Brimming with multimedia options from AT&T's video and music services, the A727 brings music, video and a multitude of downloadable material to the user with the latest in HSDPA high-speed data transfer technologies. The phone is fully equipped with a 1.3-megapixel camera and camcorder, MP3 music player, Bluetooth 2.0 technology, speakerphone and microSD external memory card slot.
The most noticeable highlight of the A727 is the 1.8 x 1.5 inch, 65K-color 220 x 176 px TFT display set on a trimly designed, 0.35-inch thick phone - one of the thinnest models around. For users searching for a stylish multimedia phone with a slim design that slides almost too easily into pockets and purses, the A727 may be one to consider.
Design
Chosen as one of 2007's International CES Innovations Design and Engineering Award Honorees, the sleek A727 comes in a black exterior and closely resembles Samsung's slightly thinner candy bar handsets like the 0.33-inch thick T519 "Trace" and R510 "The Wafer" models. The A727 measures in at 4.5" x 1.98" x 0.35" and weighs a slight 2.82 ounces.
Its main display screen measures 1.8-inches diagonally and utilizes 262K-colors and TFT technology to produce beautifully vivid images. Users can customize the phone's backlighting, brightness and dialing font.
Below the screen is an extremely smooth keypad, toggle and other buttons that lie flat on the phone's thin surface. Surrounding a circular navigation toggle and WAP browser shortcut button are left and right soft keys, which appear to take more force to push than other keys. Below the soft keys is the shortcut button to activate the phone's music player, one button to "swap" between multiple applications, a "clear/back" button to navigate within the phone's menu and other programs, and a power/menu exit button. From a usability standpoint, the numeric keypad seems pushed too low down on the phone for comfortable dialing or texting and may be difficult to use for people with large hands.
The A727's left side panel includes a jack for a headset or USB adapter and up and down keys for volume control. The right panel touts a microSD memory card slot as well as a shortcut key to activate the phone's camera and camcorder. The phone's antenna is located in the bottom half of the handset. On the flip side, the top left hand corner of the phone is home to the camera/camcorder lens. This particular model lacks a flash and an additional screen to guide self-portraits.
Overall, the A727 is a very thin and lightweight phone to carry around. While the design is aesthetically pleasing, there may be some issues with the phone's potentially slippery keypad and position squashed toward the bottom of the face of the phone.
Out of the box, the Samsung SGH-A727 comes with a standard 900 Li-Ion battery, AC Travel Adapter and User Manual.
Camera
The A727 uses a 1.3-megapixel camera and SIM card that enabled for the phone's Video Share service to distribute real-time video to subscribing friends. Pictures can be taken in five resolutions (1280 x 1024 px, 800 x 600 px, 640 x 480 px, 320 x 240 px and 240 x 180 px) and under five different quality settings (Super Fine, Fine, Normal, Low and Economy).
To adapt to a variety of settings, the camera can use night mode and has controllable brightness and white balance features in Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Incandescent or Fluorescent. There is also a 4x digital zoom that can be used when the camera is set to the highest image resolution.
With the Multi-Shot function, users can snap six, nine, or 15 shots at a time, and under "Mosaic" Shot Mode, they can combine groups four photos into a single photo. Other features include a self-timer, 20 fun frames and three color effects (Black & White, Sepia and Negative).
After snapping a photo, save them to the phone, send them to friends in a picture message or set them as the phone's new wallpaper or caller ID photo. The A727 offers a wide range of editing options users can apply to photos, including redeye repair, partial blur, image resize, cropping, color effects and inserting emoticons, clipart or text. The camera also has several shutter sounds to choose from.
The phone's camcorder can capture video footage in two resolutions (176 x 144 and 128 x 96 px). consumers can save them on their phone and even send them to their contacts as up to 30-second-long multimedia messages. Regular videos can be recorded at any desired length, or until they fill up the phone's 30 MB of memory. Because space is somewhat limited, a microSD card might come in handy in the long run.
The 1.3-megapixel power of the A727 takes decent to average photos; however, image quality won't be near what most of the newer digital cameras have to offer.Basic Features
The A727 operates on a quad-band GSM network which supports all four major cellular frequencies (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz) for improved call quality and fewer dropped calls anywhere in the world.
The phone's basic features include a Stopwatch, World Time, Measurement Converter, Calculator, Tip Calculator, Calendar, Alarm, Voice Memo, Airplane Mode and text display in English, French or Spanish. There is also a multitasking mode that will pause the music track being listened to when receiving a call. When the call is over, the phone's playlist will resume.
The A727 holds 1,000 contacts and call logs for the last 20 incoming, outgoing and missed calls. Each phonebook entry can hold up to seven phone numbers, two email addresses, instant messaging information and notes. An additional 250 names and numbers can also be stored on the phone's SIM card.
Battery life on the A727 offers four hours talk time and up to 10 days of standby time. Charging time on the battery is up to three hours, according to Samsung.
Screen
Samsung's A727 boasts an impressive 1.8 x 1.5 inch, 65K-color TFT display with a resolution of 220 x 176 px. The A727's screen is much wider than most phones and measures at about 1.5-inches wide - perfect for watching video clips with its Video Share capability or simply viewing high-resolution pictures and videos straight from the phone's built-in 1.3-megapixel camera.he phone's only screen uses TFT, or Thin Film Transistor, technology that produces bright and vivid images with quick refresh rates in comparison to older LCD technologies such as STN or OLED. However the drawback is increased power consumption and shorter battery life.
