Sprint’s Ambassador Program & The Samsung A920
A little while ago, I had mentioned that Sprint had invited me to be a member of their Ambassador program. Well today, the Samsung A920 phone had finally arrived. So what is the Ambassador program all about? To the best of my knowledge it is Sprint’s attempt at guerrilla marketing, targetting the real news makers, bloggers themselves. They equip tech bloggers with a Samsung A920 and unlimited Power Vision (Sprint’s net/media bundle) service for 6 months and only ask for simple feedback in return.
Cons
The A920 is a flip phone made by Samsung that has some pretty neat features at first glance; Bluetooth, a 1.3MP camera with camcorder functionality, and compatibility with Sprint’s 3G network to provide TV, Radio and Music all on one device. Yeah, I know - it sounds too good to be true. In many ways, it is. The phone’s UI is horrible. I takes a while of hunting and pecking to get around to accomplishing what you want to do. The default type rate for when you use the keypad to type alphanumberic messages is rather fast, so if you don’t hit the 7 key four times fast enough you will end up with a extra P instead of an S. Also, the screen’s backlight goes off after a certain time period and if you are typing in a number it won’t get the first digit if you started typing when the backlight was off. Bluetooth networking is highly overrated. I couldn’t get the phone to sync up with my Mac. The only thing the BT is good for is a wireless headset. Battery life is, as expected, less than stellar.
Not So Bad
I will have to say, however, that the 3G network is fairly fast. The A920 can be used as a modem for your PC (no Mac love here), supporting bandwidth rates of 300 to 800 kilobits per second (still slower than your typical DSL/Cable connection). A standard song download on the Sprint Music Store, which is overpriced as you guessed, takes about 45 seconds. The whole interface is made in Java, so there is no sense of speed here. You have to wait 3-5 seconds for each song before it is played. I will say that the audio quality is great. It has two small speakers right about where the hinge for the phone should be.
Pretty Bad
The phone comes with a 32MB SanDisk TransFlash memory card, but if you actually have plans of using the A920 as a media device that’s the first thing that will have to be upgraded. Also, the headphones jack is a 1/8″ jack as found on most phones but this is a bad thing since Sprint wants you to use it as a media device. It should have a 1/4″ jack instead or in addition, otherwise users are stuck with the bad quality headset that is included. There is a small whole on the back of the phone for you to attach a lanyard or wrist-restraint thing. However, unlike previous Samsung models, the A920 does not come with this extremely cheap yet ever-so-important-in-those-butterfinger-moments lanyard. The phone is also only dual-band so this is not the phone for the avid traveler.
Lies. All Lies.
Sprint has been pushing their Music Store and “live” TV service as part of Power Vision for a long time. Here are my thoughts. It is useless. First off the “live” TV is just a bunch of clips of random news or whatever that you shouldn’t waste your money on. You can watch movie trailers (for some movies, not all) as it says but why is the question that comes to mind. I think I can wait a few hours until classes are over to fire up Front Row and view a movie trailer on my 20″ Apple display. The Sprint Music Store gave me a really good laugh. The online interface is horrible and makes finding any decent song a challenge. The list of songs is pretty much sorted by which Artist/label paid the most. For example, rapper T.I. has an album coming out this week and paid Sprint quite a bit to get his name on the mobile network. You can tell. Every menu has some link to his songs or other such content. Did I mention that songs cost $2.50 plus tax! I have one thing to say, iTunes Music Store, 99 cents. Oh and by the way, ringtones cost just as much but expire after 90 days! It is only a matter of time before the Sprint Music Store gets crushed by the competition.
There is also a hyped feature called On Demand that can show “up-to-date information on sports, weather, news, money and movies.” The Java interface is bad as well, with images that are visibly compressed and look trashy. Using the web on a cell phone is greatly overrated. Whenever I’m out I have a PDA or laptop with me because of that fact.
