Samsung SCH-U740 Alias
Average Ratings
Samsung SCH-U740
I just got my EnV last week so when this came out I wanted to try it. I just came from the Verizon store where they had one working version of the phone. The biggest problem I found with the phone was the D pad on the inside is close to the hinge mechanism making it difficult to reach. Also the P button is close to a raised bump, assumingly to keep the screen off of the keypad, making it a little difficult to press. The last problem I found was the hinge felt a little flimsy. Other than these problems the phone is nice. The keyboard is easy to use after playing with it for a couple of minutes. I prefer the EnV though. The only benefit of the Samsung is the size.
Samsung SCH-U740
Got this phone on Saturday, February 17. It is very good...so far. Only thing is you can't zoom in with the came and Verizon has once again disabled all the useful Bluetooth capabilities...apart from using a headset and headphones, you can only send vCard with Bluetooth, instead of photos and videos like the phone is designed to do. Very disappointing. They want you to send everything through their network so they can nickel and dime you as much as possible. Phone is great otherwise.
great little phone
This phone does everything I want it to, and the keyboard is great. I'm only 14 so the keyboard is sized perfectly for my fingers but others might think it's too small. Though I think that my parent's treo is much harder to type on, and that has smaller keys too. This phone doesn't have too much extra or gimmicky stuff but I don't mind that. Like the camera isn't good and it lags occasionally but it's fine. Also it's small and slim and nice looking. I gotta say the biggest con is the call quality. It has decent reception but the actual clarity of the other person you're talking to isn't amazing, not terrible though. Also basically every person i know broke the front screen on this phone, not a big deal though. Also I've dropped this phone maybe 100 times and it still works great except for that front screen.... (btw i have verizon in nyc)
Pros:
keyboard
tiny
simple
cool looking
overall it's durable
cons:
call quality (though it's not too bad)
front screen breaks
though this phone has a few downs, I really do like it.
I Love This Phone
I totally love this phone. I finally bought it in March after waiting for it since June. I upgraded from a Blackberry 8703e. This phone is 100% better. The keypad and screen are fantastic. It is a very durable phone. I have dropped it several times already and nothing. Not even a scratch. Excellent phone for a texter like me. Wouldn't recommend if you not into texting.
Pretty good, not perfect
This isn't a bad phone at all. Infact, I really like it, especially when you compare it to the steamy pile of dog crap I had before this one (V276). It just has some very irritating problems.
Pros:
1) It flips normally, and it flips sideways, I'm not gonna lie that is really cool.
2) It has a full QWERTY keyboard, which is perfect because I text alot. I'll never be able to get another phone that doesn't have a full keyboard, I'm too used to this now. The buttons are just the perfect size, it's great.
3) Nice big screen
4) Expandable memory
5) Slim and stylish, though the white one looks really dumb, if you're gonna get one, go for black.
6) Verizon service
Cons:
1) The battery life is unimpressive. It's not horrible, it gets me through the day, but I have to charge it every night.
2) The camera is a piece of garbage. It's not the megapixels, it's not the quality, it's the fact that you need to have the most solid hands in the universe to take a photo that isn't blurry.
3) Apparently you can put mp3's on it, and I've never been able to figure out how, so what's the point of a music player if I can't listen to music?
4) The keyboard. I love the keyboard, but there's this thing with it where the buttons will just randomly not work after awhile, you have to press them twice, and that really messes up my flow.
5) The vibrate setting. There's two problems with this, A) it's always been really really weak, sometimes I won't feel it even if it's in my pocket, and B) as of a couple weeks ago the vibrate will just work some of the time. It's completelly random, sometimes it just won't go off, other times it will.
6) It also has an annoying habit of randomly powercycling on rare occassions, never at an ideal time.
7) The hinge always feels like it's going to break.
I really like this phone, but it's definitelly a love hate thing. It does what I want for now, but I eagerly await my full rebate eligibility.
It DOES hold up...
