Samsung Intensity II Review

Introduction:

When Samsung introduced the original Intensity U450 last year, we weren’t too impressed by its features, or lack thereof, but it did help fill a gap in Verizon’s line-up for an inexpensive messaging phone with full sliding QWERTY keyboard. Since then, there have been plenty of other devices in that category, most recently with the LG Cosmos VN250 and Pantech Jest. Now Verizon has introduced the new Samsung Intensity II U460, as it has some upgrades from last year’s model, but is it enough to warrant an upgrade from current Intensity U450 owners? Let’s take a look.

Included in the retail package is the Samsung Intensity II U460 phone, 1000mAh battery, wall charger with detachable microUSB cable, and user guide.

Design:

The Samsung Intensity II U460 follows closely in the footsteps of the Intensity U450, as both share a similar design. The Intensity II is offered in a standard gray and metallic blue color, and fits comfortably in the hand or pocket, thanks to its curved edges and sleek profile. Even though the device remains constructed out of plastic, the Intensity II feels sturdier and not a cheap as the original model.




The display has been improved, and now measures 2.2” with a resolution of 320x240 pixels and supports up to 262K colors. When looking at the display on both models, you can clearly see the improvement with the Intensity II, as images and text are sharper and not pixelated. This is a welcome change. Below the display is the standard d-pad, which is now square instead of being circular, which does make it easier to use with your thumb. Unfortunately, the surrounding buttons, such as the left & right soft key, speakerphone and back key are still smaller than we would like and feel cramped together. The design of the numeric keypad has also changed, though not for the better, as the keys are now smaller and closer together, which allow for frequent misdials. The LG Cosmos does better here, as its numeric keypad is larger and easier to use with big hands. Located on the sides of the Intensity II are the volume rocker, microUSB port, 2.5mm headset jack, voice command and camera key, and microSDHC memory card slot that supports up to 32GB cards.



The sliding QWERTY keyboard retains its 4-rows, though its layout has changed some, as the directional arrows now have their own dedicated keys, and there is also a dedicated left and right soft key that is at the top. But the keyboard isn’t the best that we’ve used, as the buttons feel cramped and are perfectly flat, providing almost no tactile feel at all. Once again, the LG Cosmos does better here, as its keys are raised from the surrounding plastic and have some space between them, allowing for a better typing experience.

Software and Features:

The interface has been given a bit of a facelift and contains three themes: slick black, planet, and pond. The “pond” theme on the Intensity II is similar to the “my place” theme on the Intensity and Alias 2, as it shows a work desk with nine animated icons for accessing different menus. You can also change any of the theme’s layouts between list, grid and tab view, font style, as well as the type of clock and its color.



The phonebook on the Samsung Intensity II allows up to 1000 contacts to be saved with multiple numbers and email addresses, picture and ringtone, IM screen name, street address, and birthday. Once a contact is saved, you can assign them to one of 999 speed dial locations.



Composing a text message can be done by using T9 predictive entry with the numeric keypad or by sliding the phone open and using the QWERTY keyboard. Other messaging options include Mobile Email, which will allow you to send and receive email through your standard POP or IMAP accounts, and Mobile IM for connecting to people in your AIM, Windows Live, and Yahoo! buddy lists. Also included on the Intensity II is a new program called Social Beat that allows you to connect your accounts for Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Google Talk, and GMail, as well as RSS. We tried it with Facebook and were able to view our feed, wall, inbox, and friend’s list. You can also post your current status and even upload a mobile photo. Just be prepared to wait….and wait…and wait, as it takes up to 3 minutes just to sign in and view recent posts. Several times, it just stopped working all together, and we had to click on Refresh a few times to get things to load. We’re not sure if this is a problem with the program, or since the phone uses the slower 1x data network. At this point, we wouldn’t even fool with using it, as it is problematic to load and takes too long.



The included 1.3MP camera on the Samsung Intensity II remains a disappointment, as images taken outside during the day have soft edges and generally look blurry with poor color accuracy, while indoor images tend to look worse as they show a lot of grain. There still isn’t a flash, but the Intensity II can take pictures in complete darkness with the infrared Night Vision mode, though the pictures come out in black and white and are more of a novelty. Video recording is still not supported.





For playing back your MP3s, the music player on the Samsung Intensity II is pretty much the same as the one on the Intensity, as files are listed by songs, playlists, artists, genres, and albums. You can also change the player’s skin between simple, album art, visualizer, and lyrics for a more personalized appearance. Music quality was good through the mono speaker on the back, but you can also connect earbuds to the 2.5mm headset jack, or listen to music via Stereo Bluetooth connection. Unfortunately, multitasking isn’t supported, so you can’t listen to music while also typing a text message.



Most other software features on the Samsung Intensity II U460 remain unchanged from the Samsung Intensity U450, such as the appointment calendar where you can save alerts, Mobile Web 2.0 browser, VZ Navigator for GPS guided driving directions, and the ability to download other ringtones and games. Since the Intensity II still only supports the slower 1X network instead of the faster EVDO network, data speeds are slow and there is no support for VCast Video streaming or VCast Music downloads. One new feature that is included is the Microsoft Bing search, where you can perform searches on the Web, Business Directory, or VZW Media. If you do just a standard search, it will search the Web for results, where the Business Directory search is good for restaurants, shopping, hotels, and other local places, while the VZW Media search will look for matching Verizon ringtones, wallpapers, games, and programs to download.



The Samsung Intensity II comes with 105.5MB of internal memory (up from 31MB on the Intensity), and out of that only 12MB is used out of the box. This leaves plenty of room for installing apps or for savings pictures if a memory card is not installed.

Performance:

The signal reception on both the Intensity II and Intensity were good and identical to each other, with 2-3 bars showing in high-coverage areas and without dropping any calls. However, the call quality on the Intensity II was slight better, as voices were a bit more natural sounding, though still not a good as what we experienced when using the LG Cosmos. But the speakerphone on the Intensity II was the clear winner, as it was louder and lacked any distortion.

The Intensity II comes with a 1000mAh battery, up slightly from 960mAh on the Intensity, though both are rated to provide up to 5 hours of talk time or 12 days of standby time. During our testing, we were able to get up to 5 hours of continuous talk time on the Intensity II, which is 30 minutes longer than what we got using the Intensity.

Conclusion:

So is the Samsung Intensity II U460 worth buying if you have the original Intensity U450? Not really. The only noticeable upgrade is the QVGA display, as most everything else is pretty much the same, except for some minor cosmetic differences. But that being said, the Intensity II is a pretty decent message phone considering its low price, plus it doesn’t require Verizon’s $9.99 monthly data plan that more advanced phones use, such as the Samsung Rogue U820. The only downside to this is that it uses the slower 1x network for data, but if you don’t plan on using the web browser or social beat software much, then the Intensity II is a pretty good device for the teen crowd.

Software on tested phone: u.640.DD26

Samsung Intensity II Video Review: