Samsung a867 Eternity now in AT&T stores, ready to take you to the great beyond
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Nov 13th 2008 1:52PM
posted Nov 13th 2008 1:52PM
posted Nov 13th 2008 1:52PM
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I will never understand the appeal of Mobile TV.
It's launching tomorrow with the Nokia 6650.
I purchased this yesterday. Im quite impressed with this phone. The UI is great, the QWERTY is amazing, no complaints about the phone. Now, ATT has some issues. This phone is so new, it wasnt in their system when i called them about MMS issues. ATT customer service knows little to nothing about this phone and diagnosing it was a bit of a pain, but i was lucky enough to run into a CS agent who loved phones and actually knew about them. I dont use the TV application, but the video service is being rolled into the unlimited data package and that will get some use in the future. overall, a very nice phone.
Where did you hear/read that the video service would become part of the unlimited data service?
miacane,
does the phone feel nice and hefty in the hands like the iphone? i went to the att store yesterday and the eternity felt somewhat cheap in the hands compared to the iphone.....
If that's true about the TV server into unlimited data plan then this phone would have become a LOT more tempting.
Also, does the phone have a 3.5mm headphone jack or no?
the phone does have a 3.5 jack, yet curiously no cover to keep dust out, minor detail.
CV video service is being rolled into the unlimited data, not the TV. in florida it is not part of the unlimited $35 package. This was speaking directly to ATT employees.
this phone has a nice heft to it and to me, doesnt feel cheap at all. the Vu felt extremely cheap, even moreso compared to this.
i just wanted a good multimedia phone ( web/text/pic/video) and was actually concidering the quickfire as the options were limited. This phone, sofar, well worth the $150 pricetag. it also has a proximity sensor and turns off the screen when you are on a phonecall.
How are the call quality and battery life on it?
This phone also has excellent call quality as well. i have yet to test the battery on how long it lasts as the first full charge was last night. Im still tesing other things, but im extremely happy.
another downfall to having such a new phone is the lack of accessories. A gel skin, screen protector, data cable all would be welcome for me. they will come out in time, but all purchases i would have made instantly.
can you get the $15 a month unlimited data plan on this phone if so, does that include CV?
Does the camera have flash? does camera still take good pics?
Thanks a ton for the details MiaCane. This sounds like the perfect phone for me. I've been holding onto my upgrade now for two months waiting for the perfect media phone. This sounds like it will finally meet my needs and even some extras (MediaFlo for instance). I didn't want a full smart phone nor the extra monthly cost of the required data plans. Once again, thanks for the answers!
good pictures, no flash.
As far as CV video is concerned, im pretty sure its only included in the $35 media works bundle . and coming to florida soon.
@skyring
ive been doing the exact same thing and waiting with my upgrade and im sofar glad i jumped in. this phone is everything i needed. i really wanted the Fuze or Bold, but it was just more than i needed at the time as far as features and price are concerned.
I have also been waiting but i have been waiting for a very long time (1 year at least lol). I am coming from the nokia 6102 (not even the version that came out with bluetooth). I think almost anything is going to be amazing to me. I havent seen anything that has come to AT&T that thrilled me so i have waited and waited. This may be my first upgrade since i joined AT&T lol.
yes, it has a 3.5 mm jack on the right side of the phone i believe. At least the manual on samsung's website said it did. I have a Question about the battery times it states it has. I was wondering what the rated talk and standby times on it are? thanks
How is this different to the Behold, other than carrier differences?
I picked up my Samsung Eternity Tuesday night, and I love it. I had an IPhone 3G, but got sick of the $30/month data plan, and the LG Vu felt cheap and didn't work that well.
I couldn't be happier with the Eternity. Camera is great (3MP), landscape qwerty keyboard for texting (along with handwriting). I get 4-5 Bars in the 3G+ network, where with my Moto Z9, I got about 2-4 bars on 3G.
UI works very well, with haptic feedback (adjustable intensity, or off if you don't want it on), mobile tv looks pretty sharp (I have the 30 day trial).
Battery has lasted me since I bought it. Haven't charged it all the way. So my guess is 2-3 days? (depending on usage)
I'd give it a 4.5/5. Definitely worth the $150.
hmm that all sounds really good. I am gonna def check this phone out.
