Phone Scoop - Samsung SCH-A530 Info

User Review: Nice, Durable Older Phone

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:59:43 GMT

SystemShock submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 5 (out of 5)

Friend of mine loaned it to me to use for awhile, worked great. Good voice quality, good reception, and VERY small.

Only real con? No speakerphone. But I'm still givin' it 5 stars just 'cause it's lasted my friend 3 years, which is a rarity with cellphones.

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User Review: Pretty Decent

Sun, 30 Apr 2006 16:02:34 GMT

ladyvirtue submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 3.5 (out of 5)

First had a couple of issues. First phone had NO sound more than 50% of the time so they replaced it. Second phone barely had an audible ring. One I have now is good though. Was told that it was typical with the phone...

Great little phone. Contrary to others, LIKE the gold color.

Only don't like that there are very few installed ringtones, there are no games, and no speakerphone.

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User Review: Great Phone

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 04:03:41 GMT

freeskier118 submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

I've had this phone for two years. It's beat up, but still works well.

PROS: It has good sound quality and good reception. The battery life is good enough -- spectacular if you get the extended battery.
My favorite things about the phone are the size and feel of it. If you keep your phone in your pocket all the time, like me, you'll love the fact that this phone is tiny. Even after two years, the phone is solid, and the top flips open and shut smoothly. It's able to survive an occasional drop or fall.

CONS: If you want features, this isn't the phone for you. Vibrate and ring both could be stronger and louder. Also, text messages don't always go through, although this could be "The Network." Option to attach faces to contacts is stupid and takes up way too much space when calls come in, forcing text to display at the bottom of the outside screen in tiny letters. Contacts don't have nearly enough space for names. Calender is pointless because you run out of space so quickly. Also, if you talk on it for an extended period of time, the handset gets hot.

All these problems are secondary, though. Overall, the phone makes and receives calls well.

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User Review: Very buggy phone

Fri, 10 Mar 2006 08:47:00 GMT

stinkypanda submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 1.5 (out of 5)

I've had a lot of problems with this phone. Problems that are very frustrating, to put it mildly.

The programming on this phone is very badly planned. For example, there is a limited number of calender dates you can put into your planner. However, there is no feature to simply delete all your old events. So when you hit the maximum number of events for you calender, you have to go back and delete each event one by one. This is a very time consuming process, considering the phone takes you back to the main menu after each deletion.

Don't plan on using this phone as a clock either. For some reason, there is no button to simply light up the outside LCD screen (it is impossible to read without it being backlit). To make it worse, Verizon has programmed it so there is no clock or date on the main screen; to get that you have to close the phone and look at the small outer screen (which only stays lit for 1 or 2 seconds).

Also, the backlights on the screen dont work at the worst times. I can't tell you how many times I've spent punching out a long text message only to have the screen turn black right before I send it. Very annoying. Also very annoying when you cannot tell who is calling you (and you have to open the phone to turn on the backlight, effectively making it impossible to screen calls)

The reception on this phone is mediocre at best. People often complain about the quality of my voice over the phone.

However, this is a very small and lightweight phone. As everyone else has mentioned, this phone gets very hot very fast (giving you a very bad case of greasy phone ear), but if you can live with that, its not a bad looking phone to use.

Pros:
Small and compact
Clean look (i.e. not stupid looking like most other cell phones)

Cons:
Cheap software
Cheap screen
Bad call quality
Gets very hot and greasy

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User Review: Good Short-Term; Horrible Long-Term

Sat, 23 Apr 2005 13:04:06 GMT

kiwidaiquiri submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 3 (out of 5)

Not the worst phone in the world but definitely not the best.

"Positive" Features: the To-Do List and the Countdown. Nice color front display and main display. There are icons available which you can assign to the phone numbers in your phone book (which can carry 999 phone numbers if you need it). The shortcut buttons are also helpful.

Negative Features: Unreliable. I've had to exchange for a new phone (of the same kind) at least 3 times and a friend of mine, 5 times at least. After a while, the reception gets bad and there was a point where it didn't send calls and i wasn't able to receive any (the other line couldn't hear me). Also, I'm a big text-message person and I'm only able to text 2 people out of my whole phone book (others cant see my text at all). And also, the front color screen just stopped working one day..i didn't drop it or anything, it just...blanked out.

Overall, nice features within the very small Chic compact phone but it is unreliable when it comes down to making calls and sending messages (which is..the whole purpose of a phone).

