Samsung A900 review

First Impression: Samsung's newest handset. Dubbed "The Nox" by Bell Mobility here in Canada, and named "Blade" by our neighbours to the south, this is Samsung's answer to the Motorola V3c (Razr). As thin as the V3c, from the first time I saw it, this handset is very, very sleek. Which is probably why Bell chose the name "Nox" for it, Nox meaning:

nox n : Roman goddess of night; daughter of Erebus; counterpart of Greek Nyx

The entire handset is cut in half, and the entire thing flips, unlike Moto's V3c where only 90% of the phone flips, and you have that ridge at the bottom when it's open (you'll understand if you've ever seen one in person). The phone is a bit on the heavy side, but certainly not too heavy by any means. The keys are nicely positioned, and press down very nicely, without too much pressure needing to be applied. The TFT display is crisp and bright, probably the most brilliant of all displays I've seen on any handset so far. The battery life isn't the best, about on par with the Motorola V3c. If you're using Bluetooth and playing MP3s, then it's even shorter, but this is to be expected. It's ok, and you can live with it, but definately invest in an extended life battery (when they get released that is).

Features: The front of the Samsung A900 has three MP3 player controls, and the speakerphone is very loud, which makes listening to MP3s over the speakerphone actually rather enjoyable. The camera is a 1.3 megapixel, and takes better pictures than the V3c by far. We're still waiting for a 2+ megapixel camera phone, but I certainly won't complain about the one in this handset ! The A900 sports Bluetooth (none of it crippled, so complete FTP, DUN, OBEX, the works), and also comes with a USB cable should you want to use direction connection. The phone is also 1X EV-DO enabled, so high speed wireless in metropolitan areas. Since we don't even have 1X here yet where I live (they're upgrading to 1X as we speak), I cannot test the data capabilities of this phone, so therefore, I cannot comment on it.

Reception / Voice Quality: Voice quality is excellent with this handset. I've read other reviews and comments on this phone, and some people have complained about a clicking when people start talking during a conversation. It was assumed that the voice coder was to blame, trying to filter out too much ambient noise during the call. However, it's now more believed that these are lemon handsets, as a lot of other people don't have this issue. In my own testing, I didn't find the phone to have any issue at all with the voice coder. Quality was good, as good as the V3c, no big difference there. Reception is where this phone lacks a bit. I hate to say it, because I REALLY like this handset. However, testing has concluded that the Motorola V3c is ever so slightly better at reception. An example of this is in my own home. I live right next to a big hill, about 7 times taller than my home. On the other side of this hill, sitting on top of another hill, is the cellular site. Unless I'm in my living room, I don't get any service in my home what-so-ever. A good place to test phones though ! Where the Samsung wouldn't find any service at all in the center of my living room, the V3c will usually find 1 bar, and will process a call. That said, if I moved around my living room, the Samsung would eventually find a signal and 3 out of 5 times processed a test call. If you're in a good service area, you'll never notice the difference. But if you're in a weak area, you just might get a better shot with the V3c.

Overall: I really like this handset. It's bigger and easier to hold than the V3c, and has a few more bells and whistles. Voice quality is on par with Motorola no doubt about it. The only shortcoming on this phone is the reception. It seems that the V3c is just a tiny bit more sensitive when it comes to RF, sometimes finding signal in places where the A900 won't. That said, I still think this is one of the best handsets available at the moment. If it came down to myself choosing a phone out of Bell's lineup, it would either be this one, the Motorola E815, or the Motorola V3c. Definate thumbs up.

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› See More: Samsung A900 review

The review I've been waiting for!
Great review _Abom_, thanks for taking the time to go into such detail.
I'm really considering the a900 to be my next phone and according to your review it seems to be a pretty decent handset. However, you mentioned the reception could be better and that concerns me a little bit. It seems like out of all the recent phones Bell offers, the a920 (jive) has the best reception and sound quality. I believe for me, it comes down to the a900 and a920 and I think I am leaning towards the a920. I can't wait to replace my stinking a660!

Thanks for the review _Abom_!

It really depends, do you live in a good service area ?

When I say the A900 seems to be lacking in reception compared to the V3c, I mean that in the smallest way possible. The difference is very, very small, and only really noticable if you're in a very weak signal area (basically a "no service" area).

Personally, if you live in a good service area, I'd take the A900, it's an awesome phone. But then again, if you want expandable memory, the A920 is the way to go.

Again, it all depends. Quality wise, you can't really go wrong with either handset. Both won't even be in the same league as that entry level A660.

Well I think my service area is good (Greater Toronto Area). The a660 seems fine outdoors but indoors is where it really really bites the dust. Even in good service areas my current phone struggles to find reception indoors (for example in shopping malls or lecture halls).
You are right though, any new phone would be an upgrade to my a660. All I know is I want a phone that has no trouble getting reception indoors or outdoors and won't drop my calls often.

I don't think you'll see a HUGE difference from the 920 to the 900. If you upgrade to either and are still having problems, I'd tend to think that the particular area you're in is just poor coverage.

That said, I've sold LOTS of A660s, and trust me, they are a mediocre handset. Not bad, but not good.

My personal opinion, I think you'd like the A900.

Oh, and naturally, when you get the handset (whichever one you choose), go right away and test it in the areas where your A660 had issues. If the phone is in perfect condition, with less than 15 minutes on it, you can return it and try the other one.

I cannot download ringtones to my A-900 from my PC. The problem I have with the A-900 it will not give me the opption to download from the PC or search for files on the PC to upload to phone. I have found some ringtones which are AAC format and downloaded to my PC but cannot use them.

How am I able to download or upload to my Samsung A-900?

Originally Posted by brycor

I cannot download ringtones to my A-900 from my PC. The problem I have with the A-900 it will not give me the opption to download from the PC or search for files on the PC to upload to phone. I have found some ringtones which are AAC format and downloaded to my PC but cannot use them.

How am I able to download or upload to my Samsung A-900?

Connect USB cable to computer, then in the phone, go into the menu, go into the Tools sub-menu, then into the Mass Storage sub-menu, and press OK on "Connect to PC".

It will then read your phone as if your phone was a removable drive, like a USB pen drive or something.

great review, thank you!

Originally Posted by sonic4.6

great review, thank you!

You're welcome ! Welcome to forums !

I have a question about the battery life on the a900. How often would you need to charge it on average? (maybe a couple of short calls a day, not much browser usage or mp3 playing)

Depends on where you're using it mostly, how hard the phone has to work to keep good RF, etc.

Personally, I experienced about 3 days standby. The A900 has a tiny battery, less than 1000 mAh (800 I think ? or 750 ?), hence why it's life between charges isn't very long.

Is the charger the 'pin' plug type or the 'rectangular' type? My a660 has both. I'd like to know if I can use my current car charger on the newer samsung phones. Reusing the assessories is one of the reasons I want to stick with samsung.

All chargers changed with the A920 and A900 models. They're rectangular now, the "barrel type" as they call it won't work.

Originally Posted by _Abom_

All chargers changed with the A920 and A900 models. They're rectangular now, the "barrel type" as they call it won't work.

Are the rectangular types the same as the one found on the N370?

Originally Posted by 130hp

Are the rectangular types the same as the one found on the N370?

Mmmmm, I do not believe so. The SKUs for the N370 chargers and A920/900 are different, so I don't think they're the same.