The Samsung MM-A900 (aka Blade)
By Ryan Block 
posted November 11th 2005 9:00AM
posted November 11th 2005 9:00AM
Since Sprint refuses to give up the official launch deets for the Samsung MM-A900 (aka the Blade), we had to take it upon ourselves to hook you guys up. Ok, so a very reliable tipster gave us the deets, but either way the A900 will indeed have EV-DO, a QVGA display (which, if our trig is right, is 2.3-inches), 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 128MB flash memory, and 64MB RAM. They claim up to 3 hours talk time out of the 3.86 x 2.01 x 0.57-inch device, which ain't too shabby, but while they didn't list a price, Sprint was very clear about one thing: no one is supposed to call this thing the Blade anymore. It's the Samsung MM-A900. Ok, whatever guys, we're gonna still call it the Blade, though, so tough.
when will this come out in boston? does any1 know?
javen, when did u get it or ben from NC
is it as good as it looks?
Can't find this phone in the Chicago area. I've called like 20 stores. Most seem to think they'll get it at the end of next week and retail for $349.99.
Javen,
Where are you getting the phone for $179.99? I keep hearing $349 retail.
The top 200 Sprint stores received inventory early, from what I hear, and the rest of the stores should get it in next week or so. In Chicago, Geneva, Lansing, and a few others had it--though most did not.
$349 is the list price. With 2 years of service, it goes at $199. With a special launch promo, it is $179.99--according to sales reps.
CORRECTION: There is no 270 MB memory bank for downloads. Total is 58.3 MB (11 MB for "my content" downloads and 47.3 for "mass storage"). The larger capacity was told to me by sales rep when I first got it but I subsequently verified it to be what I quoted in this posting (58.3 MB). Must have been from an earlier spec of the phone prior to launch.
I LOVE the BLADE.. It is indeed as good as it looks. My wife will be getting one as well and I have heard from both sides of extended family that are switching to Sprint due to this phone alone. Reception has been great (I live in western suburbs of Chicago) and I truly forget sometimes that the phone is with me, as it is so light and has the same dimensions as my trim wallet.
Speakers are loud and extremely clear for MP3 player--I had it maxed out in volume playing "Pretty Vegas" (INXS) and had no distortion. It won't win a dB shootout, but if you desire clarity at a loud volume, it won't disappoint.
Outside MP3 playback controls will take you to online Sprint music store unless you first launch Media Player and select a song. After that, you can use the lid controls for local MP3s.
This phone is definitely a top performer. Sexy looks, serious specs to back it up (especially against the component-anemic RAZR which I was considering before my BLADE), great reception, and a conversation piece. I am very happy with it!
One more comment to address posting #49:
It does indeed have speakerphone. When you dial a number and it connects, you can press "options" soft key and the first option is "speaker on". Unlike a few other Sprint offerings, this one stays on when the lid is closed.
Does this phone come with an upgradeable memory card that I could plug into my comp and use as storage or upload mp3's from my comp and use as ringtones?
-Thanks
Can I move audio files and pictures taken with the phone back and forth between the phone and a PC using USB cable?
Can I set mp3 files as ringtones?
Ordered mine from Sprint today. $365.21 was the total price on this bad boy. Fortunately my old Sanyo 8100 will give me an upgrade rebate of $150.00 dropping the cost down to $215.21.
Still the most expsensive phone I've ever purchased! Can't wait, should be here tomorrow the sales rep said.
I saw it on sprint's site, cool to think that they made a cdma phone with all those features just 0.03 of an inch thicker than the gsm RAZR. The thin-phone market is about to blow up in CDMA providers with sprint getting the blade, alltel getting the v3c, and verizon says they're going to soon follow suit with alltel. However, the blade's camera is much cooler than the v3c and I'm not going near it if i can get a blade instead, especially since motomixer hates cdma phones, and that's half the razr's advantage compared to the blade
plus sprint's evdo network is cooler
I have a samsung vm-a680. Its kinda lyke dis fone. Tha thing i dunt understand bout wuht wun of u said iz dat we have to go to optinonz den click speakerfone. Dey shouldve jus maid dey own speakerfone button lyke at da left syde wen u makin a kall
I used sprint.com and ordered 3 of these fonez with family plan and itt kame up to $600
I have searched most of the weekend to find software so I can download my 200 phone numbers to the a900. Even though it comes with USB cable, not providing software to enter datafrom the PC is totally pathetic. Sprint could not transfer my numbers!
