DISQUS

theory.isthereason: Sprint gave me a free cell phone. What’s the catch?

  • Paul Stamatiou · 3 years ago
    Awesome, you got it! Mines in my PO Box back at school but I'm on spring break so I won't see it until monday. Glad to see the phone is nice. There's a how to somewhere out there for getting the phone to work as a modem for a mac via bluetooth. By the way, what number did they give you? Like area code wise.. something local to Buffalo or just a random one?
  • D T · 3 years ago
    While this is an interesting and smart form of marketing, it is an example of corporate encroachment on web sites owned by public individuals as well as the commercialization of a cultural and public space -- the internet commons. Unfortunately, bloggers have become complicit in this act of enclosure. Right now, I'm ambivalent about writing about this on my own web site because doing so ironically contributes to this encroachment. Thus, this comment :)
  • Kevin · 3 years ago
    Paul S: I got an 816 area code, that's Missouri. I'm in Buffalo, NY, so I guess it's random. Shouldn't be a problem with nationwide service. :)

    DT: Some bloggers won't say much about it, and for good reason too since essentially it's commercial, which might work against the precious notion of our blog's authenticity. Essentially, corporations are finding news ways to tap onto our reputation as bloggers.
  • Jackson · 3 years ago
    I emailed the Sprint Ambassador program to see if they would hook me up. I wrote a fair amount about my a900 when I got it (one of which you linked to to sync with a Mac).

    I think it is pretty cool what they are doing. I just wish they would include me ;)
  • Brennan · 3 years ago
    We get even better Samsung phones than yours! The camera is 2 megapixel and MP3 capabilities are kind-of the norm (especially in the Sony Ericsson Walkman Phones)! <strike>evil laughters</strike>

    In reality, I won't be able to afford it anyway... :(
  • RonInAustinTX · 3 years ago
    If Sprint is reading this they have a lot of fixing to do on the Samsung A920 phone!! Syncing contacts back and forth with PC or MAC does not work (vcards) - readers are reporting the ability to push contacts to the phone with vcard2.1 or 3 but not read/sync. No calendar sync support. No music/video file transfers (FTP) via bluetooth - you must handle the tiny microSD card and manually move it back and forth between phone and PC/MAC. No way to delete files that you accidently uploaded to the phone via strange methods. I heard the a920 was discontinued already anyway. Kudos to Sprint for finally adding Bluetooth to their phones!
  • RonInAustinTX · 3 years ago
    Also I need to mention that you can't play/stream music files over bluetooth to bluetooth headset/bluetooth speakers/etc. While you can use the "wired" stereo headset without a problem. Who needs wires when you have wireless bluetooth available?!?!
  • Kevin · 3 years ago
    RonInAustinTX: Thanks for sharing. I encountered similar problems with bluetooth syncing, but then again, Sprint is trying to cash in on their music store... that's why the lock down. :(
  • Julie · 3 years ago
    I've had my samsung a920 phone for about 5 months now and love it. I haven't had any problems with going on the web. You may trying doing the software updates that are avaliable i think they have come out with two of them. The phone has not been discontinued. If you want to transfer mp3s i know sprint doesn't publish it but it's not too terribly hard to do. If you have an SD slot in your computer (if you don't then you can buy a reader/writer from radio shack instead) from there all you do in put the transflash memory card in the SD adapter that came with the phone and copy the mp3s on to the card.
  • Kevin · 3 years ago
    Thanks for sharing Julie. Perhaps it's Buffalo or something, because I can never get data network connectivity, so no action for me other than normal phone calls. Yup, no updates as well :(
  • Ben · 3 years ago
    Hi, Does anyone actually know if there is any way to get your pictures off a Samsung Phone onto a mac. It is very frustrating that i cant! :(
  • sandhan · 3 years ago
    send some info about bluetooth which is used for connecting pc and the cell phones to copy songs, videos, pics. xtra'
    send me the concept behind that
  • Lisa · 3 years ago
    I've had my A920 for 2 months now. One other thing that I do not like about this phone is the call waiting feature. While on the phone and someone beeps in I see both numbers even after the other line has hung up. It give the false impression that you are on the phone with 2 lines versus 1.
  • Kurt · 3 years ago
    I agree with Lisa, the call-waiting feature is a bit confusing at time, switching back and forth between calls can be mind-numbing. The only other feature I don't like about this phone is that sometimes when I send picture-mail, they get stuck in queue and I have to turn the phone off and on to get them to send. I do love the camera, the trans-flash, the stereo speakers are great, and it has decent battery life. Does anyone know if there is a way to play your own video's similar to your own mp3's?
  • Jonathan Bartlett · 3 years ago
    I wish there was a way to record more audio. What I liked about my iPod was for an extra $30 I could turn it into an audio recorder, and record lectures and interviews with people.
  • Levi · 2 years ago
    You guys that are having trouble transferring files really need to invest in a memory card. It's completely trivial to put MP3s on the phone or get pictures off just by transferring the memory card, and a 1 gig micro SD card is like $10 now and will hold tons of MP3s and photos.
  • DRAVEN · 2 years ago
    IS THERE A WAY TO TRANSFER MY MP3'S TO THE PHONE ITSELF FROM THE MICROSD CARD?
  • Donna · 2 years ago
    So how do you transfer music from your Mac to a Samsung phone?
  • Eric · 1 year ago
    I plaed an order for the Samsung Instinct. Then on the following day I cancelled the order. Two days later, the phone was sitting on my couch. I called sprint (I kind of fibbed a little) and I told them that UPS sent me an email saying that my phone was on the way. Sprint asured me that my order was indeed cancelled. So I called them back, I activated the phone with the simply everything plan witnout any hassle.