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(More customer reviews)Samsung M520 is a 2008-release for Sprint. It supports 3G data.
If there's one takeaway from this review, it's that this thing has awful battery life. After just two days of moderate use, I felt compelled to invest in a second power adapter and a second battery. While they're not overly expensive, esp. the knock-off ones, the point is that the battery life is very short. It is around 3-4 hours, which means that it won't get you through a work day, let alone after hours. What this means it that you should loiter around a power source, or pack with you a spare battery or two. I just keep it on the charger whenever I can.
To make the matter slightly worse, the battery level indicator is not useful. First of all, it has three bars. Most of the time it shows all three. When you're down to two, you have very little left, probably 30 minutes. At one bar, it's pretty much drained. So, don't fall in to a false sense of security of the full three bars. After a bit of use, charge it!
Now onto other problems:
1. You need to buy a 3.5mm (standard sized) earpiece adapter. It only comes with 2.5mm.
2. There is only one connector port, where the earpiece, charger, and (optional) USB cable connects. So when you're listening through the earpiece, you cannot charge the phone. Which is terrible, since that's probably when you're using - and drawing power from - the phone.
3. The minimum volume is too high. This is especially annoying with an earpiece.
4. It's slow. Not horrible, but nothing comes up immediately. Applications take time to load. Sprint TV takes a good 5-10 seconds.
5. The text input is inconsistent. Some apps insert spaces, some don't, some do auto-complete, some don't.
6. The whole menu and "Favorite" list take some used to. They're pretty cumbersome.
7. The sound settings are all over the place.
8. Music player always tries to connect to the music store first. Very slow as well.
9. You cannot email the pictures you take! You can subscribe to a Sprint service to upload to their server, but you cannot email the pictures. Stupid.
10. While I'm on that, there are lots of places where if you click OK makes you subscribe to new services (i.e. pay for stuff). Be careful when you run apps you're not familiar with. They do tell you, so read stuff before clicking ok.
11. My battery door is often impossible to open. It's way too tight.
Now, onto the great parts about this phone:
1. The screen is excellent. I've come to expect this level of excellence from Samsung. Brilliant, bright, nice and shiny.
2. I think the phone looks great in general. Looks very slick.
3. Super light! This is the main reason why I got this phone, and love it so much. It's extremely light. (Partly due to the small battery, i.e. lack of uptime.)
4. Just a perfect form factor. Small, fits everywhere. Looks nice. Not too expensive, but perfectly presentable.
5. The buttons feel solid. The volume buttons are moving a little though, but nothing to worry about.
6. Good sound quality. No complaints in that department.
7. Has 6 bars for signal strengths. Very detailed. Good reception.
8. Does picture and video. Very easy to use.
9. Texting interface is very nice.
It supports Sprint TV, and flips it sideways in full screen mode, which is pretty smart. It has GPS and BlueTooth. GPS requires a subscription, unless you find the well-known way to work around it, in which case it works well and is free.
Overall, I love the form factor of the phone, and it's perfectly capable to make calls, check my email, do texting, tweet, and go on Facebook. So long as you don't forget to charge the phone, or take a spare with you, you'll do fine with this. Therefore, I still rate it highly with 4 stars.
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This Samsung M520 slider phone for Sprint makes it easy for you to access the Web, find local restaurants, watch live television, download your favorite songs, send text messages or use GPS to find your way to new destinations. In addition to fast 3G speeds from Sprint's high-speed EV-DO network, you'll enjoy GPS navigation capabilities for accessing the optional Sprint Navigation turn-by-turn direction service as well as access to Sprint TV's video-on-demand with full-motion video and vivid sound. The M520 is also a great choice for a cellular audio player, with access to the Sprint Music Store for over-the-air downloads and wide multiformat support for loading your music onto optional microSD memory cards (up to 4 GB in size). Other features include a 1.3-megapixel camera, direct printing to PictBridge compatible printers, Bluetooth for hands-free communication and stereo music streaming, and up to 3.5 hours of talk time. This package includes a 64 MB microSD card to get you started listening to your favorite tunes and saving photos while on the go.
Sprint Service Supporting the EV-DO high-speed data standard, this phone enables you to download and stream high-quality video, straight onto your phone. Where coverage is available, EV-DO connectivity provides average download speeds ranging from 400 to 700 Kbps, with peak rates up to 2 Mbps. This device is backwards compatible to 1XRTT technology in areas where EV-DO is not yet available. With Sprint TV, you can make your cell phone your always-on source for news, weather, sports and more. This comprehensive video service combines high-quality streaming audio and video from channels including ABC, The Weather Channel, Fox Sports, E!, CNN, The Discovery Channel, and more.
