Samsung A560 Review

The SPH-A560 has a blue and silver color scheme. The color is flat, not glossy. It sounds dull, but it mixes well with the design of the phone. The latest trend in CDMA phones is to have an internal antenna. This usually leads to a somewhat awkward shape. The a560 has actually hidden it quite well and I like the looks of it a lot!

This phone is about the average size of a cell phone in today's market. It was not too bulky to carry around in my pocket discreetly. Nor was the phone so small that it was uncomfortable to hold in my hand.

3.5"

1.8"

1"

Comparison Pictures:

E815-A560-V551

The keys are rather difficult to press. I was actually annoyed while I was text messaging. The keys may be pushed with more ease once they are worn in. However, I was very disappointed in the keypad.

The two buttons on the outside left hand side are used solely for volume. When you are on a call it adjusts the headset volume. Not on a call, the button will adjust the volume of the ring tones. You are able to select vibe always, silent, and actual ring tones.

On the face of the A560 is an LED indicator that provides you with valuable information. I found myself relying on this feature a lot due to the lack of external LCD screen. When it blinks green, it signifies that everything is normal. If the light is red, the phone is signifying that you need to check it out. Text messages, alarm clock, missed calls, etc will all turn the light into red. The light is not constantly on and blinks about every 8 seconds or so.

The Samsung A560 definitely has a lack of features (which I will discuss later), but this also makes for a simple menu. The simplicity of these menus will definitely attract some new users to it! Whenever I needed to find something, it was fairly simple to find. Again, as most phones, you can choose an icon style or a text style.

Information Management

You can add up to 300 names under the Contacts page. You are also able to split these numbers into groups. The groups can be renamed or even deleted if necessary.

Samsung implemented quite a few different organizational gadgets into the a560. This is the only area on the phone that I feel they had a great “overkill.” It really differs from the “simplistic” design that Samsung was apparently aiming for. Samsung was possibly trying to make up for their lack of features (no camera, external screen, mobile internet, etc.) with a lot of “tools.” Most of the tools really do almost the same thing, just a different name. For example, the To-Do List is very similar to the Memo Pad. I am not going to do too much in depth with these tools though.

As I have alluded to before, this phone really lacks features! Even though it is on the Sprint network, it does not have not even have PCS Vision. I am an avid user of the mobile web to check sports scores, weather, and the latest headlines. From the headset itself, it gives you no way of even downloading new games, tones, or utilities for your phone.

The ring tones were definitely loud on this phone! If you have the volume turned all the way, there almost no way that you could missed a call. Even in a vehicle, with the windows down, driving at 70 MPH, I could hear it fine. The factory ring tones were halfway decent. You would have to enjoy the factory ring tones because there is no way of downloading new tones to this phone!

I liked the “Launch Pad.” With this feature, you are able to switch around the shortcuts on the navigational pad.

I found text messaging to be very frustrating. It is not the text input method (t9), but the keyboard truly ruins it! The keys are so difficult to press that I would not even want to respond to people when they sent me messages. There are no special features included for the messaging. There is no access to any email or even an AIM client to chat!

The text input does not allow you to add your own words, but it does remember certain words that you have entered in the recent past.