</end rant>
I’m sorry for the extreme disorganization of this post, but some of these things just irk me. Sprint’s Power Vision, media-rich network and phones like the Samsung A920 are aimed at young people like me. However, Sprint has one thing completely wrong. People like me always have an iPod with them, so using a phone for music is not going to work. The time spent on creating the Sprint Music Store and Radio could have been better spent on creating a superior phone and UI. I think Samsung should take a hint from Nokia next time they attempt to make a cell phone. The only thing good about this phone is that it has a camera and can come in handy when I’m driving around and spot a Murcielago, Enzo, Lingenfelter C6 or other such exotic car in front of me. But then again, most phones these days have cameras. Sprint tries to do too much with Power Vision, while charging excessively. If anyone from RIM, Nokia or Motorola (actually, any non-Sprint company works) wants to supply me with a real cell phone, I will gladly show up Sprint. Think I’m biased? Take a look at some other Sprint Ambassador reviews.
Nice rant, Paul. Quick question: how is the phone’s volume? With most phones these days, they sacrifice the damn purpose of the phone (to talk/listen to people) and make it smaller. That’s my biggest gripe with my RAZR these days.
You also make a point that’s being echoed lately. Nobody really wants/needs mobile content like this. Plus, as you mentioned, they’ve got the pricing ass-backwards. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a provider come out with content like this for free to lure new customers.
Fun rant, though.
That’s alright! I love a good rant every once in a while. I happen to own a Sprint and am really happy with my service. However that does not mean that Sprint is kind and benevolent. The harsh reality is that all Cell Phone companies are mischievous and are out to screw their customers.
There are very few absolutes in this world and one of them is that all Cell Phone companies are well…evil.
Only if all the cellphone makers realized that.
The volume’s okay for on the phone, and it can get pretty loud using the speakers for ringtone/music. However, I couldn’t find a way to enable speakerphone, if it has that feature.
looks nice to see another blogger getting a all expenses paid a920 ;) i’ve had mine [compliments of sprint] for the last 3 months. although the phone has its downsides, you’ll soon find yourself getting very attached to the idea of unlimited streaming content free of charge.
there is one noticeable “suck ass” feature of the ringtones store. you’ll notice that each of the $2.50 ringtones (which are about 30 seconds) often have what looks to be duplicates. worry not as those “duplicates” are actually different parts of the original track for $2.50 a pop. did i mention the ringtones are only good for 90 days. wth?
i wrote up a quick rundown on how to get evdo running here. although you’re on osx, the phone itself will function as a standard CDMA modem. last i checked there were a number of tuts available on that.
earphones are crap. i recommend grabbing an extra pair of those foam covers that come with the ipod earphones and tossing those on. those will keep the buds nice and snug. bluetooth is crippled… if you get a hold of a sd card reader you can transfer images and music back and forth (considering the usb cable is near useless).
btw.. check out the comedy and mspot movies. comedy is great.. and the full length films are even better.. although assault on precinct 13 doesn’t look quite the same on the minuscule screen.
i think the phone probably has a 2.5 mm jack; 1/8″ is, as far as I know, the standard (as in iPod) headphone jack size. 1/4″ are the big plugs you see on studio headsets.
Oops, yeah. You’re right Justin.
I received the A920 as a Sprint Ambassador, and I’ve been unhappy with the volume, at least as far as the speakerphone is concerned. For one, I have a bit of trouble hearing the person on the other end of the line, and two, the other person really seems to have a hard time hearing me. It’s a drag.
Oh, and Paul, try that button next to the “back” button - that’s your speakerphone!
“If anyone from RIM, Nokia or Motorola (actually, any non-Sprint company works) wants to supply me with a real cell phone, I will gladly show up Sprint.”
you’re hilarious.
Glad to see your integrity Paul… usually ambassador programs make people kiss-ass in the hopes of getting more freebies in the future. kudos.
one of my biggest beefs is that i can not assign a voice memo as a ringer as i could in my older Toshiba / Audiovox cdm-9950SP. it was so nice to just record 30 seconds of anything, my voice, part of a song, funny commercial and then assign it as a ringer. why should they let me do that though when they are trying to sell me ring tones.
Also it would be SO nice to be able to save and assign pictures that i am able to view on the net.
the usb cable will not work with my laptop or pc using the “Sprint PCS connection Manager” (which doesn’t come with, you have to search for it and all the drivers).
