Features:
- Compact, data-ready flip phone with external caller ID.
- 20,000 pixel multicolor display
- High speed data transmission for quick Internet surfing
- Voice recognition and customizable ringers, wallpapers, pictures and more
- Store more with internal phone book that manages up to 250 entries
Description:
: If you’re looking for a phone that’s light in your pocket but heavy on features, the A500 has all the bells and whistles. One of the most appealing phones we’ve seen this year, this compact silver wonder has a sleek rounded design that’s eye-catching without being too glitzy and an external LCD screen that displays caller ID, time, date, battery life, and service. Even more amazing, the inside of this flip-top holds a brilliant 128-by-160 color TFT display, making it ideal for the features it’s most touted for: surfing the Internet, playing Java-based games, loading multimedia screensavers, and viewing photos. The A500 completely charged in about an hour while we got ready for work so we were able to just grab the phone and go. We liked the oval four-way navigation button at the top of the keypad, which you use to scroll through menus or customize to get to four different phone features in a hurry. However, we found it hard to hit the Web access button (located in the center of the nav button) or press the Menu, Talk, End, OK, and Back buttons (which form a semi-circle around the four-way nav button) without knocking into the four-way navigation button. We had a few misdials when using the keypad, but found the spacing to be a little better than on the buttons above it. The cool blue backlighting on the keypad buttons made dialing from a dark office a piece of cake. We especially liked the green backlighting on the Talk button and red on the End button to differentiate those two buttons. As a Sprint PCS phone, the A500 supports all the multimedia extras, and we tested them out. We used the standard aquarium screensaver, which looked amazingly crisp and bright on the full-color screen. After pondering holiday favorites, such as "You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" or "O Christmas Tree" to download for our polyphonic ring tone, we selected a maniacal clucking chicken sound. As for games, the A500 is loaded with Space Invaders and demos of Cybiko’s CyRace and Sega’s Monkey Ball, which all look great on the color screen. The games are a little difficult to play with such tiny controls but if you are a diehard you can buy a joystick attachment for the A500. Other fun screen savers, ringers, games, and applications are downloadable through PCS Vision, but you should expect to pay a buck or two for each one. The A500 also joins the picture-taking craze by offering the ability to download photos from a Sprint PCS camera and email them to friends. This is more of a frivolous feature, but can be valuable for emailing photos immediately when vacationing or house hunting. We expected an amazing Internet experience on the A500 with its color screen. While the experience was good, we were surprised that Internet surfing on this phone mainly uses a text-based menu so the great graphics aren’t always utilized. In addition, we found connection and page loading times from the same location (a private home) to be a bit inconsistent. Still, the superior contrast and 12-line screen made reading an ESPN article much more pleasant than on most competing cell phones. E-mail and text messaging (among other Sprint PCS-enabled phones only) also had a wide range in terms of load and send time. Text input was a bit tedious, but you have the choice of T9 input, which speeds typing up a bit. We did find the character count of 128 characters per message to be limiting for anything more than the simplest correspondence. And what about the standard phone features? They may seem almost secondary on this phone with all the other shiny objects attracting your attention, but they are actually quite good. The phone book only holds 250 entries but includes a chunk of information with each listing including multiple phone numbers, e-mail address, and birthday, plus the option to set speed, voice, and/or group dialing; a special ringer or image; and a VIP status for each of your contacts. Unfortunately, the name field only allows 12 characters and can’t fit a first and last name for most contacts, which is a real drawback for business use. Another disadvantage to the A500 is that it doesn’t let you assign the same number to two contacts (i.e., roommates or co-workers with the same work number). The A500’s voice transmission came through loud and clear during calls and the ringer on the phone is also on the loud side. If you like to have the alert sound for tasks or meetings scheduled in the A500’s planner, we recommend you turn the sound way down during quiet meetings so you don’t startle everyone around you. Our tests of voice dialing on the A500 found that voice recognition worked perfectly. The voice memo feature, which records either one 60-second long memo or 10 short recordings (300 seconds total), also was error-free. One final and unusual bonus on the A500 is its airplane mode, which allows you to access some of the phone’s features, such as games or the planner, during air travel without interfering with the aircraft’s electronics. Overall, this is one of our favorite phones of its era (an era lasting about six months in the world of cell phones). We think the flashy aspects of this phone will appeal to techno-geeks who want to wow their friends with the latest and the greatest. The multimedia features are more focused on fun than productivity so the A500 is probably best for light business users and those who are ready to upgrade to a phone with a high-quality color screen. --Cristina Vaamonde Pros: - Amazingly crisp graphics on color screen
- Supports PCS Vision multimedia features and downloads
- Optional digital camera attachment
- Airplane mode
Cons: - Tight button placement on keypad
- Inconsistent Internet connection/loading times
- Limited character count in text messaging and phone book
- Can’t assign same number twice in phone book
How We Tested Battery Talk/Standby Time When reading our reviews, you should view the test results of mobile-phone battery talk time and standby time as relative information only. Many variables, including carrier signal strength at your location, signal consistency (including incoming and outgoing calls), display and ringer settings, and battery charging methods and history, will affect performance. When handset manufacturers and mobile phone carriers list talk-time and standby-time ratings, they usually include disclaimers about variable performance and often refer to the times they publish as maximum times. Some quote expected battery life ranges, and in this case you're probably safe to assume you'll experience at least the minimum rated range. Note that manufacturers of dual-mode digital and analog handsets publish battery-life rates for both digital and analog modes, as analog mode consumes much more power than digital mode. Our Tests: We tested digital-mode talk and standby times with each phone. Prior to each test, we fully charged the phone's battery according to the manufacturer's directions. To test digital-phone talk time, we turned the phone on, established a digital carrier signal, dialed a number in our test lab, and, when the call rang through, took the receiving phone's handset off the hook. When all went well, we didn't do anything else except record the time when the phone died. In a couple of cases, the phones lost the signal and dropped the calls. If we were right there and could redial, we did so immediately and continued running the test. Otherwise, we halted the test, recharged the battery, and started the test over. Assuming consistent carrier-signal strength, this test should represent best-case talk time. And it's worth noting that several phones' talk-time performance significantly exceeded the manufacturers' ratings. To test digital-phone standby time, we turned the phone on, established a carrier signal, and left the phone in standby mode. We checked the phone every few hours (for what was often days on end) until the phone finally cut out. Since no outgoing or incoming calls occurred during testing and because the phone was not moved, this method should represent best-case standby time, again assuming consistent carrier signal strength.
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