- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 64 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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6 out of 7 people found this review helpful
2.0 stars
"Unfortunately, not much of a step up from the Alias"
Pros: *e-ink buttons work very well
*groups text msgs by conversation
*bigger screen both front and main
*nice feel and lookCons: *buttons not programmable
Summary: I've had the Samsung Alias (SCH-U740) for a while and really liked it, so when the Alias 2 (I'll call it A2) came out, I got one immediately. It's a nice phone, and for new users might be very good, but for someone who had the old Alias (I'll call it A1), it was sort of a disappointment.
*less useful qwerty
*no camera flash
*interface not updated much
*2.5mm headphone jack
First of all, it's bigger and thicker than the A1, perhaps to accommodate the bigger screens, better camera, and e-ink technology, but it was disappointing as I was used to the very slim A1.
Let's get to the e-ink. It works great. You can see it change when you flip it open in both directions. Rarely does the keypad change slow enough that you're waiting for it (the largest delay is when opening to get a new text). The e-ink seems to remember the last orientation it was in, so if you open it vertically once, the next time the buttons will already be in vertical arrangement. It's readable, the backlight is good, and the buttons are bigger than the A1.
However, the e-ink keypad leaves much to be desired. There are often blank keys that you long to be able to program with shortcuts, or move the location of things around. The latter would be especially useful since the layout is slightly-to-very different from the keypad of the A1; different enough that A1 users will have to relearn the placement of many buttons. User programmable buttons are the biggest oversight in this iteration of the phone. Very, very sad indeed. Very sad. I can't stress this enough.
Also, the keypad is now black and white, so you'll miss the red and green visual cues of important buttons from the A1. And the buttons are mostly all one size, so the tactile cue of the A1 is missing as well (as in the A1, the Send button was larger than the others).
The QWERTY is also not as useful as the A1. As the QWERTY takes up every button, some very, very important and often used buttons are left off the QWERTY and relegated to a second layout (switched with a click of a button) including the apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, dash, *, quote marks (which there is only 1 side of oddly, there is only a closed quote mark, no open quote one), and the parentheses are in yet another layout. In the A1, you would simply hold down a button for these characters as each button pulled double or triple duty. Here, just to type "let's", you'd have to press a button to get to the apostrophe, press apostrophe, press the layout button twice to get back to QWERTY. you'll get quick at it, but it seems really unnecessary. This is a pretty large design flaw. Finally, as a last gripe about it, the OK button is in the middle/top of the keypad and is annoying to reach for with your thumb.
So besides the sadness that is the unrealized potential of the e-ink keypad, there are other disappointment. The camera is better, but they got rid of the flash that the A1 had. They changed the A1's bad input for a headphone (you needed an adapter for your headphones to plug in) to a 2.5mm jack...so you still need an adapter if you want to use typical 3.5mm headphones, AND can't use your old adapter. The music player's interface is still horrible, there is an echo when you talk that the A1 didn't have (though I like it so far as it makes it clearer to hear if you're speaking too loudly), you can't get to the video camera option by hitting the camera button twice (as you could in the A1), the calendar is still horrible to use (why can't i copy events?), I downloaded Street Fighter and the control pad doesn't really work with it in portrait mode...
That's a lot of gripes, but that's because I liked the A1 so much and got used to it. For a new owner of the A2, he/she won't have had the history and will probably like this very cool and functional phone much more than a veteran like me. The camera is nice, the dual screens are big and clear, the e-ink keypad is undeniably cool, the music player is a nice (last resort) touch if you need music, the speakers are clear, the battery life is good, the call quality is top-notch, and the phone is overall very customizable.
But alas, as much as I wanted, I couldn't give the Alias 2 much more than 2 stars. It could have been something great with programmable keys, but really missed out here.
- 3 replies to this review
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Very helpful review. I am a previous owner of an "A1" and a devout fan. I cannot seem to break my Alias and I've had it for almost 2 and a half years.
I was very excited to see they made a new model of the phone i fell in love with, but many of the features, as you have said, that really make me love the A1 have been changed.
The updated camera is a welcome addition as that is one of my biggest gripes, as well as, the messaging system from the A1. You said "*groups text msgs by conversation" - i can only assume that means finally i won't get a "New Text Message - View Message Screen" for every texts?!
Anyway, i don't believe i will be upgrading at this point, but it looks as though they are looking to improve based on consumer feedback.
Thank you for the well-written article. -
Lots of good info but slightly short of info on voice quality, signal strength, reception, speakerphone, etc., the main reasons many of us are buying these things.
VAPCMD -
Oddly enough, your review is what more or less convinced me that the Alias 2 is a good phone and worth buying. This was a very well-written, comprehensive review, and if the only faults were bad music player, lack of programmable buttons, no camera flash and samey interface, i don't see a problem with it. I have a Zune 120 that i use for music, i've never really found programmable buttons necessary in all my years of owning a phone, i have a digital camera for my good pictures that might require a flash (although it is a bit disappointing there isn't a flash here) and the interface isn't broken or otherwise unusable, so it works for me.
Thanks for your comprehensive review. I recently got an Alias and i'm hoping to trade it in and get the Alias 2 soon.
Where to buy
Samsung Alias 2 SCH-U750 (Verizon Wireless):
$49.99
| store | price | in stock? | rating |
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$49.99 | Yes |
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