And most of the time I find myself saying "what?" due to the rotton sound quality. From reading all the blogs it is clear folks are more interested in how their phone looks than how it works. OK camera, pretty good multimedia, lots of bells and whistles. SOUND QUALITY WORSE THAN MY 5 YEAR OLD SAMSUNG!!!!!
where is the miniSD slot....someone please tell me
also...where is the usb slot.....i dont have the phone, but i looked at it in the store...someone just please answer the questions...
Just got the A900 the other day. I am very impressed.Easy to use, incredible color screen,Sprint power vision is fast. This is the cell phone we have been waiting for...only complaint is the little removeable cover to charge the phone is diffilcult to open. other than that I highly recommend this phone to Sprint users.
#61 "I have a samsung vm-a680. Its kinda lyke dis fone. Tha thing i dunt understand bout wuht wun of u said iz dat we have to go to optinonz den click speakerfone."
...you're retarded. learn to type. really. who would want to decode you're dumbass wannabe slang?
anyway, this phone looks alright... miniSD might sell me on it, but i'm not sure. i also wonder about having to pay an extra 25 a month to get EVDO... not for TV or any of that useless crap, just for high speed web access... right now vision is FREE... and so it's NOT just a $10 extra charge a month, it's a 25 dollar increase, which seems pretty shitty.
Anybody tried using this phone as a modem for their laptop?
haha.. funny comments..
this phone did not rip off idea from motorola
motorola ripped off idea from this phone.
fyi, this phone was released in South Korea about 3 years ago pretty long before razr came out. so.. know before you guys speak please..
heh. i wonder who'll rip off the design of Samsung SPH-B2550 or SPH-V8400... maybe sony?
Javen, when you say you have used the phone with your imac do you mean you have used it with isync or some other way? I'm thinking about the phone but would really like to know if it is syncable with the mac and what, if any features sprint might have disabled. thanks.
no one knows where the miniSD slot is located?
if no one responds to this....can i assume that sprint is lying and this phone doesnt have a miniSD slot?
I've been doing some experiments with the a900 and mac os x (10.4). Apparently it will not work with isync at all. However, it will function fine as a Bluetooth modem out of the box, os x detects the phone and DUN service correctly in the Bluetooth device setup. Although isync will not work, you can still use the Bluetooth File Exchange utility to drag and drop your contacts from the address book to the phone (you must first change the vCard format to 2.1 in the preferenes). You can also use the same utility to transfer any media files to the phone, but as with the USB cable, you will not be able to access them from the phone.
Here is a whole thread about it. http://www.sprintusers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=83300
this phone is so cool. a couple things: 1) tethered to laptop with my own samsung USB cable [which has data AND power] i got CRAZY fast speeds of 100kiloBYTES/sec so thats about 800kbps to an ftp site.
2) usb cable that comes with it does not power your phone from your laptop's USB but no big deal - can easily buy a cable that does. I used the same cable from my old samsung vga1000 phone
have no complaint about quality of voice...sounds peachy to me....
I am now trying to figure out how to get my OWN mp3 as a ringtone.... ... hmmmm
How do I transfer my phone#'s from say MS Outlook to the A900? What software will it work with?
I got the phone yesterday, and I enjoy it so far. However, 2 big issues (among other smaller ones)
1. when I make or recieve phone calls, the phone number shows up with all types of different color on each individual number. The phone number looks like a rainbow, and I'd rather have a solid color. Not sure why they did this, but I haven't found an option to change this yet.
2. I'm still trying to figure out how to set MP3's as ringtones. I've imported files from my pc to the phone and I've found a way to play them. I even "bought" a song from the sprint store, but still - can't find a way to set it as a ringtone, which is absolutely ridiculous. I haven't tried to "buy" a new ringtone, as they dont let you preview it, so I have no idea how it sounds, or if its an mp3 or what.
