Samsung Eternity

The Samsung TouchWiz smartphone UI runs for instance on the rather successful Samsung Omnia phone and according to Samsung TouchWiz is used already by 1 million users. Today Samsung announced an update of the Touchwiz UI to debut at the Mobile World Congress 2009 next week.

The improvements of the new TouchWiz UI include new 3D effects, widget dock on bottom of screen, downloadable Widgets, better integration of photos and contacts and also more haptic features. Samsung will announce the upgrade strategy of the new TouchWiz UI at the MWC 2009. Expect to be able to upgrade your Omnia with the new TouchWiz UI.
Via this Samsung announcement (Korean).

Samsung Eternity Fans Forum

Samsung Eternity

The 3G connection was just above average. When using the Web browser, some pages took more than a few seconds to load, and at times the pages were a tad sluggish when we were scrolling around. Streaming videos also took longer to load than we expected, but they performed well once they were up and running. Our videos never froze or dropped the connection.

The Eternity has a rated battery life of 5 hours talk time and 10.42 days standby time. Our tests reveal an impressive talk time of 14 hours and 18 minutes. According to FCC radiation tests, the Eternity has a SAR rating of 0.194 watt per kilogram.

The Eternity has all the hallmarks of a touch-screen phone. It has a rectangular candy bar shape with a slim profile (4.3 inches by 2.2 inches by 0.5 inch) and a large display. The Eternity is 3.88 ounces, a bit lighter than some of its counterparts, but it retains a sturdy feel in the hand. The black color scheme is simple but attractive; we like the glossy material that surrounds the display and the shiny metal spines. Our only gripe concerns the plastic battery cover; a metal cover is preferable.

At 3.2 inches the Eternity’s display falls between the Instinct and the Behold in size. It should make it adequate for most users, whether you’re browsing menus or typing on the virtual keyboard. It’s also bright and vibrant with support for 262,000 colors (400×240 pixels). Photos and graphics were sharp and the text is readable. You can change the brightness, the backlighting time, and the font type. Below the display sit three physical keys: Talk and End buttons and a back key. They’re a tad slick, but it’s a minor issue.

Eternity has full Bluetooth with a stereo profile, a file manager, a voice recorder, USB mass storage, and instant messaging. That’s not a bad assortment, but Wi-Fi and voice dialing are glaring omissions. Also, the e-mail situation isn’t ideal for business users. Though AT&T’s Mobile e-mail service offers access to a variety of POP3 services, it is a Web-based application that doesn’t sync automatically. What’s more, IMAP4 is largely unavailable. The Eternity offers basic PC syncing for photos, music, and other date files, but it can’t sync with Outlook e-mail, calendars, and contacts. You can exchange contacts with third-party syncing software, but that will require an additional investment.

The full HTML browser is similar to the Behold and the Instinct. Of course, it can’t handle Flash animation, but it renders most pages well. The onscreen controls are intuitive, but, as we’ve said before, we much prefer the iphone’s multitouch interface to using a magnifying button to zoom. Scrolling through lengthy Web pages can take a lot of finger swiping, but it’s not unlike other touch-screen phones. Also, it can be difficult to select links on crowded pages, but that’s not unusual, either.

Samsung Eternity

We know with near certainty that the a867 Eternity will be one of those TouchWiz-enabled phones Samsung decided to chat up yesterday, and now, we think we have a price. We’re hearing that AT&T has the a867 pegged at $99.99 on contract after mail-in rebate — or so says an internal price sheet, anyway, with a valid window of November 2 to December 25. In other words, we’re liking our chances of seeing this thing before the year’s out for a hundie out of pocket. Feeling any heat up there, iPhone? Actually, do you ever feel anything at all?