5 Comments on Samsung Trance Phone, Black

Richard Collette on Thu, 18th Feb 2010 8:18 am


After 6 hours hiking in 35 degree weather, the phone came out of my pocket with a fracture starting at the earpiece and spidering through the entire face (see customer photos). There is a weak point at the ear piece (corners in glass are fracture points). They should have just ended the glass lower than the ear piece. Samsung would not honor the warranty as this is “external damage” though it was just in my pocket. Read the warranty carefully. Where most would say that external “wear” such as scratches due to normal use is not covered, this warranty says that any external “damage” due to normal use is not covered. So basically, if you are using your phone normally, and it experiences “damage” of any kind it will not be covered, at Samsung’s sole discretion. Why? Because Samsung couldn’t possibly design the phone poorly to cause such damage nor could the glass possibly have a defect in it (sarcasm).

Luckily, the manager at my local Verizon store replaced the phone for free after an hour of being on the phone with Samsung and the Verizon tech, being transfered to the Samsung Executive Accounts department, etc. Of course, that was only after saying my next step would be to contact the department of consumer protection and pursue the matter with the small claims court.

I will never buy a Samsung product again.
Rating: 1 / 5

Sharon E. Reihart on Thu, 18th Feb 2010 11:14 am


If I could rate this phone less than one star I would do it. This is a horrible phone to use. While on a call, if your cheek touches the touch screen it can mute your call or press other buttons. And, I have it set to the least sensitive setting. Most of the time it doesn’t ring when a call comes in and I have it set to both ring and vibrate. I doesn’t do either half of the time. After listening to a voicemail the notice on the front window won’t go out causing me to keep checking my messages more than necessary. I wouldn’t recommend this phone to my worst enemy. Do NOT get this phone!
Rating: 1 / 5

Mark Cheney on Thu, 18th Feb 2010 12:52 pm


And if it weren’t for the plastic battery cover that comes off quite easily, I would keep this phone. The features were good and the battery life so far has been great. However, I will be returning this product soon because of the battery case.
Rating: 2 / 5

K. Bowman on Thu, 18th Feb 2010 3:00 pm


This is a very durable phone. If you, like me, are a klutz than this phone is perfect for you. I have dropped it countless times and it still works fine. I even dropped it in sweet tea once and after immediately taking it apart and letting it dry for a few days it still worked. I had a few problems with it for a while after that, but it was fine again in a month or two. The issues basically went away on their own. I use my phone A LOT and i have had it for almost a year (that fact alone should tell you that it is exceedingly durable) and it is very dependable.
Also, I have gotten many compliments on it. It seems that I can’t take it out of my pocket without someone telling me how cool it looks and asking to see it. Another upside to this is that it is amusing to watch them try to figure out how it works. For some reason no one ever knows how to work the touch screen part. But i digress. The point is that it is a very good looking phone.
Another thing is that it has AMAZING battery life. I keep it on all day long, text 24/7 and listen to the MP3 player for several hours every other day. Yet it still takes almost a week to run out of batteries.
There are only two problems that i have with it, but they aren’t prominent enough to take a point off for. One is that i don’t get quite as good as service as the rest of my family does, even though we have the same phone company. The other is that when I first got it, the touch screen was very annoying because I kept on hitting the wrong thing. However, I got used to it and I don’t have that problem so much any more.

Rating: 5 / 5

K. Mathews on Thu, 18th Feb 2010 4:55 pm


I just got this phone, and have had it for 3 days. I haven’t been able to test the battery life, as I have only charged it one time, and it’s still going! This is a great looking phone, and does not feel cheap like other reviews have said. It does show finger-prints, so if you can’t stand that, do not get this phone! As for the features, here is what I have experienced so far:

Pros
Great reception
Great Music player
Sleek look
long battery life
Easy to use
Very customizable (ringers, displays, menu layouts)

Cons
Non-Standard USB connection on the phone itself (can’t use a standard USB cable to connect the phone to your PC)
Fingerprint magnet
No EV-DO (although this didn’t bother me, as it mainly is used to download music straight to phone, and other data services)
No case or holster comes with the phone

As for the ease of use, I was able to add songs onto the phone using Windows Media Player, and the internal memory will hold approx. 100 songs. You can add a 16Gb Micro-SD card. The charger is a really nice feature, as it combines the charger and USB cable all into one. I wish it had a standard USB connection on the phone, but it is proprietary. You have to use the cable that comes with it. However, you can charge your phone using your PC with this cable, and avoid the wall outlet, if needed.

Overall, I like this phone alot. My wife got the Samsung Alias 2, and is thinking about switching to this one. I would definitely recommend this phone.

UPDATE 5/27/09: I need to change my review to 4 3/4 stars. This phone is great. I have read reviews where people say the battery life is horrible, the reception is bad, etc. I don’t know if they got a lemon, or if I somehow ended up with a perfect one in the batch. I am not on my phone constantly, but I do use it very frequently. I also listen to music on it while at work, and the battery life usually lasts me at least 4 days.
The screen lock is another feature people seem to dislike, but I love it. I can toss this phone in my pocket, and not worry about “pocket-dialing” anyone. To unlock the phone, you can open the slide, or just push and hold the unlock button for about 2 seconds. It’s that easy!!! I don’t understand what the problem is.
One complaint that I do agree with is that you CANNOT use your . mp3’s as ringtones. This one feature would have made this phone perfect. Other than that, I would recommend this phone to anyone looking to upgrade. This phone has some great features, and is very user-friendly.
Rating: 4 / 5

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