Basic Features

Released for Sprint PCS, the Samsung MM-A940 (also known as the SPH-A940) has dual-band CDMA (800 / 1900) network support. Rating the 1000 Li-Ion battery at 4.0 hours and 12.2 days (293 hours) of talk and standby times, actual times will be slightly less.

Handset manufacturers and carriers often list talk-time and standby-time ratings with disclaimers about variable performance and often refer to the times they publish as maximum times.

Screen

The A940's dual color screens are equally as impressive as the camera, but then again, both usually going hand-in-hand. As a device capable of video streaming through Sprint PCS's new Power Vision network, the A940's LCD delivers bright and vivid mobile entertaining to the masses.

Featuring a 65K-color external screen, consumers are not only able to take a quick peek at time, date, and battery and signal levels, but can also control the music through playlists when the built-in MP3 player is activated.

Having an even more impressive 176 x 220 px 262K-color screen, the A940 is on par with the most advanced displays on the market. Both being built on TFT (Thin Film Transistor) technology, the displays are bright and clear indoors and out, with vivid color intensity and fast refresh rates.

Audio

Created with convenient MP3 playing features, the A940's front panel features shortcut keys to Rewind, Play / Pause, Stop, and Fast Forward through songs. Loading music onto TransFlash memory cards, current sizes are manufactured up to 512 MB in size. The A940 comes with a 32 MB card.

Through the Headset Jack on the left, listeners can privately enjoy stereo sound, also doubling for handsfree communication. For open-air listening or speakerphone functionality, dual external speakers on the front provide loud and clear stereo sound.

Overlaying 64 ringtone chords simultaneous, the A940 reproduces tones harmonious. But users will probably opt for MP3 ringtones. Including only a few preinstalled ringtones, consumers can download the latest songs through Sprint's Music Store service.

Using Sprint Music Store, customers can browse, preview and purchase hundreds of thousands of songs from virtually every genre of music from EMI Music, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group. For $2.50 a song, customers get two copies of the song: one high-quality version formatted to play and enjoy only on their phone and another high-quality version formatted to download on their PC. Customers can also burn their music to a CD using Windows Media Player.

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