Samsung Mythic a897 Phone (AT&T)

Exceeded my expectations January 3, 2010

Reviewer:  Thomas J. Valletta "Motattellav"  (Rhode Island, USA) -

I was really hesitant to buy this phone due to the conflicting reviews I read from various sources. I wanted to replace my Samsung Eternity, which I really loved, but as time went on I found that not having voice dial was a real annoyance, making my blue tooth headset virtually useless. Then again, I didn't like the idea of giving up a speedier interface. I made my decision. After getting the Mythic, I'm happy to announce that all my reservations were put to rest. This phone is everything the Eternity was, except that everything I felt that needed improvement was realized in the Mythic. No regrets here! My major complaint is that Samsung's New PC Studio no longer provides support for backing up your address book, or your calendar events. I'm sure this has more than a little to do with at&t's desire to charge you $3.00 per month to do this for you (address book only). You may want to think twice about filling up the 2000 entry capable contact list on the Mythic. If fact, the biggest problem with this phone is that just about every application it offers will suck you dry with a monthly fee, as opposed to a one-time purchase for it. Even Mobile Email with cost you $5.00 per month now. I guess we're just not paying enough for cell phone service these days. If you want your Outlook Express email on your phone, get a Gmail account with Google, set up their IMAP server, and you can link up with your email and make it look like you're sending and receiving from your Outlook account. Once you're all set up, simply import your contacts from Outlook Express to Gmail, then bookmark Google's link to their Gmail into your phone's browser, or download their Gmail app to your phone for free. All your contacts from Outlook will be available either way. UPDATE: After reading a post by E. McGlynn, I can confirm that "New PC Studio version 1.2.1 IH1" will allow you to back up your contacts and calendar events. Why this version isn't packaged with the Mythic is beyond me, except for maybe the reasons stated above. Thank you, E. McGlynn, so much for your valuable post. Here are some of my impressions of the Mythic:

The Interface - Yes, the interface isn't as snappy as it is on the Eternity, but you will forget about this when you see the gorgeous 3.3", 360x640 pixel screen. I'm guessing this has something to do with the sluggishness, due to the increased amount of picture data that has to be switched around to form a new screen, or change from landscape to portrait mode. If this is so, it's a worthwhile trade-off. The print on web pages is so sharp; I don't need to zoom in to read the smallest. If you're switching from a phone like the Eternity to the Mythic, you just need to learn to relax and slow down a bit when touching your way around the screen.

The Touch Screen - There is definitely a learning curve with the touch screen. At first I thought there were times it was unresponsive, and sometimes it still does seem to be, but after a little experience with the phone, these "unresponsive times" are few and far between. The screen is not only sensitive to touch, but also to how long you touch it for. This is necessary so you're not always moving widgets all over the place every time you swipe the screen. When using the browsers (there are two), a prolonged touch will give you more options on the screen. If you're somewhere in between with your touch, I feel that this can sometimes confuse the software as to what your intent is, so it does nothing. So you need to practice. Whether you're on the home screens, or the menu screens, there are 3 horizontal dashes, side by side, at the top of the screen. When on home screen 1 (or menu screen 1), the first dash highlights. Screen 2, the second dash highlights, etc.. When swiping your finger across the screen to change it, it's very easy to activate the widgets, causing great frustration. Swipe too hard, you activate the widgets, too soft, the screen doesn't move. Solution: swipe your finger or thumb across those dashes at the top of the screen. This works so well, it leads me to believe that this was Samsung's intent. It only takes the slightest pressure to move the screens, first time, every time!

The Virtual Keyboard - I love this keyboard. As much as I liked the Eternity's, this one is better. The keys are offset like a computer keyboard, as opposed to block style, and there are spaces between the keys. The keyboard is plenty roomy enough, and I make much fewer mistakes on it than my previous phone. I can move right along on it with no lag. When changing the keyboard from portrait mode to landscape mode, there is more lag time than I'm used to on the Eternity, but guess what....I compared it to my nephew's iPhone, and the lag time is the same. Texting is a breeze with this phone. If you're in a hurry and need to type super fast, keep the T9 on. It will work like an auto-correct feature.

