Samsung SGH-T209 / X495 / X497 / X496
Average Ratings
t209 rocks the house
Since I have had this phone it has worked upto my expectations even when it got wet by accident it continued to work without any issues. I'm even planing on getting another one for my other line anyone who has problems with this phone either didn't read the instructions or its to difficult for them to operate and they need a simple phone to call on
decent though not stellar phone
I got this as a replacement for a failed v188 from T-Mobile in June of this year and lived with it until September when a v195 replaced it.
First off, it wasn't a bad phone, just not a very good one. The menu system is lacking, and almost difficult. The biggest gripe is setting the volume as others have pointed out. RF is nowhere near as good as the v188 and my v195 will get a signal where the Samsung would give up. My biggest issue was with the earpiece audio quality, it is horrible. Very nasal sounding audio, almost painful to listen to. The one plus was the battery life, mine lasted several days on standby with 2 hours a day of calls. It comes with a wired headset that has an on/off button. My x495 developed a weird problem with the 2.5mm jack that caused callers to complain of "echoing", wiggling the connection made it go away.
Pros:
-decent display
-excellent battery life, long talk time
-affordable
Cons:
-volume control difficult
-menu system difficult to navigate
-earpiece jack flimsy
-not good for use in poor signal areas
-build quality
There are better choices. the V195 is one of them.
WORST PHONE EVER MADE
I have never experienced anything as frustrating....very poor reception and callers cannot hear me 75% of the time. Incoming calls intrude on existing calls so I end up talking to someone entirely different than the person I began speaking with. Drops calls constantly, there is NOTHING good to say about this phone...it should be removed from the market....Cingular should pay me to use the phone. I have had it replaced 3 different times and still it doesn't work....I've had several cell phones thru the years and this one is the all time WORST PHONE EVER MADE.
Perfect for a basic phone
I received this phone as a free upgrade with T-mobile and I'm very pleased with it. If all you need is a phone with good reception and voice quality, this is an excellent choice. It's small and stylish, has a speakerphone and a bunch of decent polyphonic ringtones.
I already own a camera for picture-taking, a computer to send email, and (god forbid) am able to read the newspaper to get the news, so all I wanted was a phone that makes phone calls (and does it well).
Great X497
I had the Cingular X497 and it is freaking tight! The silver on the out side scratches easy, but it gets better reception then my brothers Chocolate, and I recently upgraded to a Nokia 6102i (see my review on that) because I couldn't stand to be with out a camera, plus I had to have one so I could be the "Historian" for BSA. But yeah, this is a good phone, I just dislike Samsung for you not being able to make your own folders to store media in, its always either Auido or Graphics, egad!
mediocre phone....very...
this review is from a design point of view.....and features too...
design-wise, this phone is very basic, even design.... it has a nice metal feel, durable... user friendly and very nice external screen... antenna stub was very annoying at times and it's almost making the phone look ugly...
feature-wise this phone is very monotonous and boring..... the only function that is in a way helpful is being an alarm clock... it is supposed to be a phone, but it's call quality is very abbysmal, but better thatn others... it has nice view screen, but it went to waste... the pre-downloaded graphics are very unartistic, in fact, ugly........ this phone is very basic... only for calling.. nothing less... nothing more.... unlike other phones where you can discover very exciting features, this phone does not....
bottom line if you are a low tech peron who do not give a care about phone design or phone features; just a very cut and dry calling machine, this phone i definitely for you....
Dropped calls-Bad reception
I've had this phone for 8 months and ever since I got it, all I've had is DROPPED CALLS and VERY BAD RECEPTION!!! It brags of a TRI BAND feature that doesn't do any justice at all. That is what sold me on buying the phone. I had a Nokia 3595 previous to this that wasn't as "fancy" as this phone, but had way better reception and never dropped a call in the year and a half that I had it. The upside to this phone is that it is a sturdy model. Also it is very easy to navigate. Just wish it worked better. I have been instructed to send it back for repair-we'll see what happens.
Poorly Designed Phone
My new wife was just added to my Cingular account and she selected a x497. It had a nice bright screen that she liked. She carries the phone because of health issues. The problem with the phone is the volume control switch on the side. If you set it to maximum ring volume, close the lid & put in a holster or purse, it is almost impossible not to push the button which turns the ringer off completely. Thus you can receive no calls. This button should become deactivated when the flip phone is closed (as is my older Samsung). I have made 2 trips home from the office (20+ miles) to make sure she was OK since I could not reach her cell. The phone drops 2-3 calls per day & for two afternoons this week displayed a msg that read "emergency calls only". People trying to call are sent to the answering service or told that the # has been disconnected. Cingular aknowledges that it is a bad design. They initially replaced the SIM card, then the phone & finally the battery. It makes no difference. Cingular finally offered to give her a new x497. Why would we want a new phone that doesn't work with design flaws. We will cancel my account next month pay a penalty and change to a new carrier. Beware of this phone. IT DOES NOT WORK!!!!
so far so good
Pretty nice simple phone for simple people :)
PROS:
-Reception
-flip phone
-outside screen (called ID, etc)
-loud and full duplex speaker
-good call quality
-plays mp3 ringtones
-small and light
CONS:
-a basic phone
-no camera
-no MP3 player
-not very customizable (did i spell it right?)
Its a nice phone but if you are looking for features like camera and stuff get a better phone.
Missing or non-working features, random power-off
This phone is loaded with features that work poorly. It makes calls OK.
The web browser is a piece of junk. The biggest delay in loading a website is the browser starting up or the phone acknowledging that you clicked on a link. It's also slower than average for downloading, and there are virtually no WAP settings like not downloading graphics to save time.
This phone doesn't work with Opera Mini (full HTML browser for phones) or Google Maps (VERY handy). The phone is capable of downloading and running them, but is too dumb to allow them to access the web to actually function. There is no WAP settings menu to enable this permission, and other phones on my T-Mobile plan can do it.
It can use MIDI files for ringers, but the MIDI player is terrible. The instruments don't sound good and the volume levels of the instruments are always wrong so the song isn't even recognizable.
There are only 3 alarm sounds, all of which are horrible. There is no gradual volume increase like Nokia's alarm or ability to use ringers for alarms like Sony.
Even with warning tones turned off, the phone makes an annoying sound every time you turn off silent mode.
You can't change any sound options or save sound content without exiting silent mode.
In 1 month of having it, this phone has powered itself off twice.
The battery drains even when the phone is powered off. I had it charged and turned it off for a week while I used a different phone, and the battery was dead.
Call sound is clear, but lacks low-frequency sound so it sounds cheap even though it is usable.
