The Samsung SGH-A727 has a tiny screen, small keys and poor Web browsing performance. So why would we still recommend it?
Review summary of the Samsung SGH-A727:
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 If the Samsung SGH-A727 only made great sounding calls and couldn't manage any of its multimedia features, for that alone we would have been thankful. We won't spend any more time bashing the poor video quality, the uninviting music player or the unusable Web browser. Instead, we'll recommend this phone as a great calling phone for $50, and it does a few tricks on the side. Did the phone need the HSDPA to improve call quality? We remember much less impressive calling on the EDGE-only Trace, so perhaps the answer is yes. In any case, we'd recommend buying the phone, skipping on the data plans, and forgetting the 3G features are even there. Instead, enjoy the conversation. Release: June 2007. Price: $100.
Pros: Makes great sounding phone calls. Nice address book. Stereo Bluetooth.
Cons: Why 3G? The phone can hardly keep up. Poor music, streaming video and Web browsing experience.
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Full Samsung SGH-A727 Review:
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Design – Good
The Samsung SGH-A727 closely resembles the Samsung Trace on T-Mobile, another very slim candy bar phone with flat buttons and a slight hump at the top. Where the Trace caught us by surprise not only with its ulta-thin shell but also with its crisp, bright screen, the A727 fails to achieve the same shock value. It isn't as thin, and the screen isn't as large or bright, although it is richly colorful. The keys are less discrete and seem clumped together in rows. We prefer the matte black finish of the A727 to the dull champagne of the Trace, and we shouldn't underestimate the simple attraction of a thin new phone. Thankfully, AT&T has let Samsung have their way with the menus, so we get a multi-level hierarchy structure reminiscent of the rest of Samsung's Ultra line.
Calling – Very good
Here's an area where the SGH-A727 shocked us: the phone made superlative calls. Voice quality was excellent. The feedback level was just right, bringing us deeper into the conversation even with lots of background noise. Microphone placement was good, and we even found the speakerphone useful without being obnoxiously loud. We get asked frequently to recommend a phone that "makes great calls," as our friends say. Well this is it; it makes great calls. It's all downhill from here, but before we start bashing this phone, remember, it makes great calls.
It lacks voice dialing of any kind, and conference calling was less convenient than we'd like, but at least it was an option. The phone can use MP3 files as ringtones, but all of the musical tracks we sideloaded were too large to be used as a ringtone. The contact list was pretty good, with plenty of fields, including an address and Web page field. Also, the phone is capable of video sharing, though our AT&T account was not setup for this feature. Still, if you know anyone with another video share phone, like the SGH-A717 we recently reviewed, you can play you show me yours, hang up, call back I'll show you mine.
Messaging – Mediocre
The Samsung SGH-A727 has the same messaging suite we found to be average on the A717, only much, much smaller. IM is available via AIM, MSN and Yahoo, and the list is even longer for e-mail, though Gmail is inexplicably left out of the party. Typing on the tiny keypad required a bit of luck, which we had more often than not, though we would have been more comfortable with more tactile keys. Getting to our contact lists from the recipient fields was more of a pain than we like. We prefer live, active searching from the "To:" line.
Camera – Good
Unlike the pricier A717 flip phone, the A727 packs only a 1.3-megapixel sensor behind the camera lens. This might explain why pictures lacked some detail compared to its clamshell cousin, but doesn't excuse the dull colors and noise we got on our shots. We found some strange colors, especially in clear blue skies that purpled deeply. The phone packs a wealth of editing features, like red-eye reduction and sharpening, as well as blurring and oil painting effects. You can't e-mail a picture from the gallery, but if you want to print these uglies, you can do so over Bluetooth or USB.
Video – Poor
On the Samsung A717, our complaint was that the video stream didn't take up the entire screen. On the SGH-A727, AT&T's video offering comes through full screen, but the screen is so small that the situation is hardly improved. Playback was marred by constant stops and rebuffering, and we were disappointed that stereo Bluetooth did not work with the video player. We'd like to see a much better offering, especially considering the fast HSDPA network access available on this phone.
Music – Mediocre
We still appreciate that AT&T music phones can play tracks with PlaysForSure DRM from Napster and Yahoo music. To subscribers, this could be a useful feature, perhaps as useful as having the iTunes / iPhone combo, though we doubt it. Still, we'd be more excited if the phone's music player were more functional and compelling. We like the ability to rate tracks, but the player lacks the finesse of the Sony Ericsson Walkman player. Also, the phone comes up short in the XM streaming satellite radio offering. Though you can listen to 25 channels, you can't hear them over stereo Bluetooth headphones, which seems anachronistic.
Web browsing – Poor
Just looking at the phone, you can tell it isn't meant for Web browsing. The screen is too small, and the keys too tiny for typing. Perhaps that's why the Web browser is so feeble, choking first on our page, then finally dying as it tried to scarf down Slashdot and the New York Times mobile homepage. It's brother, the A717, suffered the same affliction. Scrolling long pages was a drag, and the rendered text looked kind of goofy. Images were also surprisingly grainy, given the sharp wallpapers we'd seen on the phone.
Price and availability
The Samsung SGH-A727 is available from AT&T Wireless for $100 with a contract. A mail-in rebate of $50 is available, when signing up for a qualifying plan.
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