Samsung a157V (AT&T)

Product Details

Samsung a157V (AT&T) From Samsung Price: $14.99 & eligible for FREE Shipping on orders over $35. Details Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Ships from and sold by Amazon.com 24 new or used available from $7.65 Average customer review:  (94 customer reviews)

Product Description

Product Informatiom. This Samsung cell phone offers an easy, user-friendly way for consumers to enjoy the power of the AT&T and other networks with 3G speed without the hassle of a long-term contract. As a prepaid GoPhone, this Samsung SGH A157v allows users to set up whatever cellular phone usage plan they would like as their usage needs change. This flip-style mobile phone is a straightforward device that is ideal for consumers who want a cellular phone without a lot of bells and whistles. The 800-mAh battery on this Samsung cell phone allows for up to five hours of talk time and up to 10 days of standby time. The clam-style design covers the buttons and controls on this Samsung and means that users will never need to worry about unintentional number dials when this mobile phone is stored in a pocket or purse. The design of this Samsung cell phone is also compact and lightweight, making the Samsung SGH A157v an easy phone to slip into any pocket or bag.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #877 in Cell Phone Accessories
• Color: Black, Red
• Brand: Samsung
• Model: a157V
• Released on: 2013-10-20
• Dimensions: 3.83" h x .65" w x 1.85" l, .18 pounds

Features

• Display: 1.77-inches
• Camera: None
• Input: Keypad
• OS: Other

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Customer Reviews

Most helpful customer reviews
90 of 93 people found the following review helpful.
Easy phone to unlock
By Michael Goff
This phone gets 5 Stars because it is so easy to unlock.

Step 1: Remove SIM card from phone and turn the phone on.

Step 2: Dial *2767*3855# This will initiate a Full reset for Samsung A157

Step 3: Once the phone restarts, dial #*7337# This will remove SIM lock and reset phone

Step 4: Now insert your SIM card. and restart the phone.

Great phone to use on Lycamobile, only 2 cents per min!
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful.
Ron Swanson-approved! No Better Downgrade for AT&T Users Than This Phone
By J. Barber
After a few weeks of use, I am ready to declare my unequivocal love for this phone, despite the fact that my fiancé calls me an old man, a hipster, and/or simply "Ron Swanson" as a result. These terms may or may not be accurate, but if you are considering downgrading from a smartphone, this is as close to an old land-line as you can get without using something with a rotary dial.

I have had AT&T since it was still Cingular Wireless in 2004. During the last ten years, I more or less followed the evolution of cell phones every time I was eligible for upgrades. My first smartphone was an iPhone 3GS, followed by an awful Android-based HTC that loved overheating and crashing, and then a Windows-based Nokia Lumia 920.

Over time, I have noticed that my call quality and reception have worsened with each ostensibly newer and better smartphone. In the case of my Nokia Lumia 920, which I've had for around a year, this meant that at least one out of three people whom I called or who called me simply could not hear me. Like other smartphones, the Lumia has an "ambient noise-cancelling sensor." In the Lumia's case, this sensor does not interface correctly with the phone's firmware, whereby most of the time it simply cancels ALL noise coming into the phone, including my voice. This problem reached its apex a few weeks ago when a committee called to interview me for a job across the state, and they could not hear me, in spite of my full LTE bars. Hence, I almost immediately decided to research non-smartphones (dumbphones?), which ultimately led me to purchasing the Samsung A157V.

Based on my experience with smartphones, it seems that cell phone technology per se--not the endless multifunctionality of smartphones, but the simple ability to make and receive phone calls (and basic text messages) almost anywhere with a device that is small yet optimally ergonomic--was perfected around 2004. Thus, the cramming of more and more features on to smartphones, then endless marketing blitzes to compel you to acquire these newer, faster, better tiny computers that may or may not actually work as, you know, a phone.

The A157V, which is very similar to a Samsung that I owned around ten years ago, is a throwback to the last time that cell phones were just cell phones. Like a lot of reviewers, I appreciate the phone's build quality, insane 10-day standby time, and its overall simple functionality. Best of all, whereas I was previously unable to make or receive calls inside my office building with my previous phone, now people whom I call from pretty much anywhere around town compare my phone's sound to a landline. Finally, my Lumia takes several hours to charge when its charge is less than 20% and it is plugged into an electrical outlet. By contrast, the A157V takes around one hour to charge from one battery-bar (i.e., 20%) to full.

