The Samsung SGH-E316 for AT&T Wireless isn't the first mobile to combine a VGA camera, video capability, and Web functions, but at a scant 3 ounces, it's one of the smallest full-featured phones out there. Available through AT&T Wireless, the handset resembles the Sprint VM-A680 (also by Samsung) in offering worthy features and a stylish design. Performance was mixed--audio quality wasn't great, although battery life was impressive--but overall, it's worth picking up. Its $319.99 price tag is high, but AT&T should offer it a discount with service. T-Mobile and Cingular offer similar versions, the SGH-E315 and SGH-E317, respectively.
Usually we're suckers for Samsung's signature styling, and the SGH-E316 is no exception. Clad in silver with smooth surfaces and curved lines, it has a simple and soothing design. Yet it also represents an improvement over Samsung's last AT&T Wireless camera phone, the SGH-V206, mostly because it's smaller. The 3.3-by-1.8-by 0.8-inch E316 weighs just 3 ounces, compared to the V206's 3.4 ounces. You can slip this mobile into your pocket and easily forget it's there.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Compared with the V206, the Samsung SGH-E316 has an improved external display. Supporting a vibrant 65,000 colors, it shows the date, the time, signal strength, battery life, and caller ID (where available). As a bonus, the E316 even lets you assign pictures to individual callers. Be warned that it goes completely black when the backlighting is off, but a simple touch of the left-side volume rocker turns it back on. Samsung gets higher marks for two slash-shaped LEDs set on either side of the screen. Without being too distracting or consuming too much power, they do a great job of showing the phone's status by blinking intermittently in standby mode and flashing continuously for a call or a text message. You can choose between seven colors or turn it off completely. Finishing the front of the mobile is the camera lens, which, unlike the SGH-V206's, doesn't rotate. It's also missing the flash found on the Sprint VM-A680.
The phone's internal screen is just as attractive. It measures 1 inch (diagonal) and displays 65,000 colors. It's vibrant and crisp enough for viewing pictures, watching video, and playing Web games; you can also use it for photo caller ID. Plus, it displays the number you dial in big, easy-to-read characters. Our only complaint: The screen looks washed-out in bright light.
The menu system makes good use of the display, with colorful animations indicating the various function options. A four-way toggle helps you move about the menu and gives you one-touch access to user-defined functions, while a centrally located mMode button serves a shortcut to AT&T's data and Web services. Alternatively, you can move through menus via the volume rocker. Still, we would have preferred an OK button in the toggle's center; instead, the left soft key serves this function. We did appreciate, however, that the pound key also changes the ringer mode, and a dedicated camera button is on the right side. The well-spaced keypad buttons are backlit and easy to see in the dark, but they are set flush with the phone and can be a little slippery. We hit the wrong keys by accident more than once.
The Samsung SGH-E316 comes loaded with calling, messaging, and imaging options, but notable omissions include a speakerphone, Bluetooth, and an infrared (IR) port. There's a 500-name phone book that holds three numbers and an e-mail address for each contact; you can store an additional 250 contacts on the SIM card. The phone supports 25 polyphonic (40-chord) ring tones that can be assigned to caller groups but not individual callers. Other goodies include an alarm clock, a calendar, a calculator, a to-do list, a currency converter, vibrate mode, text and multimedia messaging, and a WAP 2.0 wireless Internet browser. You also can record and store voice memos, which can be forwarded to any e-mail address.
Like most camera phones, the E316's VGA lens is good enough for casual snapshots but won't take pictures worth printing. You can take photos in four resolutions (128x128, 160x120, 320x240, and 640x480) and choose between four quality settings, five picture effects, and six frames. You can edit your pictures further by rotating or flipping the orientation, using the 4X zoom, altering the brightness, or taking up to 15 frames in rapid succession with the multishot option. It doesn't have a flash or a mirror, but the external display acts as a viewfinder, making it perfect for self-portraits. Video capability also is included; you can take 20-second clips with sound. When you're finished shooting, you can save your videos and pictures to the mobile's 6.6MB of shared memory or send them via multimedia messages. A nice highlight was the ability to view photos in a slide-show fashion.
The phone supports Java (J2ME) for games and applications. Four mediocre titles are included (BubbleSmile, Fun2link, Ultimate Golf Challenge, and MobileChess), so you'll probably want to download more games from AT&T's mMode service, where you also can get ring tones and applications. Like most of the enhanced services offered by cellular carriers, mMode charges extra for games, ring tones, and applications, though fees will vary. The E316 can be customized with a variety of wallpaper, sounds, and images, with more options available through download.
The call quality on the Samsung SGH-E316 was fine but not exceptional by any means. We tested the dual-band (GSM 850/1900; GPRS) phone in the New York City area and had no trouble finding a signal, even indoors, though calls were not as clear and loud as with other Samsung phones we've tested. Callers could always tell we were on a cellular phone. The phone ships with a headset for making hands-free calls. Callers told us it introduced a little more ambient noise, but its overall quality was good.
In terms of talk time, battery life for the E316 was six hours--a good number for any cell and more than that of most Samsung phones we've tested. On standby, the phone lasted almost nine days. Just keep in mind that using the camera will drain the battery a lot faster. According to the FCC, the digital SAR rating for the E316 was 1.2 watts per kilogram.