Samsung SGH-A737 slide phone (AT&T)

I picked this phone hoping to carry one less device, installing a 4GB Micro SD chip and using it as an mp3 player. OVERALL RATING 2 stars (average of my phone and mp3 ratings) A737 AS PHONE: 3 stars. As phones go, it's pretty good. Other reviewers complain about durability and battery life. So far mine haven't broken, and I'm d okay the battery life is short. This will get me into the habit of leaving it plugged into the computer overnight to charge it (using a USB cable). It's nice to be able to charge it from a USB port rather than carrying a wall charger when traveling. Indoor use is better than my previous phone (Sony Ericsson T610), which didn't work well in my home. A useful feature that is not listed in the manual is the "AIRPLANE" mode: it disables the network connection, so that you can use the device on an airplane, for example to play mp3 files or save the notebook. phone addresses on your laptop. I don't have the data plan. If you have to pay exorbitant monthly charges for data, you should get a smart phone that makes better use of it. Many features that require a data plan clog the interface even when you don't have a data plan. For example, if you press the AT&T logo (select button), it pauses, indicates that the connection failed. You then have to press OK, then Back, then confirm that you want to leave the browser, 3 different presses on the button just to cancel the unavailable feature. This button is clearly visible on the phone and I have had to learn NOT to tap it from the main screen. I want the phone to know or learn that it doesn't have a data plan and prevent data dependent features from getting in the way. On the other hand, there's a handy configurable menu on another button from which you can select which features you're actually using. Navigator. plugged in via an adapter, and they sound good when the music is playing, but not as good as on my old cheap Creative Zen Nano Plus mp3 player. means two loud pops between tracks. It usually cuts off the first half second of the song. Whenever I press buttons to navigate phone menus, there's the same LOUD *POP*. Between songs , there's a pause - sometimes short, sometimes long, and sometimes it's stuck until I press some buttons. The volume control only has 5 levels over a wide range from too soft to too loud. I have to use step 4 even though it's louder than I prefer, because step 3 is way too quiet. I can do with my Zen, so I can play an album in the intended order, or arbitrary mp3s in an order I chose. The only way to do that is to create a playlist for each folder. Without playlist, you can play by album and artist only. I was hopeful when I saw that I could rate each song as it was played, but this feature is useless. I played two hours of songs and rated each one. Ratings are available on the phone, but I can't transfer the notes to my mp3 library with any of the three mp3 transfer mechanisms - Windows Media Player, the included media manager (which has a column to show the note but apparently no way to configure it), or the USB mass storage setting using the file manager copy. If you listen to a lot of music on a flight, you won't be able to use the phone when you land. MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS The phone comes with a charger and nothing else. I had to buy adapters to connect to USB (to charge and transfer data) and to use standard 2.5mm stereo headphones ( 1/8"). You'll probably want to buy lots of accessories to make the phone handy. They would be cheap, except shipping is high and no seller has them all. Contrary to some reviews on Amazon, I CAN use a 4GB Micro SD chip in this phone Kingston chip works well handy when I don't have my real camera with me Quality is comparable to mobile phones but not comparable in use a dedicated camera. The AT&T plan I have includes SMS text messaging. People can message me by sending a 10-digit email -phone-number@txt.att.net, which is convenient, but I can't answer them without a data plan, except e n using text messages on their phone. The alarm clock and address book apps are fine. The included PC software works, fine with an unintuitive interface and text and help file written by someone unfamiliar with not very good english. Media manager takes way too long (average 2 mins each) to transfer mp3 files to or from phone. The three USB modes included support Samsung PC software, Windows Media Player protocol, and access to MicroSD (if applicable) like a USB flash drive. There is a choice to "ask me when connecting - but it grays out everything except the Samsung PC software, so this setting is useless. SUMMARY The phone is ok for basic phone features. With the exorbitant price of data plans, if you're going to pay that much per month, you should invest in a phone that can use data features better. MP3 render it almost unusable for this purpose.