The SGH-A737 from Samsung is now available with AT&T. This lightweight phone comes in four-color combinations: black/orange, black/blue, black/red and black/lime. Samsung seems to have a knack for slider phones, and their SGH-A737 reflects this. This slicker than Teflon slider also happens to be one of the latest low cost 3G offerings from AT&T. Physically, Samsung’s SGH-A737 is a typical slider in a fairly slim presentation. It weighs in at a svelte 90g (3.16oz.) and is also reasonably thin at 15.2mm (0.6in.) You might think Samsung was beginning to copy Boeing’s method of naming its products. The A737 follows its predecessors in offering a brilliant display. Measuring two inches and supporting 262,000 colors, it’s bright and vibrant with sharp graphics and animations. As with many Samsung displays, it’s difficult to see in direct light, but that’s not a huge problem. You can change the brightness and the backlight time, as well as the font size, color, and type. The menu system comes in two simple styles and you can activate nifty pop-up menus to save clicks when scrolling.
The A737 features a keypad that’s completely flush. That means the keys aren’t ideal for dialing by feel, so you’ll need to pay attention when texting. On the upside, the individual buttons are large and backlit, while the top row of keys isn’t squashed up against the bottom of the slider. Completing the exterior of the phone are a volume rocker and a microSD card slot on the left spine and a shortcut menu control and the headset/charger jack on the right spine.
The phone’s contact system is fairly detailed, providing separate fields for first name, last name, display name, mobile number, landline, email address, and instant messaging IDs for the supported Yahoo!, Windows live, and AIM instant messaging services. The contact system also allows for the grouping of contacts and a field for notes in each contact entry.
Samsung has included a profiles system with settings for normal, silent, driving, outdoor, as well as an airplane mode for in-flight music playback. These profiles can be edited, however there are no additional user defined or nameable profiles.
The SGH-A737 is a 3G phone and as such supports a number of AT&T’s high-speed features. For instance, one way live video can be shared, provided both the sender and the receiver have access to AT&T’s 3G network. It seems a shame that this feature can only be utilized from phone to phone. The ability to send video to one of the live streaming video services like ustream.tv or stickam.com would be a fun application to include on a phone like this.
Email support is provided for a number of webmail services, as well as a handful of Internet Service Providers. There is no IMAP or POP3 support. If you find your email service missing from the list, then your best bet is to set up a forwarding service to one of the supported webmail services. Like many Samsung phones these days, the SGH-A737 is a capable digital music player. Headphone connection is supported through A2DP Bluetooth stereo connectivity and thoughtfully, a 1/8″ headphone adapter for conventional headphones is included in the package. We were able to test the music playback with both conventional headphones and a Plantronics Bluetooth stereo headset. With both, the Samsung came up aces.
The camera seems to be where money is saved on these lower priced phones and the 1.3 Megapixel camera in the SGH ? A737 performed as expected for a camera of this type. Essentially this means it was passable for outdoor daytime photos, but slightly worse for well lit indoor shots. This, however, is forgivable for a phone in this price range.
The A737 has a rated battery life of three hours talk time and 10.4 days standby time. The tested talk time was a little better, at 3 hours, 21 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the Samsung SGH-A737 has a digital digital SAR rating of 0.65 watt per kilogram.
The SGH-A737 handles media well, especially music, thanks to its A2DP stereo Bluetooth connectivity. Like so many of Samsung’s other sliders, the mechanism is top notch, conveying the feel of a quality device. Sound quality is rather good as well. At the time of writing, AT&T is offering the phone for $25 with rebate and a two year contract. At this price the camera hardly seems a major complaint when so much else is done so well, and is concealed in such a tidy, compact exterior. With only the few mentioned caveats, this phone earns my rating of “Recommended.”
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