The Camera and Video - Sorry to say, the Eternity, at 3 mpix, no auto-focus and no flash, takes better pictures under more conditions than the 3.2 mpix Mythic WITH auto-focus and a flash. In fact, I'm finding that the auto-focus is just a time consuming farce. I've been taking identical pictures using the auto-focus, and then just taking the picture without waiting, and there is no difference. If I crop a picture, I find that sometimes the result is clearer WITHOUT the auto-focus. Nice try, Samsung. There were times when my Eternity, under best conditions, took pictures that rivaled those taken with my camera. The pictures on the Mythic can at times be very good, but mostly they are a little fuzzy. Subjects at the edges of the pictures will suffer a little with barrel distortion, but I've found this true with any camera-phone I've owned. Any movement by your subject will show up as a blur in the photo. Under very dark lighting conditions, the Mythic wins over the Eternity, due to its flash, but the pictures will be grainy and the colors will be distorted and washed out. Having said all this, many people will find the pictures to be very good, and in all fairness, they are better than on some popular smart phones I've seen that have 5 mpix. The video recorder on the phone is just adequate. Along with two resolution choices, there are three viewing modes: Small (picture box), Medium (fills screen top to bottom), and Distorted (fills screen left to right). This last mode is horribly pixilated with choppy motion. You choose the mode with the little box in the upper left with the circle in the middle and the arrows radiating out towards the four corners. Oddly enough, the playback of the videos defaults to the worst viewing mode. UPDATE: The default viewing mode for video playback can be changed during the playback of a video. Simply touch the edit icon (the lined page on top of the horizontal pencil)at the bottom-left of the screen, and you'll see the "Display Mode" button. Touch this and choose your new default viewing mode.

The Internet - There are two browsers on this phone. There's the Mobile Web, which at&t seems to promote with its dedicated widget, and then there's simply "Browser" over in applications. Mobile Web is powered by Opera Mini. You must choose your viewing mode, landscape or portrait, mobile or HTML. You do this in "settings". This browser does a very nice job rendering web pages. It's also the more finicky one when it comes to touch. At first I was touching links three or four times to activate them. You really need to get the hang of it. Once you do, you'll find it's very responsive with the quickest and lightest of touches. The other browser is the old, familiar one I had on the Eternity. It automatically changes from landscape to portrait, but chooses how the page will load best. This is the browser that the Facebook widget uses. Sometimes the Facebook page loads extra tiny for some unexplained reason. When this happens, the screen can respond strangely when you try to navigate. It will seem to freeze, but then "catch up" and start moving on it own. Luckily, this happens only sporadically. This browser also allows you open multiple web pages at one time, for tabbed browsing. Also, any links you bookmark with this browser are stored in the "Favorites" widget on the widget tool bar. Both browsers have their advantages and do a good job. One may render the same page better than the other. The "Browser" may be better for quickly checking things like weather, sports, etc. The Mobile Web is probably better for surfing content rich websites. It's strictly a personal preference. They both have their own personalities, and I use both equally.

Voice Commands - This is a great feature for some people. I am a carrier for the U.S.P.S. At certain times during the year, my phone is under 3 or 4 layers of clothes. Two layers cover my head. I don't have time to stop and make phones calls, but if I did, reaching for my phone under those layers with a gloved hand is an invitation to send the phone tumbling to the asphalt. With voice commands, problem solved! Even with my bluetooth headset under my headwear, people have no trouble hearing me and I have no problem hearing them. At the touch of the button on my bluetooth, I can check time, date, go to voicemail, call the Post Office with a problem, check the phone's battery, signal strength, or whether I really did feel my phone vibrate with a new message, and more, all while leaving my phone safely in its holster under all my clothes. This is invaluable for me, though probably not for everyone.

The Battery - The battery life is excellent for a phone with such power hungry features. My phone is turned on at 5:30am, and shuts off at 10:30pm. If I use the phone only when needed, there will be at least 4 out of 5 bars at the end of the day, sometimes 5. If I'm out and about on a day off, constantly texting, checking Facebook, surfing the web and playing with features that keep the phone backlit constantly, I MAY drain the battery by the end of the day. Most of the time there are one or two bars left. As I've found with most digital volume indicators, the last two thirds of the increments disappear as fast as the first third. They simply aren't linear. So if you use 2 out of 5 increments the first day, don't think your phone will last another day and a half of the same usage. It may not make it till the end of the second day.

