Phone Scoop - Samsung Sway U650 Info

User Review: A good phone

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:09:52 GMT

Timberwolf79 submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 3.5 (out of 5)

Pros:
Nice big screen
Easy to use navigation though out the phone
Nice camera

Cons:
Battery life is low
Numbers are too close together hit wrong number or letter when texting all of the time

This is a good phone and I did enjoy it for a little while. The battery life is not all that good I maybe will go a half a day with a battery and that is with little use. The camera is nice takes good pictures. The numbers are to close together for texting though. The phone unlocks easy so you can dial someone's number with out knowing. screen scratches easily.

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User Review: I was hoping for more...

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:13:43 GMT

joeishere submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 2.5 (out of 5)

I've now owned this phone for a little over 8 months. As such, I feel I can tell everyone what to expect as far as the important things go.

Pro's
-Camera, as far as cell phone cameras go, this one works fine and dandy. It has a neat panoramic feature which is sadly entertaining to play with
-looks nice
-very durable. long story short, my co-workers sway was submerged in water for 10 hours or so, remained turned on, and didn't miss a single call or text. she was able to make a call directly after pulling it out of the water. : )

Con's
-Worst battery life I've ever encountered. Just yesterday, I made a total of 6 phone calls, totaling to 35 minutes of airtime, plus 15 text messages. The phone was fully charged overnight and only lasted 13 hours before it died and disconnected me from a phone call.
I average about 10 texts a day and 45 minutes of talking a day. Expect your sway to be crippled with this moderate use for a year.
-when the battery is about to die, the phone will attempt to turn on over and over again. doing such, it plays an annoying sound. It cannot keep itself on long enough to allow you to turn it off. It will endlessly beep at you until you either remove the battery or plug it into a charger.
-texting is very slow. so slow that I have to wait for it to load characters before moving onto another letter or sending a message
-the microSD slot doesn't seem to be able to take much abuse. I've only taken mine in/out about 20 or so times and my sway now has trouble seeing the card half the time. the sd card works 100% of the time in my computer.

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User Review: samsung sways are not what they seem

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:49:20 GMT

alex4242 submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 2.5 (out of 5)

i got this phone less than 2 months ago and at first it seemed very nice and easy to use, then as time when on i got too used to the texting and it couldn't keep up, which isn't really a problem. then it started freezing and slowing down considerably. then it started doing a weird problem where the screen would completly go insane. it would show just random lines and only a little of the color thats not the actual menu its on. at first i could fix it by turning it off then back on, and i got it to work correctly i would have to keep it open so it wouldn't freeze. now it got to a point where i cant get the regular screen back so it is useless. please for your own sake don't buy this phone. the screen is nice at first but the software is pathetic and will not suit you for long

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User Review: good

Sat, 30 May 2009 02:44:28 GMT

jordancurtiss. submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 5 (out of 5)

this phone is great and perfect

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User Review: Display Leaked

Mon, 18 May 2009 15:52:46 GMT

GaHard submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 2 (out of 5)

I have had this phone for 3 months, and the LCD display leaked for no apparent reason. The phone still works, I just can't read the display. I never dropped or abused the phone, and was just wondering if anyone else has had this problem.

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User Review: Get the Software Update!

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 23:56:27 GMT

sweetdreamer221 submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

I bought this phone 6 days ago, and every day since then it has either gone down to one battery bar, blinked, or died completely by 8 pm with VERY mimimal use. The texting was also VERY slow. Tonight I took it into Verizon and got the software update. When I took it in it had 2 battery bars. When I picked it up it had 1 left (which I expected), and since then I have reset all my settings that got erased in the update, looked through my pictures, redownloaded VZ Navigator (took about 3-4 minutes) sent a picture, made an 8 minute phone call and I still have 1 bar! And texting is EXTREMELY noticably faster! I've only had the upgrade for about an hour but so far, it's working!

PROS:
Nice looking
Slider
Easy to hear on
Takes good pictures

CONS:
If the software update keeps working this great, no cons!

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User Review: Well...