I was able to use it with Bluetooth and futuredial on my laptop though and i was able to beam a contact from it via Bluetooth to my pocket pc. couldn’t send anything to the phone from the ppc though… again, why should they let me do that when they want to sell me pictures and sounds.
if the phone was a little more open i would be VERY happy with it. it’s too bad it can not just hook up to my pc like my ppc does, or at the LEAST give me access to the folders stored on the phone and let me copy / delete / move things to and from the pc.
i think its just an average phone, i have had it for about 5 days and i am thinking about returning it and trying out one of the ppc models with windows mobile.
Tony.
I actually love the phone BUT
Have you tested the a920 with Flickr yet?
With Sprint’s PictureMail crap (which seems to be the only way to get pics off the phone) it’s not compatable with Flickr e-mail-to-stream function.
Any ideas?
i’ve had luck using the a920 with flickr. i used to upload via email all the time until the phone stopped allowing me to email photos from my phone. for now i’m limited to using the sd transflash adapter to pull images off my handset.
You are incorrect, you CAN use the a920 as a modem (bluetooth AND usb) from the mac. I’ve used it on both my Powerbook and MacBook Pro.
it’s a nice idea to use it like a modem via bluetooth
Yes,
The A920 and A900 both work beautifully as EVDO bluetooth modems on the Mac. Correction to your blog needed! Thanks.
I really like the phone. The only problem is, when I try to download music using the sandisk, it does not show up in my media content. I dont know if I am doing it right or not.
Music from the transflash is easy. All you need to do is create a folder called Music can copy your MP3s inside. Then use the mediaplayer and open your flash. Whammo, you have your music. From there, you can close the phone and use the outside controls.
I bought the phone soon after release, I can handle the bad web support, the menu’s dont bother me all that much, the requirement to pay for phone as modem, and such;
But what gets me, is the MP3 phone cannot handle user submited MP3 ringers :\ Many sites out there let you make your own short ringer and send them to your phone, this is easy with the MP3 or WMA formant, but polyphonic / midi’s are annoying to make and why would I want a lame sounding midi when I “should” be enjoying a high quality MP3 right from my MP3 phone?
Where do you create the music folder from, your computer or your phone???????
I own the phone. I like almost everything about it. I own an ipod, but I prefer not to carry it around with me. I just bought a 1gb transflash card, so I am actually using this as an ipod substitute!
You must plug the transflash card into your computer, using an adapter, create a folder called MEDIA then dump your mp3/AAC files in there. They can be in sub-folders but I’ve found that the player won’t play past the last tune in a sub-folder, it repeats within each folder.
I’d like to find the right kind of adapter to replace the so-so headphones that samsung provides with standard headphones (I think the best place is ebay but be careful about compatibility)
So Brendan, I am a new blogger.. actually this is my first.. anyways, I have been needing a new sprint phone and an i pod, so would you recommend buying the a920 and using it and if so what other things should I buy to make it my i pod substitute?
Also, how do I become an ambassador, anyone know where I can get a registration number. I have had sprint since for about 9 years now and I am sick of getting screwed over by them. I lost my phone and now I have had to use an old phone (the sanyo 4900 old), I have tried all of their services, I had a phone plan that was 28$ a month back then, when activating and all that other stuff was free.. then I saw them turn into a corporate monster that charges for everything.. $2.50 for a frickin ringer is insane!… So how can I get in to this ambassador deal? Any guidance would be appreciated, or anyone that is not going to use their phone anymore?
Jessica - you have to be contacted by Sprint to become an Ambassador.
This phone KILLED my Ipod. sorry to apple. (I never listened to all the 20gigs of music I had on it to start with, its now on ebay for those interested.) I bought two 1 gig cards and carry one in the phone and the other in my wallet (these things are freakin’ tiny!), one with music and the other video… that’s right movies when I want. I hate all the people crying about the Sprint music store and blah blah blah… I buy used CDs, rip’em and sell them back… cheap and legal. As far as ring tones? There are several websites with a sweet java app. written for sprint phones that allow you to upload ANY mp3 (also games too!) via the web to your phone to use as a ring tone (FREE!!). Just compress any song or whatever.mp3 to a managible bitrate and hit send! My present ring tone is the THX fade in sound thingy… super cool. Finally we get to the goods…. video playback. If you record video using your phone it saves it as a .3G2 file (3rd Generation Parternship Project 2 for those who care) This is a variation of the MP4 compression, now enter Xilisoft’s Video Converter software.. it converts .avi’s and such not to a crazy amount of file types including .3G2! I rip my TV shows (about 350MB .avi’s) down to 40MB and throw them on the media card and watch them on my phone. I have the 1st season of LOST on a 1 gig card…. sweet! In closing.. this phone rocks, either you are too jaded or lazy to enjoy all that it can do! Oh yeah it also makes calls. (P.S. buy the extended battery and sell that Ipod.. all it does is play music.