Can any one tell if it has WIFI ? Can you brows internet like a Iphone or HTC FUZE
No Wi-Fi. Has 3g.
How is the Speaker Phone Quality and how much is the data plane cost NO WIFI att SUCKS !!!!
Amazon has the Eternity for $49.99, but requires a PDA plan. Is this a misprint or just a strange requirement for the Amazon pricing? It doesn't really make sense, as this isn't a pda/smart phone...
How good is the web browsers..
@ DREWSKY56
yes, $15 data plan is good enough since this isn't a PDA or smartphone....no CV with the $15 plan, u can get it by adding additional $15....i don't know about flash and other stuff since i'll get this phone this weekend.
The $15 Unlimited Media Net plan does include CV, as does the $30 PDA personal package, and the $30 Blackberry personal package (enterprise versions of those plans could add CV for extra). The Media Max 200 and Media Max Unlimited bundles also include CV.
Ha anyone checked the SAR rating on this phone. I would love to pick it up, but if its anything like the VU, I'll pass
full 170+ page pdf user manual at this link:
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/200810/20081030012522500/att_a867_eternity_ug.pdf
Just went and bought it. So far so good. Great UI
just got back from the store...WTF...it's mobile web browser, not one like Iphone or even Vu...waited for months and it came up freaking SHORT for me.
Are you serious? The phone doesnt have an full HTML browser? I may have to check it out for myself because if that is true, that will be a total let down.
Check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVaPCpX8Sqo
The owner in the video says that the phone can get to YouTube so hopefully he's telling the truth. I'll look for myself tomorrow. PEACE!
if you want a full HTML browser, just download opera. it's a great program for full HTML browsing.
this looks like a neat phone. if i hadn't upgraded to the BJ2 i would check this out!
I have been messing around with the phone for a lil bit now and i havent been able to do much. I have tried to add a ringtone that i had on my tilt and it is saying that it is to big. The UI and the widgets is a great feature. I still think this phone could have been alot better. I would like to check out the real omnia and see what that is like.
what do you think could be better?
I got this phone yesterday, and so far I love it. Just some quick comments before I go play with it some more.
The screen is great, very quick to the touch. The browser seems to work fine so far. It auto rotates and will go full screen. I've also installed the latest opera mini. It works great! You can even use the landscape view qwerty for entering web addresses. You can set the phone to only ask once to access the web when you start opera mini (nice to not be nagged). Now, about that qwerty.....it works very well. For texting, the landscape keyboard is the best I've used, I can type on it fast with my thumbs and it is very accurate. I will definatey enjoy texting with this.
Overall I really like this phone, and yes, I get CV included in my 15$ a month media net plan.
Opera Mini work? wow, i'll 100% will get this PHONE!!
Hi and thanks for your comment. How did you install the Opera Mini on your Eternity?
Chase......I recently had the tilt untill it fell in the sink. But I think this and any other phone could be more customized. So far i dont think its has lived up to all the hype. I just wished it was the omnia and had windows 6.1. I might check out the fuze or wait untill xpira comes out.
Can anyone tell me if the Eternity can record a sound and use that recorded sound as a ring tone?
I just got myself a Samsung i900 Omnia and as far as I can see (apart for my omnia's 5mpx camera) it's absolutely identical to this Eternity.
Until last week I had an HTC touch pro for a couple of weeks and I simply hated it's UI, so much so that I gave up also my order for the HTC HD and got this omnia instead.
I really like the phone and it's UI and I will certainly be able to live and work with it, (at least for the 6 months of my contract) but I simply could'nt belive that Samsung in such a high end and feature packed handset forgot to add a very useful and common place app like voice dialing.
Nowadays voice tags are found even in cheap phones, I was so sure to find it on the Omnia that I did'nt even check for it. Big mistake.
I wander if this Eternity has got the feature or if it is lacking in all Samsung phones.
Since the Omnia is running win moble 6.1 I guess that if this eternity has the app it could be implanted in the Omnia too, otherways I can still hope that someone ( maybe Samsung itself) would soon develop a voice dialing app for it.
Or what?