[RIMarkable]

The Samsung t719 BlackBerry Connect Flip phone is now available on T-Mobile's website for $199.99

[MajSingh]

any reviews/experiences with it yet?

[robingoren]

i haven't gotten one yet but i had seen a non-working one and loved the layout and the buttons! even though it's suretype (2 letters per key), the keys were larger and the print on them larger than the 8100 pearl and so easier to type! but i haven't yet gotten an actual phone! plan to do so today or tomorrow (as soon as the local store by me puts them out - according to them it should be today).

[robingoren]

can someone shed light on unlocked phone? I've never bought an unlocked phone nor unlocked one myself. This new phone sells at T-Mobile for $300 without a plan, and then I assume it would be no more than $100 to get it unlocked (and probably less) at any of the unlocking sites. So, why would it be $499 to buy it unlocked on web sites and/or ebay? is it extra money so you don't have to deal with unlocking yourself? thanks.

[stripesace]

This looks like a cool phone. Maybe Blackberry will take note and do an entire blackberry in this form factor... Scroll wheel would almost do better than a "perl" would on a flip....

[Bristol]

I don't know the specifics of BB Connect. I know it does EMail through the usual Enterprise Server. But does it also sync up contacts and calendar on line? From reading what I can find, the implication is that there is no over-the-air for anything but EMail. That would be a huge disadvantage compared to a RIM device...

[HouckLaw]

Biggest drawback -- no memory card slot. Not a media phone like the Pearl. Limited to 25k internal memory.

[Boy Genius]

Horrible piece of crap, thats my review... Really...its bad...black and white external LCD, crappy interface a la samsung, blackberry works OK, suretype is a little shady, overall, do not buy

[Bristol]

Thanks BG. I trust your (re)views. Waiting for the Cingular Pearl, hoping for SW that fixes the trackball silencing problem and other crashes on it (and maybe just maybe A2DP). Meanwhile, I do like my 7130c.

[jkevinwolfe]

I purchased a t719 about an hour ago. Have not had much time to play with it, but I'm getting email from my .mac account and am able to send files to the phone by BT.

I bought it in frustration at my BB7105 which was only 6 months old. My biggest issue was that the BB was not a phone. It couldn't do normal tasks, like sending vcards by BT, but worse, the mic quality was lousy. It was not really a good business phone with everyone telling me that I sounded like I was underwater.

The t719 KB is much easier to use than the 7105. The keys are flat and smooth with a very short stroke. Fingers slide across them well. Fingers snagged on the 7105 kb. I was not impressed with the Pearl at all. The thumboard seems unusable since the keys are so small unless you're using a pencil eraser.

It's nice to have BB email in a real phone, especially a flip phone.

I'll post more experiences later if anyone is interested.

[robingoren]

yes, please post your opinion. I bought 1 too but am waiting to unlock it for cingular so i can't yet test it out. I agree that the keys are great but at least at the store I found the earpiece volume to be very low even at its highest. I know there are hack codes out there to change this but i don't think those are out yet for this particular phone. Any input would be great!

[jkevinwolfe]

I've had it a full day now. Overall: It's very unBBlike in everything but mail. And in mail it's about 95% BB. There are a few changes in text entry. Like there's no autoperiod with two spaces at the end of a sentence. But pressing the * key gives you a period. Pressing it twice gives you @, and if you keep pressing it cycles through most symbols.

It's nice to have good phone features and usable BT again. File transfer is good. I've moved Jpegs and burned some home videos over to play on the phone. I've also used the memory to store Word docs and HTML files that can be sent by BT. Downfall at this point is that I can't open or attach files in email. From what I gather the BB reader plugins don't work, but I'm not positive about that.

At first I thought the Samsung OS was not as simple as Nokia's, but after using it, I think it may even be easier. The 5 way nav is pretty easy and quick. (The trackwheel on the 7105 was VERY slow.)

The 2mp camera is decent. It has a flash and light for video. This isn't very powerful, but can help when things are really dim. The video comes defaulted to shoot for 7 seconds. Apparently this is the size limit for sending with messages. This can be changed to shoot until you're out of memory. Video Quality is seems to be on par with other phones.

T-Zones service for the net is okay and runs about the same speed as net access on the 7105.

By far the best feature is the flip design. The phone is slim and doesn't need a case.

