Product Review: Samsung M520 Cell Phone

My wife and I finally gave in and bought new cell phones. It had only been four years since we bought our first cell phone, and the ones we owned were three years old. Even THOSE phones were models that were made two years prior. Basically, we have been behind the power curve on cell phones!

Anyway, with our new, updated contract with Sprint PCS, we were able to get discounts in order to upgrade to quality phones that did more than just answer calls. After a few nights of research, I settled on the Samsung M520. And I must say that the research so far has paid off!

The Samsung M520 I purchased came in a dark silver color. It is a slider-type phone about the length of my hand and the width of my thumb. Slider cell phones are convenient because you can get a large display screen without having to sacrifice space for a keypad since it slides underneath the screen. It is a very practical design feature in the Samsung M520.

The display screen in the Samsung M520 is very easy to use on basic set up. The 12 icons are not too small and the initial color scheme is easy on the eyes, sticking tosoft hues on a black background without feeling to child-like or teeny bopper-ish.

The Samsung M520 camera feature is good but not great. Although it is relatively easy to take photos with the 1.2 mega pixel camera (there is a tiny mirror next to the lens so you can focus on self-portraits), the quality is not outstanding. Then again, I only paid $89 for my phone so I can't expect it to do everything perfectly!

Web access on the Samsung M520 is not a problem, either. It is slow at times but I think that has to do more with your contract company than the phone manufacturer. Since the keypad buttons are good-sized, it doesn't take long to get to where you are going, as opposed to other phone models that have a full QWERTY pad but have keys so small you have to re-type over and over. The Samsung M520 was smart to stick to the game plan of usability versus fancy features. I can access news, weather, and even watch a decent video on the Samsung M520.

I am very happy with my Samsung M520 so far and haven't found any major flaws. The access port for the charger is a little annoying to me because it looks like it can snap off at any second, but other than that this is a good phone for the price, even at full retail of around $200.