Samsung SPH-A660 / VI660
Average Ratings
Seemed like a good deal at first
I bought this phone when I signed up for Sprint service almost a year ago and over all I suppose I have had more trouble with Sprint itself than with the phone... However- I don't think I am particularly rough on my phone but it's had more and more malfunctions as time has gone by. Recently I have had problems getting my calls, messages and voicemail message alerts. Sprint can give me no answers. Also at times I am unable to answer incoming calls no matter what buttons I push and I have to take the battery off to get the phone to stop ringing long after the incoming call is gone.
Lastly, the antenna peice broke of without any impact to cause it.
PROs:
Bright, colorful display
Some fun features
Voice dial
CONs:
Lots of technical malfunctions
Moderate to poor battery life
Moderate signal strength
Slightly delicate
Sprint, in general
I have been forced to cut my losses and buy a new phone out of pocket without Sprint's $150 rebate (given after 18 months of service with them). I can't live another six months with this hassle. After reading the reviews on this site I've decided on a Sanyo this time. I expect it next week, I'll let you know how that turns out!
Huge potential, but.
I bought a 660 when I activated my second line with Sprint in June of '04, moving my phone number from Verizon (my wife has always carried a Sprint phone).
I dropped it a couple times and it broke, and I could pay the $50 to replace it with another 660 because I have insurance coverage on the phone.
Instead, I'm looking for a used VGA1000 or A500 or Sanyo on eBay.
The voice-dial capabilities of this phone are stellar, it's easy to use, and in many ways it's an awesomely great phone.
Unfortunately, I need a phone that can handle weak signals well, and the 660 simply can't. This is the one major complaint I have about the phone. I also understand that the 660s tend to be rather buggy.
A660 GENERAL VIEW
New A660 user with Bell Mobility in Canada.
PROs:
- the phone is very compact
- Battery life time (2 days, 30-40 min web, 40-50 min talk time)
- easy menu
- Outlook sync by the data cable (4-9 US$ on ebay)
CONs:
- vibrate only on max and min volume
- the alarm clock rings only if the phone is open
- difficult to see the screen in the sun light
- vocal sound quality: any voice sounds strange
- no external display
- no MMS
- the voice recorder while using the cell will record only the voice of the other person. Not yours.
- no customizable profiles (see nokia)
- signal less than my last A460
- no preset calling card feature
- only 1MB space for downloads(rings, screens, games)
- no included games(you'll have to pay them all)
- difficult to save pics when you receive a pic message
- when reboot, the phone needs 25 secs to open
- mobile browser takes to loong to open
I think it's all.
I WON THE PHONE, SO BEING FREE WITH NO CONTRACT IT IS OK EVEN ALL THOSE CONS.
Great phone!
Games, Graphics, Sound, ease of use, and phone features are all great! Only thing I can think why the previous comments would be bad is maybe they had an older hardware revision or something. ???
With a little searching on the net, I was even able to upload more games, pictures, and animations(screensavers) to the phone.
The reception is great with Sprint PCS. I get good signal on this phone in many places that I couldn't get any signal with T-Mobile (both without roaming).
Not sure about the stock battery life. I bought a cheap extended battery off of eBay and never have a problem.
Neat little phone!
Worst Phone I've Ever Owned
The phone looked like a great deal... it has a great array of features, but the AWFUL sound quality cancels out any of the benefits of cool features. What good are they if you're CONSTANTLY asking people to repeat themselves? We've been back to the Sprint store to have them upgrade the firmware to no avail.
I've been with 3 or 4 different carriers in the last 15 years before going to Sprint and this Samsung phone. We always got the cheapest phone available. This is the worst sounding phone we've ever owned (we bought two, unfortunately).
We'll be back at the Sprint store again to see if they will make it right. If not, I guess we'll eat the penalty to get out of our 2 year contract and go elsewhere.
Lukewarm
PROS
+ Styling
+ SMS: ready when Sprint is
+ Battery lifeâVery good for CDMA
+ Excellent reception
+ Out-going sound quality
+ Very friendly user interface
+ Good selection of ring tone.
+ Sharp, bright display.
+ Brilliant blue keypad backlight
+ Voice Recognition capabilitiesâSamsung is the new leader here. You can call any name in your phone book just by speaking itâno âtrainingâ required, so it isnât dependent on a particular voice. You can say a string of digits, and the phone dials them. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
CONS
- Incoming soundâVolume is fine, but itâs uncomfortably âtinnyâ at all levels. Itâs like listening to a stereo where one speaker has been disconnected and the other has had the bass turned all the way down. âShrillâ isnât stretching the truth too much.
- Value for price.
Although PROS far outnumber CONS, I still down-rate the A660. Itâs a phone, and one most important considerations must be, âHow does it sound when you talk on the phone?â The A660âs incoming sound is so tinny that itâs grating, and thereâs no way to compensate for it. I want to turn up the bass. WAY up. Other CDMA Samsungs Iâve used have been exceptional in this regard, so this is a huge disappointment.
At $230 retail, itâs too expensive. Thereâs no external display and no camera, for starters. For $30 more you can have the A620 with camera, flash, external display and exceptional sound qualities. The A620 also has many of the same Voice Recognition features. It does have an ounce or so more heft than the A660, and you need the extended-but-still-slender battery to get the same talk times; nonetheless it is a much better value. Most of the other PROS listed above apply to the A620 as well.
If the A660 had excellent earpiece sound quality, I might be more forgiving. As it is, bottom line, at $230 itâs a rip-off. Around $175, Sprint might be in the ballpark, especially if a firmware upgrade could fix the nerve-grinding tin-can sound.
You get what you pay for...
I HATE this phone! Sprint could have done much better. I got this phone as my Upgrade phone, what an upgrade. I went from a good phone to a phone from well I won't say exactly but you get the point.
Pros:
*Flip phone
*Small and convenient size
*Color Screen
*Was Free for Upgrade
Cons:
*Constantly shutting off for no reason
*Bad signal
*Poor sound quality
*Games are only demos
*No external window
*Alarm does'nt always go off
*Always switching to roaming mode
*Shuts down in cold or hot weather
*Sprint does not stand by phone when it has problems.
*Diagnostic test does not fix phone.
Have to pay up to $55 to fix phone and is not guaranteed.
Overall, since it was my upgrade phone and I got it free I got what I paid for. I paid nothing so I receive nothing. This phone it horrible. Please save yourself the hassle and just skip this phone!
The phone is just OK
I've burned out a lot of cell phones and prefer Nokia and Motorola for their durability. This Samsung phone offers a few entertaining features and is great for droping in your pocket, thus very compact. Good viewability and great volume options. The voice activated dialing is a great feature and easy to use.
With that said, the dial buttons are not raised and are a bit close. The scrolling feature is combersome unless you have super thin fingers, and there appears to be some redundancies with updating and adding phone numbers. The worse this about this phone is talk time - the battery is terrible. If you use the phone through the day, it must be charged every night. Also, I don't like the ear piece that came with it.
As I said, it's an "ok" phone - nothing to write home about.
The worst phone ever
I just "upgraded" to this phone after years with a non-flip phone. The sound quality was TERRIBLE. The earpiece emitted a sound not unlike the hum from an electric fan. Everyone I called on it told me I was cutting out badly. I took it back thinking it was a problem with the circuitry of this particular phone, but the replacement phone was not good, either. The second one's earpiece hum was not quite as bad as the first one, but still way too much background noise for a phone. For $249 with taxes ($100 after the $150 rebate from sprint), I will not put up with the lack of quality. I am headed back to the store again. Grrrr.
