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"Best NON-Smart Phone you can get! (Yes, no PDA Fee!)" on by Jouten_Za
Pros: Great, responsive touch screen (not capacitive like iPhone), the haptic feedback enhances texting experience, great sounding music player (yes, I have the iPod touch and this sounds better). Works great with Opera Mini 4.2, thus easy browsing.
Cons: Ringtones are a bummer in that you can't just 'choose a song and go', you have to edit the song to a 300k sized mp3 or other supported format for it to work. If you set the screen's brightness to maximum, it sucks up the battery's life big time.
Summary: I did not even expect to get this phone. I walked into the AT&T store to shop for a touchscreen phone that wasn't the iPhone, I have the iPod Touch and didn't like the qwerty keyboard that it uses. I was looking for a phone with an actual physical qwerty keyboard because my wife texts me short questions that require long answers =)
I got Gmail and that allowed me the ability to check all my POP3 email from my ISP! Gmail is a sweet app and a must for this phone if you wish to be able to check your POP3 emails. I still am absolutely in love with this phone and have no buyer's remorse whatsoever. I usually find faults within a week to ten days of owning something and this phone has survived that honeymoon period. In fact, the more I use it, the more I love it. If you get this phone, you will not regret it (unless you don't know how to use it or you get a defective one like some of these other people seem to have happened).
I went in and tried out the HTC models and didn't care too much for them. They seemed so slow and the top row of qwerty keys were a little difficult for me to type on. I tried a couple other 'cheapo' qwerty phones, but alas, could not appreciate them. I was about to leave the store empty handed when the salesperson showed me an Samsung Epix phone. I loved it! The only problem was, I did not like the screen's real estate. I loved the optical mouse and the haptic feedback screen. I loved that you could use your finger or stylus for input. I told the salesperson that I was interested then I got the lowdown on the pricing =( It required an extra PDA data package (which I expected), and the cost was just a tad bit more than I was willing to pay. THAT's when the salesperson showed me this phone, the Samsung Eternity. I played with it and I liked how quick it responded, I liked the little tool bar on the side, I loved the screens real estate, I couldn't believe how good the music player sounded. I tried texting with the full screen qwerty keyboard and was really wowed by it! I typed two paragraphs with it and did not make one mistake! I had made typos with the Epix. The phone didn't require a PDA data package (I already have the unlimited data package) which was music to my ears! The cost was more in my range, especially after the rebate. Just simply a great multi-media/messaging phone.
If you are a Smart Phone user (BlackBerry, Palm, etc.), you will miss your POP/IMAP email. If you can live without that, this phone is the best way to go. It is veryt well suited for all my multi-media and web browsing needs. I can add contacts full screen with the qwerty keyboard so I'm not sure what the reviewer means when they said, "...Samsung Eternity's virtual keyboard isn't available when entering message recipients...". If you use the names in your contacts, your good to go. Really. I think they were reaching with that one.
This phone sounds absolutely great with my Sony Bluetooth headphones and if you want to go wired, it has the 3.5mm headphone plug in.
The bottom line of my bottom line is:
This phone is an awesome alternative to the iPhone (texting is way better with the haptic feedback).
Updated on Dec 19, 2008
So in summary, must have downloadable apps straight to your phone...Opera Mini 4.2, Gmail ande Google Maps. That should satisfy all your multimedia, web browsing and email needs. Won't need to pay for the PDA or iPhone data package, and you will have a very good phone to last you at least another two years or until your next upgrade times. Thanks all! -
"CNet?s video review has a glaring error? (see summary)" on by jagtoo05
Pros: The call quality was very strong. When adjusted properly, the speaker phone, ringer and overall audio volume was good. Excellent display and feels good in your hand. Compared to some of the competition you can include expanded contact information.
Cons: Lack of Wi-Fi and No Voice Dialing is a drawback...
