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5 Responses to “Samsung Magnet a257 Phone, Orange”

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  Jed Leeland says:

  May 13, 2010 at 8:41 pm

  3 things: The battery depletes like a bad race horse. Never, ever go anywhere without a charger. The full qwerty keyboard: you will love this if your fingers are the size of pencil leads. Lastly — be sure you have an unlimited data plan, because the phone’s center button automatically connects you to the WAP browser. Depending on how you carry your phone, you will be accidentally connecting at least twice a day, for who knows how long until you notice. Other than the above, the Scagnet is a marvel of technology.
  Rating: 1 / 5
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  D. N. Clark says:

  May 13, 2010 at 11:30 pm

  I moved to this phone after owning/loving my LG CU500 for years. I needed something that I could text on for work, and this seemed the cheapest alternative. I glanced at the tech specs, but it did not really sink in when I ordered it just how lame this phone really is.

  -First and foremost, the phone has randomly been shutting off in the middle of the day. It has nothing to do with battery life (which isn’t bad), it simply shuts off for some reason. The battery appears to be in the slot tightly, so I can’t figure out what’s going on here. This started after owning the phone for 2-3 months.

  -Second, there is no expansion memory outside of the SIM card. NO MicroSD slot! This means that you can only hold about 300 messages before you will stop pulling new ones down (until you delete some). It also means no music, and not many pictures.

  -Third, the camera is terrible. I don’t expect great pictures out of a phone, but the shutter speed is slow enough that nothing short of still life will stay in focus, and even pictures taken in broad daylight look bad.

  Those are the big gripes. The rest are quibbles. The keyboard was surprisingly easy to use, though it’s a bit harder in the days immediately after I trim my fingernails. The sound quality is fine, and I never got any complaints about people trying to hear me.

  The function buttons are pretty terrible, though. The center button cannot be reassigned, and launches the web browser. If you don’t have a data plan, this could be disastrous, especially if you forget to lock your phone before you put it away. Also, and this may be due to my relative inexperience with texting, but the keyboard is a bit confusing/clunky whenever you need to enter capital letters or special characters.

  To sum up, this phone was mediocre when I got it, but has become nigh useless since it started cutting out in the middle of the day. If you’re looking for a phone that comes free/cheap with contract, there are better ones out there. If my CU500 hadn’t been dying when I got this one, I would go back to it. Instead, I plan on shelling out some money on one of the lower-end unlocked smart phones.
  Rating: 1 / 5
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  Marc Anthony Zavala says:

  May 14, 2010 at 12:42 am

  I had great success with the Samsung Propel Slider and thought I would try out the Magnet. It has the looks of the Blackberry and even though I read some average reviews I figured I’d give it a try. Almost 3 months to the day I got the phone the battery kept going out and I would have to constantly check on the phone to make sure it didn’t shut off. I took it to the At&t service center and they immediately gave me a new phone. I agree with a previous review that you are automatically sent to the WAP and it can be difficult to text with the small keys (and I have little fingers). Proceed with caution.
  Rating: 2 / 5
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  N. Hammond says:

  May 14, 2010 at 1:42 am

  My personal opinion is that this phone is more of a toy than a phone. If all you want to do is text and have a QWERTY keyboard, it’s fine, I suppose. There is no memory expansion, it feels a bit clunky in use (not in actual feel… it’s pretty sleek/slim) and it just seems really cheap. Nowadays, you can get so much more for next to nothing. I’d not recommend this for anything but giving your 12 year old.
  Rating: 2 / 5
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  C. Brown says:

  May 14, 2010 at 3:51 am

  I have had this phone for about 2 weeks and have mostly good things to say about it. My experience with this phone has been remarkably different than many of the other reviewers here.

  Let’s start with some negatives. First, I do agree that the keys are tiny. Serious texters with high-speed thumbs could have some problems with this. But average texters (like myself) can use it with ease. Second, the image quality is mediocre and the camera only does photos (no video). Then again, people who are even remotely serious about pictures won’t be relying on their phone to take them, so this wasn’t an issue for me. Third, no 3G, so if you plan on surfing the web, this isn’t the phone for you.

  The good. It was free after rebate. Size and weight really cannot be beat. Sound quality for me has been fantastic in every respect. Outdoors where its noisy, windy, etc. I could hear just fine and others could hear me. Same with talking in my loud car on the highway, no problems at all. Sound quality on speaker phone is also quite good. Battery life has also been impressive. Granted, I don’t talk for hours and hours every day, but I was able to go over 3 days without a charge. So, I don’t know what other users have been using their phone for, but average talk times will still get you several days without charging.

  The verdict: Just know what you’re getting. This is a solid phone with a full keyboard. No more, no less. I was looking for a phone that looked good, had good sound quality, good battery life, and a QWERTY keyboard. I didn’t need to surf the web. I didn’t need to shoot video or take Pulitzer Prize winning photos. This phone is for people who use their cell phone mainly for talking and some texting. If that sounds like you, this phone would be a good choice.
  Rating: 4 / 5