If you"re looking for superior multimedia capability wherever you go, look no further than the Samsung SYNC SGH-a707, one of Cingular"s first high-end 3G flip phones. This high-speed, media rich phone features quad-band world phone connectivity, while its domestic UMTS and HSDPA capabilities will allow you to download data at speeds only dreamed about before. In fact, because the a707 supports the HSDPA protocol for high-speed data transfer, you"ll be able to stream TV and high-speed video, and more, straight to the a707. Packaged in a stylish clamshell design, the a707 phone is the ultimate multimedia device, and the perfect complement to Cingular Wireless service.

Design
The a707 design takes the standard clamshell form factor to the next level with its impressive media and data capabilities while maintaining a stylish and cool exterior. A large 240 x 320 full-color display with over 262,000 colors dominates the inside of the top cover. The outside cover of the handset sports a supplementary external display that can display time, call information, battery and signal strength, and more. The external screen can even be set to display a large analog clock. A TransFlash/MicroSD memory card slot is located on the right side of the phone while a 2.0-megapixel camera lens is housed above the external display. Most of the phone"s features and on-screen menus are controlled by a five-way center button on the handset"s control pad. Lastly, charging and USB data cable ports are placed on the bottom of the phone, keeping the phone"s design compact and portable.

Calling Features
The a707"s internal phone book can hold up to 1000 contacts while the phone"s picture ID system allows you to assign pictures to your most common callers. It also supports polyphonic ringtones, and comes stock with unique ringtones built right into the unit, while more ringtones can be downloaded from Cingular Wireless" MEdia Net service. For times when you want to be discreet, there"s a vibrating alert, and a built-in speakerphone makes it easy to talk without having the phone to your ear.

Because the a707 is Bluetooth enabled, wireless headsets can be configured with the phone for total handsfree operation.

Messaging, Internet, and Tools
The a707 is a messaging and wireless Internet powerhouse. With UMTS and HSDPA support built right into the phone, you"ll be streaming and downloading at speeds so fast your head will spin. When used in combination with one of Cingular"s MEdia Max plans that supports Cingular Video and MobiTV (additional Cingular charges apply), the a707 will allow you to play high-quality news clips, sports clips, weather clips, and more--right on your phone. And with Cingular"s exclusive partnership with HBO Mobile and HBO Family Mobile, you"ll never be at a loss for something good to watch.

Into sending and receiving pictures, text, graphics, and sound and video via messages? When used in combination with the phone"s built-in still and video cameras, MMS opens up a whole new world of messaging fun. Instant messaging is also supported via AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, and ICQ (Cingular messaging charges apply). There"s also a built-in Web browser for MEdia Net downloads and mobile web browsing. Cingular"s MEdia Net service lets you do more than just stream videos--it lets you receive and send emails, read news headlines, get weather updates, download games and ringtones, and more. A predictive text entry system that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built into the unit--a plus for mobile email and text messaging users.

Getting on the Internet with your laptop or PDA is easy with the a707. When used with a Cingular data plan and the phone"s Bluetooth or USB data capability, the phone can be used as a wireless modem for laptops and PDAs.

A number of handy software tools are bundled with the a707 including a voice memo recorder, a calculator, a calendar, and an alarm clock. Use the phone"s Bluetooth capability to set up a wireless link with a Bluetooth accessory or connect to a computer or hand-held device to exchange and synchronize data.

Imaging and Entertainment
With features like 29 MB of built-in memory, and a preloaded mp3 player, the a707 shines in the entertainment department. When the feeling strikes you, jam out to your favorite music on the unit"s advanced mp3 player, and because the a707 sports a microSD/TransFlash memory card slot, you can load up all your favorite music and bring it with you (memory cards sold separately). And because the phone supports MobiRadio, in addition to streaming video and TV, you can listen to your favorite radio station via the supported digital radio service (additional Cingular charges apply).

