The Bottom Line
The Samsung a990's irreproachable design and form factor, alone, makes it an outstanding phone. But sound quality could be better. A great phone for most of us, but if you are a discerning sound quality enthusiast, look elsewhere.
Pros
- Amazingly good design, keypad and form factor
- Great large display
- Good selection of features
Cons
- Battery life just average
- Camera lags when taking pictures
- Some features are blocked: MP3 can't be used as ringtone
Description
- Voice and data network types: CDMA, EV-DO
- 3.2-megapixel camera
- 18-bit color display with 240 x 320 pixels
Guide Review - Review
I loved the Samsung a990 but... There are also some things I hated. I loved the sturdy and beautiful form factor, strong speakerphone, awesome keypad and a 3.2 megapixel camera
with camcorder. The optics
are protected by an retractable cover and the LED flash actually makes a difference in picture lightning - a luxury in the cell phone flash world.
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But sound quality was not the crispest and sharpest I've ever heard. I used the a990 over a few weeks and I'm sure I didn't dream: it seemed a little muffled to me.
While most CDMA Phones have a stub antenna, this one doesn't and
it seemed to make it somewhat vulnerable to signal fading when I put a finger over the internal antenna area. As a matter of fact, they print a warning
against putting your finger there on that area.
The feature set is extensive but there are some absurdities. For example, your own MP3's can't be used as a ringtone. The camera lags about 1 to 2 seconds when taking a picture, sometimes leaving too much time for the action to be gone forever. Finally, considering that the Samsung a990 is a sturdy, feature-rich phone likely to follow you in many of your daily activities, battery life is a bit too average.
That said, I still love the a990, mainly for its amazingly well-thought form factor.