Summary: Contrary to what Mr. Kent German states in his video review of the Eternity, you certainly can use the virtual QWERTY keyboard when entering contact information. It works on my unit. This was one his biggest issues with the phone and it appears to be a mistake on his part! Either his phone was defective or for some reason there was a lag in the accelerometer.
Anyway, it is an excellent cell phone for the non-Smartphone crowd. I found it fast, friendly and easy to use. While you may not use all of its features, if this cell phone falls within the category phone you are looking for, I would recommend that you give it serious consideration. -
"Great phone, great features." on by obusteven
Pros: Smoothness of operating system, ease of navigation, sound profiles, both a qwerty keypad and a dialing pad to use in texting and dialing. Media Net is fast, integrated music player and traditional headphone jack.
Cons: No way to customize screensaver (you can customize wallpaper), no customization of items on the menu. No speed dial. Many monthly costs for app service.
Summary: My main goal in switching to ATT from Sprint was to find a phone and plan that was affordable, yet modern in technology. After looking at nearly every phone for ATT and spending an insane amount of time on CNET listening to Bonnie and Nicole, I decided on the Eternity.
After having the phone a little less than a week, here are my thoughts.
The smoothness of the operating system reminds me of the iPhone as does the user interface. I like the taskbar on the side of the wallpaper, but it does take some getting used to. I did like being able to take widgets off, but there is no way to customize widgets a particular app you want to use.
The user interface is not as smooth as the iPhone, but blows Windows Mobile and other phones like the LG Vu out of the water.
In spite of what Ken said in his review, you CAN input e-mail addresses and recipients in the qwerty mode. It is not just up to the dial pad.
There is a very small learning curve for this phone. Basic users should be able to pick the phone up and immediately start using it without a problem. If you are switching from a non-touch screen phone you will have to get used to touching a screen instead of buttons.
The phone book holds a ton of information but Samsung left out speed dial. Instead I have to assign people as favorites and go in two menus to find a number. That part is not really convenient. If there is a way around this to get speed dial, somebody please let me know.
Many of the apps you have to pay monthly service fees for. However, with ATT you do not have to have a data package on this phone. In my opinion, this is where the Eternity beats the iPhone. If you are wanting the iPhone but don't want the data package, then this is a great alternative for you.
Battery life so far is good; I have only had it one day, but I will follow up with more information.
The phone feels very solid in hand and call quality and speakerphone quality has been great. Add to that the ability to reject the calls automatically from those people in your life you cannot stand and you got yourself a great phone!
I would recommend it to anyone!
Updated on Dec 4, 2008
Touchscreen and interface has become a little sluggish over the week. Don't know if this is a user issue or a phone issue.
Buttons are not as responsive as normal. It takes multiple firm presses to get the phone to respond.
Lack of speed dial is very frustrating. You cannot make calls without focusing on the screen intently. For voicemail, you open the dial pad and hold 1. They need that feature for other callers as well.
Alarm clock isn't loud enough to wake me up.
No true silent feature. You can set the phone to silent but it still vibrates. Not good for my Tom Cruise Mission Impossible endeavors.
Battery life is so-so. I could probably get 1 1/2 days out of a single charge. I am an average user.
Camera is great. Multitude of features and the pictures look good.
Music player is impressive. Had no trouble transferring files from my computer and listening to them. 3.5 jack is awesome.
Updated on Dec 22, 2008I had this phone for almost a month and the lack of Speed Dial killed me. It was simply too hard to make calls to people that were buried in the address book. I drive alot and was not able to make a simple call by looking at the screen or hitting a number.
Also, as I went along, I noticed that the touch screen became less responsive. Many times in the last week it would take 2 or 3 touches for it to register and take me into the appropriate menu.
The T9 function on this phone was very hard to use. Many times it would insert words and letters that I had not typed because of the T9 input. It's like T9 met 1984.
I still like the phone, but the main reason for the switch was the lack of speed dial and despite the promise of an update, getting no answer from Samsung as to when that update would occur.