This phone also provides access to Sprint Football Live--free for any phone with a data plan. You'll be able to follow all the live play-by-play action with the Live Game Center for both pro and college football games, as well as stay on top of the pro football draft with a Live Draft Tracker and in-depth analysis and bios on nearly 500 top prospects. Access by texting "FOOTBALL" to 7777 on the handset to download Sprint Football Live from Sprint Digital Lounge (standard text messaging and data rates apply).
The Sprint Music Store enables you to buy, download, and then jam out wherever you are with new songs or old favorites. Offering a growing selection of more than 1.6 million songs, the store provides you two copies of each song--one for the phone and another for the PC, as well as the ability to burn songs to a CD using Windows Media Player. Save your songs to a memory card with a capacity that's right for you.
This GPS-enabled phone provides optional access to Sprint Navigation for driving directions on your mobile phone--by voice and onscreen. Along the way, turn-by-turn directions will be announced in a clear voice and displayed on your phone. For example, Sprint Navigation will say, "Go 1.2 miles and turn right on Elm Street." As you approach the turn, you will hear, "Turn right on Elm Street." Sprint Navigation also provides proactive traffic alerts with one click re-routing. And it's easy to find restaurants, banks, cafes, hotels and more from over 10 million points of interest across the U.S.
Sprint's On Demand service provides up-to-date information on sports, weather, news, money and more customized to the your zip code
Phone Features The slider-style Samsung M520 has a 2.1-inch screen (176 x 220-pixel resolution and 262K color depth) that sits above a five-way navigation pad that's complemented by send/end keys and soft navigation buttons. The face smoothly slides up to reveal the alpha-numeric keypad. The phone has a small 16 MB user accessible memory, which can be expanded via optional microSD memory cards up to 4 GB in size.
The phonebook can store up to 500 contacts, with each entry providing room for up to five phone numbers, an e-mail address, Web URL, and notes. You can assign one of the preloaded polyphonic ringtones (as well as optional downloadable polyphonic and real-music ringers) and a photo to a contact for instant recognition of incoming calls. The phone also offers a 98-number speed dial and display of the last 20 incoming/outgoing/missed calls.
hands-free communication is easy thanks to the integrated speakerphone. This phone also provides Bluetooth wireless connectivity 1.2, and includes profiles for communication headset, hands-free car kits, and file transfer. With the A2DP Bluetooth profile, you can stream your music to a pair of compatible Bluetooth stereo headphones. You can connect your laptop (either via Bluetooth or wired USB) and enjoy dial-up networking--surf the Internet, send e-mail, and access files from a server (requires Phone As Modem Service Plan).
The 1.3-megapixel camera can capture still images in four resolutions and three quality settings. It also features a 2x digital zoom, brightness and white balance controls, night shot mode for low-light situations, multiple shutter sounds (with silent mode), and a self-timer. You can also edit images on the phone (crop, rotate) and add one of five fun frames. Additionally, you can connect the phone to a PictBridge-compatible printer for direct printing (without having to save it to your PC first). Shoot and share your digital photos instantly with Sprint Picture Mail (additional charges applicable). The phone also captures video clips with sound, and you can shoot video for as long as you have available memory or cap it at 30 seconds for sending via messaging.
Other features include:
SMS Voice and Text Messaging: Instantly send and receive SMS Text Messages across the room or across the country, anywhere in the Nationwide Sprint PCS Network. Text Message without typing. Send voice messages to any mobile phone or e-mail address.
Live Search for Sprint, powered by Microsoft, provides easy access to directory information on-the-go, GPS-enabled directions, interactive maps and one-touch click to call access
Wireless Backup to manage contacts list in the event that the phone is lost, stolen or damaged
WAP 2.0 web browser
T9 predictive text entry
72-chord polyphonic ringtones, vibration alert
Bilingual user interface (English, Spanish)
Downloadable content (wallpapers, ringtones, games)
USB connectivity with mass storage capabilities
Vital Statistics The Samsung M520 weighs 2.75 ounces and measures 4 x 2 x 0.5 inches. Its 800 mAh lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 3.5 hours of talk time. It runs on the 800/1900 CDMA/EV-DO frequencies.
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