I still can't believe this phone costs less than $15 (thanks to Prime, I ordered it on a Friday afternoon and received it Saturday), and that that price includes however many GoPhone minutes come with it.

With respect to the criticisms others have offered, I can't address those given by people who attempt to use this as an unlocked phone, a global phone, etc. Nor can I speak to those who have purchased minutes for emergencies or whatever only to have them expire. I'm not reviewing AT&T's wireless service (which is VERY hit or miss when it comes to both coverage and customer service), just the A157V's functionality as a cell phone. Hence, the major criticisms that I will address include (1) the misguided notion that an existing AT&T SIM card is not compatible with the A157V, and (2) the idea that texting is difficult and/or more time consuming than on a smartphone.

1. At first glance, it seemed that there was no way that the tiny SIM card (roughly the size of a microSD card) that came out of my Lumia would occupy the over 1-inch input under the battery for the A157V's SIM card. If, like me, you are retrofitting a smartphone SIM card from 2013 into this quasi-2004 phone, the first thing you need to do is to compare your existing SIM card with the one that comes with the phone. Examine the sides of the SIM cards with the brass contacts--not the smooth plastic sides--and you'll find that the actual electronic portions of the SIM cards are identical. What you have to do, then, is to figure out how to insert your smaller SIM card in such a way that the contacts align correctly inside the A157V's much larger input. For me, this entailed some trial and error (try to align SIM card, insert battery, turn phone on, and then see if you have reception other than "emergency use," repeat), but once you get it right there is no need to worry about it further, as the SIM input is spring-loaded and holds the SIM card snugly. Another option, of course, is to take this phone and your old one to an AT&T store to let them figure out the SIM card situation for you, but that whole process sounds awful to me, particularly since AT&T doesn't even sell the A157V directly, and I'm not entirely certain that the employees would be able to comprehend a cell phone that has tangible buttons.

2. Admittedly, I miss the conversation format that smartphones maintain for text messages, but otherwise I prefer texting with this phone. The key, however, is activating the T9 Predictive Text mode, which allows you to spell out words without having to scroll through numbers/letters one at a time, and to add words (and emoticons) to the T9 dictionary when necessary. Note that if you can't spell words correctly, T9 will probably not work for you that well. To activate T9:

a. Flip your A157V open.
b. Hit the left side of the navigation button to open a text message.
c. Select options.
d. Press 1 for "Text Mode."
e. Press 1 for "T9 Predictive Text."

I'm not going to delve any further into how to use T9, as I'm sure Google and the interwebs can help you out there.

I suspect that as more and more people acquire tablets, at least some of them will consider ditching their smartphones (okay, probably not Apple acolytes), given their redundancy. In my case, I still love my Lumia--with its giant, pocket-defying size, it has become a mini-Windows 8 tablet with an awesome camera--but I needed a phone that actually functions as a phone.

For under $15, the A157V is as good as it gets. I might buy a few more just to have back-ups down the road when AT&T inevitably stops producing unpretentious phones built solely to function for the purposes of actually talking to other people. The up-shot of stocking up on these is that the phone's packaging is well-nigh impenetrable, and perhaps apocalypse-proof.
47 of 50 people found the following review helpful.
simple...just simple
By Christy
I wanted a cell phone, not a pocket computer. I have had several "smart phones" but they never functioned as a phone all that well. Poor reception, hard to hear, higher monthly bills due to the data usage. I wanted back to basics.
I will admit loosing the QWERTY key board of the more modern phones was bit of a set back, but I do not text all that much to begin with and the phone has the T9 text with the ability to add words not found in it's dictionary.
This phone has great reception, even places where the other phones would never get a signal, this thing pulls at least one bar of signal at all times. It also has great battery life (something unheard of in the smart phone realm) I have gone a week plus in between charges on this phone.
I am in my early thirties,and I love how advanced modern technology has become, but it seems that phone companies are more set on the next wizz-bang tech, that they lose sight of the phone being a phone.
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