Need a CDMA phone in the US that also works in Europe? The Samsung SCH-a790 may be for you, if you can afford it. Larry Garfield and Sindre Lia give the question further study.
Exterior
The clamshell-design Samsung SCH-a790 has a very squared off design, making it feel wider than it really is at 86.3 x 50.8 x 25.4 mm. It's 119 gram weight, however, feels just as heavy as one would expect. The casing is generally square but tapers at the sides with a rounded bottom, making it feel blocky and ungainly, although the tapering on the inside of the edges makes one-handed opening easier. The material itself is slick black plastic and metalic silver plastic, giving it a very block-futuristic look.
 | Dual CDMA/GSM is the a790's best feature, and only major feature, in fact
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The front of the phone includes a large 16-bit color TFT for time and caller ID, while the internal screen is a large and bright 260,000-color TFT measuring 176 x 200 pixels and set against a black border. The keypad is also block-futuristic, consisting of thin silver strips split in half, each strip serving 3 numbers. The Send and End keys and menu keys are similarly simple strips, while the directional pad is a silver square. All keys but Send and End have a blue backlight, but the digits are large enough that it doesn't diffuse to the point of illegibility.
The right side of the phone includes a dedicated camera button, in addition to the camera button on the keypad itself, while the left side includes a volume rocker (which only supports vibrate on highest or no volume). The top of the phone, aside from the extending flexi-antenna, includes a headphone jack with a sliding cover rather than the usual rubber plug, a very elegant design. The front of the phone includes the very-small camera lens and LED flood light, but no vanity mirror.
As is common for Samsung phones, it ships with a charging cradle rather than a cable. Whereas cradles make more sense for handhelds, they seem odd and unportable for mobile phones, particularly ones that are so clearly intended for frequent travelers.
Ergonomics
The squared design of the SCH-a790, as mentioned, makes it feel larger in the hand than it really is as well as press the lower corner into the pad of the thumb uncomfortably. While the angle of the flip is good, the weight makes it somewhat difficult to hold for extended periods. The keypad is a surprise, however, and works quite well even for blind-dialing and texting. The directional pad, while odd-looking at first, also works well and the OK button in the center is well-positioned to give just the right amount of resistance.
Features
The SCH-a790's main claim to fame, of course, is its dual-CDMA/GSM design. The phone includes a dual-band CDMA 800/1900 MHz radio as well as a dual-band GSM 900/1800 MHz radio, the former intended for the US and the latter for Europe, Africa, and the Mid-East. Data service is available only via CDMA 1xRTT, not GPRS. US CDMA service is provided by Verizon, while GSM roaming is provided by Vodafone. Switching from CDMA to GSM mode is handled via a manual setting in the menu.
Other features are fairly standard for a CDMA phone, including text messaging, picture messaging, the OpenWave mobile web browser, 500-entry address book, a PIM suite, polyphonic ring tones, and downloadable games. A large set of generic ringtones is included, but no games or similar applications. Input is via either multi-tap or T9, with multi-tap favored throughout the system, and the phone supports speaker-dependent voice dialing or semi-independent digit dialing. Both IR and Bluetooth are notably absent, which is disappointing.
Performance
Voice quality of the SCH-a790 was not a problem, nor was CDMA reception. The same was true of GSM mode, with both signal reception and voice quality proving non-issues in testing.
The 0.3 megapixel camera is of decent quality, about average for comparable camera phones. However, the "flash", really a flood light, often causes a great deal of glare more often than not. In testing, we found that except in extremely low-light conditions the image came out better without it.
The removable Lithium Ion battery is rated for 3 hours talk time and 141 hours standby when using CDMA, or 5 hours talk time and 145 hours standby when using GSM. An extended battery is also available for longer talk times. In practice, the standby time proved a bit longer than rated at approximately one week while in GSM mode.
Availability
The Samsung SCH-a790 is available through Verizon Wireless in the United States for $349.99 with service agreement. GSM roaming charges will not be cheap, however, at $1.29 USD per minute in most areas.
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