Click to View

Samsung's new T-719 phone, now available from T-Mobile for $199.99 (with a two-year service plan) might best be described as BlackBerry without the bulk, as it offers both BlackBerry Connect push e-mail and the SureType keyboard within a compact flip-phone design.

The quad-band GSM T-719 measures 3.8 x 2.1 x .7 inches and weighs a mere 3.5 ounces, making it a good deal more petite than any RIM-built smartphone (including the relatively compact BlackBerry Pearl or 7100 series) or any of the several third-party devices from Nokia and others that support BlackBerry Connect. Though by typical flip-phone standards, (say, compared to a RAZR) the T-719 would be considered longish and perhaps a tad thick.

On the outside of the T-719's flip cover, a three-quarter inch 96 x 96 pixel screen displays basic information, and when you open the phone you're greeted by a 2.2-inch LCD. Despite an unremarkable 176 x 220 resolution, this screen displays 262,000 colors rather than the more customary 65,000, resulting in visuals that are richly-hued as well as bright and easy to read.

The T-719's equipped with about 21 MB of user-available memory, which will have to do since there's no memory card slot provided for storage expansion.

What really sets the T-719 apart, however, is it's keyboard. This phone is the first non-RIM device (as well as the first flip phone) to sport the SureType keyboard that's also found on the aforementioned Pearl and 7100 series.

SureType, which offers something akin to QWERTY-style input without providing a full complement of keys (there are only 20), is an acquired taste. It can take some getting used to, and while it can be frustrating for those accustomed to a conventional QWERTY typing, it does a decent job of predicting words as you type them.


      SureType Keyboard

In any event, the not-quite-QWERTY SureType is the price you must pay if you don't want to carry a brick on your hip or press keys with a toothpick, and once you get accustomed to it it can be far more efficient than relying on a numeric keypad alone. The fact that the T-719's keys are decently-sized also aids in typing accuracy.

The phone's soft keys and send/end buttons are enormous, and we also like the fact that the T-719 duplicates most of the D-Pad functionality by including an OK and pair of arrow buttons on the right side of the phone (and it should be equally useful for left-handed users).

You'll make heavy use of the SureType keyboard once you enable the T-719's BlackBerry Connect push-email feature, which you use with an existing POP-based personal mail account or with a new BlackBerry address you can create (yourname@tmo.blackberry.net). You can also use the T-719 to access corporate e-mail systems running BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Although it took several attempts before the BlackBerry Connect system would accept our e-mail account information, once we got it working the feature worked like a charm. T-Mobile offers a number of different BlackBerry Connect pricing options - starting at $29.99 for an unlimited use package you can add to any voice plan.

The T-719 sports a 1.3 megapixel camera with flash, and the lens is on a turret that you can roll backwards to take self-portraits. The phone took decent pictures, though we weren't crazy about the fact that it automatically prompts you upload each shot to T-Mobile's My Album online storage. (You can avoid doing so, but only with a couple of extra key presses after every shot.)

     

To sum up, the Samsung T-719 is a solid phone that should be an attractive option for anyone that's been eyeing a BlackBerry but prefers not to haul a chunky phone around.