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 06:20:56 GMT

datashifter submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 3.5 (out of 5)

Pros: It functions as a phone, it's a slider, it comes with a charger.

Cons: It will come with outdated firmware so be ready to spend 45 minutes or more in a Verizon store, battery life can be horrendous with extremely little use, pressing "ok" twice unlocks the keypad and lights up the LCD display after which the LCD dims but never turns back off (might be part of the battery problem issue solved right there - poor thought on Samsung's behalf!), its texting is slower than other Samsung phones such as my old T629 but is not entirely unbearable.

Things to HATE: No FTP via bluetooth, no OBEX support either. Verizon likes to take your money for a poor product, and that includes their entire product line. Every device they sell is crippled so they can charge you money on things like ringtones, which on other carriers you can freely trade them among phones.

Things to DO if you buy a Sway: Update the firmware at Verizon. Obtain a data USB cable for the phone. Obtain QPST 2.7 build 301 or newer. Modify that phone. Join the efforts to hack it so Bluetooth is not crippled.

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User Review: Battery tip!

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:15:31 GMT

MikeA26 submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

I researched this phone for quite awhile before getting it, and it looked like exactly what I wanted other than the battery issues I kept reading about. I've had it about a month now and really like the phone a lot. It's even easier to set up and use than my old Samsung and I love the look and feel of it.

I was happy when I first got the phone in that after the first 1-2 days the battery was holding up great, but then suddenly I ran into the same issues I'd kept reading about - after 12 or so hours it'd be down to 2 bars, even without any talking or texting. Well thru some trial and error, and some dumb luck, I've found a simple tip that works amazingly well, at least for my particular phone. And that's to just briefly turn it off 2-3 times each day. That easily at least doubles my battery life, and I've found that if I forget to do that the battery life is terrible again until I turn it off and back on.

Anyway, I figured if that works for me it will hopefully work for others. Good luck with it!

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User Review: the sound

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:18:43 GMT

robles123 submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

ok well first off...its a great little phone...i really like it. ya the battery life kinda sucks but oh well...and the text speed isnt the greatest..but i'll deal. but i dont know why...the sound just completely died...when it rings on high all it does is vibrate and buzz but not a ringer buzz just an i dunno buzz...i cant hear ring tones...speaker phone is done...so im going to vzw store to fix it

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User Review: All things considered, pretty good phone

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:43:43 GMT

dca submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

Very good sound quality. Any complaints in this area are probably based on low signal from carrier or other network/carrier issue. I can concur w/ past reviews explaining difficulty in opening slider but that's merely an issue that just takes getting used to, not a design flaw. Fingerprints can be wiped away easily with a cloth. Side-note, it could also be because of how thin the device is as well.

The media center is powerful w/ capabilities to play any compressed music file: mp3, wma, m4a (aac, aac+), etc. ID3 tagging only works for mp3 & wma. AAC tagging not recognized and places everything under 'No Artist' and 'No Album' categories.

The overall OS is quite powerful as well. Graphics and its ability to be customized as far as layout is fantastic.

Now to the gripes: the device only comes w/ a proprietary connector (M20 I believe it's called) for charging and wired headsets meaning it's near impossible to find accessories. The Samsung BT (SBH500) was thoroughly tested on device. Great sound, better than any other wired or wireless unit. Downside is it suffers from interference from any other 2.4Ghz device in range whether it be cordless home phones, wireless routers, & other BT devices (which is everyones whole neighborhood). This causes sound to be dropped for 1-2 secs and pick up again for 5-15 secs just to be dropped again on both listening to music and phone calls. The device does come w/ a cheaply made adapter for proprietary connector allowing for both add'l M20 connector and 2.5mm headset. Mine lasted for two weeks before splitting at seam from being placed in front pocket. For the power of the device (and media capabilities) it should have NEVER came w/ proprietary connector. Should have mini-USB-B plus a 2.5 or 3.5mm jack.

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User Review: Exactly What I Wanted

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:05:54 GMT

JohnnyL submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

I've had a Virgin Mobile Kyocera for the last 4+ years. This should give you a little perspective as to where I'm coming from on this review. I don't have a lot of phone experience so I don't think I am as picky as your normal reviewer/user is.
That being said, the only way I was going to actually carry a phone is if it was very thin and light. I wanted one that would be as unobtrusive as possible and fairly easy to use.
The SWAY fills the bill. Its the thinnest phone currently being sold by Verizon.
Cons....Nothing to put your thumb against to slide phone. I can get my thumbnail into the edge of the slider and push up and it works great with virtually no problem. You can also use the bottom of the D pad, which does not get me into any applications once the phone is open unlike a previous reviewer. Speaker is horrible...but I don't intend to use it. Bundled ringtones are horrible but are plenty loud to hear across the room, especially the old style Bell analog ringer. I broke down and ordered a $2.99 French phone ringer tone from Verizon. I have the volume down halfway and can clearly hear it even though its sitting in the backpack behind me. I don't text so the slow software is not a problem but you do have to be careful hitting the keys as the keypad is not long on space.
PROS.... Great looking. Screen is nice and sharp. Good customization features. Battery life seems OK. Build quality looks and feels good. Camera seems good. I don't even care about the camera and would rather it didn't have one, but I took a quick pic of the dog lying down in a semi dark room and it came out decent. I like the voice recognition. Seems to work great except you have to wait for the instructions to finish before saying anything which holds up the process of making a call.
All in all, I did my research and got exactlty what I wanted. Very happy.

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User Review: loved the phone, but battery life truly terrible

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:23:24 GMT

stonesight submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 1.5 (out of 5)

pros: great signal, fast send/receive/download, beautiful screen, lots of useful and even cute personalization options, VERY thin.

cons: battery life! text speed

regarding my point of view, i use a cell phone for voice calls, texting, and taking and occasionally sending pics. i have no land line.

this really is a truly fantastic phone except for my two cons, one minor, and one very major.

the text speed is minor, but quite noticeable. i have a busy job, noisy environment, text is IMPORTANT. phone seemed to be very fast in all else, but when i texted i could actually get a word or two ahead of what was on the screen. enough to make mistake correction annoying. and because the phone remembers which word you last used with a combination of keys, that usually meant not a spelling error, but the wrong word entirely. (my lg chocolate gave me the same order every time. type "of" change to "me". type "good" change to "home". every time the same. no need to look.) deleting was more annoying, because if i didn't count how many times i pushed the clr button, it'd be a couple seconds before i knew how far back i deleted.

i could have lived with the slow text. but not the BATTERY LIFE. on a very slow night the first week i had the phone i exchanged 6 simple text messages, spoke for just 6 min on the phone. no other use but to check the time now and then. and yet 7 hours after i took it off the charger, it was down to half charge.
i tried swapping the battery. no change. exchanged for another hand set (maybe i had a dud). 26 minutes of talk time on the new handset knocked me down to half charge again. please note that i was in an excellent signal area (no searching for signal), and i had the screen brightness all the way down.

as much as i loved this phone, i realized that if i couldn't use the phone for fear it would die before i got home, then it was useless to me. i took it back. :(

i got a motorizr. it stays charged. it works great.

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User Review: Blue Sway'd Shoes

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:57:04 GMT

GravityFails submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

First, all of the complaints about the slider on this phone being hard to operate are 100% dead-on. It's a got a slick silver finish, and if your hands are dry or even slightly oily, there'll be no sliding in these parts, mister. Nossir.

Other than that, there's not much to dislike. The texting can be slow, sure, but adaptation to varying environmental conditions is a survival trait; try it some time. Text slower. If your social life is so hectic that an extra three seconds per text is going to put a crimp in it, you've got problems that a phone won't fix. Study more. Text less. Life is good.

The camera is good enough for snapshots, but I wouldn't stake my memories on it. The screen, on the other hand, is big and beautiful, which might account for the slightly attenuated battery life, although the battery isn't so bad that I'd consider returning the phone for something else. I came from a Rizr Z6tv, and the Sway is miles ahead in terms of construction quality and ease of use.

