Design
The A840 features a traditional clamshell design with an internal antenna, and a large 128 x 160 color display with support for 65,000 colors. A supplementary monochrome display on the outside of the cover displays incoming call information, battery life, signal strength, and more. The camera unit is placed just above this display, as is an LED flash. Most of the phone's features and on-screen menus are controlled by a five-way center button on the handset's backlit control pad. The phone also features a standard jack to accept universal hands-free headsets.

Calling Features
The A840's built-in address book can store up to 300 contacts for quick and easy management of phone numbers and email addresses. The phone also comes with 39 built-in polyphonic ringtones plus a vibrating alert. You can also match ringtones with callers to identify them, making it easy to know who's calling without opening the phone. A built-in speakerphone makes it easy to use the phone handsfree, while voice activated dialing makes calling your friends, family and associates as easy as saying their names. Plus, voice features are speaker-independent, so there's no need to train the phone to respond to any one person's voice. And because the A840 features advanced voice recognition you can say the phone number you want to call digit-by-digit. Or say "status" and the phone will respond audibly with the current signal and battery strength, as well as the phone's coverage. Lastly, The A840's GPS location technology pinpoints your exact location when you dial 911 (where available).

Messaging, Internet, and Tools
Because the A840 supports PCS Vision services, messaging features are robust. You can easily send and receive email, exchange text messages, or join a chat room. Support is built in for instant messaging clients from AOL, MSN and Yahoo!, so you're never out of touch when you can't make a call. Using the phone's still camera, you can take advantage of the Sprint PCS Vision picture mail service.

PCS Vision mobile Web services also let you check out sports scores, get your seven-day forecast, check your flight status, and stay up to date with the latest news. Experience full-color graphic versions of popular Web sites or purchase and download premium applications, games, ringers, and screensavers to your phone. T9 text entry, a technology that makes it easier for people to enter words and text on handsets, is built-into the unit-- a plus for mobile web and messaging users.

The A840 lets you work on the go with an integrated calendar, appointment scheduler, and a to-do list. The phone also includes a world clock, a voice memo recorder, a calculator, a memo pad, and an alarm clock.

Imaging and Entertainment
Get ready to take great pictures with the A840's VGA camera, which can shoot pictures at a maximum resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. The camera also features an LED flash, plus a self-timer and brightness and white balance controls.

And if you need to pass the time on the bus or on the train, fire up a game on your A840. It supports 2D games written for the Java platform. You can also customize the phone's wallpapers and screensavers to give the phone a look that suits your style.

Vital Statistics
The Samsung PM-A840 weighs 3.28 ounces and measures 3.54 x 1.85 x .94 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 228 minutes of digital talk time. It runs on the AMPS 850/CDMA 850/CDMA 1900 frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.

What's in the Box
A840 handset, standard lithium-ion battery, home charger, stereo headset.

Customer Reviews Average rating - 2.5

Rating - 1 Date: 2008-09-10
Content: I also have one that shuts off by itself. I have determined that the spacing over the buttons when closed is to tight, and slight pressure on the face when closed will cause it to turn off. I FIXED mine by putting a little sticker on the inside to increase the spacing when closed. Now it no longer turns off....
Summary: Turns off by itself (FIX)

Rating - 1 Date: 2007-07-07
Content: I have had this phone for nearly two years now. I got a great deal from Sprint at the time (Double my old plan's anytime minutes, nights and weekends at 6pm, etc.), and they gave me a 150.00 credit towards a new phone. I saw this one in the Sprint store and loved the way it looks. That is its only redeeming quality. I'll list all the problems I've had with this phone in two years:

1. Random and unavoidalbe power-downs.
2. Poor battery life.
3. When you are writing a text and you receive a new one, the phone deletes the text you were working on to display the newly received one.
4. Sometimes the phone can hold 100 texts in the inbox, other times it can hold 65, other times, 89. The phone makes NO sense with memory management.
5. The phone deletes incoming texts rather than the oldest text EVEN WHEN YOU SET IT TO DELETE THE OLDEST TEXT.
6. Bad voice quality (people are hard to understand on this phone).
7. No MP3 support.
8. Poor camera quality (I know it's a phone, but I've seen better cameras on other camera phones)
9. Extremely sensitive side buttons (I've taken numerous shots of my pants pocket because of the touchy camera button on the side)

In the end the charger connection to the phone broke 1 month before I was eligable for the phone upgrade service for Sprint customers. I'm now dropping this phone for the Sony Ericson w810i and I'm jumping over to Cingular and dropping Sprint. Sprint really needs to get some better phones for its service. The phone is aweful, avoid it at all costs.
Summary: This phone was the reason I left Sprint

Rating - 1 Date: 2007-03-17
Content: My wife and I both have these phones (soon to be past tense). They both did fine the first 8 or so months and then they developed issues with poor reception, turning themselves off when you close the clamshell, etc. Both phones have been serviced numerous times by the Sprint repair person who finally agreed to replace them with Sanyos. She said that she's seen lots of these phones in for service and would not recommend them.
Summary: An unreliable phone...very troublesome

Rating - 1 Date: 2007-01-17
Content: I've had this phone for about 7 months now. Here are my complaints:

1. Buggy. Sometimes it says I have 27 new messages when I only have 1. sometimes it says I missed a call from John when it was actually a call from Matt. Sometimes it just powers off by itself.

2. Samsung and sprint have dealt with this really terribly. the phone is still under warranty, so I ought to be able to get a new one that works. I went to a sprint store to inquire about thsi and they sent me to a different sprint store (one that can deal with technical issues). that sprint store is very far from my house and was difficult to find. when i finally got there, the people there said that if I didn't purchase sprint's insurance (i didn't) they couldn't help me, and i should call samsung. SAMSUNG'S CUSTOMER SERVICE IS AWFUL. i called samsung and waited on hold for about 40 minutes. i talked to a technician who advised me to go to sprint. i told him that i had already gone to sprint, and that they told me to go to samsung. he said that if I really wanted I coud just send in the phone for a repair, but that they would have the phone for 15 TO 21 BUSINESS DAYS, and they would probably just update the software (which sprint could do in a few minutes). I asked if I could speak to a manager. I waited on hold for about 20 minutes. I spoke to the manager for about 5 minutes and he just said the same thing as the first guy. I decided to just send the phone in, but to do that, he had to transfer me to a technician. I waited on hold for 20 minutes and then gave up. The call was about 1 hour and 25 minutes total. I"m totally disgusted with samsung and sprint both.
Summary: awful, awful, awful

Rating - 5 Date: 2007-01-14
Content: I've never had a problem with my phone! Granted, the people who have, I understand. That said, the phone is compact, the sound is clear, the "bells and whistles" are just right...for me. I have 2 digital cameras already, so having a phone that doesn't have digital camera quality pics is no big deal. It works in a pinch when I need it. All in all, I really love this phone.
Summary: NEVER had a problem!