The Samsung SCH-3500 was Sprint's most popular and widely praised phone. People flocked to the spaceage looking phone and was quickly Samsung's best seller. I was even dazzled enough to buy one as soon as I realized I needed a cellphone last summer. My review of the SCH-3500 can be found here: http://www.epinions.com/elec-review-4AB0-1198F84A-397685F1-prod3

Ah, but how quickly times have changed. As the rave reviews on the SCH-3500 began to stop, the negative feedback started arriving. It appears Samsung rushed this phone to get it out to the market in time for Christmas '99-'00 that it didn't work out all the kinks with this phone. As anyone who has owned the SCH-3500 will tell you, the flaws begin popping up. The wiring inside the earpiece was poorly made and after a couple months of usage it begins to become erratic. Erractic to the point where you have to adjust the earpiece once in a while in order to hear the person, although they can hear you fine. The two handles connecting the earpiece is also prone to pop out of its socket, something one could perceive when you touch it, as it does not feel as sturdy as other phones.

Months later, boy did Samsung learn their lesson. With months of engineering, out came the N200! Available in Metallic Blue or Spaceage Silver, it initially was priced at $200.00, about $50.00 more than the SCH-3500. A bit pricey for a phone, but well worth it. For starters, Samsung fixed all the problems that hanged over the previous model. The wiring is thicker and better places, the handles are more sturdier you can actually feel the improvements on it, and the paint seems to resist wear and tear better.

The N200 has all the features that the SCH-3500 had and more. They increased the display screen allowing up to 5 lines of text and more characters per line, eliminating the annoying thing that hampered their predecessor. Also, each name can store more than just one phone number, which I thought was a great addition. We all know some friends who we need to either call them at home, on their cellphone, their pager, ect. ect. The battery life on this phone is better than the SCH-3500 too, both in talk and standby time. The desktop charger is designed alittle bit boxy, but works and functions nevertheless.

Only little quirk I have is that this phone tries its best to find the best signal sometimes, you get more, "searching for service.." inside buildings and such than you would with the SCH-3500.

Overall, I am throughly satisfied with this phone. I wish I just had the foresight to buy warranty for the SCH-3500 so I could replace it with this phone for free instead of paying for another phone. I bought this on E-Bay new though, so I ended up saving about $75.00. Ended up buying it for $125.00. Although this phone is extremely stylish, as time goes on so does the novelty with it, as it no longer as the, "OHH! AHH!" coolfactor the SCH-3500 once did. But for anyone who has never seen the SCH-3500, you're bound to get those here and there. I recommend this phone to anyone!

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 125.00