Samsung Eternity II Review

Introduction:

Everywhere you turn or look, there are a handful of Samsung phones that feature their all too familiar TouchWiz interface that's heavy on homescreen personalization with its sheer amount of widget offerings. Looking back at it now, it was only two years ago when the Samsung Eternity was launched in the US and brought forth the beginning of TouchWiz to the masses. At the time, it proved to be a decent feature phone that offered a bevy of neat features not necessarily attuned to its category placement. Fast forward to the present, we're now finally getting to see its eventual successor – the Samsung Eternity II. Since smartphones have dominated the landscape from the time since the Eternity was released, we'll see if its successor can muster up enough improvements to prove itself as a worthy upgrade

The package contains:

• Samsung Eternity SGH-A597
• Wall Charger
• microUSB cable
• 3.5mm headset adapter
• User Manual CD
• Quickstart Guide

Design:

From a cursory glance, there is no arguing how the Eternity II is more inclined to be regarded as an entry-level touchscreen phone with its artistic & flamboyant look – versus the original's mid-range appeal. Its metallic blue plastic shell radiates so strongly that you can't hide the fact that its color scheme is anything but florid and akin to younger kids. Corners are rounded to give it that natural feel in the hand while its plastic casing makes for one lightweight (3.2 oz) device that won't burden you in the pockets. Similarly, it's rather normal size in shape and doesn't look overbearing – making for one compact set. We definitely like the optical illusion pattern going on with the rear cover, but as a whole, it doesn't quite feel as sturdy in construction versus its predecessor – which is probably why it's aimed as an entry-level unit.



You can compare the Samsung Eternity II with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Although it's not seen as a biggie, the Eternity 2 defaults to a smaller 3” TFT touchscreen display with a resolution of 240 x 400 pixels and support for 262k colors. In fact, it's pretty much ordinary to say the least since it doesn't exhibit eye opening results with its washed out looking colors and noticeably fuzzy text. However, it does offer for some okay viewing angles to allow you some visibility to see what's on-screen, but it easily washes out when using it in the direct view of the sun. Naturally, it employs resistive technology which doesn't quite feel as responsive – which requires a solid push on the screen in order for it to register.


Beneath its touchscreen, we're presented with three physical buttons that are rather well sized and very responsive – these include the send, back/clear, and end keys. To the left side we have a reasonable shaped volume rocker with chrome accents while the right edge you'll find the microUSB port, lock/unlock key, quick menu button, and shutter key. Thankfully, all of the buttons are distinctive to the touch and offer subtle feedback when pressed down. Taking a peek at its rear cover, you might have your eyes confused by its optical illusion pattern, but you'll notice two small notches amongst it which are actually for the speaker. While towards the top, we find the placement of the 2-megapixel camera surrounded by a nice looking chrome ring. Finally, removing the rear cover can be accomplished by simply yanking it off, which will then provide you access to the microSD card slot, battery, and SIM card slot.

Interface and Features:

Unfortunately, there really isn't much to say about the TouchWiz interface on the Eternity II since it mainly follows in similar fashion to previous Samsung handsets for AT&T. The iterative improvements are minimal over its predecessor since it now offers three homescreens and a host of new widgets – which basically retains the same level of presentation as other handsets. Some widgets are more useful than others naturally, like the Facebook one, which will allow you to view rotating status updates and the ability to set your own one. Aside from that, the main menu is also stretched to three different panels that are covered with finger friendly sized icons , which can be moved around by pressing on the icon on the top right of the main menu. Moving around the interface is acceptable, especially for a feature phone, but isn't noticeably as responsive when compared to some smartphone platforms.


Luckily, you'll be able to store up to 2,000 contacts on the phone which is strikingly up there in terms of sheer size. Not only can you input the usual set of information for each contact, but it will allow for some customizations such as Picture ID and ringtone associations.


There's nothing different or fancy with the Eternity II's PIM functions since it essentially acts as it should on other handsets. You'll find them all under the “Tools” icon in the main menu – like the calendar, memo, calculator, and tasks apps. Messaging hasn't evolved one bit as you'll have the option to input text using either the virtual keypad, landscape QWERTY keyboard, and handwriting recognition – the latter of which makes for the slowest experience. Even though it sports a resistive touchscreen, we find the typing experience to be accurate after some quick practice – but it really does require a firm push for the phone to register a touch. As with other AT&T feature phones, we're presented with the traditional Mobile Email app which will automatically set up some of the popular email clients by only requiring an email address and password. On the other hand, it can also ask for additional pieces of information, like server addresses, in the event that it is unable to automatically set it up.



