T-Mobile has the Samsung Behold. Verizon has the Samsung Omnia. Sprint has the Samsung Instinct. And now, AT&T has the Samsung Eternity.
As the era of touchscreen dominance continues on as strong as ever, Samsung is now working hard to become the newest major player to the likes of Apple and Blackberry. The Instinct, Samsung’s first major venture into the world of touchscreen phones, released in the U.S. in June with much fanfare. We knew it would only be a matter of time before Samsung made touchscreen phones for everyone else.
And they did not disappoint. Quite the opposite, in fact — Samsung launched a whole campaign as a result of the Instinct’s success, taking a form factor based on the Omnia model sold in Europe using their Touchwiz UI.
As part of this Touchwiz campaign, AT&T released the Samsung Eternity last week, and I had the opportunity to spend some time with it. I was quite excited to play with it as I had heard it would have this innovative new UI never before seen in the States.
AT&T Samsung Eternity First Impressions
Samsung released the Omnia in Europe with Windows Mobile 6.1 and Touchwiz, stacked with a 5 MP camera and 8 GB total internal memory with capability to expand it to at least 16 GB. Frankly I figured the AT&T Eternity would have similar specs; but I assumed incorrectly. I will go more into specs later.
When I first turned on the Eternity I found the Touchwiz on the left-hand side of the screen, but no WinMo. I discovered that the Eternity was designed more as a counterpart to the LG Vu, a touchscreen phone with AT&T’s Mobile TV service. As a result the menus and touchwiz widgets are basic and simple.
Samsung AT&T Eternity Touchwiz UI
Before playing with the Smasung AT&T Eternity I had never used Touchwiz before, yet it is becoming a Samsung standard on the new touchscreen phones. Essentially Touchwiz is a vertical menu bar on the left side of the screen which features several “widgets” — in this case, icons working as shortcuts to various programs within the phone — in a fully customizable fashion. Samsung also allows larger shortcuts on the main part of the screen, such as Bluetooth and TV.
The UI is instinctive and easy to use. Simply touch the Touchwiz menu bar and scroll up or down to find the right widget, then touch and you’re done. The menu bar can also be hidden to open up additional screen real estate.
Also when on the homescreen, the bottom of the touchscreen shows there are options to dial, check address book, and go into the main menu.
AT&T Eternity Design
The Eternity is formed to look much like the Omnia. The screen and phone size are practically identical to it. It’s easy to fit in the hand and quite light.
Screen resolution is a solid QVGA quality. While not as stellar as the Blackberry Bold or iPhone 3G, I was still impressed by the brightness of the Eternity’s screen. The touchscreen is pressure-sensitive, not heat-sensitive; this means I found it just as easy to press as the iPhone touchscreen. It also “grabs” the screen when you scroll up or down.
On the front we find a large screen with 3 physical keys at the bottom; send, previous menu, and end call. The sides are chrome with various buttons and jacks.
On the right side (pictured above) we find a 3.5 mm headphone jack along with a camera launch button and a quick shortcut menu button. Pressing this particular button is an easy way of accessing popular features on the phone such as messaging, internet and others.
The left side of the phone is simple — volume adjust keys and the charger port.
The back has a very simple yet classy look, proudly showing off the 3 MP camera included.
A microSD card is present in the phone, but under the back.
Samsung AT&T Eternity Features
While Samsung’s AT&T Eternity is not a smartphone, it is still packed with plenty of goodies.
The camera is 3 MP with video capture and video share capability. Additionally the camera offers panoramic pictures, autofocus, red-eye reduction and a “smile detection” feature which will automatically take the picture as soon as a smile is present.
Interested in playing music? The Eternity includes 3 GB internal memory along with microSD support to expand that number. It doesn’t seem like much compared to the 8 GB the Omnia packs, but it is a welcome sight considering most AT&T phones don’t offer more than 1 GB internally. The music player accepts MP3 formats, and can be synced through Windows Media on your computer.
The AT&T Eternity is quad-band GSM/EDGE and dual-band 3G (850/1900; no 2100). It also sports aGPS with Navigation services available, M3 hearing aid compatibility, stereo bluetooth, video share, mobile email, and accelerometer.
Internet surfing is made easy on the Eternity with the Openwave browser offering full HTML viewing. I do wish it would be easier to zoom in and out on specific areas of each page, but still impressive for one of AT&T’s dumbphones nonetheless.
