Samsung Sway Phone, Silver (Verizon Wireless)

BEST SLIM PHONE ON THE MARKET November 12, 2008

Reviewer:  Stephen M. Rosenman  (Marlton, NJ United States) -

I recently returned the LG enV2 for the Samsung Sway. The Verizon employee talked me into the LG and I went along since I always loved LGs. However, the enV2 wasn't for me becasue it was too heavy and felt uncomfortable talking on it. I really needed the best PHONE out there, not necessarily the best text messaging device. Therefore, I went with the Sway. In short, it is the best (by far) phone out there if you do not plan to text heavily or use tons of data service features. It is light, super sleek and crystal clear. Build quality is supurb (looks and feel like all metal even though the back is plastic) and speaker phone is loud and easy to use. Screen is the nicest I have seen--bright and crisp. Camera is sufficient at 2MP. User interface and operation is simple and great to navigate. While keypad looks a bit cramped at first, it is not in actuality--in use it works great.

Pros and Cons January 14, 2009

Reviewer:  J.SC "J.SC"  (Atlanta, GA) -

I don't really have anything new to add, but I know when reading reviews I find it helpful when people weigh in one matters brought up in previous posts. To that end, my opinion:

Pros
----
*The phone is nice looking, especially relative to the current crop of Verizon phones.
*It is thin.
*Minus the problem sliding it open (discussed below), it seems durable, at least for a slider phone.
*The sound quality, whether using speaker phone or not, seems good.

Cons
----
*UPDATE: The battery life varies. My original Sway had terrible battery life and I lambasted it in this critique. Since, however, I have gotten a replacement and it gets respectable battery life. With my first Sway I was recharging every night even with minimal usage (1 hr talk, 25 txts sent). I took it back to the Verizon store and they told me the battery was fine and it was just because I lived in an area with weak service and, as such, the phone was fine and they wouldn't replace it. I pointed out that, though the phone is only advertised as having *up to* 270 min, I should still reasonably expect something in that neighborhood (especially since I didn't have any issue with my previous phone). 100 min wasn't anywhere near 270 min. After some back and forth, they agreed to give me a new Sway even though they were convinced it would change anything. Lo and behold, though, the new Sway gets good battery life - 3 or so days worth with usage of approx 180 hours talk time and 100 txt msgs sent and recvd.
*As previous reviewers have discussed, the texting does lag. Its noticeable, and is certainly annoying at times, but I would also say it is bearable.
*You do have to push on the screen to slide the phone open. This is the one question about durability I have. Will always pushing on the screen eventually cause damage to the screen? I don't know yet but it is a concern. This obviously also causes the screen to always have finger prints on it, but that doesn't bother me.
*The vibrate function isn't particularly strong and is not always noticeable. I feel the vibrate if I am wearing jeans (tighter than slacks) but don't always feel it when I am wearing business slacks (looser than jeans) or if I have the phone in a jacket pocket.

Great phone once you fix the kinks April 8, 2009

Reviewer:  D. Wang  (CA) -

I added this info earlier as a comment, but I thought I should post it as a review so more people can see it. This phone is great once you work out the kinks (text delay and battery life). After searching the web for hours on how to fix the text delay and miserable battery life, i found some answers. Both have worked for me:

1. The text delay can be fixed with a software update from Verizon. Just go to your nearest Verizon store and ask them to upload the latest software. It takes about 30 minutes and is free.

2. Someone was kind enough to post a solution to the battery problem, so I thought I'd share it. Follow these steps:
- Plug your charger into your phone.
- Take out the battery. Wait 10 seconds.
- Put the battery back in.
- Let it charge.

If that method doesn't work:
- Remove the battery. Wait 10 seconds.
- Plug the charger into your phone.
- Put the battery back in.
- Let the phone charge.

Once the battery is fully charged it should have a few days worth of power. Previously, my phone would only last 1 day, but now it lasts for 3-4 days.

Apparently the phone is screwy and doesn't read the battery capacity correctly. After charging it for only a short while, it will think the battery is full and stop charging even though it's not. Anyone else notice that the charge time is really short? Anyways, doing the battery trick should make the phone realize the actual battery capacity so it charges all the way. Good luck!

great phone November 14, 2008

Reviewer:  Sam 

I got this phone about three weeks ago and I think it works great. The screen is very clear, texting is easy, it looks good, phone quality seems to be fine. The menus are easy to use and so are the camera and camcorder. The battery seems okay. Verizon says it gets ~4.5 hours use time and 312 hours standby time. The standby time is stretching it a lot. I usually recharge it every two or three days, but I text a lot. Overall this phone is awesome and I would definitely recommend it.

Loving the Sway :) November 12, 2008

Reviewer:  Ana Z. Gancheva 

I just bought this phone yesterday after spending a few days online comparing phones offered by Verizon. I was debating between LG enV2 and this one, but in the end I liked the Sway more. So far I do not regret my decision: the phone is light, stylish, easy to use, the display is big, the camera and camcorder are fun. Even though I have a semiprofessional camera and an iPod, it is good to know that I can take pictures and listen to my music anytime. And 8GB MicroSD is a big plus, plenty of space to store whatever :) I really like the sound, I am used to playing mp3s on my phone or using them as ring tones. The menu is easy to navigate, easy to customize, texting is easy too. Overall - a great phone!

Great phone, but terrible battery life January 26, 2009

Reviewer:  C. Scheper  (Ithaca, NY USA) -

I have to say that I really love this phone. It has all the right features: its easy to text, the picture quality is great (no flash, though), and the videos are pretty good too. Its snazzy as all hell too!

