Amazon.com Product Description
Sporting a clamshell design, the Samsung A717 offers a rich multimedia experience in an ultra-slim form factor. Its 3G high speed data capability makes it easy to stream, download and enjoy endless hours of music, videos, TV, radio and more. You’ll be able to access such AT&T services, such as Mobile Music, Cellular Video, access to MobiTV and MobiRadio. It will also support AT&T’s forthcoming Video Share service, which offers a one-way video stream during a mobile-to-mobile phone call. Currently the one of the slimmest 3G phones available from AT&T, the A717 measures just 0.5 inches thin (12.9mm) and weighs 3.3 ounces. It communicates over GSM/GPRS networks and offers global voice and data roaming in over 125 countries.
Watch streaming live television on the bright color screen, and send/receive video from another 3G-compatible video phone using AT&T’s Video Share service. |
Amazingly slim and lightweight, the A717 weighs just 3.3 ounces and measures 0.5 inches thin. |
The A717′s dual-band 3G connectivity (850 MHz, 1900 MHz) provides average download data speeds between 400 and 700 kilobits per second with bursts of more than 1 megabit through AT&T’s HSDPA (High Speed Download Packet Access) network. With AT&T’s MobiTV service, you can watch live television right on your cell phone, with content from such channels as MSNBC, CNBC, ABC News, FOX Sports, The Discovery Channel, and The Learning Channel.
And with the forthcoming Video Share service (to be fully available in the summer of 2007), you can send a live, one-way video stream to another compatible phone during a standard voice call. The service also allows you to switch the direction of the video stream during the same phone call. (Customers must be in an area served by the companyÕs 3G network and have a Video Share-enabled phone.)
AT&T’s Mobile Music service features connectivity that allows you to use Napster or Yahoo! Music to purchase and load music onto your phone. You can also sign up to subscribe to XM Radio or MobiRadio digital radio for streaming music and news radio wherever you roam. And with an AT&T 3G phone, you can watch your favorite music videos anytime, anywhere.
The A717′s external OLED screen provides operational info, including connection signal and battery life. |
The A717 has a main color TFT display underneath its clamshell that offers a 240 x 320-pixel resolution (with 262K colors), as well as a thin external OLED display (measuring 96 x 32 pixels) that provides information such as connection bars, battery life, and day and date. It has a 50 MB internan flash memory, and is expandable via MicroSD memory cards. The 2-megapixel camera can capture images up to 1600 x 1200 pixels, and it also offers a 4x digital zoom, multi-shot capability, self-timer, and video capability. Other features include:
- Mobile email capabilities and wireless internet access
- SMS and MMS messaging, as well as connectivity to AOL, Windows Life, and Yahoo! instant messaging services
- Headset jack and Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity for using a wireless communication headset
- Holds 1000 alphanumeric entries with support for up to 40 digits, 16 characters
- Last 20 incoming, outgoing and missed call logs
- 64-note polyphonic music tones/MP3 music tones
- Personal organizer (Calendar, Calculator, Currency Converter, Tasks, Note)
- Conference calling (1 + 5)
Vital Statistics
The A717 weighs 3.3 ounces and measures 4.1 x 2.12 x 0.5 inches. Its rechargeable battery is rated at up to 4 hours of talk time, and up to 250 hours of standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/GPRS/UMTS frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.
There are two sections to this review: 1) the actual phone, and 2) AT&T.
1) The phone: Samsung is continually making strides in their product lines, and their mobile phones are no exception, however, Samsung should and could have done much better with this phone.
Size: Decent, with a thin thickness, and an acceptable length, but a bit wider than it should be. The antenna is integrated within the housing so no protrusion is part of the case.
Ports: The charging port, located on the side, has multiple uses: Charging, and physical stereo headphone adapter, but therein reside the caveats as it requires a special jack to use line based headsets; if you use a Bluetooth stereo headset then there are no issues. Port adapters are so small, and directional, but too vaguely delineated to tell which side is the correct side to plug into the phone. There is a visual triangle marking the top side, but the matching Samsung car charger plug (at least on the ones that were sold as essential kit with the a Samsung Bluetooth earpiece) has the triangle reversed so remembering which is which is a chore; poor design at best.
Screen: the small screen located on the front cover of the case, when closed, is small, and only shows limited text information, and only if you have good eyesight. The main screen is nice, but not that large, with easy readability.
Camera: It is a 2 megapixel camera that takes good pictures, but there is no flash, no dedicated camera button, and you are required to access, scroll, and then select a button to take a picture–all which is too complicated, poorly designed, and a downright nuisance.