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User Review: Not Too Bad

Tue, 22 Feb 2005 23:44:11 GMT

eyecandee417 submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 3 (out of 5)

Overall, this is sweet little phone for the price and size. Color is awesome, rings pretty loud. I have service with VZW out of the Midwest and voice quality is great. There are times when it takes a while to connect but if you keep the phone on constantly a quick power-cycle fixes that. I have gone as far as Las Vegas hardly ever had a problem with dropped calls. I don't like the fact that you can't download hi fi ringers to this phone though because it really has a nice style but it depends on what you want the phone for.

The biggest issue I've had is that I have had to replace it twice because the sound goes out on the ear piece. Having to constantly use a Huntsville, while safer, can be annoying. VZW has seemed to improve on the phones and options that they offer though and I really do like the Samsung and Audiovox (9100) and Kyocera (3035) phones. Let's see what I can get into next...

PROS:
menu easy to navigate
small size, light weight
great color on dual display
reception is really good even though phone is
not tri-mode and I have traveled through
"analog" areas"
great alarm although the phone has to been on
for it to work (some motorolas don't)
ringtone quality is excellent

CONS:
phone keypad does get hot after about 15 mins
will power cycle itself at times
games freeze in the middle of playing
standard batt doesn't hold up well after
prolonged use and extended batt is HUGE
compared to the phone
no hi-fi :(

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User Review: A very average phone at best

Thu, 03 Feb 2005 00:02:36 GMT

jci007 submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 2.5 (out of 5)

I am very surprised that most reviews of this phone that I've read do not mention one of the more annoying problems with it...
It gets HOT HOT HOT if you use it for long periods of time. I use my cell for business, I am taking calls constantly and this phone heats up very rapidly. Never had a phone with that problem before. It is a pain to get this phone into "silent" mode. Yes, you can turn the ring off pretty easily, but good luck navigating through a multitude of menus trying to get your voice mail message indicator turned to silent as well. Nothing like sitting in a meeting thinking your phone is on silent mode and then have it blast a tune because you got a new voice mail message. Stupid. The phone does not drop many calls (Phoenix, Arizona) but I think the voice clarity is nothing to write home about. Average at best. There are times when the volume is too low, even at the highest setting. My friend has a (non-flip) cheap Nokia phone that I can hear considerably better on. Verizon's get it now feature is expensive but fun to mess around with. It's a shame that this phone does not have a speakerphone. The quality of the ringtones is only average. Sometimes when you dial a number the phone just sits there and either takes way too long (30 seconds) to connect the call or doesn't connect at all. Not sure if this is the fault of the phone or the carrier (Verizon) but I have never had this problem before. All in all, the phone was a disappointment. I'm locked in for two years... oh well.

Pros:
Nice compact size
Volume control on the side of phone
Good size phonebook (999 numbers)
Good grouping method in phone book (home, work, cell, fax, email for each name)
Doesn't drop many calls

Cons:
Phone heats up WAY too hot WAY too quick
Only average voice clarity
No speakerphone
Menus are overly complicated
Volume sometimes too low

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User Review: Worst Phone

Tue, 11 Jan 2005 19:24:13 GMT

nesey81 submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 1 (out of 5)

I've had my a530 for 10 months now, I purchased the phone cause I thought it was so small and cute (except for the color). After I had it for a couple of months I started to experience dropped calls almost every day. I have Verizon which is a good service provider however my phone had the worst reception. And just last month is when I started to experience even more problems with the phone, I started to have trouble hearing conversations and then all of a sudden the volume in the ear piece went out. So my insurance sent me another a530 and with this so called "new phone" I would miss all my calls cause the ringer was so low, even with the volume set to the highest setting. So again I was sent another a530 which I was having the same problem with the ringer volume (low) and in the middle of calls the phone would shut off or freeze and drop calls. I regret I ever purchashed the samsung A530 and I guess thats why the phones have been discontinued, well now they are sending me a LG VX 4500 I hope with this phone I will have a better experience.

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User Review: Had this phone 1 1/2 years - still love it

Wed, 27 Oct 2004 13:55:07 GMT

feather submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

I've had this phone since June 2003 - I love it. Its a great size and has a lot of features that I use. I've had great reception here in the Hudson Valley region of New York with the Verizon Network. The only thing I would change on this phone is to add a speakerphone and louder ring tones. I hope that Samsung comes out with this.

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User Review: Hey it's Poop with a Color Screen

Tue, 05 Oct 2004 17:34:30 GMT

f00fighters submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 2.5 (out of 5)

I am finally getting rid of this phone. it's not worth paying the insurance on this puppy. The deductable costs more than the phone.

PROS:

a color screen.
Batterly life was decent. Only because it came with 2 batteries, and cradle.

CONS:

unfortunately you're custizations are limited to "Get it Now" features. Wallpapers and Ringtones. Unless you invest in the usb cable and get the hacking software for it. It was a pain to go through all the hassle. Not worth my time. and time is money.

not to durable. Of course it's probably more my negligence. I dropped the phone twice and it fell in such a way that it broke into 2 pieces.