This got this phone.. luv it for the most part but one MAJOR FLAW! Why the heck can’t I use my own MP3 created ringtones! Anyway around this my fellow A920′ers?
thanx!
yes, yes I did read the post before my previous… but how bout some links… :-)
Its not a phone flaw, its just the business of making money.. the American way. Everybody complains of company making too much money at the expense of the customer. Guess what? The customer has no obligation to make them rich but they do. The customer is the one with the choice, choose wisely!! (Enough rant)
These are the two sites I know off hand for uploading your own mp3 as ringers. the 920 has 32meg of internal memory so reconvert your mp3 to a small bitrate (lots of freeware out there that works well). so you don’t fill it all up with just 1, 10MB 320kbps Britney Spears song. I rip mine to 44kbps (or smaller), around 300KB files; the quality doesn’t have to be great cause its a ringer!! Also I edit my songs to 30 secs because who listens to a phone ringing for 3 mins??? You can also use this for uploading compatible games and apps to your phone as well.
http://rumkin.com/tools/sprint/
http://www.sprintusers.com/focus/
Screw Sprint, as long as I have a signal I have no worries, there are work arounds for everything!! Enjoy!
do you know what the site is i can use to download for the drivers? so i can download music to my a920.
I cant get the usb to register on my comp. I think its cuz I have windows me.
okay, well i have this phone. i am pretty much computer-challenged. the guy at the sprint store told me i could download music off of my computer onto the phone, but i have no idea how to. i tried using the usb cord and whatnot like the people at the store told me, but i still cannot figure it out. i also downloaded the driver thing which i have no clue what it does. it is like the sprint power vision thing, but i keep trying to drag songs from my music on my computer onto there, but its not working and i have no clue how to do it! pretty pretty please…HELP ME! =[
The USB cable is pretty much useless for anything other that using your phone as a wireless modem for your computer. You cannot use it for transferring music or other goodies to your phone, that would be to easy for the consumer to do, because the phone company wants you to use their music store instead $$$$. The easiest way is to purchase a USB SD (secure digital) memory card reader (I bought one that looks like a USB flash drive that reads all the SD type media for 20 bucks, SanDisk MobileMedia 5in1). This is really tricky so pay attention! Take the MicroSD (Transflash) card out of your phone, place it in the card reader, plug the USB cable into your computer and then transfer your files to your card. Rocket science!! There is a folder labeled MEDIA on the card, place all your MP3 and stuff in there. This was already explained in a previous post…. it pays to read!
when you say put the transflash card in the card reader….what exactly is the card reader. when i said i was computer-challenged, i really meant it. do you mean in the CPU or something? because my CPU doesn’t have any openings for a transflash card or anything, and it is only a couple months old too. but yeah, i pretty much am still dumbfounded on this whole phone/mp3 stuff. =[
You’ll have to go out an buy one if your computer doesn’t have a built in. Your phone came with a Secure Digital Card adapter, (the black card in the case that was next to your MicroSD card), this allows you to use a normal sized SD card reader with your MicroSD card. You can the card reader get one from the following link or go to BestBuy, Compusa, Walmart or just about any where that sells electronics. I have the one that is available by the link below, it is small, looks like a USB flash drive and reads multiple types of SD/MMC cards.