Since it's a touchscreen phone, the handset is treated to the usual line of AT&T applications such as AT&T Navigator, AT&T Radio, AT&T Social Net, and AT&T Mobile TV – the latter of which being the most interesting since it works on MediaFLO's live TV service. Social networking centric individuals will be pleased with the AT&T Social Net app which aggregates all of your accounts in one centralized hub so you'll be able to easily switch between any of them instantly. Other than that, the Eternity II packs a myriad of third party applications that can keep you busy such as YPMobile, Where, AllSportGPS, Loopt, Mobile Banking, MobiVJ, My-Cast Weather, and WikiMobile.

Camera and Multimedia:

You really can't expect much when the Eternity II sports a lower 2-megapixel camera than the original's 3-megapixel one. Numbers aside, we're presented with a similar camera interface that adds some novel shooting modes into the mix, but relatively doesn't deviate from its functionality. Image quality with the camera is neither good or bad – especially when outdoor images had okay detail with neutral looking colors. However, the quality quickly took a dive with indoor conditions where lighting is minimal since photos taken look extremely fuzzy. When there is an abundant amount of lighting indoors, it produces better color tones, but we still find them to be hazy.





Video recording with the device is very poor, since you're offered a maximum shooting resolution of 320 x 240. Needless to say, we find videos to be extremely pixelated looking with a hint of jerkiness to them due to its slower than molasses capture rate of 14fps. Pretty? Definitely not, but should suffice for those who are more in the moment and wish to share their captured videos with others.

Wouldn't you know, but the music player is the same exact one found on the original – so much for improvements. Although the presentation remains faithful, as it'll display items such as the album cover, on-screen controls, and song information, it remains to be functional at its core. Audio from the rear speaker produces tunes that are muffled sounding, but still sharp when high notes are played. With that in mind, it's more than audible to the ear – so you'll be able to easily comprehend lyrics with no issues.

With its tolerably sized display, watching videos is more than acceptable on the handset since it was able to play a movie trailer encoded in MPEG-4 320 x 240 resolution. There were no hiccups to be seen throughout its playback – which was smooth looking overall with no instances of inconsistent performance. However, it was unable to load videos that were higher in resolution – so don't expect to watch some high definition content on this one.


For something that doesn't come packaged with a microSD card, the 246MB of internal storage on the phone should prove to be more than sizable for anyone, but of course, you can supplement it with cards up to 32GB in capacity.

Internet and Connectivity:

Like most AT&T phones, the Samsung Eternity II is a good option for the constantly moving global trotter since it has quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and tri-band UMTS (850/1900/2100 MHz) connectivity. Additionally, the phone packs Bluetooth 2.1, which will allow you to connect various devices to it, like wireless headsets, in addition to transferring files wirelessly.

With pretty much all feature phones now running the Opera Mini web browser, just like the Eternity II, you really can't complain much about the performance. Our web site took a little over a minute to fully load, but once that was done, scrolling proved to be relatively smooth with short pauses to display images. Text is automatically re-sized to fit the width of the display – so you won't have to do much horizontal scrolling to read long passes of text. Basically, you can't really knock the experience on the handset since it is more than capable of accomplishing the task with no problems. Alternatively, the handset also includes the Dolphin browser as an option which does a reasonably good job too. However, we experienced slightly longer load times since it fully downloads everything and doesn't compress data like Opera Mini. Conversely, we like the fact that it has support for Flash Lite – meaning that it loads some Flash content, but not all.

Performance:

Talking on the Samsung Eternity II couldn't be any better since calling quality was more than acceptable on both ends. The earpiece produces some sharp sounding tones when it's placed on the loudest volume setting, but turning it down a couple notches makes for the best experience. There was no evidence of any static sounds or distortions on both ends, which is great, but even better when our callers said our voice sounded clear and distinct. Switching to the speakerphone, we were more than amused by its decent and distinguishable tones that made conversing relatively effortless.

When compared to other AT&T phones we had on us, the handset was able to display sufficient bars and didn't drop any calls. Additionally, there was no instance of any fluctuations in signal strength during our testing in the greater Philadelphia region.

Despite packing on a lower capacity 1,000 mAh battery than the original, we were still able to obtain a talk time of 6.75 hours – something that's pretty decent. It's especially gratifying when the  manufacturer has it rated for 5 hours of talk and 250 hours of standby time.

Conclusion:

There's no denying the abundance of TouchWiz powered Samsung phones on AT&T's lineup, so the Samsung Eternity II already faces some stiff competition from its other brothers and sisters. Priced at $69.99 on-contract, there are some other attractive options priced lower that exude a higher level of performance – like the Samsung Mythic and Sunburst. And when you think of it as a successor, it doesn't radiate that fitting title since its design is suitable for the younger crowd while it's software experience doesn't innovate in any category. It's been two years since the original handset was released, but there isn't a compelling reason to upgrade to the newer hardware since it remains relatively unchanged.

Samsung Eternity II Video Review: