completely. A good thing about this phone though is that it's slim, very cute, and a good phone to get when you are looking for a basic phone to get started with. You can't send text messages which isn't too hot, but i just realized (almost a year later) that you can recieve them. I've never been on the internet but I'm sure that it is cool to get ringtones and backgrounds from it. I'm only a teen though, looking for a "cool" phone, but the A-460 wasn't bad at all for a starter phone. Now that I am experiencing it's problems I think that I am on my way to buying a different phone. For the price you pay for this phone, it's good. I thoughtthis phone was going to be awesome. it wasn't. then i thought it was going to be horrible. it wasn't. I'll say it's a so- so phone.
