The Samsung Eternity or SGH-a867 is kinda like the Samsung Rogue without the external keyboard. It kinda reassembles the iPhone without that chrome bezel and pesky single home button. It’s like the Instinct but the Eternity have three physical buttons at the bottom which is (for me) better than touch keys. Design-wise it looks good that black chrome bezel makes it look classy, side profile is slim but the plastic back cover is isn’t that pleasing. Like the Instinct and the Behold, it have a 3.2 inch display that supports 262k colours at 400×240 resolution giving you sharp pleasing graphics and sharp texts.
According to Cnet’s review the touch interface is responsive, there’s even a calibrator which can be used to adjust its responsiveness. The Eternity like it’s elder siblings also uses TouchWiz interface which is common to all Samsung touch-screen phone. It uses widgets and a shortcut bar that gives easy access to the dialer, contact list and main menu. By default AT&T included some proprietary widgets which includes a Mobile TV widget.
If you look on it’s side (right) you’ll see that the Eternity have a Camera button and a button to activate a shortcut menu for media player, phone dialer, browser, messaging and other menu. And above them is a handy headphone jack (3.5mm) so you can listen to music using your favorite headphones, however you cannot use this port for phone call (bummer). You need to use a headset accessory which you insert on it’s proprietary accessory jack located at the left side of the phone together with its volume rocker. At the top of the Eternity is it’s power button which is also used to lock the phone, at the back is a 3 megapixel camera with 3x digital zoom but night shots could be hard since it does’nt have a flash, and a mirror for self portrait.
The Samsung Eternity features includes an HTML Browser that can run Flash, a phonebook that can hold up to 1,000 contacts with multiple details, an organizer with calenda, notepad, task list, clock and all the things you need to organize your life. Like most moderm phones the Eternity have a stero bluetooth, voice recorder, Instant Messaging, and a file manager. BUT business users will be sad to know that the Eternity doesnt have wi-fi, no voice dialing function, and worst is that it can’t sync with outlook email-calendar and contact by default, you need to buy a third party software to do that.
What does reviewers and user like about the Eternity? (Pros)
- Good Call Quality
- Great Battery Life
- Intuitive TouchWiz Interface
- haptic feedback enhances texting experience
- Music Sounds better than the iPod Touch
- Media Net is fast, integrated music player and traditional headphone jack.
But the Bad things that user complain about are (Cons)
- No Camera Flash
- No Wi-Fi
- No Self Portrait Mirro
- No Voice Dialing
- MP3 Should be 300k or less
- If you set the screen’s brightness to maximum, it sucks up the battery’s life big time.
- No way to customize screensaver (you can customize wallpaper)
- no customization of items on the menu
- No speed dial
- Many monthly costs for app service
- The TouchWiz widgets are useless and pre-determined.
- Difficult to switch to a numbered keypad in time for automated responses
- Cannot enter message recipients by using the full keyboard
- Doesn’t have a wide selection of apps
- microSd card slot located inside casing
- does not come with usb cable
- Not able to set up the calender repeate an event once a month on a certain day of the week
- Can’t delete unusable/undesirable icons from menu
- Calibration never really worked very well
- Fragile for someone who tends to use their phone a lot
- Phone freezes all the time and restarts itself
- GPS is locked to AT&T Navigator
- No search capability in phone book
- Synchronization software provided by Samsung lacks muscle
- Screen scratches easy.
- Every time there is a time change (daylight savings) all appointments in the calendar are messed up.
If you already bought this phone you must have experienced some things listed above. It seems like there are more things to hate than to love on this phone. Thanks God there’s already a Samsung Eternity user group forum which you can access in case you have some ittues with it. Samsung also have a page that features Tips and Tricks to get you comfortable with the Eternity. If you’re a Gamer, you can get Samsung Eternity games here.
List Samsung Eternity Specs and Features
- Network and Data: Quad-Band (GSM850/900/1800/1900MHz), Dual Band: UMTS 1900/850 MHz, 3G-HSDPA
- HTML Browser with Flash and Java Support.
- Display: 3.2 inch 262k TFT Touch Screen with 240×400 pixel resolution
- Battery Life: upto 250 hours on stanby and upto 5 hours talk time
- Camera: 3.0 Megapixel with 3x Digital Zoom, Multishot/Timershot Function and Video Recording
- Music and Sound: MP3 Player, MP3 ringtone with 72 Polyphonic Music Tones.
- Entertainmenr AT&T Mobile TV and Games
- Productivity: Offline Mode, File Explorer, Voice Memo and Voice Mail
- Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB, AGPS, and Bluetooth
- PIM (Personal Information Manager): Calendar, Clock, Worldtime, Alarm, Calculator and Memo Book.
- Call functions: Call Cost and Call Time, Speaker Phone
- Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS, T9, and Mobile Email.
- Weight: 110 grams or 3.88 oounces
- Dimensions: 4.3” x 2.2” x 0.5” (109.22mm x 55.88mm x 12.7 mm)
You can Download the Full Specs sheet in PDF here and user guide (Manual in PDF) here
Samsung Eternity (SGH-a867) Optional Accessories
- Mono and Stereo Bluetooth® Headsets
- Car Power Charger
- Hands-Free Stereo Headset
- Leather Case
- Mini Cube Speaker
- Holster
- Data Cable
- More Accessories on this page
Included Accessories and Package Content
- Headser
- Travel Charger
- Lithium Ion Battery
- English and Spanish Manial
- Parental Controls insert
- Mobile TV Insert
- Quick Start Guide
Price and Availability
It’s available already and the Samsung Eternity is priced around $149 with a service contract and rebates, $369 upfront. That’s around 247 Euros, 224 UK pounds, 17,200 Indian Rupee, 407 Australian Dollar, 31,930 Japan Yen, or 17,500.00 Philippine Pesos.
Samsung Eternity Video Reviews
by Lisa from MobiletechReview
by Phone Arena
Photos of the Eternity
Photos Courtesy of wirefly
Like the Samsung Rogue, the lack of wifi is a definite turn-off, and the list of user complaints makes me still want the iPhone.How about you?
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