This phone has been great for me thus far. I'm finding that most of the things a smart phone can do, are things I'm never going to need on a regular basis anyways. They aren't things that can justify an extra $15 per month out of my pocket. This phone comes close to a smart phone. Very close.

Nice screen, no data plan required, no MS Outlook syncing November 20, 2009

Reviewer:  Geek Daddy 

I tried this phone out for a day until realizing there is no supported way to sync my Outlook contacts from my PC to the phone. But here are some impressions of the phone while i used it, until its return.

The screen is very nice: higher resolution than other non-smartphones (360 x 640). Internet browser is fairly responsive, but does not display the regular pages as intended as the screen is still not wide enough. The WAP pages look fine.

Calls sound clear in both handset & speakerphone modes. But in a 40 minute call to AT&T support, the call was dropped 3 times. Could be AT&T network issue - don't know as this is our only AT&T cell phone. (No problems with our Verizon phone.)

Navigating the screen takes some getting used to. To scroll thru the 3 home pages, I kept accidentally opening applications I didn't want, or not getting it to scroll. Definitely a step behind the iPhone I played with before.

Camera images are pretty good for a camera phone. Shots taken indoors are brighter than on other camera phones I've used, thanks to the flash.

Music syncing worked fine - there are several ways to do it. There is also the Samsung "PC Studio" software on the accompanying CDROM or from the Samsung website, that allows media transfers.

Since this is classified as not being a smartphone, there is no data plan required with this phone. Optionally, there is a $15 unlimited data plan available from AT&T.

As noted, the deal breaker for me was that there is no supported way to transfer contacts to the phone from my PC. Maybe they will support this feature later? Will try the Solstice.

Does About Everything Well December 1, 2009

Reviewer:  Ron22  (Joshua Tree, CA USA) -

After I read a professional review, I wasn't sure about the Mythic. It rated the touch screen and the camera as poor.

Not so, according to my (two week's experience) with the Mythic. The touch screen works fine and the camera is exceptional. I have a lot of experience with digital cameras and having this camera with me all the time means I will not have to drag around a dedicated camera. Granted, it's not great in low light without flash, but what basic camera is?

What attracted me to the Mythic was the standard (miniature) USB connector and the standard headphone jack. Not having to keep special cables around, which I always misplace, is a definite plus.

Call quality seems great. I live at the very edge of AT&T 3G reception and the phone does about as well as the best phone I've had.

The battery life is a real plus: two weeks of stand-by time!!

I can't say I've gotten proficient with all the phone's features -- that will take a while -- but everything I've tried (after I learned how to operate it) has worked fine.

Everyone compares touchscreens with the iPhone; but being able to use a $15 unlimited media package rather than paying twice that much for an iPhone plan, was a "deal-maker" for me.

In short, I recommend the Mythic.

Awesome phone... as long as you don't want data plan or apps January 6, 2010

Reviewer:  Mountain Dew Fan  (Earth) -

NOTE: I tried to buy this phone from Amazon 3 times, but each time it said AT&T rejected my upgrade. Tried to resolve with both Amazon and AT&T over the phone but couldn't. In the end AT&T ended up matching their price over the phone (+tax).

Awesome phone that doesn't need a $$$data plan$$$. I've noticed many people saying that this phone requires hard touches. In my opinion it does take a little getting used to, but I like the amount of pressure needed because I actually feel like I'm pressing something. The phone gives a haptic feedback (small vibration) in response to each touch which is really nice in my opinion (it can be turned off). Perhaps because the phone in general is a little slow, people may feel their touches need to be heavy. All in all I recommend this phone if you don't need the apps. If you live for apps then suck it up and buy an Android or iPhone with a data plan because this phone is probably too slow for most apps.