http://www.buy.com/prod/SanDisk_MobileMate_5_in_1_Secure_Digital_Mobile_Memory_Card_Reader/q/loc/101/10390458.html
Insert your card into this and then into your USB port on your computer. The card with show up in “My Computer” as a drive letter (i.e G:\ or H:\ or whatever is next). Just double click on the drive letter to open it up, inside there is a folder called “MEDIA”, put your files in here. Thats all there is to it. Good Luck
I’m paying for my Sprint service:
$29.99 for 200min
$5/mo for Unlimited Mobile to Mobile (thats basicly all I use it for really)
$5/mo for 100 SMS (get weather alerts, and notifications that my server is dead)
$15/mo for Unlimited PowerVision
Thats $55/mo. If you dont want mobile to mobile, or SMS, you’re at $45/mo
I’m on a LG225 now though, waiting on my A920 to arive (sans Card, charger, usb cable, but, with BT, and a card reader (and a 256meg card which beats 32meg), and that all Sprint chargers are the same in size and power output…), I’m set, and shall be happy.
whats the program for the a 920 sprint samsung phone
In what format should pictures be in order for the phone to recognize them? I’ve got a ton of them on my disc and when i open the video/pics app. and click on the memory card it says the card is completely empty.
the mp3 player is working, i’ve even dropped video on the card but pictures no-GO!
thanks!
Pics are just standard .jpg format. Just drop your pics in the 100SSMED folder in the DCIM (Digital camera image) folder. They will show up in your “My Albums” under media card in your phone. If you don’t have a DCIM folder on your card, take a picture with your phone with the card in and the phone will create the folder structure for you. Cheers and goodluck…
For those interested in using your phone as an Mp3 player for your car or home stereo….
the headphone jack is a 2.5mm 4 conductor type,(Left channel, Right Channel, Microphone, and Ground.) …this means it has 4 contact points rather than the 3 that a normal stereo jack (left, right, ground) has. This is problem because most of the 2.5mm to 3.5mm (standard 1/8 mini jack) adapters do not compensate for the mic (4th conductor) which in turn will not properly send the signals to the correct channels and mostly give you a mono output to either the left or right speaker only (or worse, short out your equipment). I looked everywhere for the right adapter, RatShack, Mouser, etc and nobody has this correct one…. except EBAY! (Search for “2.5 to 3.5 Samsung A920″) I picked up 3 for under 10 bucks, one for my home stereo, one for my car (works great with my ITrip), and one for work to port into my computer speakers. Handy little adapter (about 3 inches long for those who are looking), there is also one available with a built-in mic so you can use normal earbuds with your phone and still be able to make calls and etc. Can you tell I love this phone??
Thanks Rob,
Man you know ur stuff and I must say that I’m quite enjoying the features of the phone myself.
Peace!
I couldn’t agree more Paul. Right on!
Robert- Thanks for all the useful advice on how to really make the media phone function fully. I’m enjoying it thoroughly and am very satisfied with Sprint’s phones compared to my old carrier Verizon. I was just wondering which audio editing program you use to rip and clip your mp3’s. Thanks!
I use the standard Roxio CD Creator7 for most converting since it does everything okay. SoundForge I use for editing song lengths and cleaning up pop and hiss and such. CDEX is a decent freeware program for Ripping mp3 and also for recompressing higher bit rate songs to lower bitrate for smaller file sizes. Good luck.
This is a great website has great information.
Robert, really appreciate all the GREAT tips you are provding. Just got my A920 last week . Started to buy the 1GIG transflash but didn’t think it would work. Have you had any problems with your 1 GIG transflash.
The 1 Gig microSD/Transflash works perfect (I own 2 of them, one for video and one for music). Stick to reputible brands such as SanDisk and you’ll be alright. Check NewEgg.com for sales, you should be able to get one for about 40 bucks with shipping. The phone was released before the 1 gb card was on the market, so they hadn’t really tested the compatiblity thoroughly at the time. I sent several emails to sprint and they said that they couldn’t forsee any problems with the 1 gb or future size increases with the phone. Good Luck!
so true Robert…this phone is wonderful if you learn the tricks. I love watching episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm on my phone. Follow his directions above and it will work..
I have the A900 (didn’t know about the A920)… would someone advise me whether I can load wma files onto the phone and use them as ringers? If so, would you be so kind as to spoon-feed me how?
thanks! s.
@Sharon
I found this forum on the web, check it out for your answer on how to upload ringers and such. http://www.sprintusers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91504&highlight=a900+upload
See my previous posts above for the links to several web sites that allow you upload files and how to convert music files to use as ringtones. Be careful with .wma files since that are DRM’ed, I stick to mp3’s since you have full control over their usage. Spend some time at the Sprintusers.com and rumkin.com, they should be able to answer all your questions in detail. Good Luck.
