Samsung Zeal / Alias 2 SCH-U750
Phone Scoop Review
May 19, 2009 by Eric M. Zeman
Samsung brings e-ink to the Alias 2 messaging phone. This tricked-out keyboard does a lot, but did they pay enough attention to other features? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Cool phone with a few problems
The Alais2's E-ink bi-directional folding qwerty keyboard is AWESOME!!!! Forget touch screen.... E-ink is the way of the future!!!!!!!!
Overall the Alais2 is a good phone.... however... there are a few things that need to be improved.
1. OS.... I've never been a fan of the VZW UI interface..... it is better than it use to be.... but there is still a lot of room for improvement. It's major flaw is the OS is poorly designed.
2. Lack of OBEX bluetooth protocol. Another VZW flawed idea. Why VZW feels the need to block OBEX protocol is beyond me.... other than their greed for $$$$$$$
3. Questionable reception. I have noticed poor reception in weak arenas. I certainly would not recommend this phone to anyone if you are not in a good service area.
This phone could have been a 5.0 rating if it were not for these problems. With that said.... if you are looking for a qwerty based flip phone.... this is your best choice on the VZW network. (It's actually your only choice other than the original Alais)
And the E-ink technology is ubber cool.
Excellent update from the original.
Very nice phone. Great call quality, great features, great apps, sturdy. All around a great phone.
I got the first gen when it came out, but I "traded up" for the Dare a couple months later, but really didn't love it. This one came out, and I just had to get it. The only thing I miss is the HTML browser on the Dare, but I really don't need it. The Alias 2 beats the Dare in the other areas that matter to me, so that's all I need.
Alias 2 good and bad
The only complaint I have with this phone (and it is my 2nd Alias 2.. I have also owned the alias 1) The sound quality when talking to someone is terrible. Everyone sounds muffled. Luckily I text alot. However this is a VERY durable phone. I drop it constantly and it keeps working. I have dropped it in water and dried it out and it still works. It also gets pretty good reception and the battery life is great. If this phone had better sound quality I would be much happier.
Oh and if it came in colors that would be a nice touch :)
Samsung Alias u740
I know this isn't the exact model. soarda have a habit of posting a review on the phone before I get into the phone, lol. but here is my review.
I got the phone U740 in 2009 and it worked excellent from the start, I used the keyboard ALL OF THE TIME. It was also dropped a lot too. I mean I thought it'd break. I mean it eventually sort of did, but not because of dropping it.
One day I flipped it open to view a text landscape. The screen flashed back to the Verizon Vcast background screen and I restarted the phone. Seemed like it started working again. And it would always switch my pictures. Because I'd always be able to set it to what I had it on before, but I'd lose it the next time I flipped open or closed the phone. Got so it wouldn't read the card. Had placed my card in another phone, and it read it but wouldnt show what my phone had on the card. Placed it back into the Alias and had the phone work again. Phone stupidly developed the same habit again shortly after, and I REMOVED the card to put into a different phone to see if the problem persisted. Well I gently hit the button open and the card snapped in half. I don't know what my problem was but sold it as is, and didn't want to even use that phone again. I will maybe someday get the Zeal or Alias2, if that's a guaranteed update. Got the Samsung Intensity after owning this and gave it to a friend awhile back
Basically its a 4.5 star because the phone was EXCELLENT for everything else. Conference calls at meetings'd always work on speaker phone, and texting was awesome as well as the VCAST media player NEVER failed me at all.
Oh, and also sometimes the charging port wouldn't recognize the charger, itd take but then not necessarily take the charge, then say no charger.
Basically without these two port problems, and SD reading problems this phone was perfect, and I feel it deserves the 4.5 star rating.
And as a side-note I always felt I'd break the keyboard off the sides, but I didn't.
NOT BAD ACTUALLY
Gave up my droid bc didn't want data plan any more. Was really dreading my choices of dumb phones as I was quite spoiled with the droid. Really played with and checked out at the store, and somehow picked this even though it's probably the oldest in the lineup. Very happy with this choice though. Great phone, texting doesn't limit me to 160 characters, and lets me store a ton of old messages. Camera is very usable and decent, it has changeable fonts/sizes, displays and a pretty workable calendar as well. And I really remember how much I enjoy talking on a basic flip and how easy it is to use. The qwerty is necessary and I really like the e ink design. All in all, I think I picked the best one for me after having to give up the (wonderful) droid!