Music quality is top notch, I loved that aspect of the phone, but if you don't need speed dial and if you are not dependent on an actual keyboard it will be a great phone. -
"Good phone, but falls short in several important ways." on by stuck2001
Pros: Size and form-factor are great. The phone looks awesome. Haptic feedback and TouchWiz drag and drop are cool features. Text messaging is probably the best I've seen on a touch screen. Lot's of apps and and features.
Cons: 1. Almost all the apps are monthly fees. $10/month for GPS, Pandora, MobiVj, Weather, WikiMobile, XM Radio all between 3 and 8 dollars a month. Do the math.
2. Browser is VERY hit or miss.
3. The TouchWiz widgets are useless and pre-determined.Summary: I really, really liked this phone for the first 24 hours. It's looks and interface are awesome. However, during the second day of use, problems started showing up which turned into deal breakers for me.
The main problem is the price of the apps. The phone was $199 and came with tons of apps that made it comparable to the iPhone. I liked the form-factor much better and wanted to avoid the pricier data plan of the iPhone. However, since literally 90% of the apps on the Eternity charge monthly subscription fees (Yeah the phone has GPS and Mobile TV, but GPS runs $10/month and you pay PER CHANNEL for the Mobile TV) , and the exact same apps (with better interface) are free on the iPhone or a small one time fee, I'm actually going to save money with it. It comes pre-loaded with tons of apps and you get home excited to use them all, then find out they are just demos and that you have to subscribe to them all. A huge downer.
The browser is also very, very hit or miss. Some pages look great, some pages are crammed into a weird column format and don't really give you a great browsing experience. Being able to surf in portrait or landscape is nice, but in the few days I've had the phone, the accelerometer is already having trouble recognizing when I have the phone turned. I called AT&T and they recommended trying the OperaMini browser, which is somewhat better, but does not navigate on this phone as well, and it appears that the phone refuses to go into landscape with it.
The TouchWiz interface is cool, with haptic feedback and the drag and drop rail on the homescreen. However, the widgets on the rail are preset to fairly useless things. Birthday reminders, a world clock, a regular clock, an alarm, a calculator...how about a browser link? a messaging link? an apps link?
The text messaging on the phone is a definite strong point, but threaded texting would have been a great touch. The virtual keyboard seems to be more reliable to me with more options (t9, multitap, landscape, handwriting) than others that I have seen.
Overall it's a really, really cool phone that I wanted to love, but the deeper I got into the phone the more it feel short of expectations for the price point. We all know what you can get for $199 on the cell phone market these days. If you want a really $199 phone to check email, look cool, and make calls this is the phone for you. If you want $199 phone to do more than that, I think there are better options. -
"A phone for me!" on by wiiownzzz
Pros: I love that the touch screen is easy to use and texting is great. This phone has a lot of freedom compared to the other phones i had in the past. It's also very fast at most thing and everything is amazing!
Cons: No Wifi. That's it.
Summary: I like this phone because of it's ease of use and it's customizable home screen. I also enjoy texting because it is very easy and there's a T9 option on the keyboard which is helpful sometimes. The music player is great, I like the fact that it has a headphone jack. Yeah this phone is just overall great.
I have had this phone for a while now and it's still fun to use and very user friendly. I have a few movies and family guy episodes and it's so convenient to watch them because you have the headphone jack so no one else will have to hear it. I have no problems with it at the moment but little quirks, sometimes I want to have a widget in an exact spot and it's kind of hard but that's no big deal. I had no problems with the touch screen, maybe sometimes when I text at lighting speed on the qwerty keyboard I may mess up. I don't see everyones problem with the extra app costs, It's not like you actually use them! Like seriously I didn't notice I had half of those apps until people started complaining about them. FYI that doesn't make the phone suck that makes the company of the apps and ATT suck by charging money for the app. Samsung has nothing to do with that. Just get the media net unlimited plan and you have videos, internet, email, free ringtones, and more. It's a good phone people.
Updated on Dec 17, 2008
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