Samsung SPH-a900

The Samsung SPH-a900 series has always been a well publicised cellular phone since its inception into the market. It's features, at the time, where useful and plentyful. However, since then, it has become apparent - to me and others - that this phone is very mediocre.

The phones has a wonderfully flat body, although is difficult to txt with due the the linear keypad. The position of the buttons is very normal. It is not designed for txting while driving (regardless of laws pertaining to txting and driving), you certainly will have difficulty using the keys without looking at them.

I was very dissapointed by how quickly the battery life deteriorated. At first, with fairly regular use throughout the day, the phone would last about 48 hours without requiring recharging. After about two weeks, the phone would lose all of it's charge within 24 hours, regardless of how much use the phone recieved. I am on my third battery now for this reason - the batteries cost around $49.99 in NZD from a provider's shop.

The phone does not allow particularly easy transfer of all it's media files. Ones downloaded from the telecom are not accessable to be transfered via bluetooth to anywhere (for sharing etc), although I have not tried an actual data-transfer cable - as these are expensive. This phone takes movies and pictures with it's built-in swiveling camera, which evidently drain the battery faster then anything.

In battery saving mode, which I'd recommend using to slightly extend battery life, there is a significant amount of lag between when the button is pressed and when the phone actually responds. In general the phone is partial to slow, laggy operation, although has not completely frozen on me yet.