If I can't set mp3's as ringtones, I may just think of returning this phone. (too bad I just agreed to a 2 year contract and new service plan)
can anyone help?
does anybody no where I can go in download the
drivers and software the samsung a900.
"The phone number looks like a rainbow, and I'd rather have a solid color. Not sure why they did this, but I haven't found an option to change this yet."
Menu > settings > display > dialing font > basic > color > *(your choice)*
pretty straight forward
Any news on when the a900 problem "communication channel is not enabled" will go away?
Any news on when the a900 problem "communication channel is not enabled" will go away?
Anyone know when the "communication channel has not been enabled" problem will be fixed? I cant send or upload pics either!
Anyone know when the "communication channel has not been enabled" problem will be fixed? I cant send or upload pics either!
Anyone know when the "communication channel has not been enabled" problem will be fixed? I cant send or upload pics either!
Anyone know when the "communication channel has not been enabled" problem will be fixed? I cant send or upload pics either!
Great looking phone, I was tinkering with it at the sprintstore....I think I'm gonan afinally upgrade to this thing. But the super pushy and friggin annoying sales woman at the encinitas sprint store in San Diego made me walk out...."youre gonna buy it huh? Huh?!? You want it? You want it???" ....get bent
Great looking phone, I was tinkering with it at the sprintstore....I think I'm gonan afinally upgrade to this thing. But the super pushy and friggin annoying sales woman at the encinitas sprint store in San Diego made me walk out...."youre gonna buy it huh? Huh?!? You want it? You want it???" ....get bent
While phone is open is the external display supposed to stay on or turn off?
I just got the phone its hot and feels great. I dont buy samsung phone's due to the fact they dont get good reception, but this one is real good in that area. The sound and ear piece is great also. But the cover over the charger connection is frail. I'm glad I changed phones
"does anybody no where I can go in download the
drivers and software the samsung a900."
I read somewhere it uses the same drivers as the older Samsung phones
I LOVE THIS THING SO FAR! 350.00 IS ALOT THOUGH
Marvin & Headsets
You can download the driver here:
http://www.samsungwireless.com/a900download
Remember that you need to install the software first, connect via usb, then go to menu/tools/mass storage/connect to pc.
Good Luck!
where can I buy one for less than $350? I want to buy one for my wife.
If you're a new Sprint customer, it is $200.00. If you're a current Sprint customer, you can get the following rebates depending on how long you've had your current phone:
1 year - $75.00 (making it $275.00)
2 year - $150.00 (making it $200.00)
Sprint is also offering a $50.00 trade-in on your existing phone if it is not too old. Mine was a Samsung VGA-1000 so that I'd had for two years, so my total was $150.00. Best Sprint phone I've ever had!
does anyone know if one can load in their address book onto their blade? sprint doesn't have the phonebook transfering software yet!!
So will this new phone work with my car? Acura says the A940 does not work at all and fails to implement the Bluetooth Hands Free Protocol! Anyone tried it yet?
where can i buy this phone from WITHOUT contract. Thanks
Ew, that's an ugly knockoff!
I have a couple of questions:
1) Will this phone be offered in any other colors besides black?
2) Can you make Mp3s into ringtones?
3) How is the reception in Manhattan?
For all of you who are dissapointed with the a900's battery life, check this out: http://cgi.ebay.com/Battery-Pack-for-Samsung-a900-Car-Charger-Included_W0QQitemZ5852245044QQcategoryZ64355QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I just got the phone myself and I think it's excellent.
To answer the many questions regarding MP3s as ringers: NO, you can't use a personal MP3 transfered via USB or even a song purchased via the Sprint music store as a ringer. I assume this is because it might detract from Sprint's ringer download business.
I bought the A900 right before New Years and returned it right after. From the feature standpoint the phone is outstanding. It does everything I want a phone to do for the most part. The one thing that kills this phone is the battery life. I'm a Sales Engineer and cover the West coast. I spend a lot of time on the road and phone. Without even using the media player I would drain the charge before lunch. If you use the media player you can drain it in minutes. I see this phone dying out rather quickly because of this issue. I went back to my trusty Treo.