Samsung's slim new SGH-T719 packs BlackBerry power in a thin clamshell form factor. Should you toss your old, bulky RIM device? Read our review before making the switch.
Review summary of the Samsung SGH-T719:
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 While the Samsung SGH-T719 makes for a slim and effective messaging phone, those hoping that it will cram full-fledged RIM features into a slim clamshell are bound to be disappointed. Sure, you get a robust set of push e-mail features and a relatively easy-to-use SureType keypad, but RIM aficionados looking to open Office and PDF attachments will be crushed to learn that the T719 lacks a document viewer, and the phone's internal LCD does a poor job of displaying long messages. Those looking for robust messaging and productivity features in a clamshell device would be better off with the recently released Cingular 3125 (although the complexity of Windows Mobile isn't for everyone). Release: September 2006. Price: $100.
Pros: Plenty of messaging options, including BlackBerry push e-mail; slim design with comfortable keys; SureType keypad beats a simple number pad for messaging.
Cons: No attachment viewing or editing; frequently-used symbols require multi-tapping; sub-par Web browsing; limited screen real-estate for messaging.
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Full review of the Samsung SGH-T719:
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Design
The Samsung SGH-T719 may not be quite as svelte as the wafer-thin SGH-T519 Trace candy-bar phone, but it's still impressively thin compared to your garden-variety RIM device. Though it is a fifth of an inch thicker than a RAZR, it is much smaller than the BlackBerry devices it hopes to replace. Keys are slightly raised and rounded, and though the keys themselves are small, there is just enough room between them to ensure that typos aren't an issue. The large, four-way keypad and jumbo-sized soft keys make navigating the T719's menus a piece of cake. The screen, a 176-by-220 pixel, 262,000-color TFT display, is not as strikingly bright as the Trace T519's LCD, and it could have been a bit larger given the size of the clamshell lid, but is still rich and clean. We were disappointed by the small, monochrome LCD on the external flip, which comes with a color backdrop displaying green grass and blue sky. Nice try, but we would have preferred a color external screen.
Calling - Very good
Call quality on the T719 is very good. Sound is very clean, with only a slightly digitized effect between words. Calls sounded accurate, even at low volumes, and ambient noise was kept at a minimum. Overall, reception was very good in New York City, but faded by a couple of bars heading into the suburbs. At some points, T-Mobile's EDGE network disappeared completely as we ran into dead spots. The T719's phonebook is robust for a non-smartphone, with space for numbers, notes, and group assignments, but does not live up to the standards of a true BlackBerry device. Live searching lets you find a number in the phone book quickly, and the phone supports predictive input in the phone book, which means you won't have to rely on multi-tap typing. The phone features a solid speakerphone, speaker-independent voice dialing, and Bluetooth 1.2, though no stereo Bluetooth support is offered. MP3 ringtones are also supported.
Messaging - Good
The SGH-T719 has myriad messaging options, not the least of which is its BlackBerry Connect feature. The phone has push e-mail capabilities that pairs it with BlackBerry Enterprise, Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes servers, or any e-mail address registered through the BlackBerry Internet e-mail app. Throw in SMS and MMS messaging, along with instant messaging from AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and ICQ, and the phone packs quite a bit of messaging power for a small clamshell. Unfortunately, the T719's messaging abilities are limited by its relatively small screen (at least compared to the larger screens and keypads found on other BlackBerry devices). While BlackBerry Connect worked quickly and was easy to setup, the messaging editor allowed only 76 characters on the screen at once for an outgoing e-mail. SMS and IM actually allowed more characters on screen (100 and 126 characters, respectively), but still fell short of the 160-character limit for text messages. The SureType keypad is similar to the BlackBerry Pearl in size and layout, but the Pearl assigns more symbols to keys, whereas typing "@" symbol on the T719 requires digging into the symbol menu, a choice that hardly makes sense on a phone so focused on e-mail. That said, typing on the keys was pleasant, and the keys themselves feel sturdier than on the Pearl. Text on the screen was not only legible, it actually bordered on too large; unfortunately, the phone offered no option to shrink the text size to allow more characters on screen at once.
Scheduling - Good
The calendar on the Trace T719 looks quite good and is easy to read at a glance, although it won't steal the crown from Outlook's lush interface. Synchronizing contacts from Outlook is handled through the included Samsung PC Studio, a suite of software applications for managing content through your PC. Unfortunately, it was too easy to accidentally erase all of our calendar information, as the phone's empty calendar over-wrote our Outlook database (though the options suggested that our desktop would overwrite the phone). Scrolling through the calendar could be easier, and all-day events tend to dominate the "week" view. Additionally, in reading details for an event, lengthy location names scroll horizontally and cannot be viewed in their entirety, which makes long street names and addresses annoying to read. Alerts and reminders for events are not customizable.
Multimedia - Poor
Multimedia is a strange affair on the T719. Most phones in this class cannot open complicated pages like the New York Times, but the T719 had a tough time with the relatively simple Google mobile Web page, reducing it to a simpler, bare-looking form without the colorful Google logo. Meanwhile, the phone sports a 1.3-megapixel camera that swivels on the clamshell hinge. You can transfer your snapshots to your PC easily via USB or the Bluetooth 1.2 connection. Image quality was nothing special, on a par with most other 1.3-megapixel camera phones on the market.
Odds and ends
The SGH-T719 lacks any capability to view attachments sent in e-mails, from Word and Excel documents to even JPEG pictures. Even the Cingular 3125 smartphone, itself a Windows Mobile flip-phone, can view such documents (although it can't edit them). This is a serious oversight that true BlackBerry addicts will miss, and which will keep the phone from replacing a more capable RIM device. The phone is capable of dial-up networking over the included USB cable or Bluetooth, but with slower 2.5G EDGE networking, this isn't the best option for road warriors.
Related phone: Compact business phones
Price and availability
Available now from T-Mobile, the Samsung SGH-T719 retails for $300, or $200 with a two-year service agreement.
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