AT&T Samsung Eternity Performance
Overall I found my experience with the Eternity to be enjoyable. At first I was disappointed to learn it would not be a smartphone, but quickly forgot all about that after using it.
The touchscreen was not a chore to use. In many instances, it can be terribly difficult to press a simple button on the screen. Not so in this case. Scrolling up and down was fun and smooth; haptic feedback made it easy for me to know when I had pressed something; and it was easy to manuever around to various menus and pages within the device.
I enjoyed the keyboard on the AT&T Eternity, mainly because it can go into landscape mode when I am typing a message. When used vertically the phone will display a normal T9-style keyboard for predictive, but simply turn the phone to its side and it will adjust to a full QWERTY.
The call quality and overall sound on the Eternity was good. Battery life is rated at 5 hours talk time and 250 hours standby. The phone was light and bright, though I did feel as though the phone’s plastic feel cheapened the phone somewhat.
Currently the AT&T Eternity is available for $149.99 after rebate with new contract. It can be purchased at local stores and online.
Similar Posts:
Written by Brad Molen on November 24th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on AT&T and Eternity and Omnia and Samsung and Software&Services and TOUCHWIZ and Wireless and featured and mobile tv.
T-Mobile has the Samsung Behold. Verizon has the Samsung Omnia. Sprint has the Samsung Instinct. And now, AT&T has the Samsung Eternity.
As the era of touchscreen dominance continues on as strong as ever, Samsung is now working hard to become the newest major player to the likes of Apple and Blackberry. The Instinct, Samsung’s first major venture into the world of touchscreen phones, released in the U.S. in June with much fanfare. We knew it would only be a matter of time before Samsung made touchscreen phones for everyone else.
And they did not disappoint. Quite the opposite, in fact — Samsung launched a whole campaign as a result of the Instinct’s success, taking a form factor based on the Omnia model sold in Europe using their Touchwiz UI.
As part of this Touchwiz campaign, AT&T released the Samsung Eternity last week, and I had the opportunity to spend some time with it. I was quite excited to play with it as I had heard it would have this innovative new UI never before seen in the States.
AT&T Samsung Eternity First Impressions
Samsung released the Omnia in Europe with Windows Mobile 6.1 and Touchwiz, stacked with a 5 MP camera and 8 GB total internal memory with capability to expand it to at least 16 GB. Frankly I figured the AT&T Eternity would have similar specs; but I assumed incorrectly. I will go more into specs later.
When I first turned on the Eternity I found the Touchwiz on the left-hand side of the screen, but no WinMo. I discovered that the Eternity was designed more as a counterpart to the LG Vu, a touchscreen phone with AT&T’s Mobile TV service. As a result the menus and touchwiz widgets are basic and simple.
Samsung AT&T Eternity Touchwiz UI
Before playing with the Smasung AT&T Eternity I had never used Touchwiz before, yet it is becoming a Samsung standard on the new touchscreen phones. Essentially Touchwiz is a vertical menu bar on the left side of the screen which features several “widgets” — in this case, icons working as shortcuts to various programs within the phone — in a fully customizable fashion. Samsung also allows larger shortcuts on the main part of the screen, such as Bluetooth and TV.
The UI is instinctive and easy to use. Simply touch the Touchwiz menu bar and scroll up or down to find the right widget, then touch and you’re done. The menu bar can also be hidden to open up additional screen real estate.
Also when on the homescreen, the bottom of the touchscreen shows there are options to dial, check address book, and go into the main menu.
AT&T Eternity Design
The Eternity is formed to look much like the Omnia. The screen and phone size are practically identical to it. It’s easy to fit in the hand and quite light.
Screen resolution is a solid QVGA quality. While not as stellar as the Blackberry Bold or iPhone 3G, I was still impressed by the brightness of the Eternity’s screen. The touchscreen is pressure-sensitive, not heat-sensitive; this means I found it just as easy to press as the iPhone touchscreen. It also “grabs” the screen when you scroll up or down.
On the front we find a large screen with 3 physical keys at the bottom; send, previous menu, and end call. The sides are chrome with various buttons and jacks.
On the right side (pictured above) we find a 3.5 mm headphone jack along with a camera launch button and a quick shortcut menu button. Pressing this particular button is an easy way of accessing popular features on the phone such as messaging, internet and others.
The left side of the phone is simple — volume adjust keys and the charger port.
The back has a very simple yet classy look, proudly showing off the 3 MP camera included.
A microSD card is present in the phone, but under the back.
Samsung AT&T Eternity Features
While Samsung’s AT&T Eternity is not a smartphone, it is still packed with plenty of goodies.
The camera is 3 MP with video capture and video share capability. Additionally the camera offers panoramic pictures, autofocus, red-eye reduction and a “smile detection” feature which will automatically take the picture as soon as a smile is present.
Interested in playing music? The Eternity includes 3 GB internal memory along with microSD support to expand that number. It doesn’t seem like much compared to the 8 GB the Omnia packs, but it is a welcome sight considering most AT&T phones don’t offer more than 1 GB internally. The music player accepts MP3 formats, and can be synced through Windows Media on your computer.
The AT&T Eternity is quad-band GSM/EDGE and dual-band 3G (850/1900; no 2100). It also sports aGPS with Navigation services available, M3 hearing aid compatibility, stereo bluetooth, video share, mobile email, and accelerometer.
Internet surfing is made easy on the Eternity with the Openwave browser offering full HTML viewing. I do wish it would be easier to zoom in and out on specific areas of each page, but still impressive for one of AT&T’s dumbphones nonetheless.
AT&T Samsung Eternity Performance
Overall I found my experience with the Eternity to be enjoyable. At first I was disappointed to learn it would not be a smartphone, but quickly forgot all about that after using it.
The touchscreen was not a chore to use. In many instances, it can be terribly difficult to press a simple button on the screen. Not so in this case. Scrolling up and down was fun and smooth; haptic feedback made it easy for me to know when I had pressed something; and it was easy to manuever around to various menus and pages within the device.
I enjoyed the keyboard on the AT&T Eternity, mainly because it can go into landscape mode when I am typing a message. When used vertically the phone will display a normal T9-style keyboard for predictive, but simply turn the phone to its side and it will adjust to a full QWERTY.
The call quality and overall sound on the Eternity was good. Battery life is rated at 5 hours talk time and 250 hours standby. The phone was light and bright, though I did feel as though the phone’s plastic feel cheapened the phone somewhat.
Currently the AT&T Eternity is available for $149.99 after rebate with new contract. It can be purchased at local stores and online.
Similar Posts:
Written by Brad Molen on November 24th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on AT&T and Eternity and Omnia and Samsung and Software&Services and TOUCHWIZ and Wireless and featured and mobile tv.
T-Mobile has the Samsung Behold. Verizon has the Samsung Omnia. Sprint has the Samsung Instinct. And now, AT&T has the Samsung Eternity.
As the era of touchscreen dominance continues on as strong as ever, Samsung is now working hard to become the newest major player to the likes of Apple and Blackberry. The Instinct, Samsung’s first major venture into the world of touchscreen phones, released in the U.S. in June with much fanfare. We knew it would only be a matter of time before Samsung made touchscreen phones for everyone else.
And they did not disappoint. Quite the opposite, in fact — Samsung launched a whole campaign as a result of the Instinct’s success, taking a form factor based on the Omnia model sold in Europe using their Touchwiz UI.
As part of this Touchwiz campaign, AT&T released the Samsung Eternity last week, and I had the opportunity to spend some time with it. I was quite excited to play with it as I had heard it would have this innovative new UI never before seen in the States.
AT&T Samsung Eternity First Impressions
Samsung released the Omnia in Europe with Windows Mobile 6.1 and Touchwiz, stacked with a 5 MP camera and 8 GB total internal memory with capability to expand it to at least 16 GB. Frankly I figured the AT&T Eternity would have similar specs; but I assumed incorrectly. I will go more into specs later.
When I first turned on the Eternity I found the Touchwiz on the left-hand side of the screen, but no WinMo. I discovered that the Eternity was designed more as a counterpart to the LG Vu, a touchscreen phone with AT&T’s Mobile TV service. As a result the menus and touchwiz widgets are basic and simple.
Samsung AT&T Eternity Touchwiz UI
Before playing with the Smasung AT&T Eternity I had never used Touchwiz before, yet it is becoming a Samsung standard on the new touchscreen phones. Essentially Touchwiz is a vertical menu bar on the left side of the screen which features several “widgets” — in this case, icons working as shortcuts to various programs within the phone — in a fully customizable fashion. Samsung also allows larger shortcuts on the main part of the screen, such as Bluetooth and TV.