Have not played with using the phone as a modem for my MacBook and seems I haven't experiemented much to see if Pocketmac will sync. Have not had a chance to try Java games or apps yet.

Kevin

[Greg8700G]

Thanks for the review

[bradyo]

I have been using a T719 for two weeks now--first week at home in the US, second week on a business trip in Europe. Overall, this is a terrific mobile--the positives outweigh the shortcomings for me, at least.

First the Pros: The size is fantastic. As a previous RAZR user, I wanted something small that I could slip into a back pocket. To get a quad-band phone and a Blackberry in one small clamshell is fantastic. The screen is bright and high-contrast, the audio is very good both in the earpiece and in the speakerphone, and I am told by those I call that I the microphone does a good job.

I have read criticism of the outside screen. People gripe that it has a monochrome display. This is not exactly true. In fact, the time/day/date information is monochrome, making it readable without bringing up the backlight. It's a huge improvement over systems that require a button click to illuminate the display. This monochrome info, however, overlays a color LCD beneath. When illuminated by a button click or opening the phone, it is quite bright and gives a 3D effect to the info display.

The keys are quite usable for text entry--significantly bigger, and better laid out than on the Pearl, with a nice tactile click when depressed. Driving the device with the arrow keys is easy and effective. The Pearl's trackball is very cool, but not necessary--neither is the traditional Blackberry scroll wheel.

I was happy to learn the Blackerry Connect provides the same services as any RIM-built Blackberry device. Naturally, it does e-mail and, when paired with a Blackberry Enterprise Server, will sync contacts and calendar info with the PC.

The Cons:
Battery life is short. I'm getting a full day's use out of it (phone and e-mail), but you are unlikely to have it last two days. Rememeber to charge it every night.

The SureType Speedy Word predictive text option takes some getting used to. As you type, it works to guess the words, getting them right about 70% of the time in my experience. Remember, this isn't a full QWERTY keyboard. The SureType keyboard assigns two letters to each key, laid out in QWERTY fashion. I'll be honest, I've turned it off and just used the tried-and-true triple-tap method. It's just faster for me. And where the heck is the apostrophe???

If you want a Blackberry, want it small, and prefer a clamshell to a candybar phone, this is it. I was on my way to buy the Pearl (8100), but the issues with the trackball rejecting calls with even minor movement, as well as the relatively smaller keyboard changed my mind.

After two weeks of use, under extreme road warrior conditions on two continents, I can recommend the T719.

[jkevinwolfe]

I think the only way to get the apostrophe is Alt, Z, Down, 5. Seems cumbersome.

Java games and apps seems to run faster than on my 7105. They also seem easier to exit. But I haven't been able to get any net-connected Java apps, like browsers, to work.

Kevin

[paradisephoto]

As usual, the question is, when, if ever, will Verizon have something like this? Absolutely refuse to change from the most reliable network I have ever been on, but they simply need more feature laden devises. I love my 7130e presently, but something like this would be perfect.

Do I have to be the second person to put Verizon on notice?

[jkevinwolfe]

This has been confirmed by TMobile, Samsung and Blackberry Connect, since I talked to them all today:

The t719 has a 1024 character limit for composing email.

Strange, I know. You can receive, reply to and forward full-length emails, but you can't compose longer emails. This is an issue with Samsung's OS, not TMo or BB, so it could be changed in an upgrade.

When you think about it, most emails we send, especially those on our phone are no longer than 100 words or so. This limit is about 150 words. So maybe it's not really a limitation for most. I considered taking the phone back, since I'm still in my two week tmo-guaranteed honeymoon. But there's a lot to love about this thing. It's got a low geek factor, which is kind of nice after carrying a Psion, Palm and BB for so long.

Kevin

[plchan]

it seems tough to type email on the small keypad.

[jkevinwolfe]

To me it's much easier than using the BB 7105 sloshy rubber keys. The intent is not to replace typing email on your computer, but to be able to type it on the move when a reply is necessary and you're not near a computer. The screen makes email reading much nicer than on the dim 7105 with those tiny, thin letters.

I think the biggest drawback is that samsung didn't seem to redesign the text entry system much. The Speedy Word and KB is still set up for SMS. I hope Samsung changes this to be more email oriented in an OS update soon.

Kevin