If you want a phone to be happy about and the price you spent, go with the Samsung A670

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User Review: Very Good Phone & Still Available

Fri, 17 Sep 2004 01:50:18 GMT

BetterThanJake submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

First off, don't listen to what the Verizon store tells you- you can still get this phone for awhile yet if you go through a good 3rd party agent. I had luck with Voice Wireless in CA, but not with places like Radio Shack- phone around.

In any case, its a very nice phone for folks who can't use a camera phone due to security reasons at work (more than a few ppl are in this boat- major phone makers, are you listening? Not everyone is allowed a camera phone at work, and many others already HAVE a camera and don't want the feature increasing the cost of their phone).

PROS:

- Big bright, beautiful color screen (65K colors, strong backlight)
- External display (exactly WHY they took this out of the 530's replacement, the 650, is beyond me. No one I know wants to have to open up their phone in order to see who's calling, and then jab at a button in order to start talking. Dual screens rule, end of story.)
- Good reception
- Very good call quality. Most ppl don't know I'm on a cell phone
- Easy to navigate menus/controls, 'cept for the 'Get It Now' button replacing the OK/Confirm button
- Nice construction... for a plastic phone. No hinge creaking, and the acrylicized plastic resists scratches well.

CONS:

- Remember that big, beautiful, bright color screen? Well, it sucks juice something fierce, making battery life with the standard battery only adequate at best.
Unless you're a light user, you'll want the extended battery, which this phone no longer comes with (about $40-50 to purchase seperately).
- Every once in a blue moon, the phone tells me I'm roaming- even though I'm in a densely populated urban area that I KNOW has towers nearby, and even in locations from which I've made non-roaming calls from before. I update the software and it still happens once in awhile... WHA??
- Get It Now is lame. Overpriced for what it is, and the apps crashed my phone- twice.
- Voice volume a bit low. You'll be using max a lot.

Overall, good, almost great.

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User Review: Not Bad But...

Tue, 14 Sep 2004 15:40:42 GMT

bklynjames submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

Not a bad phone but I have a few Gripes with it. Firstly when I first got the phone and used the clip my phone fell out three times in the first week. Then from carrying it in my pocket the antenna broke off and was stuck gluing it back together.
Other than that I like the phone...

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User Review: A little work horse phone

Thu, 05 Aug 2004 12:16:13 GMT

darklathia submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

i give this phone a 4.5 due to its small size itcan take beating.. yes i agree with others about the color.. it seems a bit femine.. but i have to admit this phone rocks... i have not had a single issue with it.... now i have the a530 not the a530s... my phone came with to batties but i a got an extra extended battery because i can be a power user... the internet speeds using it as a modem were great.... i average 90kbs on avearge with my laptop... most places i travel are full service areas so i don't experiance the batt drians like some.. but i know to expect to 1/2 my battery power if i am in a area with where i have 1 -2 bars.... also i power cycle my phone 1 time a day to prevent for a cache type build up... rememebr a cell phone is like a mini computer... it works really well when you think of it that way... anyways i love my phone... and i am going to upgrade to the a670 as it is like it but wqith a camera

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User Review: a530

Mon, 02 Aug 2004 20:39:13 GMT

joel submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 4 (out of 5)

i love my phone i have had it for about 4 months i have the silver one it is a very good phone the pro of it is the full color works every where i need it two

i have only one complaits on it it gets hot when talking on it for more than 20 min at a time

and the pro of it that it is fun to use i like that u can eased ant message without ever hear it

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User Review: good hardware, lousy firmware

Mon, 02 Aug 2004 17:32:16 GMT

allyn submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 2.5 (out of 5)

I love the hardware (size, styling, weight) of this phone.

But that's all I really like about it.

The color screens aren't reflective so they are almost impossible to read outdoors in sunlight. When the backlight goes off the screens are impossible to read so just to check the time i need to press and hold the side rocker button.

The font used on the outside screen to display the incoming caller's name is very tiny and thin. Most of the screen real estate is wasted on a graphic of a head with colored hair (which you can set to a variety of hair colors). LAME.

This A530s has the worst user interface of any phone I've used before. Trying to do anything is non-intuitive and frustrating.

How nice to be able to store 1000 phone book entries but only 12 characters each? I'd have much preferred only 500 names of 24 characters each. The "Find name" page wastes a lot of screen real estate with the location number of each entry but the phone number type icon (home, office, mobile, etc.) would have been a lot more useful.

Even sending an SMS and looking up the phone number in the phone book is a huge number of clicks.