The phone"s 2.0-megapixel camera features still photo and camcorder capabilities, so you can capture all those soon-to-be priceless memories. Capture stills and then send them to your friends via MMS messaging or email, or to your PC via USB or Bluetooth. The a707 also supports custom graphics for wallpapers so you can dress up the phone to suit your fancy. Support for Java gaming is built into the phone and games are available for download via the Cingular MEdia Net service.

The a707 also sports an airplane mode feature, which allows you to safely use the non-wireless functions of a phone (such as music, games, or organizer functions) on an airplane during flight.

UMTS Wireless Broadband Coverage
Learn More about where UMTS coverage is offered.

Warning: If you want to enjoy the full audio and video capabilities of your UMTS phone, please select a MEdia Max service plan option during checkout. If you do not sign up for a MEdia Max service plan option, you will be paying per KB when you use the over-the-air UMTS audio and video features on your phone (upwards of $10 per minute).

Vital Statistics
The Samsung SGH-a707 weighs 3.49 ounces and measures 3.72 x 1.99 x 0.65 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4 hours of digital talk time, and up to 240 hours of digital standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 850/1900 WCDMA frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.

REVIEWS:
1) Love this phone! Stinker for texting though...: I love my Sync! I bought one in September, its my first phone with "toys." Previous phones have all been inexpensive and functional, nothing more. I bought a 2 gig micro-SD for it, loaded it with music and photos, and now I find it hard to be separated from it! I"m a stay at home mom in her 30"s, I"m not much of a techie, but I sure love this gadget!

The only downside is if you like to text, its a real pain to add recipients. There are several menu options you must go through before you can get to your address book when texting. Even if you try to enter texting via the address book, its still a few steps before you can begin. That"s the only flaw--otherwise, the text predictor is great, the camera is fantastic for a cellphone at this price, and its a whiz to use. I let my kids play with the music feature when they"re bored in the store--even my seven year old can navigate it.

I also love all the sound profiles--I love having multiple options based on where I"m using the phone.

Oh, one last gripe. I hate AT&T for placing their logo on the front screen anytime the phone is opened. I like AT&T, but I paid them for this phone. I do not want to walk around advertising for them.
2) Okay phone, terrible AT&T service: Little background information:
I live in a medium-size metropolitan area in the deep South where there is no 3G coverage. I bought this phone before Cingular was bought out by AT&T, so you can see I"ve had it for six or so months.

On to the review:
I bought this phone after doing a ton of research. I"m a techie, and I"ll spend weeks researching to find the product that meets my price/performance/featureset balance. This phone struck that balance pretty well: Two MP camera, ability to play MP3s and WMAs, plus (from what I"d read) decent call quality.

The camera is nice. No flash and the pictures tend to lean towards a green color saturation, but they"re very nice for a camera phone and the green hue isn"t egregious. This was actually one of the main reasons I bought the phone, and I"ve not been disappointed in the slightest.

The MP3 and WMA capabilities are also very nice. The player comes with a built-in player that does a pretty good job of organizing and playing your music. I"m sure there are some great java applets out there that play music much better, but I don"t care that much to look. Regardless, many a time when I was without one of my real MP3 players, I would load up an artist or album on my sync, hit the play button, then close the phone and clean or cook or whatever I had going on. The play quality was decent and the speakerphone reproduced the sound as well as one could expect. I would say the music-playing capability of this phone is close to top-notch.

Call quality is much worse than I had read. Many times I can barely understand the other end, and my phone conversations are accented by more "whats?" and "huhs?" than any other phone I"ve ever owned. The sync seems to do really well when you have a strong signal, but three bars or less and it sounds as if the other end is completely mumbling. I think this is partly because of the phone and partly because of AT&T"s terrible service. Several other people in my office don"t use AT&T, and they can always tell when someone in the office is using an AT&T phone because of how often that person has to repeat themselves. I doubt it"s lack of 3G because these non-AT&T coworkers don"t have 3G either. It"s very frustrating to spend more of your cellphone conversations repeating yourself and asking the other person to speak more slowly and clearly than you spend actually talking, but like I said, I don"t know how much of that is the phone and how much is AT&T.