Pros:
Very clear screen (crisp readable text, but has small fonts)
Feels very nice in the hand and pocket (not heavy at all)
Gives a customizable vibration feedback (haptic response) to touches
Camera is pretty good for a phone
Standard head phone jack
Virtual keyboard is easy to type on
The FloTV is watchable considering it's a phone
Contacts interface is very easy to use
Speaker phone volume is decent

Cons: (in order of annoyance)
Battery life is pretty bad (but mine came with a wall and usb charger)
Highest video play back size (320x240 mp4) doesn't use the full screen
Inserting memory card is surgery
Takes a long time to load memory cards (mine is only 4GB)
Phone and media player volume is discrete (numbers) instead of continuous (slider)
Battery cover feels very flimsy
Can't change the locked screen saver
Can't remove some pre-installed apps
Contains lot's of links that start network (only sucks for non-data plans)
Many icons on the main menu are locked (mostly the ones you need to pay for)
Interface and phone is slow
When viewing pictures slide show it sometimes starts scrolling from tilt

**AWESOME** December 11, 2009

Reviewer:  Steve  (Northern Calif.) -

I'll start by saying I've been an AT&T customer for years and have always had Motorola phones with no major complaints.
This phone as I stated in my title is "AWESOME". No it is not an iPhone and I never expected it to be, but it's quite a
phone with tons of stuff (just about anything you'd want)!!
Right out of the box, no problems at all. I use mine for making calls, music and web surfing.
Touchscreen works great for me, but I'm old school and rarely text.

Want it - Get it, you will not be disappointed (most will love it)

P.S. This is replacing my Motorola Razor V3 and I'm sort of remotely located and the reception on this Mythic is considerably better!


As for the previous poster (Edward), if you would use a different ISP, would not have any problems downloading the manual ;)

Not bad March 14, 2010

Reviewer:  Booyah  (Arlington, VA) -

I've had this for about 4 months now.

Pros:
-Battery life is great.
-Fairly simple to use.
-3 customizable home screens.
-Display looks great.
-The alarm function is surprisingly nice and simple to use. You can set multiple alarms, change the snooze time, number of allowed snoozes, and the wakeup tone.

Cons:
-The touch screen isn't very accurate, even after I calibrated it twice. I get a lot of typos on the virtual keyboard, and sometimes have to press a button on the touch screen two or three times before it executes the command.

-Sometimes the phone doesn't recognize that you rotated it and you have to shake it a little to get the qwerty keyboard to come up.

-The phone cycles through the preprogrammed pictures as the lock screen and there is no way to delete or change those pictures. Some of these pictures (like the giant butterfly or the flower) aren't my taste. I spent about 2 hours messing with the phone, reading the manual, and searching the internet and never was able to solve that problem. Nobody on the message boards I've been to has solved this problem either.

Other thoughts:
-Something about the phone interferes with two radios that I have. If the phone is near one of the radios when I receive a call or a text, the radios will start making a loud and irritating noise for about 5 seconds.

-Call quality I would say is average. I sound fine to the person I'm talking to, but I have to ask people to repeat themselves more often than I did with my last phone.

-The camera has a ton of features but oddly no zoom function.

-I never had dropped calls on Verizon's network, AT&T occasionally drops them, but of course the plan is cheaper so I'm fine with it.

Conclusion: You won't be unhappy with this phone, but I think you can find a better one.

Great phone, great price, cool features, bigger screen December 22, 2009

Reviewer:  P. Kalia  (FL, USA) -

I just bought this phone as I upgraded/renewed my contract. Since then. I have loved it. The touchscreen is not as responsive as iphone but then you don't have to pay the $30 for the dataplan. Except that, all the features are cool. The camera is better than iphone and has a flash. Excellent value for money and loaded with features.

Pretty good phone February 22, 2010

Reviewer:  Kyle Lucchese "K.J.L" 

I was hesitant to buy my first all touch screen phone, especially from Samsung (past bad experiences). But I was presently surprised when I got the phone and have been using it for a few months now.

Positives: large screen, easy to operate, sleek design, thin, 3 home screens, customizeable home screens, dragable widgets, when on phone call the screen dims or blacks out when held up to ear, compatable with some lg chargers, comes with a usb cable.

Negatives:lock screen photos can't be changed, virtual keyboard is not very accurate, flash on camera is way too bright, no zoom while taking a picture, reletively small memory capacity, some problems when clicking on links or things like them on the browser.

All in all it is a solid phone, I wouldn't necessarely recommend it to someone over an iPhone, but if you were looking for a phone without a data plan, this is a great phone.


