This is my own mini review of Samsung Eternity based on my experience for the past one month.
I recently extended my contract with AT&T and got a Samsung Eternity(SGH-A867). So far I like it very much and its touch interface (called TouchWiz) is very good. It is not in the same league as IPhone but very close. I compared it with my friend's IPhone and found IPhone presentation (the Icons are beautiful) and touch interface (like pinching) are too good. But I was not ready to pay $30 every month for IPhone data plan and so decided to get the next best. The data plan for Samsung Eternity is $15. But if you have a shared family plan then you can get the data plan for $10 per phone with their shared messaging package ($30 for the whole family).
The browsing with the built-in MediaNet browser seem to be fast. The browser by default uses the 3G network (which is fast) and if 3G is not available or signal is weak the phone switches to some old technology (I don't remember the name). The MediaNet browser by default shows the mobile page (specially designed for mobile phones), if mobile page is not available then it shows the full HTML webpage. But here the difference between IPhone and Samsung Eternity is that IPhone displays the full webpage (the whole page shrinked to fit into IPhone's screen) and let you to zoom in and out using your finger movements. The Samsung Eternity just displays the page like a normal computer browser (does not fit the contents in one screen), i.e. you need to scroll left-right or up-down to see the whole thing. This is very painful, but since I am not planning to use the phone for everyday browsing I am OK with this limitation. Some people seem to overcome this issue by downloading Opera mini browser (modified version). You can read about that in http://www.samsung-eternity.com/. This site has lot of details about the phone customization, third-party applications, ringtones, wallpaper etc.
Samsung Eternity is not a smart phone, so it lacks some of the features required by corporate customers, but this phone comes pre-installed with web-email client called Mobile Email. Using this client you can access Yahoo, Microsoft Live Hotmail etc, but no Gmail. To access Gmail you need to download mobile Gmail application from www.google.com/mobile. Using this Gmail application you access one or more Gmail accounts and also switch from one account to another account easily. From Google mobile site you can also download GoogleMap and Utube applications.
The Samsung Eternity has built-in GPS chip like all new cell phones. But AT&T for some reason locked this feature, so GPS is only accessible from their own AT&T Navigator ($10 per month). The Google Map still be able to show your approximate location (within few 100 meters) using the Cell Phone triangulation technique.
Before Samsung Eternity I had Sony Ericson W680i which is a very good phone, but Samsung Eternity is very user friendly and faster to do any actions such as placing a call, placing a call in hold, switching between two calls etc. One glaring omission in Samsung Eternity is that it is missing Speed Dial, i.e. the ability to dial a family member or friend by just pressing and holding numbers 1-10.
If you like sending SMS/MMS messages to friends and family then you will find this phone very friendly and fast. Once you start a message the phone will show you a virtual keyboard. The virtual keyboard has a tactile feedback, i.e it feels like pressing real keyboard. The keyboard rotates to Landscape mode when you turn the phone to the side. In portrait mode the keyboard is T9 and in landscape mode it is a full qwerty keyboard. You can also send photos or videos with your message. (I heard that IPhone cannot do MMS but I am not sure).
If you like this phone you can get this phone from Amazon
free with new or extended contract, at AT&T it costs $150 after rebate. Online dealers like LetsTalk.com
Samsung Eternity (AT&T) also giving it for free and sometimes you can even make some money after rebate.
To summarize the pros are:
- Excellent interface and good tactile response.
- Excellent choice for basic emailing, messaging and browsing.
- Sexy look.
- Pre installed free java mobile games.
The cons are:
- The built-in browser is not good for browsing full HTML webpage (you need to scroll up-down or left-right to see the whole page).
- No speed dial
- No auto focus in the built-in 3MP camera.
- Ringtone starts with very low volume then increases. At present ther is no way to turn-off this feature. Some times if the ringtone is very short you may miss a call. (Voice mail and SMS messages are usually notified by short beeps).
- No GPS available for Google Map or other third-party mapping applications.
- No WiFi.
Overall this is is an excellent choice for normal users and one of best AT&T cell phones.
The other carriers Verizon and T-Mobile also has very similar phone. The Verizon version is called Omnia Samsung Omnia
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