Samsung SGH-A100

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The first thing that strikes one most about the dualband SGH A100 is that it is a more angular version of its older sibling, the GSM900 Samsung SGH800. The former is also noticeably lighter--by more than 20g--with a smaller footprint. Unfortunately, Samsung has clearly not learned the lessons of the past.

The phone, in the same clamshell design as the SGH800, comes in the two signature color options of champagne gold and silver that Samsung favors. But it is disappointing to note that the SGH A100 sports the same finish as the earlier SGH phones, which proved to be highly prone to wear and tear after a short usage period. This alone may be a stumbling block to current Samsung users upgrading to the A100.

Extra Battery Power
What the SGH A100 does have going for it is its decision to bundle two batteries in its retail package. You get not only a standard Lithium-ion battery that supports over three hours of talktime, but also a slim Li-ion with a maximum talktime of two hours.

One problem with battery recharging is the guessing game played each time you connect a phone to the charger. Nokia's much publicised Human Technology can certainly take a leaf out of the SGH A100's book. The latter has taken this little drawback into consideration by providing a feature that displays the percentage of power the phone has juiced up on during charging.

EFR-Enabled Clarity
The phone performed pretty decently both underground and in elevators that did not substantially hinder voice and reception clarity. We tried the phone out on all three service providers, with similar results. The SGH A100 also supports EFR which has to be enabled. We did not, however, test this out.

Standard Features All There
The features menu is as easy as right, left, up and down! Its active flip also helps to pick up calls quickly. Navigation aside, the SGH A100 has all the standard features in place. There is an aqua backlight with controllable contrast screen-display function. Samsung has also implemented a shortcut function that allows you to choose between a full features menu or one that shows only often-used features.

There is also IrDA, Calendar, Alarm, To Do List, seven games from Casino to Othello, 10 SMS ringtones and a ringtone composer, on top of 18 different melodies to select from. Its phonebook memory can hold up to 99 entries, independent of the SIM card. Want to check on your usage time? The phone even comes with a Minute Minder that you can set to beep at the end of every minute's worth of conversation.

What Will Be Missed
With more than a million SMS messages sent daily here, Samsung may have made a mistake by not including predictive text input as part of its features. Also noticeable is the absence of voice dial, which was included in some of its older packages like the SGH600.

Hard Fight Ahead
With a list price of nearly S$600, no WAP option and only 3.4 hours of maximum talktime, Samsung's second dual band unit faces a tough fight ahead with other similarly priced but more featured-packed competitors in the market.