Better than the First
So I got this phone after 2 Alias's. My friend broke my first and the second was a used phone and i ended up getting this one. This is the best phone i've had. I had 2 LG 6100's and 2 Alias's. Sadly im upgrading tomorrow :( i'll miss this phone :)
Pros:
keyboard is amazing (better than the first)
strong (i dropped it in water and it still works perfectly!)
i love the dual flip.
camera is clear/takes good photos
holds alot of contacts
holds lots of picture
omg i could go on and on.
Cons:
the alarm doesnt always go off.
the front screen locks and unlocks by itself
the texting is alittle slow
battery life is ok
nice phone with a few unexpected issues
The e ink on this phone has got to be the best feature yet! It enables many more symbols and numbers etc. to be readily available without too much hunting and switching screens pressing symbol button first etc. I had used t9 texting with no problems on previous phones but can not seem to use it as effortlessly with this one-no choice of words when several are possible. I found battery life to be more than adequate, have no problem charging every other night or even every night if it were required but I can even go three or four without a charge on this. Signal strength very good, the only real bummer is this phone does not sync or pair with any hands free blue tooth protocol. Having just bought a new car and being assured there were no issues with this phone I thought my phone was defective but now the replacement "like new" model has the same problem. Another poster wrote this didn't work with Ford either, and it doesn't work with Hyundai so I assume it just doesn't work period but verizon and samsung will tell you otherwise. I ended up going back to my old envy 2 phone and that pairs without problem. Its an OK phone for most uses but if you do depend on the blue tooth function I would not recommend this phone. I have not tested any other samsung phone models but in a newer model phone one would hope they could get it right for blue tooth pairing.
alias 2
the alias 2 may look cool but i had nothing but problems with mine for the 3 weeks that i owned the phone. it always froze on me and half of the phone calls i never got when people called me. it'd never ring. just went to voice mail. it'd echo so bad when i was talking on the phone, i could never hear what the other person was saying. it isn't that easy to text with the phone either. i got a new alias 2 after having my first one for two and a half weeks and had nothing but problems with the 2nd one. i decided to go with the enV 3 and absolutely love it!
Awesome phone but didn't utilize the E-ink feature
I have to keep a short intro or I won't have room at the end. This really is a great phone, but I question how good it will be after you've used it for several months.
It's great for texting and it's E-ink is always something cool to show off.
Cons (what you're really here to look at)
1. Dual Hinge- While this is what gives the Alias its name, I feel like it's going to take away from the longevity of the phone. Even after a day of use the hinge felt a little loose.
2. Of all the phones I've ever had, this one seems to have had the worst signal of all of them. I used the phone for about 3 days and I don't think I had a full 1x signal the entire time. Signal and reliability are two staple reasons I haven't switched to AT&T and jumped on the iPhone wagon.
3. The phone seems a little laggy. I've been using LG's for the last 7 years so I'm used to seamless transition from screen to screen. While the Alias is fast, it's just as fast as the LG's that I've grown so accustomed to.
Pros
1. E-ink- I don't even have enough room in this review to talk about how cool it is. However, keep in mind that while it's cool...it's kind of pointless, but who cares b/c it's so f'ing cool.
2. Even though this has more buttons than a normal phone it allows it to be the most customizable CDMA phone that's out there. In addition to the directional shortcuts and the my shortcuts. It gives you shortcuts to blue tooth, alarm and games. I've been using my phone as my alarm for years and having the shortcut alarm gives me room for one more shortcut.
3. The buttons on the Alias 2 trump that of the original Alias. The buttons are much bigger (not as big as I'd like them to be, but a fair size for somebody with normal sized hands). The buttons for the numerical keypad don't feel as squished together as you think they would be by looking at it.
I know a good phone when I see one, and this definitely qualifies as one of the better ones I've used.
alias 2 f*#Kin rocks
After looking at many phones i setteled on the env 3 this phone was just not the performer it was said to be, so after 3 replacements i switched to the alias 2, and talk about an awsome phone. this one has a 2.0 mp camera, the env has a 3.0 an the alias takes a much better picture, the mp3 player is superior in every way. and the e-ink technology is amazing, from the reviews i've read i can only assume those who don't like are either A technologically challenged or B teen girls who are never pleased. Samsung and Verizon nail it with this. it's a given that all carriers will have this phone or one like it soon
pros: large clear screen
easy to use buttons
clear sound
loud ring tones
strong vibrate mode
amazing camera
wicked camcorder feature
awsome for texting
great for gaming
large size but not huge and bulky
bright back lighting
slick design
cons:it's a little hard to see in sunlight but a contrast adjustment fixes that
all in all, this is the verizon winner, if you just want great phone, but one will get attention no matter what you do with it, from calls to texts, to music, look no further
