Samsung SGH-T619 Review

Samsung T619 is a good attempt to make a cheap device of the lower mid-market scale without depriving it of its main functionality or of an eye-pleasing design, even at a reasonable price. Т619 can be considered to be the model to replace Т609 in the T-Mobile USA line, but it is not its substitute, since it has a more limited functionality, mainly due to its restricted memory and the lack of an additional memory slot, which makes it possible for T609 to be used also as a musical player. Т619 is mainly for people who appreciate the clamshell design and who need a telephone mainly to talk and for them the Bluetooth ,and the music player are just a convenience, rather than a multimedia option.

The telephone set includes:

• A telephone
• A charger
• A mono headset 
• Operating instructions
  

In our opinion Т619 is a very elegant phone and, in spite of the budget materials it is made of, it looks classically stylish, rather than like a toy. Unlike Т609, its color is not shades of white, but it is made of a combination of dark grey and black plastic material. A small-size clamshell with in-built antenna and slightly beveled edges, instead of the egg-like shape that we are familiar with from previous Samsung models, which actually differentiates this model from previous models and makes it look more expensive. Its make is good and the phone is relatively solid, although some of you might not like the feel of plastic, creating a sensation of ‘cheapness’. The phone’s small size makes it easy to fit in a pocket and not feel it is there at all due to its weight of 2.8 oz (80 g). Although the phone is not equipped with an automatic opening mechanism, opening it is easy, thanks to the wound-up spring; closing it is easy, too, by resting the upper lid on big rubber buffers in the lower part of the phone.

Being a clamshell, this Samsung model is logically equipped with two displays: the main one, which is inside and an additional one on the outside. The latter display is capable of showing up to 65,000 different colors with a resolution of 96 x 96 pixels. However, its main purpose of use is to show system information like caller’s name/number, time/date and battery/signal level. It can be used as a camera self-shutter, as well as for visualization of the music player when the telephone is closed. Typically for a poor-quality display, its colors are not quire authentic but rather yellowish and it is difficult to read from it in bright light. What we found annoying is that the display goes off too soon and to light it up again you have to press the side sound button for a few seconds before it turns on again.

The main display is 2 inches long and has a resolution of 176х220 pixels. It is a TFT model and can show up to 262,000 colors. However, the quality of its images is not overwhelming: its brightness is limited, the colors are saturated and the white looks really white, but the visualized pictures do not look vivid, possibly due to the low resolution. However, the display does a good job, showing information, except in bright light when its surface becomes like a mirror and it is difficult to make out anything, unless you shadow the display.

The keyboard left us with mixed feelings: the keys are not small, they are easy to press and have a palpable feedback, but they are too close to one another and not much embossed, therefore it is difficult to feel the place of each key. Unless you look at the keys it is virtually impossible to feel their exact place and you would make many errors. The much-used software buttons are smaller and the 4-direction D-pad (with a central OK button) has very small keys which have to be pressed with a finger under an angle. The whole keyboard is lit in white, going paler towards the end buttons, and the two headphones are in green and red.

On the left there is a small sound control rocker, which is comparatively usable also during a conversation and on the right there is a shortcut to the camera, which is easy to find and easy to press. These side buttons are not lit up.

Interface:

In stand-by, the T619 is similar to other modern models of the manufacturer like the T519 trace and T629 for example – it displays the system information, the carrier name and the soft keys functionality. You can change the wallpaper image with another (there are about a dozen coming preloaded with the phone), with option to use any image you have stored on the phone. Pressing the sides of the D-pad will act as shortcuts, but the central “OK” doesn’t work in standby mode – it would be much logically if it opened the main menu, as it is with most other phones. We found ourselves pressing it often.

The main menu is displayed as a grid of 9 icons (3x3) which are animated and enlarge when selected. You can change the menu theme from black to white, but the phone doesn’t support real themes – just that couple of color schemes. In the main menu every icon has its own shortcut (1-9 keys) and it’s similar in the sub menus, which are displayed as list. After you’ve entered in a menu, you can go to the one next to it by pressing left or right – this way you can change a sub-menu without going back to the main.

Dialing a number can be displayed with large numbers, and an option allows every digit to be in different (Rainbow) color. It lacks any animated theme like the “hand with Pen” from the SGH-D900.

The whole menu of the device is extremely easy and logically arranged and you can find what you are looking for without reading the manual, even if you haven’t used similar model before. The reactions of the phone are instant, and it won’t lag while moving through the menus, which is very strong side of these Samsung phones.

Phone Book:

The memory of the phone can store 1000 contacts, each of which can store multiple numbers, email, group, picture and ringer ID. Adding a new contact is extremely easy and logically, just as anything other in the phone. Unfortunately the Caller ID Image displayed on an incoming call has useless small size.

