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The EV-DO-capable SCH-A990 supports Verizon's 3G
For music fans, the V Cast Music store allows you to browse through its catalog of more than a million songs and download tracks to your phone wirelessly. However, it's pricey at $2 per song. If you can wait till you get home, you can purchase songs from your PC for a more reasonable $1, then transfer them to your phone. You can also transfer music from your own library using Windows Media Player 10, with one annoying stipulation; you have to convert any MP3 files to the WMA format. Another aggravation? You'll also need to purchase a USB cable since one isn't included, and we suggest you invest in a Micro SD card, as well, since these multimedia files tend to be memory hogs. The music player itself is pretty rudimentary; there are no options for tweaking the sound, but it displays album art and you can create playlists.
And let's not forget that behind all this multimedia talent, the SCH-A990 is still a phone. Its address book holds 500 names with room in each entry for five numbers, two e-mail addresses, and notes. For caller ID purposes, you can assign a group ID to each contact, as well as a photo or one of 12 ring tones. You also get a speakerphone, which you can turn on before making a call, a vibrate mode, voice dialing and commands, virtual business cards (VCards), and text and multimedia messaging. The SCH-A990 has integrated Bluetooth, but as is typical with Verizon, it doesn't support all OBEX profiles. You can use it for connecting to wireless headsets, Bluetooth printers, and dial-up networking. Other goodies include e-mail support, instant messaging, a calculator, an alarm clock, a stop watch, and a notepad.
You can customize the Samsung SCH-A990 with a number of wallpapers, themes, and sounds; in addition, you can change the backlighting time and font size. The phone supports BREW 3, but no games are included on the phone. Of course, you can always download titles, as well as other customization options, from the Web. Finally, if you're directionally challenged, you'll be happy to know the SCH-A990 supports Verizon's VZ Navigator GPS service.We tested the dual-band (CDMA 850/1900; Samsung SCH-A990 in San Francisco using Verizon's network, and call quality was great. We could hear our callers loud and clear, and our friends reported the same, adding that they couldn't even tell we were on a cell phone. Speakerphone quality was just as good, and we had no problems pairing the handset with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset.
Surfing the Web on the SCH-A990 was blazingly fast. Sites like CNET.com, ESPN.com, and nytimes.com loaded within seconds. Unfortunately, we didn't experience the same speed with the rest of the phone's functions. There was a noticeable lag when we launched the music player and skipped through tracks. Also, accessing the V Cast content was slow going, as it had to first get the content, then buffer the video. We also noticed on several occasions that the video and audio were out of sync. Music playback through the phone's speakers left much to be desired as songs sounded tinny, but audio quality improved when we plugged in Verizon's headset, though we must say, they were mighty uncomfortable.
The Samsung SCH-A990 is rated for 4.1 hours of talk time and up to 13 days of standby time. In our tests, we came in slightly under at 4 hours of talk time. According to FCC radiation tests, the SCH-A990 has a digital SAR rating of 1.09 watts per kilogram.
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