Dougal Campbell's geek ramblings

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I’d have something about the Samsung A920 phone coming up. I don’t have the phone yet, but when I do I’ll surely be posting a review. But in the meantime, let me explain how and why I’m getting this phone, and do a little speculation…

Yesterday morning, mixed in amongst my usual slew of automated system emails and the slurry of spams that make it through my filters, was a message from Sprint. My wife and I use Nextel cell service (now owned by Sprint), and I had recently registered on the Sprint web site for their online account management, so getting email from them wasn’t a surprise. However, the subject of the message caught my eye in a curious way: “Attn: Dougal Gunter – Sprint Ambassador Invite”.

Hmmm… First of all, they’ve made the common mistake of thinking that my name is “Dougal Gunter”. And second of all, what’s this about a “Sprint Ambassador Invite”? And lastly, the email was sent to my regular email address, not the one I used to register for the account management stuff. Let’s take a look and see what this is about.

Hi Dougal,

The Sprint Ambassador Team recently visited Dougal.gunters.org and wants to invite you to participate in our Ambassador Program.

As a qualified participant blah, blah, blah, Sprint Power Vision phone with 6 months of free voice and data service, blah, blah, blah, apply here, blah.

Hmm. Based on the name mixup and such, maybe they really did look at my website. Okay, I was interested, so I visited the web site indicated. Some of the verbiage was of the “if you qualify” type, but I went ahead and applied anyways.

Within a short time, I received an automatic response indicating that I should receive a Samsung MM-A920 phone within a few weeks. Reading up on the specs, it’s got Bluetooth, 1.3Mp camera, handles video and music, and EVDO(!). Very cool. One thing it doesn’t have that would be nice is push-to-talk radio service. And what do they want in return for providing me with this? Feedback. That’s all.

Once I actually get the phone and have a chance to use it, I’ll be posting about it here. Which, I’m guessing, is what this Sprint Ambassador Program is aiming for. Giving geeks free toys is always a good way to get some grassroots exposure. You have to take the bad with the good, because if your product is lousy, you’ll get called to the mat. But if your product is decent, this is a great way to sway the crowd. I’ll let you know my verdict on the A920, either way.