Digital Trends

Samsung MM-a900

June 14th, 2006 | by Stewart Wolpin

Features and Design

Samsung has endowed the A900 with the usual spate of state-of-the-art capabilities and applications including broadband EV-DO with Web browsing, live, streaming and downloadable clip TV viewing, multimedia and plain text messaging, Bluetooth, a 1.3 Megapixel camera/video recorder, video and MP3 playback, PictBridge for easy picture printing sans PC. It also includes MP3 music ring-tones, voice dialing, Samsung's speech-to-text technology, voice memo recording, a 500-contact phone book, and both calendar/scheduler and alarm clock.

While there's no external memory slot, the A900 does include 47 MB of memory, more than most phones in its class (including the RAZR). However, it does not possess the capability to store enough songs to last an average commute or exercise session.

The A900 (3.86 x 2.01 x .57 inches) has nearly identical dimensions of the RAZR (3.86 x 2.08 x 0.54 inches). At 3.9 ounces, the A900 is slightly heavier than the RAZR (3.35 ounces) and, with its top up, the A900 is half an inch longer -- all of which amounts to a wash as far as the physicality's are concerned. But it is here that the similarities between the two phones end.

Unlike the RAZR, Samsung has clearly designed the A900 as a music phone. Directly beneath the external LCD screen are three music transport control buttons -- rewind/skip back, play/pause and fast forward/skip ahead. The RAZR lacks external music controls. Just below these are twin stereo speakers. On the left spine is the volume toggle and on the right is the camera/voice recorder key.

Like many Samsung cell phones, the 1.3 megapixel camera lens is mounted in the hinge between the two halves and rotates 180 degrees. A bright flash is located just beneath this swiveling lens.

When open, the A900 is a bit simpler in design than the RAZR, especially the pedantic key layout. But the A900's dim white backlit doesn't light up the small numbers and letters well, especially compared to the Broadway bright blue backlight on the RAZR.

However, the A900's 1.78 x 1.53-inch, 262k-color internal and its .81 x .81-inch, 65k-color external LCD screens are slightly brighter than those on the RAZR, although the main RAZR screen offers better contrast.

Image Courtesy of Samsung