Samsung Magnet a257 Phone, Orange (AT&T)

Good, unique little phone, especially for basic calls and texting August 27, 2009

Reviewer:  atlnative29 "atlnative29"  (Atlanta, GA USA) -

I was looking for a phone I could easily slide right into financially after the 4th Moto Razr I blew through and I found that in the Samsung Magnet. It's not 3G but I didn't need that nor the added cost AT&T plugs on your bill per month to have it. The Magnet was the perfect new phone to replace my Razr and won't cost me more per month in my plan. I like the qwerty keyboard and I find texting much easier than before. Sure, you have to get used to the smaller keys but are raised convenience and overall, I like it. Also, I typically use two hands to text on this one (yes, you can use one hand), but it discourages me from using while driving and that's a plus as we all need not text while driving. I was very guilty of that. Sound volume great on the phone, just be careful on speaker not to have the volume up to high if you're on hold. I almost blew an eardrum when the person came back on. Yikes. Phone tones are cool and different and all the menu keys are pretty straight forward. I didn't pick up the manual once to figure anything out. Phone looks and responds like a PDA and I get comments all the time on the cool color. It's like a rich & vibrant beachy burnt orange which is so different than any phone out there. Great color for girls and guys. Picture quality on the camera not the best but it's not bad either. The only other thing is that I initially kept hitting the WAP (browser) center button which was a kind of a pain, but getting more used to it. I think that had to do more with the fact that my old Razr's center button acted as main menu button.

Pros - looks, sound quality, texting easy, querty keyboard, uniqueness, cost sensible
Cons - picture quality, no 3G offered, keyboard keys are small but effective, center button not menu button - might take alittle getting used to

Great phone for what it is March 8, 2010

Reviewer:  C. Brown  (Cincinnati) -

I have had this phone for about 2 weeks and have mostly good things to say about it. My experience with this phone has been remarkably different than many of the other reviewers here.

Let's start with some negatives. First, I do agree that the keys are tiny. Serious texters with high-speed thumbs could have some problems with this. But average texters (like myself) can use it with ease. Second, the image quality is mediocre and the camera only does photos (no video). Then again, people who are even remotely serious about pictures won't be relying on their phone to take them, so this wasn't an issue for me. Third, no 3G, so if you plan on surfing the web, this isn't the phone for you.

The good. It was free after rebate. Size and weight really cannot be beat. Sound quality for me has been fantastic in every respect. Outdoors where its noisy, windy, etc. I could hear just fine and others could hear me. Same with talking in my loud car on the highway, no problems at all. Sound quality on speaker phone is also quite good. Battery life has also been impressive. Granted, I don't talk for hours and hours every day, but I was able to go over 3 days without a charge. So, I don't know what other users have been using their phone for, but average talk times will still get you several days without charging.

The verdict: Just know what you're getting. This is a solid phone with a full keyboard. No more, no less. I was looking for a phone that looked good, had good sound quality, good battery life, and a QWERTY keyboard. I didn't need to surf the web. I didn't need to shoot video or take Pulitzer Prize winning photos. This phone is for people who use their cell phone mainly for talking and some texting. If that sounds like you, this phone would be a good choice.

Cute phone but not practical June 3, 2009

Reviewer:  Diane Kiko "avid reader"  (Kent, OH) -

I just received this phone yesterday. I was excited to get a "real" phone that I could do some serious texting on. This isn't it. The keys are really tiny (even for my small fingers) and I kept hitting the wrong keys. It's being returned for a full-length slider keyboard. Keep trying, Samsung.

Another reason to hate AT&T January 9, 2010

Reviewer:  Pranil R. Patel 

- Recently upgraded my service plan for a new SIM card because my service was bad (they dont reissue new SIM cards for old att users), and was informed that my unlocked blackberry could not be used without a dataplan. Needed a new phone, so I searched around for the least silly looking phone that would handle my texting/basic pda functions.

- Fails at texting: the conversations are not threaded, which is annoying. The keypad is horrible because the keys need alot of force to register. So if you're used to texting very quickly, messages will come out with random letters missing

for example, if you try texting "probably" too fast, you may end up with "prbbly" because the keys are too slow to respond to successive taps

- Fails as a PDA: the calendar is horrible because it does not set appointments under the times listed under each day. For example, if I click under 5pm on monday, it still brings up 8am on monday. This is obviously annoying to correct. In addition, the alarm for each appointment needs to be manually set (what is the use of setting an appointment that doesn't give a reminder?). Worst of all, sometimes the phone starts pranging out and saying that i missed appointments from days past. I then have to go back and delete all the past appointments in order to keep the phone from draining its own battery out like an emo kid in a bathtub.