Any questions? e-mail me (seterith@yahoo.com)

-Thanks
Kyle J. L.

GREAT PHONE! Does a little bit of everything most people want. January 14, 2010

Reviewer:  M. LANE  (NY) -

I have had this phone for about a week. I really did not need it but was due for an upgrade anyway and decided to get this as a second phone since I like to switch up my cell phones on certain days depending on what I am doing. I normally use a unlocked G1 Google on the AT&T network which works amazing but is sometimes too bulky. This phone is sleek looking, slim, and has a perfect screen size for most people and is very sharp. If your looking to compare this to an Iphone or Google/Android phone, go no further, this phone is not for you. If you are looking for a nice looking phone with a pretty good interface and features that are above a average touch screen cell phone,then this phone is for you. The touch screen is not that bad. There is a slight learning curve which you will get used to in a very short time. The touch screen is not as responsive as an iphone but what is. If you are not a heavy web user, this phone works great. Remember, this is not a smart phone. Most web pages look and work fine for the casual mobile web users but will not satisfy the hardcore users of mobile web browsers. The browser in this phone is about a step up from most non smart phones but not up to par with them. The on screen keyboard works great, even if you have big fingers like myself. It is almost 100% accurate if you type text real fast and 100% accurate if you type text slow. The menus are fairly easy for most people to navigate. Battery life is amazing. I have used it to make 4 or 5 calls, 75 text messages and some web browsing the last 3 days and it still has full strength on the battery bars. Too many other features to list here. I would suggest you go to the AT&T or Samsung site to check out all the features and specs. Just remember, If you do not like it, you have 30 days to return it. I bought mine at Radio Shack for 79.99 with a 2 year upgrade. It is on the AT&T site for 199.00 after a $50.00 rebate with a 2 year upgrade. I tried two other phones (The Samsung Impression and the Samsung Solstice which have a similar interface but the Mythic had a few more advanced features and has a Standard micro usb port and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. The solstice and inmpression have proprietary jacks. No questions asked and no problems when I tried out the other two phones and returned them to Radioshack because I did not like them.

Great phone! June 22, 2010

Reviewer:  Nancy 

Obviously, if you're used to smartphones (ex: Blackberry, IPhone, Droid) then it's probably not the phone for you. This phone is mostly for people who like to occasionally check their emails, Facebook, weather or latest news and something a little more flashy than a standard slider/flip phone. This is my first touch screen phone and I love it! These are the features that I use the most:

Texting - I have unlimited texting (finally) and I love going crazy with texts! The qwerty keyboard when you turn it is great. It's pressure sensitive so I'm happy I'm able to use my nails to text. It took me a week or so to get used to the keyboard (I had a 3 year old slider phone before) but now I'm getting better.

Internet - Again, it's mostly for checking small things like emails, Facebook, weather or latest news. Youtube does work, but heavy internet use will drain its battery. Also, the more graphics there are on the screen, then the longer it will be to load. Otherwise, load times are fine. I do occasionally get the "Unexpected Failure" notice but I just keep trying and eventually it goes through. I blame that on AT&T's network.

Battery - I only need to charge the battery every two days or less. It all depends on how long and how much you text, make calls and use the internet. Obviously if you do all three a lot, then the battery will be drained often.

Look and Feel - It is a finger print magnet, but it is very sleek! I assume it can scratch easily, but I usually never drop my phones and I have a cheap case for it to prevent every day scratches. The back is a burgundy/maroon color so it is kind of girly and so are the wallpapers. The screensaver pops up when you lock your phone, which I wish I can turn off, but oh well. The sensitivity of the touchscreen is fine by me, sometimes I find myself clicking on a link I didn't want, but I just need to get used to it.

Interface - The user interface is very intuitive and I had no problems finding my way around it all. There are three home screens you can scroll through (all can have their own wallpapers) and it is a great way to organize the widgets.

Only negative things about this phone is that sometimes the person I'm talking to has trouble hearing me sometimes and sometimes the phone freezes up while I'm texting. When it unfreeze, all the letters I put in while frozen comes rushing in.

It is a great phone for first time touch screen users and for people who occasionally use the internet. Honestly, just go to the At&t store and see if you like it yourself and try out the internet, texting and other features. I really think you won't be disappointed!