The UI is instinctive and easy to use. Simply touch the Touchwiz menu bar and scroll up or down to find the right widget, then touch and you’re done. The menu bar can also be hidden to open up additional screen real estate.
Also when on the homescreen, the bottom of the touchscreen shows there are options to dial, check address book, and go into the main menu.
AT&T Eternity Design
The Eternity is formed to look much like the Omnia. The screen and phone size are practically identical to it. It’s easy to fit in the hand and quite light.
Screen resolution is a solid QVGA quality. While not as stellar as the Blackberry Bold or iPhone 3G, I was still impressed by the brightness of the Eternity’s screen. The touchscreen is pressure-sensitive, not heat-sensitive; this means I found it just as easy to press as the iPhone touchscreen. It also “grabs” the screen when you scroll up or down.
On the front we find a large screen with 3 physical keys at the bottom; send, previous menu, and end call. The sides are chrome with various buttons and jacks.
On the right side (pictured above) we find a 3.5 mm headphone jack along with a camera launch button and a quick shortcut menu button. Pressing this particular button is an easy way of accessing popular features on the phone such as messaging, internet and others.
The left side of the phone is simple — volume adjust keys and the charger port.
The back has a very simple yet classy look, proudly showing off the 3 MP camera included.
A microSD card is present in the phone, but under the back.
Samsung AT&T Eternity Features
While Samsung’s AT&T Eternity is not a smartphone, it is still packed with plenty of goodies.
The camera is 3 MP with video capture and video share capability. Additionally the camera offers panoramic pictures, autofocus, red-eye reduction and a “smile detection” feature which will automatically take the picture as soon as a smile is present.
Interested in playing music? The Eternity includes 3 GB internal memory along with microSD support to expand that number. It doesn’t seem like much compared to the 8 GB the Omnia packs, but it is a welcome sight considering most AT&T phones don’t offer more than 1 GB internally. The music player accepts MP3 formats, and can be synced through Windows Media on your computer.
The AT&T Eternity is quad-band GSM/EDGE and dual-band 3G (850/1900; no 2100). It also sports aGPS with Navigation services available, M3 hearing aid compatibility, stereo bluetooth, video share, mobile email, and accelerometer.
Internet surfing is made easy on the Eternity with the Openwave browser offering full HTML viewing. I do wish it would be easier to zoom in and out on specific areas of each page, but still impressive for one of AT&T’s dumbphones nonetheless.
AT&T Samsung Eternity Performance
Overall I found my experience with the Eternity to be enjoyable. At first I was disappointed to learn it would not be a smartphone, but quickly forgot all about that after using it.
The touchscreen was not a chore to use. In many instances, it can be terribly difficult to press a simple button on the screen. Not so in this case. Scrolling up and down was fun and smooth; haptic feedback made it easy for me to know when I had pressed something; and it was easy to manuever around to various menus and pages within the device.
I enjoyed the keyboard on the AT&T Eternity, mainly because it can go into landscape mode when I am typing a message. When used vertically the phone will display a normal T9-style keyboard for predictive, but simply turn the phone to its side and it will adjust to a full QWERTY.
The call quality and overall sound on the Eternity was good. Battery life is rated at 5 hours talk time and 250 hours standby. The phone was light and bright, though I did feel as though the phone’s plastic feel cheapened the phone somewhat.
Currently the AT&T Eternity is available for $149.99 after rebate with new contract. It can be purchased at local stores and online.
Similar Posts:
Written by Brad Molen on November 24th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on AT&T and Eternity and Omnia and Samsung and Software&Services and TOUCHWIZ and Wireless and featured and mobile tv.
Samsung Electronics in an exclusive collaboration with SK Telecom will soon be selling a modified version of Omnia in their homeland. It is weirdly named as T*Omnia which has the same hardware with some few worthy additions. The Korean variant sports a tad larger screen than the original, measuring 3.3-inch with a lovely WVGA resolution (480X800 pixels). Oh and how can we forget live TV on mobiles? Instead of bundling with an attachment like the iPhone, Samsung has integrated a DMB Tuner in it.