Has anyone using the A920 noticed how easy it is to inadvertently turn off the phone when ending a call? When you want to turn the phone off (from an idle state obviously), it behaves as you would expect: you must press and hold the End key for multiple seconds to begin the shutdown sequence.
However when you’re ending a call, if you press that End key for more than a split second, you will initiate a shutdown. Then of course to turn the phone back on you must wait that dreaded startup period. It seems to me the timing required to initiate a shutdown should be the same - if not greater - when ending a call as it would be from an idle state.
Here again we have a classic example of product managers overlooking basic functionality in favor of the new bells and whistles that they are mandated to pursue by the so-called geniuses in marketing. Maybe in small part this helps explain Sprint’s lackluster sales in recent quarters. The company is facing some of its greatest challenges in the months ahead and if they hope to retain customers like me, they better stay focused on the basics as a core part of introducing new technologies.
@Bruce
I think you have a defective phone, I have to hold the END key down for at least 3 seconds for it to power off. Go back to the place of purchase and test one of their phones to see if it does the same thing.
I just bought an A920 last month. I was actually to replace my very old but very reliable Sanyo 5150. As with other Samsung phones I’ve owned, it does everything very well… Except make calls. To it’s credit, this one does a hell of alot better than my old A500.
It’s nice to see that this Samsung actually has the power saver feature for roaming. Something my 5 year old 5150 had, but the A500 did not.
The camera is fantastic for a cell phone. You won’t know how good the pic is though till you put the TF card in your computer.
The stereo head phones that came with it are a really nice touch. They don’t quite fit in my ears, but the sound is really nice.
As far as people wondering how to get music and ringers on the phone, there is hope. No, you can’t get ringers on the TF card… WHICH IT LAMER THAT SHIT!! That’s half the reason I bought the damn thing, and the douche at the sprint store said that could be done. I also should have bought the PPC.
All you have to do is make a folder named “MEDIA”, not music. Put all your MP3 in there.
If you want MP3 ringers, no problem. You will need Wireless web. You don’t have to have Text messenging service, but it does make things a bit easier.
go to http://pcs.cruz-network.net/ or http://www.rumkin.com
I recomend the first site, rumkin has been down for a while now.
I just recomend, using cool edit pro 2 or 2.1 to cut an MP3 down to 30 seconds or less, then save it in either 96kbs or 112kbs. DO NOT USE variable bit rit with cool edit. It’s not only bigger for some reason, but it sounds like shit too. Another good thing to note, where are most phone only support mono, (cause they only have one speaker obviously), you can save your ringer’s in stereo, and it sounds great. Since the phone it’s self has about 24mb to work with, you should be able to fit enough ringers and sounds for all your contacts and alerts.
On demand services are a joke, don’t waist your time.
The phone will also let you use animated GIF’s for wallpapers, but I do not recomend using them. The work, but not well.
Sprint would also like you to beleive that a 512 TF card is the largest the a920 can support. That’s cause that’s what they sell… for 69 freakin dollars. You can get a 1g off newegg for a little less than that. or just pop down 20 bucks at wal-mart for 256. It works just fine on my phone.
If the phone had full file push capabilities through Bluetooth, it would be perfect, but untill then anyone looking for an “Unlimited, uncontroled” cellphone media experiance, should save up for a PPC, or a motorola Q.
Other than that, this phone kicks ass.
can i pair my a920 via bluetooth with another bluetooth cell phone to transfer files such as ringtones??
I have one question. Everything seems to work fine on my phone, and i know that you can watch movie clips. What format do clips off of your computer have to be in order to watch them on the phone, because i have tried and so far nothing has worked.
Video files must be .3g2 I believe. An easy way of finding this out is to use your camcorder function on your phone and shoot a quick clip to the memory card. Take the memory card to your computer and look in your media folder for the file. It will be either a .3gp or .3g2 file. I use Xilisoft’s Video Converter to rip .mpg’s and .avi’s to this format. I can get a 800MB file down to less than 100 megs in this format and squeeze about 8 or 9 movies on a 1 gig microsd card…. goodluck!