Samsung Highlight T749 Review

Introduction:

We've seen a substantial amount of TouchWiz powered devices from the number two phone maker in the world. Luckily for T-Mobile subscribers in the US, they've been introduced to the widget based interface in the form of the Behold and Memoir – both packing serious megapixels in their cameras. The latest TouchWiz phone for T-Mobile, the Samsung Highlight T749, takes all the things we love of the two previous and makes an emphasis on being more streamlined to the general audience. It might not have imposing specifications, but it may win over some users with its slimmer and pocketable look.

The package contains:

•    Samsung Highlight
•    Charger
•    Hands-free Headset
•    USB Cable
•    User Guide
•    Start Guide


Design:

Samsung doesn't stray far away from the usual slate form factor which dominates most of their touch screen lineup. The one thing that stands out is the patterned design on the battery cover of the Samsung Highlight T749. Different shades of blue are used for the casing – it gives off a tough plastic feel when held. Even the screen gives off that same feeling – the thin piece of plastic does little to protect it from accidents. It's not the most durable material, but we don't have any qualms about it on this device. The dimensions are similar to the two previous TouchWiz handsets we've seen come out for -T-Mobile. We noticed that it's on the heavier side when held in the hand; due to the larger battery. Overall the design works well for this kind of phone, except that the screen is prone to scratches.



You can compare the Samsung Highligh SGH-T749with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The 3” LCD screen really shines  in performance – it's vivid, clear, and undeniably displays 262k colors beautifully. It will definitely turn heads because of the widget driven interface. Text is easily distinguished thanks to the 240 x 400 pixel display. Although it magnificently lights up in indoor settings, you'll have to shield it when viewing in direct sunlight. Even increasing its brightness to the maximum setting, it's still somewhat unviewable unless you go into the shade.

Three buttons are found directly below the screen; the send, end, and back/clear keys are pronounced and well sized. We didn't have any problems getting a feel for them thanks to their excellent tactile feel. The same goes with the volume rocker on the left edge which was ample in size. The dedicated camera and lock/unlock buttons are located on the right side with the proprietary charging/USB port. The speaker phone is found next to the 3-megapixel camera on the back towards the top portion of the device. The microSD slot is placed inconveniently under the battery – requiring you to physically remove the battery of the Samsung Highlight T749 in order to insert a card into the slot.

Software/Features:

Although we've seen the TouchWiz interface updated for some of Samsung's premier devices, the Samsung Highlight T749 just rolls along with the same old one found on the Behold and Memoir. There are a tad bit more widgets to choose from so you can drag them onto the home screen, but nothing really stood out more than others. There's no denying how much personalization can be done with the various widgets and their placement. The one thing that we were disappointed in was the sluggish feel of the overall interface. Transition effects used for menu changes definitely felt slower to execute, but it did not adversely affect the experience of navigating on the phone.

Creating contacts is a simple procedure that anyone can accomplish. It offers more information to be inputted than other basic handsets – phone numbers, email addresses, home address, ringtones, and screen names can all be saved. Memory won't be an issue because the Highlight will retain up to 2,000 contacts.

Depending on the user, touch screen phones can be just as swift when it comes to text messaging. The virtual QWERTY is responsive with vibrations accompanying each press. There's also a handwriting tool that we found quite frustrating because it does not accurately register what is written on screen. Finally, you can use the dialing pad for a more traditional way.



Instant messaging is provided by Oz, which allows for clients like AIM, Windows Live Messenger, and Yahoo Messenger to be used. In addition, the email applications is also powered by Oz and allows users a variety of popular providers like Gmail, Yahoo, and AOL. The list is limited and there isn't an option to manually input specific providers – which unfortunately is a downer.



The Samsung Highlight T749 comes with only three third party applications – Brain Challenge 2, Midnight Pool 2, and TeleNav Navigator. The first two are demo games which will require you to purchase the full version after playing a bit. The TeleNav software is your GPS turn-by-turn application which was useful and accurate during our testing. Lacking third party software was an eyesore; we expected more offerings from the Highlight. Other than that, the typical tools like the calculator, world clock, converter, and RSS reader are found.