The voice dialling feature uses an entirely separate phone book from the main book. Want to use a voice dial? Reenter the phone number and name of your contact a second time. And remember to change it both places with they change their number. LAME.

And the hardware doesn't seem that robust, either. After a short drop onto concrete the screen is no longer reliable, turning black, and requiring power off for five minutes to revive it.

Nope, my next phone will not be a Samsung.

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User Review: NOT WHAT I EXPECTED

Sun, 18 Jul 2004 11:15:55 GMT

rocky1831 submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 2.5 (out of 5)

I have had this phone since May,04 and I am not very happy with it. It continuously drops calls. Sometimes takes a minute to connect. I travel alot around the state (OHIO) and the phone drops calls where it shows I have full signal. I have had numerous phones in the past. (I am some what a phone geek). This one by far is the worst I have had. Also I am a large man with huge mits and it is hard for me to use with the small buttons. This phone maybe ok with the ladies with small fingers. I bought this phone sight unseen, shame on me for not doing my homework. I am looking for another phone. Possiblily the a650. I don't need a camera or anything that fancy.

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User Review: ok phone low rings

Thu, 15 Jul 2004 14:33:36 GMT

invalidalias submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 3 (out of 5)

it is a pretty decent phone. Can't hear rings well. can't assign downloaded pics to picture id callers. otherwise good reception and call quality

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User Review: Worst phone EVER!!

Sun, 27 Jun 2004 11:46:36 GMT

sambhara submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 1 (out of 5)

I should first mention that I work for SprintPCS, and made the switch to Verizon for their in-network. I was expecting better service, and better reception. And working in the field, I know Verizon is the best. But not with this phone.

I have had this phone for 3 months now, and it has been hell. I bought it because it was nice looking and small. I didn't need a camera, or anything high tech, I've got a Sanyo 4500 for that. So I went with the A530. The phone is horrible. It will read that it has 5 bars of service, but some how, the phone will drop phone calls constantly. I can't keep a conversation for longer than 10 minuets with out it dropping. It's something I can't explain. I have friends who have switched from Sprint to Verizon, and are loving it. It must be the phone. There are many little stupid problems with it's software too. The phone is not at all intuitive. You have to read the screen always. I can go on and on with random complaints. But I won't. The phone sucks. The people who have posted reviews previously, I believe posted them right after they got the phone, before they could really test it out. It truly is a bad phone. Poor reception, totally featureless, You can't feel the phone when it vibrates, and can't set it to vibrate with a high ringer. It sucks. The only thing I do like about the phone is the one beep ringer option, which beeps once to let you know some one is calling. That's nice, but thats it. The phone also takes forever to connect to a call often. I will have to wait a full minuet before the phone starts to actually call out. This can't be a Verizon thing, it must be the phone. Or maybe Verizon sucks, what do I know. I'm just going to have to wait for the Motorola V710 to come out. Sorry for the review, I know, it sounds like someone venting. Well, it is. Be warned.

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User Review: great little phone

Thu, 10 Jun 2004 04:01:00 GMT

rickybogo submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 2.5 (out of 5)

I just got one of these for my wife, and we both love it. She got this phone, and I got the LG VX4600. I can honestly tell you that this phone is excellent. Im kinda jealous whenever I use it. It has a great feel to it, nice and smooth. The color is great, either the silver or gold, they are unique and dont look like other phones. The displays are excellent and have great pictures. The buttons and perfect, and its a nice weight. Not too light, but not bulky. The flip feels very solid too. Another bonus, the great Samsung menu layout.

Defineetely a great little phone. If you plan on buying this phone, check out Circuit City every few days. One day I went in, this phone was $150. A few days later, it was FREE with mail in rebates.

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User Review: Best Phone Verizon Offers

Mon, 31 May 2004 20:41:27 GMT

howeber submitted this review of the Samsung SCH-A530:

Overall rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

After owning the LG VX6000(great phone but got stolen, had no need for camera anyway and looked to feminine) and 5 Motorla T730's(WORST PHONE SERIES EVER. STAY AWAY bought one offa ebay and got 4 refurbished replacements from verizon in 3 months), I finally decided to get the Samsung Sch-a530s. This phone is great. Call quality is excellent, and Battery life is outstanding!!. I dont use my phone tons, but i do use it frequently, especially for text messaging. I usually get great service with it, and its got everything i need. There is one problem i have with the phone though. It is the screen is not very visable in daylight and the colors kind of run off in the corners. But, im not taking pictures with the thing so thats not really a big deal. I do wish that the phone was tri mode, and that it had a speakerphone, and those are things that could be added on , there not flaws. This phone is just as good as the vx6000 only without a camera. Also, the silver version actually looks really nice.

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