Searching through the list of the phonebook is done by directly typing characters, but the phone will search only through the “First Name”s first word.

If “Open to Answer” option is selected from the Phone Setup menu, opening the shell will accept an incoming call, and closing it will respectively end a current call.

Organizer:

The organizer is situated in the Fun & Apps menu. You won’t find anything extraordinary here, but all the things that are often used. There are three alarms, with option to automatically power the phone ON if it is off. They not only have own Times, but each one has its own Sound and days it works in. Adding an event in the Calendar is a piece of cake, and its month view can also be displayed over the Wallpaper in standby mode. Tasks, Simple calculator, Timers, and World clock with interface displaying the Earth map are also part of the Organizer menu. The unit converter looks ugly but is very handy if you often work with measurements in both metric and imperial systems.

A simple file browser is also situated here. It browses the files stored on the phone by types: music, videos, etc. It’s not as good as advanced explorer on a smartphone, but makes the deal.

The T619 has about 24MB of internal memory. Unfortunately it lacks slot for expanding it, which means the phone can not be used as multimedia device. Still, the space available is enough for a few songs, or a dozen or more MP3 high-grade ringtones, as well as a bunch of pictures.

Messaging:

For fast composing of text or multimedia messages, you can rely on the templates. You have 10 for TXT and a dozen for MMS, but you can only edit them – cannot add new. Typing a new message is pretty fast with T9 and good size of the numeric/text keys as the one here.

The phone lacks email client, but compensates it with incredible Instant Messenger that supports all major clients: AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo!. You can easily connect and have a chat with your friends.

Connectivity:

To connect the phone with a computer, you can use a Bluetooth connection. The phone has Bluetooth v2 antenna and strangely supports A2DP profile for stereo sound over it. This is pretty weird thing as T519 and T629 which had microSD slots didn’t.
It’s easy to pair it with any Bluetooth accessory like a headset for example, and you won’t need a manual for doing this. Everything is in the Bluetooth menu, which is sub-menu of the Settings.
For data it supports EDGE that upgrades the slower GPRS. As it is quad-band GSM phone it will work in GSM networks on all continents, without any problem.

Camera:

Press the key on the right side of the phone, and after about only 3 seconds the camera interface will be started. It is similar to those of other Samsung phones and is not very comfortable. The icons are small and hard to understand, while the options are put in list menus. Hopefully shortcuts almost all keys are used as some shortcut. You can use a selection of color effects and frames to add to your images. The phone can capture video in mediocre small resolution (QCIF 176x144) that is worth using only for sending to another phone via multimedia message.

Camera Quality:
As a whole, the camera produces reasonably good pictures for a 1.3-megapixels unit of a entry-level phone. The exposition is not always as it should be, and the colors are not highly saturated, but the images look realistic and just well for a phone. Shooting outdoors, the result is satisfactory and we couldn't want more from phone of this level.
Indoor images will suffer from high-noise levels and you won't be able to take pictures in low lightning due to the lack of any LED for a flash.



Music:

The music player has interface similar to those of all other Samsung phones. You can change the visualization, having two options. We are surprised to see that there are no EQualizers here, which were present with other phones from the brand. The music is played through the internal speaker that is used during a call, and so is medium to low in volume. At the highest volume setting (10 of 10) you’ll get distorted sound, and if the phone is closed it will sound more muffled. As its used for ringing tones, in noisy environment you may miss a call if the vibration is not turned on.


Software:

The phone comes preloaded with four games: Forgotten Warrior (RPG), Arch Angel (arcade game), Freekick (soccer game) and demo of Midnight Pool (8-ball game). All these applications load up fast, and if you get bored of them other Java MIDP2.0 games can be added.

Performance:

Just like the similar models Т519 and Т629, Т619 works steadily and quickly. This is a huge advantage for those Samsung phones which you almost never have to wait for when working with their menus and which let you do even more complex tasks with comparative ease.

The signal reception is actually rather low. The performance of the phone is under the mean level and it is difficult to have a conversation at places with a poorer signal.

Т619 performs quite well during a conversation! The outgoing sound is strong, clear and distinct and the sound of voices is light, realistic and airy: you would not tell that you were talking on an ordinary mobile phone. The level of sound that you hear is medium, but the sound is slightly muffled, as if it were coming through a curtain - the high sound frequencies are not there.

Conclusion:

If you need a simple phone, this is your choice: a perfect small-sized and light clamshell with an in-built antenna, Т619 has an elegant look, it is easy to use with good performance as a telephone and equipped with quick interface. It’ll make your days easier thanks to its in-built messenger, Bluetooth and an enjoyable extra as the MP3 music player.

	Carrier	Price Today	Price after rebate
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