Compared to other devices on the market, the A727's 65K-color screen is mediocre at best. While priced for the value-conscious consumer, most phones nowadays come with 262K-colors with top-of-the-line handhelds such as the Nokia Nseries manufactured with 16.7 million colors.
Audio
With the purchase of a headphone adapter or Bluetooth headset, users can turn the A727 into a portable MP3 player. In music mode, users can listen to their tunes on the go and still stay in touch with contacts. A multitasking feature on the A727 will automatically pause the music being listened to when receiving a phone call, then resume with the playlist once the call is completed. The music will also continue to play when receiving text messages, instant messages or multimedia messages. While not comparable to the music playing functionality of the Apple iPhone, the A727 offers the essential features for music listening on the go.
Messaging
Mobile messaging capabilities on the A727 include text messaging, Web-based email and instant messaging. Users can share text and multimedia messages on the A727 with messaging services from AOL, Windows Live and Yahoo! Messenger. With MMS (multimedia messaging service) compatibility, users can send mobile text messages complete with sound, images and video.
Another messaging feature is the phone's updated T9 text input system which uses a pre-set dictionary of words, emoticons and punctuation, and anticipates the next move as it is keyed in text messages and emails.
Entertainment
The AT&T Video network provides a wide selection of media offerings centered mainly around videos and music. With AT&T Video, users can view on-demand streaming video clips from popular channels like CNN, Comedy Central, ESPN, VH1 and The Weather Channel. And just for kids, AT&T also offers content from The Disney Channel, Muppets Mobile and The Cartoon Network.Video content purchases are charged to users' accounts and priced according to the size of the files downloaded. If consumers are planning to download regularly, they can have the MEdia Net plan for unlimited use for $19.99 a month. For an extra $4.99, they can also have access to premium content channels like HBO Mobile and Music Choice.
AT&T Video's MEdia Net is focused on providing content subscribers want right at their fingertips. Users can customize their homepage with on-demand, streaming content in categories including news, weather and entertainment.
For those who like to groove on the go, the A727 can upload existing MP3 playlists from a personal computer. However, to do that requires a separate purchase of accessories like a USB cable, microSD and headset adapter. Connecting the phone to Windows Media Player can be done with most PCs operating Windows 2000 or newer. Users also have the option of downloading additional songs from the digital music libraries of Napster and Yahoo! Music.
Also unique to the AT&T Music network is the AT&T MusicID service, which analyzes songs and provides the user with the song's title and artist. Just let the song play in the phone's speaker for a few seconds and a text message will be sent to users for 99 cents per song or $3.99 a month for unlimited use. Songs that the service can't identify won't be charged.
Internet
Powered by 3G-HSDPA (3rd Generation - High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), the A727 can handle multimedia downloads both at a higher speed and a higher capacity. The feature is definitely a plus for users expecting to use the phone to its top potential for downloading music, radio feeds and video.
The A727 supports all the broadband multimedia features available from AT&T Video, formerly known as Cingular Video.
Storage
The A727 holds 30 MB of data between the camera and music player features. This is slightly more storage space compared to older phones with similar features, but seems inadequate for use as a truly multimedia-centric phone, like the Samsung M500 or the LG Chocolate VX8500 which offer 53 MB and 128 MB, respectively. Luckily for the A727, additional memory cards can be purchased for use in the phone's microSD external slot.
The phonebook on the A727 holds 1,000 alphanumeric entries and the last 20 incoming, outgoing and missed call logs. It also stores eight one-touch contact entries. Each contact entry holds seven phone numbers, two email addresses, instant messaging information and notes. The phone's SIM card memory also holds an additional 250 names and numbers.
Connectivity
The A727 can also connect to Bluetooth-compatible devices like stereo headsets or handsfree devices that can be used within a 10-meter or 30-feet distance from the phone.
Other supported Bluetooth 2.0 profiles include Dial-Up Networking (DUN) to connect the A727 to a laptop and use it as a modem; Basic-Printing Profile (BPP) for wireless printing capabilities; Object-Push Profile (OPP) for file transfers such as vCards, vCals, vMsgs and vNotes; File Transfer Profile (FTP) to access to the file system on another device; and data transfer via serial port connection.
The Bluetooth profile list is comprehensive and standard with the exception of the newest profile, A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile). Fortunately A2DP is also supported, which allows listeners to enjoy wireless stereo music wirelessly from A2DP-compatible headphones.
Conclusion
Continuing the tradition of ever-slimming devices, the A727's smartly thin design offers fast access to email, mobile media and the ability to share content with the other members of users' calling community. Offering multimedia capabilities through the MP3 player, consumers can also enjoy wireless music via A2DP-compatible headphones.
But some users have said sound quality on the A727 is not outstanding, and battery life is rather short. Partly due to the TFT display, the sub-par colors should still be sufficient for viewing videos, photos and other downloaded material. As for its 1.3-megapixel camera, image quality won't be equal to a regular digital camera, camcorder or high-end cell phone camera.
Regardless, with the right accessories and subscriptions, the A727 has the potential to be the ideal phone for someone looking to gain access to the newest in mobile multimedia content. With blazing-fast HSDPA Internet speeds supporting quick access to AT&T Music and AT&T Video services, the Samsung A727 becomes a integrated online multimedia powerhouse.Source: mobil edia.com