Speakerphone: Is there one? This is a joke of a feature that you would not miss it if they had left it out. You need optimal conditions, and do mean optimal, to even hear the tiny speaker–it is utterly useless. The confirming screen icon is so tiny it is hard to discern whether it is selected or not, made worse by trying to discern whether you are actually on speakerphone. Take a close look at the button layout shown in the pictures here, can you spot the speakerphone button?
Ear Listening Volume: Since my wife and I have two identical A717′s we have the opportunity to compare issues. The listening volume of the ear speaker can produce crackly speech from the other end which is quite annoying, and sounds as if the speaker is damaged; at other times it sounds fine. Generally, the volume of the phone when you have your ear clad close to it is weak. Another incredibly idiotic design aspect is that the speaker is not in the center, but offset to the left if you are looking at the phone with it is open. This makes no sense as you have to unnaturally hold the speaker either higher or lower near your ear (depending whether you are right or left-handed) whereby the speaker can be better heard. This follows no conventional pattern of handsets used throughout the world, and warrants an “F” grade in the terms of form following function.
Bluetooth: Excellent with easy discovery, pairing, and usage.
Keypad: The buttons work well exhibiting a nice detent feel when pressed, and are well lit.
OS: Hopefully, firmware updates will fix the following glaring issues:
a) When saving a contact with a single phone number the phone defaults it to be designated a mobile phone number versus the other selections, such as Work, Home, etc. There is no way to change this designation unless you have another number to add. Absurd if the number that you are saving is only a work number. The first phone number has to always be the mobile number, although that might not be the case.
b) When receiving a text message from someone who has multiple mobile phones you have to go out of the message section through a series of menus to the “Recent Calls” section to find out which number was the number used in the text message versus simply having the number indicated as part of the text message.
2) AT&T: Herein lies the rub, as this Samsung model is solely designed with AT&T as its sole provider, unless you have it unlocked. This means the AT&T “branding” commandeers precedence over every aspect of the phone, the operation of the phone, and its user–AT&T is everywhere: on the screen, in its menus; on the physical phone; in the phone directory as the first number in the directory; the first place on its menus as the first selection to shop, shop, shop, shop, shop till you drop at AT&T for all the things you really neither need nor want! This may seem amusing as you read this, but for a professional it is an insult to your intelligence that AT&T believes the user is so ignorant that they can place everything AT&T above the very function of the phone! It is analogous to visiting a theme park, and near the last days you are so sick of seeing your now no longer favorite theme park character, either in your face, on your napkins, on the walls–everywhere to get you to purchase a token of remembrance regarding your vacation. The difference being that you finally leave the theme park–here with your AT&T phone–you are subjected to its incessant branding to the point you want to throw the bloody phone against the wall!
Menus, Icons, and Buttons: There are far too many small icons to be remembered that never become second nature, and should never be allowed on any mobilephone. Menus abound, and abound. No cohesiveness brings all these important three critical aspects together–ever. It is as if someone at AT&T sat down and instructed Samsung, along with the developers’ of the phone’s operating system, intentionally directing the logical to the illogical in an effort to steer the user to the AT&T shopping abyss and supposed services.
To this end, Samsung would have been wiser not to have made a mobilephone to AT&T’s specs. And AT&T needs a real-world lesson in customer relations where they actually listen to what the customer needs, and attendance of classes taught by Edward Tufte. Too many missed opportunities to save the user unnecessary, time-consuming steps in the operability of the phone.
My wife, and I moved from our provider of more than eleven years to AT&T to ready for the next generation Apple iPhones (we are awaiting the next generation to allow Apple to further refine the iPhone), but we both feel this was a large mistake, and would return to our old provider if we could. In the long run we can only hope that Apple moves away from AT&T…we will be right behind Apple when they make the move.
Rating: 2 / 5
I got the phone roughly three days after its release. I paid roughly 300$ for it up front and have not regretted it since. Iv had the phone since early July and i still don’t think iv found all the features it has. Best advice i can give is go out and buy a 2 gig memory card and computer hookup. for 40$ you can have a very nice music player. i use mine constantly. Even thought it does look / feel thin i have dropped it a few times and it has never so much as scratched. The only downfalls it has is the camera has no flash : ( and the external display is very small and does not have external picture caller id. This phone literally does have way to many features to list .mp3 player, camera, video, beautiful color display, video conferencing, and more. I would strongly recommend this phone. 9/10
Rating: 5 / 5
This phone is slim and light and the display is beautiful. Google Maps works, besides GMail and other applications mentioned by other reviewers. The sound quality (transmit and receive) is great, except for the speakerphone at the two highest volume settings. The “whisper mode” (only accessible during a call), “call rejection”, and “increasing ring volume” features are nice for discreet usage.
Since other reviewers have covered most of the features, I will focus on my complaints:
The smooth keypad is no problem for ordinary dialing. But when I check voice mail at night, the keypad backlight turns off a few seconds into the first message, and then I’m lost. “7″ to delete is easy to remember if I keep my finger on it; but the others? The “C” (backspace) key is the only safe one to press during a call, and that’s somewhere in the middle.
The external display is not very useful. It’s hard to read in daylight. While it does show the signal strength, the battery life (three bars), and whether there is a message waiting, it doesn’t normally show the date and time: only when the flip is first closed or if you press and hold the volume up/down buttons on the side. When a call comes, the caller ID information scrolls, which causes me often to see only a portion of the name or number.
The user interface is annoying. Depending on the mode the phone is in, the menu item to delete a text message can be #4, #5, or #7, which almost doubles the number of keystrokes for this simple and oft-used function compared to my bare-bones Nokia 6010.
I don’t understand the rhyme and reason of the profiles (which cannot be renamed). Airplane mode is clear. But “Silent” actually means vibrate. “Normal”, “Car”, “Office”, and “Outside” all allow vibration or ringing or both. Unlike Nokia phones, there is no “ring once” or “beep once” notification on calls — this phone will continue to ring or vibrate or both until you answer, silence the phone, or allow the call to go to voice mail. Also, the notification sounds for messages (named “Pure”, “Clean”, “Fun”) cannot be set for calls, where you start with a choice of ten mostly obnoxious jingles.
The alarms can be set to allow a set number of “snooze” instances. However, once you have pressed “snooze”, there is no obvious, easy way to turn off the impending alarm without going to the alarm settings mode. The good thing is that the alarm volume (and days of the week) are set independently of the phone ringing volume.
The sound cannot be turned off when taking photos. The 2-megapixel (1600×1200) resolution is fine for snapshots, but it’s no replacement for a digital camera when I want to copy a page out of a library book.
Rating: 2 / 5
I have had this phone for about a week now and so far I’ve had no problems. There is the usual learning curve, especially since I’m coming from an LG series phone I had for 3 years.
I do have a few minor quibbles. The first one is no on board voice dialing. I liked that with my old phone. Granted I could subscribe to the Voice Dialing service from AT&T, but I’m to cheap.
Second the keys are a little to flush to the hand set for my tastes. My fingers tend to slide a bit.
On the flip side, (Pun intended), this is the first bluetooth phone I’ve owned. I purchased the plus pack from AT&T, primarily for the headset. I didn’t like that and took it back for another model, which I like a great deal.
None of my computers is set up with Bluetooth so I had to buy an add on Bluetooth adapter. It works great. I can move files to and from my phone which I wasn’t able to do with my old phone.
Another thing I like is the phone isn’t “crippled”. As I wrote above, I can move files onto and off of my phone. I wasn’t able to do this with my old phone and had to email pictures to a Verizon account.
The sound quality is good and having a speaker phone does make up for not having voice dialing.
As I wrote, I have moved from Verizon to AT&T. I had some connection problems at my parents house, but that is due more to geography then anything else. (I had the same problem with Verizon)
The phone is 3G capable, however that service isn’t available yet in my area. I haven’t tried the various internet access services and can’t comment on those. (Why surf the web from a cellphone?)
The camera is a 2 MegaPixal model and the pictures I’ve taken so far have come out fine. It isn’t an SLR camera, but for a quick pic it will do nicely.
I was able to get a decent deal since AT&T does do price matching. (I didn’t buy the phone through Amazon, but printed out the page and saved about $50)
The phone doesn’t have an LCD screen on the cover so you can’t do picture ID on a caller. Big deal. I can look at the number on the OLED screen and decide if i want to take the call.
All in all I like the phone and I do recommend it. If something comes up I’ll edit this posting.
ADDENDUM:
After I wrote this I started doing some serious file transfers via bluetooth. I had about half a charge left after a week of usage and moving about 50MB’s to the phone chewed up what was left. This isn’t surprising since exercising a phone this way will use power.
Since I was at my computer and my charger is here as well, I just plugged it in and continued working with the transfers and customizing my phone. Phone was recharged and ready to go in about 2 1/2 hours.
I did notice that using the bluetooth headset I bought didn’t bother the phone’s battery life in any way I could notice. Of course, I turn off the bluetooth feature when I’m not using it, which is most of the time.
Your mileage may vary.
Rating: 4 / 5