Samsung Eternity

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 x 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. The touch interface is responsive and easy to use, though you can adjust the calibration if you have problems.

We had no issues selecting items and scrolling through long menus. The vibrating feedback is helpful, and you can adjust its intensity.

Like the other Samsung phones in its class, the Eternity shows Samsung's unique and accessible TouchWiz interface. AT&T added some of its own widgets including a shortcut for the Mobile TV application. Check out our Behold review for a full description of TouchWiz. There's a second shortcut bar at the bottom of the display that gives one touch access to the phone dialer, your contacts list, and the main menu.

And speaking of which, the menu comes in an icon or list design. Both are intuitive with a variety of easily accessible features. The Eternity phone book 1,000 contacts phone book with room in each entry for multiple phone numbers, emails, and URLs. You also can add a street address, a company name and job title, a nickname, a birthday, and notes (the SIM card holds an additional 250 names).

You can save callers to groups and you can pair them with a photo and one of 11 72 chord, polyphonic ringtones. Though that's a paltry number of included ringtones, you can use your own audio files and MP3 tracks as tones. Other essentials include a vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, a calendar, a calculator, a notepad, a task list, an alarm clock, a world clock, a timer, a stopwatch, a currency and unit converter, and a speaker phone.