Samsung A437 + $25 Airtime GoPhone Package

$34.99 w/ free shipping

Samsung A437 Prepaid GoPhone

$39.99 w/ free shipping

Samsung A437 Red Prepaid GoPhone

$39.99 w/ free shipping

Samsung A437 Slate Prepaid GoPhone

$39.99 w/ free shipping

The Look & Feel Of The Samsung A437

The first thing you notice about the Samsung A437 is its slimness - most often you won't see a flip phone thinner than the A437 for under one hundred dollars. The second noticeable aspect, to go along with the slimness, is the slickness of the outer display, inner display as well as the keypad - they have a very glossy look to them and reflect light very nicely. The obvious downside of being glossy all around is that the phone keeps track of your fingerprints -- a forensic investigator's dream.

The phone can be damaged rather easily. If you happen to drop it on hard concrete and it lands face down, there are good chances the outer display will crack. Fine scratches on the back are inevitable unless you never sit the phone down on a hard surface because there are no bumps on the back keeping a distance between it and the surface that the A437 is sitting on.

The Champagne (gold) and Slate (black) versions of the Samsung A437 have a black keypad and black trim. The red version has a gray-silvery keypad and trim that looks just as good but matches better with the sexy shade of red.

The menus are well organized and they load instantly, and the keypad buttons are large enough even for the stubbiest fingers. Many overloaded phones these days have a slight delay when navigating through the menus. Not the A437. Most applications load instantly as well, except for some of the more memory intensive ones, such as the email client which takes a second or two. The only annoyance is the AT&T Mall option being the default selection in the menu.

The address book is very well organized, fast to search and browse through and it also supports 5 entry per name, plus email address.

What The Samsung A437 Packs Inside

While it doesn't excel in features, the A437 definitely doesn't fall short. It supports Bluetooth headsets, VGA camera with decent quality at a resolution of 640x480, EDGE technology for downloading new software (Java based too), mobile email, web browsing and instant messaging through AIM, Windows Live and Yahoo! Messenger.

But by far one of the greatest features is the quadband support that allows you to use this phone on any GSM network in the world. Phones are rarely quadband and even triband phones are not as common, so this is a great choice if you're traveling outside the United States and especially in Europe, China and Australia where they use different GSM bands.

The memory is where this phone lacks: 3MB and there is no possibility to extend it, hence it's not a phone where you'll be keeping your family photo album or a load of MP3 ringtones - although it supports them.

Talk Time

The sound quality is good for both the speaker and the listener, and the volume is sufficiently loud to hear even in crowded places. Since there is no dedicated speakerphone, the function isn't loud enough to have a conference in a big room but it cuts it for hands-free talking.

The battery life is slightly above average among slim phones, being able to keep the phone alive in standby for about 10 days and talk time of 5 hours. When the battery level is critically low, the phone doesn't suddenly shut down in the middle of a conversation right after the warning, giving you at least a few minutes to nicely cut down the other party. The software is also conscious of the power level, dimming the display and cutting down the keypad light when the battery is running out of juice.

Concluding On The Samsung A437

As a prepaid phone for people on a budget that can promise themselves they'll be careful enough not to drop it on hard concrete, there's currently no better option than the Samsung A437. AT&T typically sells the refurbished A437 for under $50 with a prepaid card and free shipping. Most of the time AT&T also sells it for free (or nearly) with a contract, however that would be a bad decision: if you are entering a 2 year contract, you might as well purchase a $500 phone that you can get for $100.