I'm using a hand-me-down Alias until the freaking Curve gets here. It's over a year old and it's still kicking. Good battery life, signal, the hinge is fine and not loose or wobbly, I don't flip over the tiny keyboard but speech-to-text works when I need it to. Easier to use fingernails than trying to use your fingers...and people still see it and think it's remarkable with the 2-way flip - all in all great job Samsung - this phone can take a beating...maybe I won't get that Curve after all......
Had for a year and still love
I've had this phone for over a year, and I still love it. I wrote a review when I first got it, but I'm going to write a new one.
I can understand people's problems with the small buttons, but you should use your fingertips, not your pad.
I've also DROPKICKED my phone, and guess what, it's still alive and functioning well. I'm on my second Alias (apparently that's what it's called now). The first one was destroyed when I had it in my pocket and bumped it into a metal stairway handle. The screen on the outside broke. And I mean the plastic broke, and a little piece broke off.
PROS
-Full QWERTY keyboard is amazing for texting
-Dual flip is also pretty cool
-Has a built in flash for camera and camcorder.
-Flash memory slot easy to get to
-Number keys different colors than rest of keyboard
-Can use speaker phone with phone closed
-Can download ringtones and sounds for alerts (I had the transformers noise for when I got texts)
-Sound quality for music player isn't that bad
-Different amount of vibrations for different things. 1 for msn message, 3 for texts and more for phone call.
CONS
-No zoom on camera unless you change the resolution
-Scratches show very well
-Some features only available in flip mode, so that can get annoying
-Normal ringtones on phone are accending, which is annoying. Download a ringtone from your computer and it should be fine.
And if you want that website it's:
www.myxertones.com
it's for verizon phones only I think. But it takes a song off of your computer and it will send it as a ringtone to your phone. You can also customize it and pick a specific part.
But anyway, this phone is amazing. And if you can't stand the small keys in a huge, over-sized envy.
Small but good.
This is a nice phone for the price, I think. It comes with the keyboard and the numbers. It takes some getting use to.
Pros: Small compact design, with many MANY features. Very impressive! From going from a chocolate phone, to this. It makes a difference what I was missing out on. Awesome that it flips in 2 ways. My mom has the envy and she likes mine more compared to the envy. Has allot of extra features that are amazing.
Cons: Well the fact that the keys are really small then the envy, you have to get use to how you type. the numbers are confusing at times because you look at them sideways when its open sideways.
But overall i would recommend this phone!
great phone
ive had this phone for nearly a few months now and i havnt had any problems what so ever. except that i broke the front screen but that was my own mishap.
i was very, very, very surprised that the hinge hasnt started to show major signs of fatigue. it is very slightly looser then when i first bought it. i also compared it to my friends sch-u740. the only real signs of fatigue were in the buttons. the buttons now are not nearly as stiff as when i first bought the phone leading the keys to sticking and sometimes when i text some letters dont process through cuz i cant really feel the buttons pressing.
the camera quality isnt the greatest but its better than nothing and i love this phone overall. i bought it the week it came out and they didnt have any other colors when i bought it besides the goldish color. but i wanted the black one. oh well it doesnt matter.
i have heard many complaints about the speaker quality. and i honestly have to disagree with all of them. for the speakers size. it has excellent quality and clarity, and has great volume.
the .5 i took off was a combination with the button fatigue and the camera quality. the hinge is still going strong. i dont know what samsung did but they did a great job designing the hinge.
props to samsung
It's ok
I've had this phone for over a week, and I'm not terribly impressed by it. The graphics are good and i love the keyboard, but my biggest problems with this phone are the the keyboard setup (the keys are tiny and so close together, i have to use my nails to type out a text) , the battery life and the reception. The battery ran out after a day or two of regular use (exploring features and stuff like that). And I get terrible reception. I always used to get full reception at my job but now it's not nearly that good. One other annoyance is that the external screen doesn't light up so you can't check the time. You have to open the phone. The sound is ok, a little choppy but it could be worse. I'm trying to decide if I want to get rid of this and go with the env. I'm giving it some time but leaning toward the LG
