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Samsung has taken to the messaging phone craze with fervor, releasing QWERTY phones such as the Samsung Propel, the Samsung Rant, and the Samsung Gravity all within just a few months. With the Rant and the Gravity, Samsung went with the side-slider design where the phone looks like a candy bar phone from the front, but actually has a QWERTY keyboard slider on the side. Now it has released a phone with the same design for MetroPCS, dubbed the Samsung Messager. They definitely don't win points with creativity with this one, but since MetroPCS doesn't have a lot of messaging phones, so we're willing to give that a pass. The Samsung Messager is available for $199, which isn't too bad since MetroPCS doesn't require a contract.
Design
As we said, the Samsung Messager has the same design as the Rant and the Gravity. Measuring 4.4 inches long by 2 inches wide by 0.7 inch thick, the Messager is not much smaller than the other two devices and has the same fat candy bar look on the front. The Messager has an all-plastic casing and feels a bit more toylike than the other two messaging phones. Also, the buttons are laid out a tiny bit differently, and the keyboard has a different tactile feel. Otherwise, the overall design is the same with the slide-out QWERTY keyboard on the side.
On the front of the Messager is a 2.1-inch diagonal 262,000-color display with a 176x220-pixel resolution. The screen is bright and images look colorful and vibrant. You can adjust the screen's backlight time, the dialing font size, the clock format, the greeting banner, the wallpaper, and the menu style.
Underneath the display is the navigation array, which consists of two soft keys, a square four-way toggle with a middle OK key, the speakerphone key on the far left, the Clear key on the far right, and the Talk and End/Power keys under that. The toggle also doubles as shortcuts to the contacts list, the MetroPCS mobile shop, the messaging menu, and the MetroWeb mobile Web browser. Most of the navigation keys felt slippery and flat to the surface of the phone, though the speakerphone and Clear keys are raised. The number keypad underneath the navigation array felt roomy and the keys felt tactile and easy to dial by feel.
For typing out texts or e-mails, you'll want to slide out the QWERTY keyboard. To do this, tilt the phone 90 degrees counterclockwise and slide the phone up. The sliding mechanism felt solid and sturdy. The display changes from portrait mode to landscape mode when you slide the QWERTY keyboard out. The keyboard is laid out a little differently than the other messaging phones, with the two soft keys on the bottom left and right of the keyboard. The keys have a pleasant rubbery texture and they feel responsive as well. We like the dedicated messaging key as well as the arrow keys, which let us navigate the menu right from the keyboard.