The 3-megapixel camera may not have an imposing figure over what is offered on the Behold and Memoir. It actually works well and images taken were tolerable at the least. Outdoor shots produced the best results – colors were rich, while detail good enough for a 4” x 6” print out. Indoor images had a hazy look to them; making colors a bit more muted. The camera interface is similar to the Behold which has two columns of icons that allows for various functions to be changed. There are five resolutions you can choose; from 400 x 240 to the maximum 2048 x 1536. As we've stated, the camera can take decent photos depending on the lighting conditions.







Taking videos on the Samsung Highlight T749 should be reserved for MMS use – due to the maximum resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. Videos weren't too pixelated as we first thought and the frame rate was surprisingly smooth with very little choppiness. Audio from the produced video sounded muffled, but still audible enough to make out conversations. Not the best in taking those precious moments, but adequate enough for those random situations that come up.

Following the same trend we're starting to notice, the Highlight utilizes the exact music player found on the Behold and Memoir. The interface has all the usual functions you would find on any player – reverse, pause/play, forward, and repeat. In addition, other information like the album cover art, artist, song name, and length are displayed. It's not the prettiest that we've seen, but gets the job done. The speaker phone manages to play songs smoothly without and crackling when placed on the highest volume. Exiting back to the home screen will display the media player widget so you can control it directly from there.

Watching videos was a breeze with the Highlight – results were similar to previous TouchWiz devices.  Movie trailers we used in MPEG4 320 x 240 and H.264 320 x 136 format played smoothly without any noticeable lag. The accelerometer will automatically switch it to the correct orientation almost immediately. Sound coming from the speaker phone was clear and on queue during the entire playback – resulting in perfect synchronization. We can't complain about the Samsung Highlight's video performance.





If music and videos are your thing, you'll be able to use microSD cards of up to 16GB in capacity for the Samsung Highlight.
 
Taking the handset to other countries for voice calls won't be an issue with it's quad-band GSM capability (850/900/18000/1900 Mhz). For data use, the dual-band UMTS device (1700/2100 Mhz) will get 3G speeds on the AWS band in the US.

It's the usual fanfare we've seen for the web browser found on the Samsung Highlight T749. Scrolling isn't as smooth as something you would see with Opera, but it's more than adequate for a non-smart phone. You can choose from either a desktop or mobile view; the latter optimizing sites for a single column view. Pages rendered almost like what you see on a computer, although it did take quite some time. We recommend waiting for the entire page to load before moving around the site. As much as we think the need for manual zooming is a painstaking process with the Highlight, it rearranges the page quickly so you won't be waiting that much.

Performance

For some reason, there was static during all times we conversed on the Samsung Highlight T749. Our callers sounded muffled which made it difficult to hear over the static background sound. Callers stated that our voice was on the low side; requiring us to speak up more into the microphone. It's great that the speaker phone did not produce any crackling sound, but it was just too low to really hear anything.

So we never came across any dropped calls during our testing and maintained connectivity in the greater Philadelphia area. When comparing to other T-Mobile enabled devices, we noticed that it had a harder time retaining 3G speeds and always defaulted more to EDGE.

The battery capacity was the single area where Samsung actually increased the specifications on the Highlight. We were able to get 8 solid days of normal use thanks to the larger sized battery (1200 mAh) – providing plenty of time with it. It's rated for 6.5 hours of talk and 432 hours of standby. It's worth noting we had the brightness to the highest setting during our testing.

Conclusion: 

Samsung has been producing a lot of touch screen devices powered by their lovely TouchWiz UI. We've seen T-Mobile get its share of phones that pack some impressive specs, but the Samsung Highlight SGH-T749 is somewhat a step back from what we've seen from the manufacturer. Almost everything is identical to the previous incarnations seen on T-Mobile. The lackluster design, slower interface performance, and limited applications make it stagnant. When it comes down to it, pricing will ultimately sway consumers – with the Highlight being priced more than the Behold right now, and with the Behold being superior in almost every way, it makes for a difficult argument to purchase the Highlight.

Samsung Highlight T749 Video Review: