Samsung Strive A687 Phone, Purple
- 3G-enabled quick-messaging phone with slide-down full QWERTY keyboard and easy access to messaging, e-mail and social networking
- Compatible with AT&T Video Share, AT&T Mobile Music, and AT&T Navigator GPS turn-by-turn directions
- 2-megapixel camera/camcorder; Bluetooth stereo music; microSD memory expansion to 32 GB; organizer tools; digital audio player
- Up to 3 hours of talk time, up to 240 hours (10 days) of standby time
- What’s in the Box: handset, rechargeable battery, charger, quick start guide, user manual (on CD-ROM)
Amazon.com Product Description
One of AT&T’s new line of Quick Messaging Devices, the Samsung Strive helps you stay on top of all your communications–from voice to e-mail to instant messaging to social networking. It features a vertical slide design that reveals a full QWERTY keyboard (with backlighting) for tapping out updates social networking apps like AT&T Social Net as well as quickly replying to incoming text messages. With the AT&T’s Social Net application, you can view and man…
Related Posts
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
June 11th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
AT&T plays catch up with the entry level 3G Samsung Strive A687, and for the most part does it pretty well. For a phone that comes free with a minimum 2 year/20 dollar voice and/or data service, you’re actually getting a pretty nice unit.
The screen is lovely (though no iPhone) and easy to read in all but the brightest outdoor conditions. The colors are rich and the text is quite legible. It is very tempting to try to use it as a touch screen, which of course it isn’t, hahah. Build quality feels a bit flimsy, but enough to hold up under daily use. The slide action of the keyboard it quite nice as well and it stays put well in either the open or closed position. Keypad action is a bit stiff (and the whole thing flexes a bit), but it gets the job done. I prefer it to onscreen keypads myself. The other buttons work well with good ergonomics
The Strive feels fairly light and well balanced in the hand, yet still substantial. I’m also rather fond of the purple and grey color scheme. The 2MP camera actually takes much better photos than I expected, though in low light it gets rather grainy. The camcorder feature is pretty much a joke though with it’s small size and jerky playback. The music player does a decent job, but Samsung didn’t include a headphone jack so you’ll need to pony up for Bluetooth headphones for real listening. Charging and other USB connections use the same port.
Well, now to the most important aspect for a phone — the calls. Sound quality is decent has good volume, though it could be better. Callers sometimes complain that they have trouble understanding what is said though, so perhaps the mic quality isn’t that great. The interface it the standard one from AT&T, with a few new features since the Propel model. It is easy to check email with a number of providers and send instant messages. I think the no cost web based address book is the best feature and can be really handy if you lose the phone or get a new one. The Mobil Share (photos & video) costs ten bucks a month though, or 35¢ a transfer. That seems a bit steep since there are other providers have similar services at no added cost.
The battery life comes in at a rather poor three hours of talk time, so if you are one of those folks who are on the road and on your phone all day long, the Strive is not for you. But if you are on the phone less than that, fall under AT&T’s coverage map, are not yet a messaging or data service customer and want some of the more modern bells and whistle in a 3G messaging phone — you might find the Strive a nice fit. Free is good!
Rating: 4 / 5