Samsung Eternity SGH-A867
Average Ratings
Love the phone
I have had my Eternity for 6 mos now and I love it. It is easy to use and stylish. I can use 3rd party GPS navigation (with some hacking) which is handy. There is plenty of memory and you can always add a SD card. The camera takes good pics, but it is slow. I have not tested the smile finder or played with the special effects. I get great reception and I even get a signal in the basement. Battery life is good. My biggest negative is that you can not voice dial and there is no speed dialing.
Overall Okay but could be better.
I carried this phone for a while & I work in a AT&T store. I'm usually more of a PDA or blackberry kind of person but this phone is okay. It seems to be good for a Samsung. As we all know now days the phones don't get as good of signal as they used too. For a while there Samsung made some low end phones that the signal was AWFUL on such as the a237, a117, a737, etc. So when I purchased the phone i was afraid of signal problems because where i live there is allot of dead spots. This phone was not half as bad as i expected but not as good as it has been with other phones.
Pro's
- I like the widget bar, its different.
- The touch so far seems to be okay.
- It's price is reasonable.
- It is 3g
Con's
- It would be nice if you could customize a little more
- The battery life could be better
- As far as being durable, this phone breaks pretty easy. I dropped it and the screen and button cracked.
- The ring could be a little louder, but I'm used to a blackberry.
Impressed
I am impressed with the Samsung Eternity so far. The touch screen is fantastic! The vibration feedback when you touch the screen is very useful. The one reason why it doesn't get a 5 in the rating is the lack of a speed dial function. I never use it, but when I got my wife the Eternity (we have two now), she expressed her dismay as to why the speed dial function is missing. Well, I went online to various forums and found that we are not alone. One way to diminish the disappointment about no speed dial is to put numbers in front of your favorite contacts in the address book. They move to the top of your contact list.
Pros:
Excellent screen resolution.
Outstanding touch screen.
Good size.
Excellent accessory options available (ebay, etc).
Battery life.
Low rate for Data Plan.
3.5mm headphone jack.
3.2 mp camera with video.
MediFlo TV is awesome.
Cons:
Volume control only gives seven increments. Hard to tailor a good volume level for music.
On/off button is a pain to push; recessed and hard to find.
Not WiFi.
SD card slot inside back cover.
No flash or self portrait feature on camera.
3.5mm headphone jack for music only. Must use proprietary jack for wired headset & mic.
No speed dial capability!
All in all, this phone is a keeper compared to 90% of all the others out there. It all depends on what features mean the most to each individual person. The fact that the Data Plan from ATT is half the cost of their iPhone and Blackberry plans makes this a winner. The only thing different is the amount of apps available for the Samsung is severely lacking over the others. If I want the apps and other perks of the iPhone, I would get the iTouch and save $180 a year ($360 for the life of the commitment).
Great AT&T phone
I have had this phone for a few weeks now and I am not going to pick it apart. I love the touch screen and the fact that the phone is quick. Every call is strong and really clear, something I can not say about the blackberry that I had.
Pros: Touch screen
Super clear
Easy to use "after the first day or two"
Takes a bounce
Cons: Battery life could be better
Could use a few more apps
I don't care for the ascending ringer
Sophisticated "Feature" Phone
The Eternity is an attractive and easy to use phone for voice calls, messaging and tools such as the alarm and calendar. Unfortunately, it is missing a couple of common features, and a couple of the features are poorly done. I do not use the Internet features, TV, XM radio, etc., so I cannot comment on those (expensive) features.
Pros
- Nice, big, bright, easy-to-use touch screen.
- Good call quality in both directions, with plenty of volume.
- Good signal strength
- Ring tones and speakerphone are loud and clear.
- On screen "widgets" allow quick, customizable access to some features.
- Tools such as messaging, alarms, calendar, calculator, timer, stopwatch are easy to use and nicely designed.
- The "virtual" QWERTY keyboard is nice.
- The camera is good for a cell phone, and the picture "gallery" is nicely designed.
- 3.5mm headphone jack makes it easy to listen to music.
Cons
- No voice dial, and voice dialing is a very nice feature when your hands are full or while driving.
- No speed dial. This is crazy, since every phone I have owned since the 80s has had this feature. I compensated by putting a number in front of my most important contacts. This puts them at the top of the phone book.
- I didn't like the feature that locks the screen after some time, so I turned it off. The screen locks instantly when the speakerphone or a bluetooth headset is used, making it a pain to enter a number when using voicemail, etc.
- You can only use the supplied on-screen widgets, and many features don't have widgets.
- On-screen widgets tend to move around. You should be able to lock them.
- The user interface has some minor inconsistencies.
