Samsung Haven Review

Introduction:

It has been nearly a year since we reviewed the Samsung Knack U310, a simple to use phone from Verizon Wireless, designed for people not requiring unnecessary features. Now comes the new Samsung Haven U320, though not a whole lot has changed, as it is still intended for the ‘senior demographic’ with a healthy-sized screen and keyboard. But is this the best phone for your Grandparents, or does it fall short? Let’s take a look and see.

Included in the retail package are the Samsung Haven U320 phone, 1000mAh battery, desktop charging cradle, microUSB wall charger, and user guides.

Design:

The Samsung Haven U320 is slightly larger overall than the Knack U310 and looks a bit more square and boxy around the corners. Both devices are charcoal gray in color, though the Haven comes with a striped finish on the front and back, while the Knack just has the silver finish on the front. But despite its minor increase in size, the Haven feels comfortable in the hand and seems to be better constructed than the Knack. Located on the front of the Haven is a 1.3” TFT display, up from 1” on the Knack, but it still only shows the time, signal strength, and battery meter, as you can’t select any wallpapers for it to show. Instead of having different color-coded buttons and ports on the side, like on the Knack, the Haven just uses a silver trim for the volume rocker, and the monochromatic gray color for the 2.5mm headset jack and microUSB port. The hinge hasn’t really changed, which is a good thing, as it opens and closes smoothly and feels sturdy.





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

On the inside, the Samsung Haven U320 sports the same 2.2” 176x220 resolution TFT display that is found on the Knack U310. While we appreciate its nice size, we wish that it were QVGA resolution, so that numbers and letters would be less pixelated. This is one area where the LG Clout VX8370 does better, as it comes with a 2.2” QVGA display, thus allowing for sharper text and images to be viewed. Directly below the internal display on the Samsung Haven are three quick-launch buttons for accessing the voice commands, pictures, and voicemail, but we cannot understand why they are not backlit like the rest of the keypad buttons, which makes it hard to see them in low light.




The bottom flip on the Samsung Haven is laid out identical to the Knack, with buttons for 911, ICE, and speakerphone. Pressing on 911 will ask you if you wish to continue and be connected to 911. The ICE button is for storing up to 3 emergency contact numbers (such as family and doctor) and also for typing in your health info (medication, allergies). Located in the center is the d-pad for menu navigation. It is smaller than the surrounding buttons, but is still easy to use. The Haven’s numeric dialpad with its white backlight is larger than most other phones, such as the Samsung Gusto U360, which allows for easy viewing and dialing in various conditions, though the keypad on the LG Clout is also a nice size. The keys on the Haven provide a good “click” sound when pressed and are slightly bubbled-up in the center.

Interface and Features:

Themain menu on the Samsung Haven U320 is laid out nearly identical to theKnack U310, with the only difference being the blue color of thebackground. There are categories for contacts, recent calls, messaging,pictures & sounds, tools, settings, phone info, wellbeing &health, and My Verizon. The only personalization the Haven allows foris changing of the ringtones, wallpapers, font size, and two themes(golden blue and simple blue).


The phonebook onthe Haven is still only capable for storing up to 500 contacts, eachwith their name, mobile 1, home, work, mobile 2, ringtone and picture.Thankfully, this time around you can store up to 94 speed-diallocations, instead of just 8 on the Knack. Though the LG Clout can save1000 contacts and has a total of 999 speed-dial locations.


Both the Samsung Haven and Knack can send and receive basic text messages,but the Haven now supports receiving picture messages, where you cansave the attached image to the phone and even use it as a wallpaper.But don’t get too excited, as the Haven still lacks the ability to sendpicture messages, though we’re not surprised, as the device doesn’thave a built-in camera. Once again, we like the LG Clout here, as itcan send and receive text, picture and video messages, and also has abuilt-in camera that can take 2MP pictures and videos at 176x144resolution.


One new feature on the Samsung Haven U320 is the wellness &health menu, wherein you can set 5 different reminders, select 15exercises from an on-screen fitness trainer, listen to four different‘healing music’ sounds (sky, leaf, cloth, and rain), and enter in yourmedial info. We’re not sure how many people will use the fitnesstrainer, or listen to the 4 prerecorded sounds, but we do like the ideaof being able to enter in your medical info. Still, a lot of peoplelike to be able to access and play their own music on their phone, sokeep this in mind, as you can’t do this on the Haven.





Othersoftware tools include a calendar with event scheduler, threeindependent alarms, standard calculator, tip calculator, world clock,stop watch, and voice commands. All of these are fairly commonplaceamongst most phones. The voice commands only allows dialing of savecontacts by name (not by digit dialing), send text to name, and checkphone status. We had no problem using it in quiet areas, but in noisyenvironments (such as a car) it will make you repeat the command a fewtimes.


Since the Haven doesn't have a camera and can’t downloadapplications, the device only comes with 25MB of user accessiblememory. Naturally, there isn’t microSD memory card slot either.

Performance:

The two main issues we had with the Samsung Knack U310 were its poor signal reception, as it would often times drop down to 0 bars and say ‘searching for service’, and the voice distortion we heard when the earpiece volume was turned up to high. We are glad to report that the Samsung Haven U320 does better in both departments, as we had 2-3 signal bars showing and without it saying ‘searching for service’, and the earpiece doesn’t sound as distorted at high volumes, though the voice quality still sounds a bit muffled. When tried next to the LG Clout VX8370, the voices were noticeably clearer and didn’t sound muffled when using it.

The included 1000mAh battery is rated to provide the Haven up to 5 hours of talk time or 14 days of standby time on a full charge. Our testing revealed 4 hours talk time on a full charge, which is the same as on the Knack.

Conclusion:

The Samsung Haven U320 does a better job at being a basic and easy-to-use phone than the Knack U310, as the signal reception issues have been solved and the voice quality is a bit better. We like the large keyboard, but wish the display were higher resolution and would come with at least 1.3MP camera. Overall, the Haven is an OK device for those looking to just use it as a basic phone, with occasionally sending and receiving messages. But if you’re looking for some added features, then you may want to consider the LG Clout VX8370.

Software on tested phone: DC15

Samsung Haven Video Review: