Review of the Samsung A920 Mobile Phone

The vast majority of America owns and has owned at least one cell phone. The days of Zach Morris' large gray mobile phone are long gone and in today's world, not only are cell phones small in nature, its almost standard that they do more than dial out. Unlike earlier models that were simply equipped with voicemail, call logs, and phonebook, the latest cell phones are chock full of extras designed in mind for the consumer.

Cell phones aren't always that simple though. Take the Samsung A920 (retailing at approximately $400). This is a very expensive phone for your average consumer. It is loaded with features, such as web access, video camera, picture taking capabilities, memory card, polyphonic ringtones (the actual song and words - not MIDI or similar), and speakerphone. It even comes with a transfer cord so you can put your movies onto your PC.

The pros: the camera has great quality (when transferred to PC), thirty second video, comes with a free memory card for data transfer. It also comes with a durable, reliable headset with two ear buds included for listening to MP3's or talking hands-free. The charger clips in snug to the phone, in addition to being able to be used by multiple chargers. It has two ports, one for round charger prongs, and a slim horizontal one.

The cons: This is one phone I wish I had checked out consumer reviews on. For all its bells and whistles, the Samsung A920 has a lot problems with their features. The included memory card is only 32 mb and doesn't hold much of anything (4-6 songs maximum). That movie feature? It's good on the phone, and you have that handy transfer cord, but it's pretty much useless unless you purchase an extra program to transfer the movies onto your PC. The speakerphone is well-known for blowing out quickly, making the sound quality static-like and quite annoying to hear. The movies also only record one level of sound: loud.

The microphone of the video feature is pretty much non-negotiable. Either no sound, or loud and static. The other major, and I do mean MAJOR, issue with this phone is that the battery life drains EXTREMELY fast. I use all caps because I want to impress on you that if you buy this phone, you most certainly will be purchasing a travel charger and you will pretty much have to have that on you at any given time. The issue of the battery life is the most infuriating. Even if you don't make a single call or play a game, this phone cannot last one full day. It simply cannot. When using this phone, it's a non-stop cycle of charging the phone: in the car, at home, every opportunity. If you want to be able to use this phone, you become a slave to plugging it into a charger every second.

The Samsung A920 is a tricked out, expensive phone, filled up with plenty of enticing features. Do not be enticed. Samsung spent a lot of time throwing little extras on this phone, but they didn't take the time to make them work cohesively. Any feature that does work seem to require extra purchases, in addition to the $400 you already spent. This was the worst phone I've ever owned and I urge you not to buy one. You will undoubtedly regret it and be that much poorer for it.