However, if you are ever in a situation where you can't charge the phone in 24 hours, you'll be sorry you have this phone. This phone will last no more than 24-30 hours -- EVEN IF YOU BARELY USE IT! This is the deal breaker for me. 24 hours of battery life in a brand new phone is unacceptable. I've had the phone replaced to see if this was a problem with a broken unit, but the second had an identical problem. This seems to be a systemic problem from the other reviews I've read as well.

The bottom line is, if you don't mind charging you phone everyday, then this phone is perfect. But if you enjoy the weekend getaway, and don't want to bring your favorite phone accessories, then you're out of luck with this phone.

Good phone but one thing... January 22, 2009

Reviewer:  Stephanie "steph"  (santa barbara, ca) -

OVerall a good phone, but the phone is draining the battery like there's no tomorrow! I just recharged to the max late last night and right this minute, it's down to only ONE bar! Yikes! and i didnt even talk on it once! just texted it 4 times!

Great phone, some possible deal breakers January 1, 2009

Reviewer:  J. Thompson  (Syracuse, NY) -

Pros:
This phone has a really good camera. Also the screen is more vibrant than on my flip chocolate, the lg vx8600 that was replaced, so pictures look much more vibrant.

Cons:
The texting and some of the menu interface is really slow. Sometimes, the texting will be 3-5 letters behind me since i'm a fast texter. Also the battery time isn't that long. It only lasts me two days max and i don't talk long on the phone at all. If you spend a decent amount of time on the phone you will have to charge it every day. Lastly, the screen could be bigger...

Other thoughts:
If you're someone who texts a lot, prepare to be frustrated by the software being so slow. What makes it so annoying is when i'm using T9, and i forget to change the word to a different arrangement because the texting is so slow, i never see that it was on a different word. If you're not a texter, and looking for a decent, stylish phone with all the basic features, this is an excellent choice. Texting and the low battery life aren't necessarily deal breakers tho.

I want to like this phone, but it is junk February 4, 2010

Reviewer:  mdegs  (Boulder, CO) -

This phone is very appealing for a number of reasons:
- slim profile
- sliding display
- battery life (other reviews are critical of this aspect. I've had great battery life in my 14 months of ownership with one brief exception)

... but it has MAJOR flaws:
- I have had the screen go fuzzy half a dozen times. I am unable to text or see who is calling. There's no discernible pattern as to why this happens -- sometimes it's cold, sometimes it's not; sometimes it's damp, sometimes it's been in my pocket all day. Still, this phone has been subjected to less trauma than my last four phones combined and trumps them all with this display problem. At a time of its choosing, the phone will revive. I am basically biding my time, awaiting the day when it does not revive and I will have to buy a new phone.
- Verizon does not carry replacement batteries. The battery once died and I went to THREE stores (Verizon, Radio Shack, Batteries Plus) and no one carried it. They all could order it in about a week (perfect for people who can go without a cell phone for a week!).
- The headsets are all proprietary, a tactic you can get away with if you are the upper echelon of electronics manufacturers (Apple/Sony). Samsung is not Apple or Sony.

The last two points here underscore a secondary problem: this phone is not good enough to saturate the market and beckon support from its carrier.

Do not buy this phone.

Great, but with a BIG design flaw August 3, 2009

Reviewer:  Skexis 

I bought this phone about 3 months ago when I signed up with Verizon, and mostly I decided to get it because it's sleek and stylish, but it seemed to have all the features I might need as well.

The phone really is stylish-looking, but after a couple of months of use, I noticed I was having problems with the phone unlocking itself while it was in my pocket. The OK button on the phone is used to unlock it when it's slid closed, but the OK button also happens to be the most raised button on the outside of the phone. Now, it's not as if I was doing jumping jacks with a pocket full of janitorial keys here, (In fact, there isn't anything in my pockets with my phone.) I was simply walking from one place to the next. And over and over, if it wasn't the OK button taking me into the media center, then it was one of the shortcut buttons connecting to mobile web or opening up Vcast, ready to download ringtones and other nonsense I knew I was paying through the nose for.

At any rate, there is *no* way to change the button you want to use for unlocking the phone. That's right. For this most obvious of problems, there's no simple way to fix it. But I was able to change the default screen layout and my shortcuts so that any slip of the button wouldn't end up with me paying boatloads of cash for nothing.

The point is, *I shouldn't have to.* This was a problem they should have seen way ahead of time when manufacturing this phone, and frankly, with the way the menu is designed, I'm almost willing to believe it's an intentional "flaw" designed to get you as quickly into the areas where you spend more money as possible.

After a couple of months of fretting over this phone, I finally decided to disable all web access and vcast access from my phone via the verizon website. Frankly, I don't trust this thing even after changing the shortcuts and screen layout. And there's no reason anyone as a consumer should have to put up with this kind of obvious mistake.

Other than the design problems, this phone is great. Voice quality is excellent, and battery life for me was exceptionally long. (More than any other phone I've had.) I've left it unplugged for 2-3 days at a time, but it still read full battery, which makes me believe that some customers are simply not leaving this phone plugged in for the full time the instructions say to when they first receive it. The booklet specifies 4 hours of charge time, which is easily how long I left mine charging for when I first got it.

Bottom line: if you can deal with the inevitable headaches, this phone does a lot of things right. The one thing it does wrong, though, it goes the whole nine yards on.