The one really great thing about this phone that I haven't seen talked about anywhere is that it has an awesome video-taking ability - great picture and sound quality, and 1 hour+ length when you get the the 512MB TransFlash card. In just about all other areas though, the phone leaves something to be desired.
It's interface it incredibly slow. You literally need to control your speed when typing text messages, because if you press the same button twice in a row too fast, the phone won't recognize the second button push. Also when typing text messages, there's a lag of about three seconds from when you press the left soft key to change the text entry option to when the entry option menu comes up. Numerous other interface lags abound.
The camera takes truly amazing pictures if you have a can keep your hand steady and nothing that you're photographing moves for the second or two it takes for the picture to be taken. Though, to really make sure the picture won't be all blurry, you you need to turn the autofocus on, and that makes it takes another three seconds for the camera to focus on top of the two seconds it takes to actually take the picture - not very good for capturing spontaneous moments.
It also deserves to be said that the flash/camera light on the phone is very good. It's probably about comparable to those little keychain Maglights. I've turned on the video camera use it as a flashlight to see by outside on a number of occasions. This light, coupled with the ability of the camera to take in a lot of light with it's big lens, also allows you to take reasonable quality shots/videos in darkened rooms.
Another failing that another reviewer mentioned is that it doesn't get that get that great reception. I haven't moved since I upgraded from my Samsung SCH-a670, and and my reception quality got noticeably worse when I switched.
And of course, it's also big and not terribly attractive looking.
I think they tried to make this phone be too many things. I definitely would have given up the Blue Tooth and MP3 capabilities, and the internal antenna to put a faster processor in the phone and make it get better reception. That, plus reducing it's size a little bit would have made it almost perfect.
While I wouldn't say I'm completely happy with this phone, I've decided it's worth it to me to make the sacrifices of picture-taking and interface speed to have the ability to take high-quality pictures and video at any time and be connected to the Verizon network. This definitely isn't the phone for everyone though.

This phone is just fantastic! I just took back my Razr V3c...it was just too "fragile" feeling, although a good phone.
I have always loved the sturdy "feel" of the Samsung phones...and the A970 is no exception.
This phone is feature-rich...great 2mp camera/camcorder with a 2X OPTICAL zoom, Bluetooth, speakerphone, V-Cast, speech-to-text is awesome!
Certainly no phone is perfect, but I'm having a hard time finding the imperfections with this phone.
Yes, it is very slightly bulky...but, it's nothing I have a problem with...even coming from the Razr.

Oooops! My bad...I DID find a BIG imperfection...a deal breaker.
It has a 2mp camera...but, it takes terrible photos!! The shutter waits almost a full second to function after you push the button to take the picture!!
The shutter speed is also so slow that any moving objects just appear as a blur.
Took back to Verizon store and technicians played around with 3 differents units to make sure it wasn't just one. They found that if you turned the resolution way down, then it would work!!! What??!! I paid the extra $$ for a 2mp camera, and you would expect it to work much better!!
Sorry, I swapped it back for the Razr V3c...a little fragile, but still a great phone.