I *heart* My Samsung 3500 Cellular Phone (Updated 12 July 2001)
Written: Nov 21 '00 (Updated Jul 12 '01)
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Pros: lightweight, durable
Cons: issues with older phones
The Bottom Line: The Samsung 3500 is a feature-loaded phone at the "right price".
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| vein's Full Review: Samsung SCH 3500 CDMA / AMPS Cellular Phone |
When I was looking to purchase a new dual band phone in December of 1999, I did quite a bit of research. There was a feature I had to have – the phone had to be a flip phone, first and foremost to prevent damage to the keys in my purse, in addition to prevent the need to constantly lock and unlock my phone. In addition, I really wanted the ability to see who was calling without opening up the flip; I needed a phone that would worth in both digital mode as well as analog mode; and the phone had to be small enough not to take up most of the room in my small purses.
At only 4.4 inches tall and 5.5 oz weight, the Samsung 3500 offered by Sprint PCS had all of these features and more. This phone had it all - it was web enabled, a stylish silver colour, good talk time at 2.5 hours and good standby time at 130 hours, voice automated dialing, redial features, and a retractable antenna. The sound quality of the 3500 was also far superior to that of other phones I tried - beating even Motorola phones hands down. No other phone I tried out or researched had the amount of features the 3500 did for the cost - only $149.
When the phone arrived at my doorstep two days after purchase from the Sprint PCS website, I was not disappointed. A few minutes was all it took to learn how to access the features on my phone, with minimal help from the instruction manual. I measure a products ease of use on how many times I needed to take out the manual; with only a few glances at the well laid out manual, I was good to go. The phone book was first configured – to my joy (and amazement) it allowed 179 numbers – each number could be up to 32 digits, with the description of the number allowed 12 characters. The voice quality was outstanding, even from indoors, and the volume went up quite high if needed.
The display, a smallish 4-line screen (for text), was quite easy to read and was backlit when the flip was opened. In addition, as with the other configurable options, the backlight could be set in a variety of ways – from the light not coming on at all to the light staying on through the whole phone call.
The main “ingredient” to get the phone up and running was free with the purchase of the phone – a desktop charger with room for a phone attached to the battery, and another slot for a spare battery not attached to the phone. Both batteries could be charged at the same time, without the fear of overcharging. A light on the charger would go from red to green when the battery was charged. Besides the visual indication, the battery would automatically quit charging itself any further, preventing many problems with excess heat, a lowered battery life, and even the possibility of fire. A hand strap that attached to the phone at the upper corner was also included, but seemed fairly useless – I didn’t want to carry around a phone on my wrist all day, after all.
The Samsung 3500 has a wide selection of rings programmed into the phone. Unlike some phones, however, new ring tones were not available for download (or programming). From classic songs to assorted rings, a new ring could be chosen for each type of call – this phone does allow for the ability to program a ring for calls that have caller id, calls that do not have caller id, calls you receive in roaming, voicemail messages, text messages, and pages. The main hassle with all of the options would be remembering which tone or song went with which option. Another “plus” to people in a classroom or meeting situation would be the vibrate feature of the phone – configurable to vibrate when a call or voice mail message has been received.
Another added bonus to the phone most likely made business travelers cheer – the phone doubles as an alarm, allowing the ring or song of your choice to go off at a pre-set time. The other “plus” for the business traveler is in the form of a memo recorder – the 3500 will hold up to 10 one-minute messages at a time.
An important feature of the phone has certainly saved many people hundreds of dollars. When in analog roam, each call made of received costs extra, in addition to your normal plan costs. To prevent accidental calls, the Samsung 3500 allows the user to set the phone to stay in the Sprint PCS area – disabling any roaming capability. If you would prefer not to disable the analog roam feature, you can set your phone to give an audible sound when it first enters analog roam, as well as when the phone returns to the Sprint PCS network.
Of use to the wise person watching their minutes is the minute beep as well as the time tracker. The minute beep, when set, gives a quiet yet audible beep at every minute, allowing the user to loose track of time less easily than with no time indication. The time tracker starts when the number is entered and the “Talk” button is hit. It tracks the time on the display until you hang up, where it is viewable for a few seconds more. Because calls from the Sprint network are not charged if you hang up before someone answers, your time tracker will be slightly off, however, it’s a good way to get the general idea of your monthly usage. It can easily be reset at any point you choose.
The range on this phone is excellent. With the antenna fully extended, I was able to get a decent signal in analog mode from the shores of Lake Superior in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a favourite spot of tourists that has very few cell towers. Granted, the battery does not last very long when in talk mode on analog roam, but that was where the optional car charger came in handy. With my previous cell phone (a Motorola analog phone) I was never able to get a signal from almost the same spot, from the same analog provider. This phone has consistently been able to receive signals from the same provider when other phones have not been able to.
This phone has terrific battery life, even with the non-extended life battery. I use my phone quite often and have it on all day (and night) - at most, I have to place the phone in the cradle charger for 3 hours every 3 days with fairly heavy usage. The battery life has been reduced quite a bit, which is normal considering the phone is now a year and a half old and still on the original battery.
My Samsung 3500 is holding up quite well despite over a year of usage. I know there were issues with these first phones, but mine has thankfully not seen any of them. With the first production of these phones, the arm that attached the flip part to the main unit often broke (as was recently experienced by my significant other, also a 3500 owner).
Under normal wear, many people reported volume getting dim over time, to the point that hearing someone on the other end was impossible. My phone has experienced neither problem, thankfully. The one-year warranty that is sold with all of these is adequate for the newer models, but often the older models broke just past that one year mark, forcing the customer to purchase a new phone.
To top it off, despite dropping the unit from at least 5 feet off of the ground at least 3 times (remember not to try to hold a phone when the wind chill is -10 with no gloves on) there are no scratches on the face plate and only one small chip was created on a corner by the latest fall. The battery was knocked off in all cases of falling and I was paranoid my phone would no longer work - every time it turned on with no problems.
I recently switched my Sprint PCS plan and thought for all of 5 minutes of changing phones to something "new and better" until I realized one important detail - there is nothing new that is better than my Samsung 3500 unless I switch providers and pay over $400 for a phone with a caller ID display on the outside.
Because this phone has been around for longer than most, cheap accessories are readily available – leather cases, holsters with belt clips, hands-free car kits, earbud headsets, travel chargers, and wireless web kits for your laptop are all readily found.
With the latest batch of 3500's having been corrected for the volume and arm problem, I highly recommend this phone. The Samsung 3500 is a small and compact phone loaded with features at the right price - perfect for anyone looking for a new cellular phone.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 149
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Epinions.com ID:
vein
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Courtney
Location: Detroit, MI
Reviews written: 88
Trusted by: 77 members
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