- You must confirm the connection when you turn on your bluetooth headset - a pain while driving.
For me the good points outweigh the bad points, but you should think carefully about this phone before committing to it.
Good phone, with a few drawbacks.
The eternity is a great mid level touch screen phone for GSM service. It lacks the customization of phones like the Iphone, but is leaps and bounds ahead of basic models such as the view.
Pros:
-Great touchscreen! Looks good too!
-Good built in web browser.
-Touch qwerty AND touch 9key.
-Good battery life.
-Lots of entries for each contact in your contact list.
-Nice built in emoticons.
-Light sensor 'disables' the touch screen while you are holding the phone to your ear, keeping your cheek from muting, or hanging up a call.
Cons:
-Volume and sound clarity is not so great.
-Not very customizable as far as colors, themes and such.
-Widget bar is a great idea, but you can't put anything you want into it, only a few things that come with it.
-Screen isn't 'subset', it's flush with the edges, which makes it more susceptible to scratches, and makes it harder to keep a screen protector on.
Summary:
If you want a GSM touchscreen phone, but don't want to pay for the Iphone, the eternity is a great buy!
Its ok
I've had this phone since Nov. 28 2008. While I was hoping for something a little better, I am happy with it's performance. I live in a semi-dead (0-2 bars Edge and 3G) area in AT&Ts coverage but, I only need to go down the road 1 mile for reliable coverage.
Pros:
- Touchscreen is bright & clear
- Calls are clear as long as you have a consistent signal
- Music player has preset EQ built in
- Camera takes good outdoor photos
So-So:
- Battery doesn't last as long as I like, but enough to get me through the day.
- Touch Screen Keyboard & Accuracy
- Internet Browser is OK, could be much better
- Widgets are nice but, no custom ones can be made
- Reception is OK
Cons:
- Phone hangs often enough to be annoying and to cause even more inaccuracy with the software keyboard and navigation
- Screen Calibration
- No threaded text messaging
Overall, the phone is a good entry level touchscreen phone. Like to see customizable widgets, threaded messaging, and a better Internet browser. I've had better reception with the Sony Ericsson W580i, that could be because of the phone trying to hang on to the 3G signal. Screen Calibration is stubborn, sometimes it worked, the rest of the time it didn't. Battery life could be better if I lived in a stronger signal area, it seems like the lack of any signal drains the battery fast.
Turn and run the other way
In my opinion here are the Pros followed by the Cons-
It's lightweight and attractive. The touch screen is fairly accurate.
Cons -
It's a piece of junk. It freezes up and is useless. My recommendation - don't spend your hard earned cash on this phone.
My phone hasn't been dropped, it's never taken a bath, and it's never been slammed against a wall (although it should have been). It will freeze up in a heartbeat and then you have this attractive but somewhat lightweight paperweight.
Now locked inside this useless paperweight are my contact names, numbers, addresses, email addresses, appointments and a few pictures. Which AT&T tech support says I may (or may not) be able to salvage . . . to quote the tech . . .just keep removing the battery and replacing it, after all it doesn't hurt to try. Meanwhile, I wait for the replacement to arrive. On the plus side though, I only have 19 months left on this contract.
This phone is five months old. The first "big freeze" came a month ago followed by more frequent episodes until the last which was probably the fatal freeze that hit yesterday.
Keep in mind, nothing works . . . not the power switch, the touch screen, the call button, the disconnect button . . . nothing. When the phone (which was fully charged when the "freeze" hit) is plugged in to a charger a funky battery charging display appears where my stuff should be.
If you like frustration, product failure, instability, and disappointment, go for it. If you want a phone that works . . . buy one with a proven track record. Not this one.
I wish you all the best and sincerely hope my experience with the replacement phone is better and that I regain some level of confidence in this product.
Omg this Phone Sucks i own it
i freakin hate this phone i really want to throw it on my roof and never see it again. first it's broken by it's self 3 times and all ways has problems i hate the keyboard who want to use their fingernails to type? NOT ME!!! u cant do anything when u cut ur finger nails it's so frustraiting!!! and because there is no pad like up down etc. u r so limited to wut u can do also no phone book wuts up with that i would recomend saving ur money an get a blackberry thats wut i have to do now i have to pay full stinking price.!!! uhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
This phone is awesome!
I have had this phone for a few weeks and I already love it. Before this I had a Motorola flip phone so this is a huge upgrade.Listed below are the pros and cons
Pro
nice slim, sleek design
lining lights up when you receive a call or text
accurate touch screen
Flo TV
nice quality of cellular video
fast web browser
good, bright screen
good connectivity in Texas
Cons
camera is a little bit slow
speaker phone is too loud even when set on the lowest volume
