Review of AT&T's affordable Samsung Magnet QWERTY messaging phone

The Samsung SGH-a257 Magnet is one of the latest QWERTY messaging phones to be added to AT&T's stable, and it is also one of the least expensive, costing only $19.99 after rebate. We take the Magnet out for a spin to see how it performs.In terms of physical design, Samsung went with the tried and true QWERTY bar form factor. In fact, the Magnet looks very much like an orange version of Samsung's new high-end Jack smartphone - minus some of the chrome. The phone weighs 91g (3.2oz) and measures 110mm x 59mm x 12.5mm (4.3in x 2.3in x .5in) in size.

The Magnet's keyboard feels a bit stiff, but has a design similar to that of the BlackBerry Bold, and I find it to be quite usable. The build quality seems to be good, but the phone's low weight might make people think it feels cheap. The 220 x 176 pixel display is pretty nice, all things considered, and the rest of the controls and ports on the phone work equally well.

In terms of basic phone features, the Magnet performs nicely. The call audio quality is better than average, the speakerphone works well enough for simple tasks, and the overall reception on the phone feels solid. The battery is rated as being good for 5 hours of talk time or 10.5 days of standby time. The talk time figure seems fairly conservative for a non-3G phone with an 800mAh battery.

The contact manager in the Magnet is more than adequate, if a bit plain looking. Contact searching works fine on contact first names, but ignores last names (contrary to what the video, below, suggests). Four ring profiles are available on the phone, though ring volume and silent/vibrate modes can be controlled easily enough with the phone's volume rocker switch.

The A257 Magnet supports text and MMS messages as well as MSN, AIM, and Yahoo! instant messaging. The Mobile Email client supports some of the major email providers in the country, but lacks support for Gmail or any kind of custom POP/IMAP configurations.

In terms of multimedia capabilities, the Magnet has little to offer. The VGA resolution camera takes photos of decent quality, but the resolution alone means that printing is never going to be an option.