Samsung Haven (Verizon Wireless) – Good entry level phone
When I first saw this phone, I thought it was phone made exclusively for senior citizens. But then I went through it and saw that it had lots useful features. It is a basic phone but doesn’t have those typical boring looks of an entry level handset. This phone doesn’t have a camera but I won’t call this a deal breaker. This phone is made for people who just want to make phone calls and maybe send some text messages. The large font and the big dial pad keys are really cool, they make typing a lot easier. This phone is yours for $39.99 and you will have to sign a two year service agreement with the service provider. I won’t call this phone the perfect entry level gadget – there are some problems with call quality but it is still acceptable.
Samsung Haven is 3.92 inches tall, 0.72 inch thick and 2 inches wide. The phone is not that heavy at 3.49 ounces. This handset looks quite attractive with the black pinstripe accents, dark gray exterior, and black muted interior. The side are grooved and this makes it really comfortable to grip the phone when it is next to your ears. There are spines which make it quite easy to open the phone. On the handset’s right, there is a microUSB charging port and on the left, you have the volume rocker along with the 2.5 mm headphones jack.
External display of the Samsung Haven is 1.07 inches big and you get time in large letters. Along with that, it also shows you the battery life and signal strength. Long press of the volume rocker fades the display. The internal screen is 2.2 inches big and you get a resolution of 176×220 pixels with support for 65,000 colors. The font is big enough and I didn’t have any problems reading it. This font can be further enlarged. The display shows you the time, phone number, and date. You can also customize the backlight time, banner, and wallpaper.
Samsung Haven has shortcut buttons on the surface of the phone for voice mail, voice command and photo gallery. Having a photo gallery button doesn’t make much sense on a handset like this where there is no camera. I really liked the dial pad and navigation array since they are quite big and hence easy to press. The backlighting on the buttons too is bright enough. The four way navigation pad has an OK button in the middle and it is surrounded by two soft keys. There is also a 911 emergency call button and a discrete speakerphone key. Finally, you have the standard Clear, End and Send keys. Typing on the numbered keypad was comfortable because of their domed shape; they gave nice and bouncy feedback. The ‘5’ key has two tiny bumps which make it easy to understand the location of other buttons by feel.
Finally, I tested the Samsung Haven for call quality and found that it was mostly fine but occasionally, there was an echo. The voices were loud enough; I could still talk to my friends comfortably in spite of the echo. Speaker phone quality is really impressive, it was strong and clear for most part.