Signal strength is solid enough, though EVDO devotees will be disappointed, as will fans of the 2.5mm headset jack. There are four different menu themes (true themes this time, not simply different main menus covering the traditional Verizon UI), which makes the phone distinctly customizable.

Earpiece quality is top-shelf, though the speakerphone is horrible. I'm not sure if it's half-duplex as claimed on the spec sheet at PhoneScoop, but it's nearly unusable. This isn't a big deal for me, but some might consider it a deal-breaker.

If you're one of those social paramecia who can't tie his shoes or eat a bowl of corn flakes without Twittering about it or calling a buddy to announce every bodily function, keep looking. But if thin is your thing, and you're looking for a handset for casual use, the Sway won't disappoint.

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User Review: This phone is horrible

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:10:13 GMT

Camden41606 submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 2.5 (out of 5)

The design is horrible--there's no place to hold onto to slide the phone up.

No matter what ring tone I put on the phone, they all sound distorted and like crap.

Even on "high" I can't hear the ringer across the room most of the time (and I'm young so I'm positive that it's not my ears).

The texting is SUPER SLOW. If you hit send before it catches up it only sends half a message.

It's going back to Verizon the first chance I get.

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User Review: The Phone is Fine

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:05:01 GMT

marisphen submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

I think flaws have been pretty well stated. The bottom line is that every phone has flaws. Yes the battery is not that great but buy a extended battery or car charger. The texting is slow but it get's the job done. I have had many phones, ENv2, Voyager, Dare etc..and I have to say this probably one of my favorites(and yes those phones have flaws too).

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User Review: Nice design, bad execution

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:12:47 GMT

mawingo submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 2 (out of 5)

Recently in the market for a new handset with my NE2, I decided upon the Sway. Unfortunately, I chose to get it sight unseen via the Verizon Wireless site the week it was released. My requirements were fairly simple: ease of texting, music playback, decent camera. Having no need for internet connectivity, lack of EVDO did not concern me. So, not having a slider before, I thought I'd try this one out.

So, with that said:

Pros:
-large, clear screen
-decent ringer selection
-camera takes decent shots
-can be customized in ways most other phones in this price range cannot (additional fonts, keypad sounds, etc.)
-decent music player and interface (not the standard VZW media player)
-very pleasant display theme options

Cons (and these are huge, it's why I took the phone back):
-SOFTWARE, SOFTWARE, SOFTWARE. First, texting. It's very, very slow. You will get well ahead of the phone, without even trying. This goes for type ahead, as well as backspacing. It's very annoying. Change your mind on the text? You will be three keystrokes ahead in the "Cancel, Don't save" path before the phone gets there. It's that bad.
-More software: The rest of the menu, while not as bad as the texting, is still somewhat slow and buggy. I received a nasty software exception when simply trying to switch themes. It said Div by Zero 0x. Whatever that means. I had to remove the battery to fix.
-Ringer volume. While the ringtones themselves are ok, the volume is not. Even at the loudest setting they were hard to discern across a room
-Locking. It locks automatically when you close the slider. It unlocks by pressing the Ok button twice. However, this is so easy to do I've often made calls by accident w. the phone in my pocket. Very ineffective.

I couldn't risk the software issues not getting addressed, so I returned the phone and ended up with a Moto.

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User Review: Don't like it

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:38:37 GMT

LS77 submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 3 (out of 5)

I've never had a Samsung before, only Motorola and LG of late. I bought the Sway about 2wks ago after returning the LG Dare and am hoping to return the Sway for the LG enV.