- Fails as a phone: horrible speakerphone/reception. No quick way to turn up the volume on the phone if there is trouble hearing.

- Overall pretty frustrated at the lack of decent PDA phones available without data plans. The reason why this phone still gets 2 stars is because it is very cheap and has very sturdy construction.

More of a toy... November 3, 2009

Reviewer:  N. Hammond "boiledokra"  (Rochester, NY USA) -

My personal opinion is that this phone is more of a toy than a phone. If all you want to do is text and have a QWERTY keyboard, it's fine, I suppose. There is no memory expansion, it feels a bit clunky in use (not in actual feel... it's pretty sleek/slim) and it just seems really cheap. Nowadays, you can get so much more for next to nothing. I'd not recommend this for anything but giving your 12 year old.

Shoddy and feature-lite April 3, 2010

Reviewer:  D. N. Clark  (Raleigh, NC USA) -

I moved to this phone after owning/loving my LG CU500 for years. I needed something that I could text on for work, and this seemed the cheapest alternative. I glanced at the tech specs, but it did not really sink in when I ordered it just how lame this phone really is.

-First and foremost, the phone has randomly been shutting off in the middle of the day. It has nothing to do with battery life (which isn't bad), it simply shuts off for some reason. The battery appears to be in the slot tightly, so I can't figure out what's going on here. This started after owning the phone for 2-3 months.

-Second, there is no expansion memory outside of the SIM card. NO MicroSD slot! This means that you can only hold about 300 messages before you will stop pulling new ones down (until you delete some). It also means no music, and not many pictures.

-Third, the camera is terrible. I don't expect great pictures out of a phone, but the shutter speed is slow enough that nothing short of still life will stay in focus, and even pictures taken in broad daylight look bad.

Those are the big gripes. The rest are quibbles. The keyboard was surprisingly easy to use, though it's a bit harder in the days immediately after I trim my fingernails. The sound quality is fine, and I never got any complaints about people trying to hear me.

The function buttons are pretty terrible, though. The center button cannot be reassigned, and launches the web browser. If you don't have a data plan, this could be disastrous, especially if you forget to lock your phone before you put it away. Also, and this may be due to my relative inexperience with texting, but the keyboard is a bit confusing/clunky whenever you need to enter capital letters or special characters.

To sum up, this phone was mediocre when I got it, but has become nigh useless since it started cutting out in the middle of the day. If you're looking for a phone that comes free/cheap with contract, there are better ones out there. If my CU500 hadn't been dying when I got this one, I would go back to it. Instead, I plan on shelling out some money on one of the lower-end unlocked smart phones.

Frustrating March 25, 2010

Reviewer:  Marc Anthony Zavala  (Torrance, Ca United States) -

I had great success with the Samsung Propel Slider and thought I would try out the Magnet. It has the looks of the Blackberry and even though I read some average reviews I figured I'd give it a try. Almost 3 months to the day I got the phone the battery kept going out and I would have to constantly check on the phone to make sure it didn't shut off. I took it to the At&t service center and they immediately gave me a new phone. I agree with a previous review that you are automatically sent to the WAP and it can be difficult to text with the small keys (and I have little fingers). Proceed with caution.

I'm glad I didn't spend money on it July 21, 2010

Reviewer:  Dana 

I got this phone because I needed to upgrade from my last one, and it was free on AT&T's website.

It is impossible to text on this beast.
My camera broke after a few days. There is no flash on it anyways. And no way for me to get the data from my phone to anything else, unless I send it in a text to a friend that has a phone that connects to the internet or a computer.

The only good thing I like about this phone is the multiple settings for alarm clocks. Works pretty nice for college class schedules because you can set it for whatever days in a week you want. I think there are about five profiles...

Save yourself some money. Don't buy this piecer.

Scagnet November 25, 2009

Reviewer:  Jed Leeland  (Hawaii) -

3 things: The battery depletes like a bad race horse. Never, ever go anywhere without a charger. The full qwerty keyboard: you will love this if your fingers are the size of pencil leads. Lastly -- be sure you have an unlimited data plan, because the phone's center button automatically connects you to the WAP browser. Depending on how you carry your phone, you will be accidentally connecting at least twice a day, for who knows how long until you notice. Other than the above, the Scagnet is a marvel of technology.