I purchased the A640 when I renewed my Sprint Plan last July. From day 1, there were little annoying things about the phone: Way too easy to bump the speaker phone button when you are just holding it, no actual Bluetooth ("extra" pay service), REALLY short standby time, etc.The kicker was when the thing started shutting off with no warning. First it would happen occasionally, then frequently, then it got to the point where as soon as I powered up the phone it went black and I could no longer make ANY calls.
So, with 4 month old phone in hand, I tried to get a replacement. My Sprint retailer in town is not OWNED by Sprint, so it has only a 90 replacement policy, oh and they don't sell that model of phone anymore.
I called Sprint and they said that I needed to take it to a Sprint repair center (the nearest one is 160 mile round trip on icy rural roads), where they would see if they could fix it. I called the repair center and they told me it would be $55 and if they couldn't fix it, it would have to go back to the manufacturer (Samsung). I called Samsung, the current wait for phone replacement on the A640 is 8-10 WEEKS.
So my options are: 1) pay $55 and probably lose my phone for 2-3 months but continue to pay for service (total $150), 2) replace the phone at full price ($200), 3) cancel my Sprint contract and pay the early termination fee of $175. This is all over a 4 MONTH OLD PHONE!!!!
I finally found a Sprint sales store only 80 miles away round trip who was willing to swap the phone for $35. After telling this story, the associate replied, "I am not surprised, I have had 3 of these things returned already for the power issues".
The take home lesson? DON'T BUY THIS PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I haven't experienced any of the problems that the other people here have. I experienced the echo problem with another phone, but it was a problem with the network at that location, not the phone. Re the inside screen not turning off in power-save mode, I just tried it and it does turn off when I close the phone, just as it is supposed to. In fact I can see the screen go on when it hits a certain angle when opening. I think that person had a bad switch in the hinge.
So.
The good:
It is small, or at least small enough. It doesn't feel bulky in the pocket like my old Sanyo did.
The black shiny finish is part of the case and won't scratch off, unlike the silver paint on so many other phones.
It sounds fine, but not as good as my old Sanyo. Sometimes I could wish it went louder.
Reception is fine. I drive all over Denver and I have never had a dropped call.
It has speakerphone. It doesn't have a separate speaker on the outside, it just turns up the volume on the earpiece speaker. So I thought it would sound terrible, but it turns out it works okay.
It looks cool, or at least the high-schoolers I teach tell me so.
It is cheap. I got it for $29 when I renewed my plan.
The bad:
There is no silence button. When I attend a meeting or go to a movie, I have to open it up and hit the volume down button about 8 times. A single button that just turned off all the sound would be much better.
The keypad is a little difficult to use. It feels nearly like a flat surface, with very slight grooves to distinguish one button from another. Further, the buttons are not arranged in straight rows; the middle buttons, i.e., the 2, the 5, the 8, and the 0, are dropped slightly. These two things mean it is basically impossible to use the phone without looking. That isn't unique to this phone, of course. What I usually do is put a tiny drop of super glue on at least the "talk" and "end" buttons, so I can feel them and press them without looking.
When you go to the contact list and hit the first letter of the name you want, there is a delay before the screen shows you the names. It isn't a long delay, but it is there.
The voice command capability is versatile, but it means you have to tell it what you want to do, i.e., you have to say "Voice dial." That is the only voice command I would ever want it to do, but you have to tell it that every time. Also it doesn't work very well. I believe the software for that is not actually in the phone. It is either something like a java applet downloaded to phone on the fly, or it is done centrally on some server. The good thing about that is you don't have to (and you cannot) train the phone to recognize your particular voice. The bad thing is that the voice recognition doesn't work very well, especially with unusual names, of which I have lots.
The top and bottom feel nearly identical, so it is easy to open it upside down. If this problem keeps bugging me, I may file some notches on one side of the case, or do something else to let me feel which side is up.
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I got my A460 for several days. It looks good and feels comfortable in hand. It has all the features listed in the website. Voice call quality generally is good. I can hear the other party clearly and other peoples have no complains about my voice. The speakerphone works nice in quiet environment. In noise environment or if both party speak simutaniously echo builds up occasionally , but it's OK most of the time.I almost loved my new toy when I discoved a few drawbacks (careless design/buggy software?).
1. In the power-save mode, both the external LCD and the internal (main) LCD are activated by pushing a button or an incoming call when the phone is flipped. While the external LCD will eventurally turn off automatically, the internal LCD STAYS ON FOR EVER! This can be verified (unless I got a bad unit) by looking into the slit between the main LCD and the keypad in a dark environment. So the power of the battery is used for the unneccessary illumination of the internal LCD which nobody can see since the phone is flipped. Call this Power-save ???
2. Ok, get back on power-normal mode. When charging the phone, again, both the external LCD and the internal (main) LCD are lit even when the phone is flipped. People like me usually put the phone on charging before going to bed and remove the charging cable in the morning. That means the LCDs are on THE WHOLE NIGHT when nobody is looking at it. Not only it makes no sence to me to let them on when nobody is using it, but also I suspect that the lifetime of the LCD will be greatly reduced.
3. A minor point. When using the phone with a earbud, you have to hold the quick button in the mic for about 5-8 seconds to active the phone and start a voice service. A little too long for me. 2-3 secondes should be better.
I would rate this phone 5 stars if Samsung or Sprint releases an upgraded software to fix the above mentioned problems soon, especially no. 1 and 2. But for now, 3 stars is the highest that I can give.
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I changed phones when adding my mother to my account. At first, I liked this phone, but the more and more I use it, I wish I would have kept my other phone. One bothersome thing: when I receive a call, the phone displays the wrong time displays the time of the last call received or made. You have to turn the phone on and off to clear the memory or something. Another problem: one does not have the ability to tailor the hot keys on this phone as you can with other models. I'm stuck with this phone until I reach my anniversary date and can trade it in. :(Want SAMSUNG SPH A640 SPRINT BLACK CAMERA CELL PHONE Discount?
This phone lasted only 3 weeks before it would no longer power on. Even before that I wasn't crazy about the phone. I didn't like the location of the speaker phone button. I was always hitting it by accident and locking the keys shouldn't be required in my mind.
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