PROs:
-Good service and reception (Verizon in Alexandria, VA/Washington DC area).
-Good earpiece volume
-Good ringer volume
-I like the keylock when the phone is closed

CONs:
-Camera doesn't appear to zoom
-Battery life is HORRIBLE!! It has been fully charged and goes down a bar after using it minimally. I can't imagine how the battery would be after a year or so if it's already weak when it's new. I put the backlight setting on the lowest (7sec) in hopes of keeping battery life but it still went down quickly.
-Text goes in very slow and delayed so if you text quickly, sometimes your letters overlap and you have misspelled words. Also, if you hit 'send' before a letter or puntuation is finished, it'll send the wrong thing. This never happened on my LG phones.
-The added graphics (smiley face, etc) look horrible and it's hard to tell what they are, looks like something from DOS.
-Can't really talk with slider shut because the sound is distorted for people on the other end (the microphone is in the curve underneath the top of the phone and is covered with slider shut).

Haven't used it for music so I can't comment on that. I'm hoping to get the LG enV delivered in a couple of days, that has gotten awesome reviews.

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User Review: This Phone Is Great!!

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:14:21 GMT

Popcorn. submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

I've love this phone since Day 1!! It's a very cool phone. It's not all fancy and what not like the touch phones out today, but it holds it's own. I'm a slider phone kind of guy so when I saw this come out I had to try it. I like the look and design of it, the color and material doesn't look like something that will start flaking and chip off in a few months. I was an LG man, only owned LG's for my past 5 phones. I had the LG Venus, good phone but the touch screen or horrible and the phone started glitching like crazy. So I figured I'd try out Samsung. This phone is nice, you can have the phone slid close and still have speaker phone on and still watch your videos. The only thing I hate about this phone is that you can only send ONE picture at a time, at least I haven't found a way around it. Other than that it's very good. The speaker phone isn't the best but better than most. The call clarity is great. The pictures it takes is amazing. The music player is good as well. Also the battery seems a bit on the low life side, but I have a wall charger and car charger, so it don't phase me. Plus soon I'll have the extended battery, so it won't be a problem no more. I'd recommend this phone to anyone who needs a phone!!

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User Review: u650

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:52:56 GMT

bcg8724 submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

I have only had the phone for 4 days, at this point, it has been great!! the sound is exceptional, compared to any other phone I ever owned, the batt level is solid, dropped a bar today,, the camera is much better than my moto razr2, with a little help from Verizon I managed to get the talking phone working,, it is slim,, clear screen ,, the slide is smooth, if you are looking for a phone,,, that is just a phone!,, for the price it seems right

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User Review: Pretty decent, but with one big annoyance ... Back it goes.

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:19:32 GMT

BLubak1 submitted this review of the Samsung Sway U650:

Overall rating: 3.5 (out of 5)

For someone who already owns a recent Verizon handset, there really is no compelling reason to run to a VZW store to pick one of these up, especially at the current $69 price point with 2-year contract. However, for someone looking for a low to midrange slider, it isn't half bad, and it'll a better value once the price drops a bit.

The two most important things about a phone in my opinion, audio quality and reception, are very good. Earpiece audio was loud and clear, and reception was on par with my Motorola RAZR (though 1xRTT only, not EV-DO). The exception is the speakerphone, which was significantly distorted even at medium volume. The screen is decently clear and bright, though a bit duller than my RAZR, and the numeric keypad, though fairly compact and without much separation, is pretty easy to dial and text with. The physical looks of the phone are okay, though a bit more plasticky than I would have expected from the online photos. It makes the phone look a bit toy-like. Also toy-like are the ringers. There really is not a single ringtone on here that sounds professional, even the "Business Tone". VZW Default Tone, which is hideous, is likely the best you can do on the Sway. On a more positive note, I was pleased that the Openwave browser has been ditched in favor of Access, so the Sway can log into such rogue SSL sites as American Airlines. :o)

The dealbreaker for me is the lack of a thumb grip, rubbery area, or something similar to push your finger against when sliding the phone open. So your only two grip options are applying thumb pressure to the D-pad/OK button cluster, which causes the calendar or Mobile Web to pop up the second that the phone is opened and the keypad auto-unlocks, or to the lower edge of the glossy screen where the carrier logo is, which inevitably leaves a big sticky thumbprint. This was truly an awful design on Samsung's part, and I can't believe this didn't come up in user testing before the phone was released to the public.

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