Other problems:
About a month into owning this phone, I would completely lose signal while in the middle of the call. The other person could hear me, but I couldn"t hear them. The phone would lose all signal and I would have to power-cycle the device to reacquire it. This would happen on almost any call longer than 30 minutes. This began happening maybe a few weeks after Cingular"s service was switched over to AT&T service, so I suspect that may have been the problem. The phone doesn"t exhibit this behavior much anymore, though it does occasionally crop up.

The problem I have with it now is that it loses data signal about an hour after it"s turned on. This sucks for me, as I pay for the unlimited MediNet so that I can surf the web, check email, get directions, or whatever else I need. Again, the only way to fix it is to power-cycle the phone. The phone began exhibiting this behavior roughly a month ago and has not stopped.

The menus are entirely too complicated. You have to go through at minimum five menus just to send a text message, even if you use the little shortcut menu. I"m a software developer who"s worked on websites and windows applications, so I feel no sympathy for Samsung for not having an easily navigable user interface.

Having to hold the volume button for four seconds to have the front LCD come on so you can check the time or for missed messages is absolutely inexcusable. I can only assume that this was done to extend battery life, but it"s ridiculous. Who holds down a button for four seconds just to see what time it is?

The batter charger uses a proprietary plug. While I absolutely detest this practice, it"s been the norm for manufacturer"s of USB devices for several years, and I don"t think it"s going to change. If you"re like me, you already have a shoebox full of all the different phone chargers for all of the phones you"ve owned/still own, and this will be another to add to your collection.

In all, this phone is barely above okay. As great as the camera and music-playing capabilities are, if a phone fails in it"s main responsibilities of cellular phone calls, then it"s not much of a cell phone. It really saddens me to have to replace this phone, as I love it"s features and could live with its overly complicated menu structures if the call quality wasn"t so terrible. But like I said, if a cell phone doesn"t make decent calls, then it"s failing in its main area of responsibility.


3) Sync Bad Phone and AT+TService!!: BAD phone/Sevice! Renewed my Cingular/AT+T service with 2 of the Samsung SYNC A707 devices with AT+T. Been 45 days and could not be more disappointed! Very Poor quality! been through 2-3 batteries each phone and now one does not get any signal (eventhough bars showing). Spend many hours with AT+T tech - since over 30 days AT+T/Samsung not very helpful at all. I read these reviews everytime I purchase something new -please DO NOT get this phone or AT+T service!
4) Charge Lasts Forever!: I love this phone! The color is pretty, the sound is great, and the battery on this thing lasts forever! If I"m not using the phone much, it can wait two weeks before it gets charged; if I use the phone once a day or a couple of times a week, it lasts a week on a charge; it"ll still last two or three days on a charge if you"re a heavy user. I can only think of two negative things about this phone, one being the fact that the battery charger shares the same slot as the earbuds. That means you can"t use your earbuds and charge your phone at the same time if you"re in the car. The other con is that this phone offers limited characters when text messaging. Some of the most common symbols, such as the parenthesis or the "and" symbol aren"t present, while there seem to be an abundance of the symbols one doesn"t seem to need. Who uses the greater than or less than symbol when text messaging??? I would definitely get this phone again, though!
5) love it!!!: i have had this phone for a few months now, and i swear i love it more and more every day!!!. i have had other phones and this one by far is the best!! with my last phone i was so used to the bad reception, to the point where the only place i could get a signal in my home was if i was standing by the window in my bedroom literally. i always have good reception with this phone, it has only dropped a couple of calls. i can go a full week before i need to charge my phone. i think that for a phone it takes really great pictures. it has a large display, with big keys(my mom who has the same phone absolutley loves this about it) texting and e-mailing from a phone has never been easier. i will say i do wish that i could arrange the address book how i want it and get rid of all of the pre-set contacts. but all in all i love this phone, and my mom who dropped hers and busted the front display screen still thinks that this is the best phone ever

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