A quick rundown on other features: WinMo 6.1 OS, Quad-band GSM, 5 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, HSDPA 7.2MBps, Bluetooth 2.0 and microSD card slot apart from the internal memory.
SK Telecom will be selling it from mid-November with as two different models bearing different internal storage – 4GB on M490 T*Omnia and 16GB on M495.
[Via Akihabaranews]
Advertisement: Samsung Hub - Everything Samsung!
Written by Kunal Gangar on November 3rd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Mobile Phones and News and Omnia and Samsung and T*Omnia and korea.
Apart from Sprint’s Instinct and Verizon’s Glyde, Samsung has not shown too much full-touch love for the US. But today, the South Korean giant has announced the future US release of “powerful phones” that are based on its proprietary TouchWiz User Interface.
The end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 will bring several such handsets to US customers. Samsung has not yet mentioned the names of the upcoming devices.
What it did mention is that the TouchWiz interface was made popular around the world by handsets like Samsung F480 and Samsung Omnia. We already knew this, of course, but the fact that the manufacturer slipped these names into the press release announcing the “US TouchWiz” might mean both of them will hit the States soon. Omnia was already spotted in a document that indicates it will be launched by Verizon, so all this might come true.
(this here is Samsung Omnia, obviously)
For those who don’t know, Samsung’s TouchWiz is a customizable interface especially created for touchscreen handsets. It features preinstalled widgets that should allow users to personalize a handset and make it the way they want.
Regardless of the TouchWiz handsets Samsung is preparing for the US, one thing is clear: Samsung wants more of its mobile devices to be released there. And that’s good news, isn’t it?
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Written by Ilinca Nita on October 23rd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Omnia and Samsung and TOUCHWIZ and U.S. and Wireless and touchscreen and widget.
We have covered a lot of the scoop on the Samsung Omnia over the months. So much so, in fact, we were starting to get bored and tired of it. We felt that today’s news, however, would be worthy of a look.
Howard Forums, ever the source of inside information provided by eager wireless employees, revealed that the hyped-up Omnia is indeed listed on Verizon’s latest rebates. This rebate period is over Nov 14, so the question of the day is: Does this mean it will be launching before November 14 (the end date of the rebate period) or is it on there just in case it gets launched early?
No real way of knowing, of course, until official word comes out. But who wants to just sit around and not speculate about stuff? That part is half the fun.
At the very least, this means we can expect the Omnia to show up sometime this holiday season, barring some bad testing or other unusual circumstance. We’re still awaiting word on AT&T’s side on if the Omnia will become available, but our magic 8-ball is saying this isn’t too likely in the near future. Ooh, the suspense is killing us!
via HowardForums
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Written by Brad Molen on October 15th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Omnia and PDA and Samsung and Wireless and featured and touchscreen.
Samsung Electronics today announced the launch of its flagship phone, Omnia (SGH-i900) for the Indian market. It is a high-end offering from Samsung which I don’t think will have many takers (just like the iPhone and N96). The internal memory of the phone is 8GB and 16GB but Samsung decided to jack up the space by bundling the phone with a 16GB microSD from SanDisk increasing the total space to 24GB and 32GB respectively. Omnia is a Windows based device running its TouchWiz UI over OS 6.1 Pro and has 3.2-inch WQVGA touch screen display, DivX support, 5 megapixel CMOS camera, Wi-Fi and TV-out.
Samsung will sell the 8GB model for Rs. 37,999 ($827) and 16GB for Rs. 39,999 ($870).
Advertisement: Samsung Hub - Tracking minute steps of the Korean Giant
Written by Kunal Gangar on September 24th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Misc and Mobile Phones and News and Omnia and SGH-i900 and Samsung and india and latest.
Check out this shot of an Asus device that might challenge the Samsung Omnia when it’s released. Apparently it’s called the Asus Glaxy7. It runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro and the display looks very similar to the Omnia. Other features are a 3.5 “WVGA 800X480 / 65K Color TFT, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, microSD memory card slot, mini-USB, 200 hours standby, 4 hours talk time, and a trackball that acts like a D-pad. On the back is a 5 megapixel camera with no flash for low light conditions.
[wmpoweruser]
Written by Conner Flynn on September 14th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 3G and Cell Phone and Glaxy7 and Mobile Phones and Omnia and Samsung and asus and camera and spotted.
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