Samsung's Solstice touchscreen phone bounds onto AT&T

The age of the touchscreen dumbphone is definitely upon us, is it not? Today AT&T and Samsung announced the availability of the Solstice, a phone featuring a 3-inch (presumably resistive) touchscreen, TouchWiz, and lots of funky social networking tie-ins. Still, one gets the overwhelming impression that phones of this ilk are simply trying to cash in on the buzz of like-minded devices, while not bringing anything particularly notable to the table. This 3G-equipped number comes loaded with a 2 megapixel camera, microSD support up to 16GB, and... not much else. The phone will be available August 2nd for $99.99 with a two-year contract. Call us crazy, but for that kind of money, aren't there superior touchscreen devices on this network?

[slamEVIL Posted Jul 30th 2009 12:00PM]

"Call us crazy, but for that kind of money, aren't there superior touchscreen devices on this network?"

sure, and you can be forced to pay like what, $35 a month for owning said "superior" touchscreen device.

[ericbrown91 Posted Jul 30th 2009 12:04PM]

Anyone considering this phone or the Eternity (very similar) should be grateful it isn't classified as a smartphone. Only 15 a month for the internet package and it does have many of the data capabilities the average consumer would use.

Eric.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 30th 2009 12:37PM]

and only 10 bucks a month for unlimited data on a family plan w/ unlimited family messaging... thats 20 bucks a month saving over iphone for people dont need all the bells and whistles on the iphone but want decent data access

[Bixmen Posted Jul 30th 2009 2:41PM]

Where do you see these $10-15 dollar data plans at ATT? I just went to their website, and cheapest data plan is 30 bucks. Even with family plan.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 30th 2009 3:40PM]

its only on non-pda phones. If you have an iphone, blackberry, e71x etc. the only data plan is 30 bucks a month. If you have a eternity, xenon, vu etc the data plans would be 10-15 dollars. If you are experiencing problems adding these features to your account reply to this post with your email and I will get in touch with you because I work at an ATT store.

[htd Posted Jul 30th 2009 12:07PM]

is there smart phone?

@Aaron
Aaron @ Jul 30th 2009 11:21AM

It runs a proprietary operating system on which you cannot install native apps. Therefore it's a dumbphone.

This rule has stood the test of time.

[Simguy05 Posted Jul 30th 2009 1:44PM]

This is one of those phones that you don't really appreciate until it's in your hands... I held it yesterday, and the size is fantastic. I really like how this phone feels in your hands. It's a nice v2 of the Samsung Eternity. Also, unlike other phones, the unlimited data plan is only $15 (or $10 if you have unlimited text). For some people, this would be a huge plus...

[hawknj Posted Jul 30th 2009 12:50PM]

I am with Slapp Way I will NEVER buy another Samsung phone because of how they just drop all of us Eterinty customers the phone even has an OTA update program built in and we get nothing. Samsung really missed the ship on that one.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 30th 2009 12:59PM]

Superior devices?? With this phone you can choose whether you want a data package or not, unlike the "superior devices" if you decide to buy data, it's $15 a month, not $30. and you can cancel whenever, unlike the "superior devices".

[vapore0n Posted Jul 30th 2009 12:59PM]

Samsung flodding the market with yet another phone that looks a little different but acts the same way as their previous phones.

I got the Samsung Eternity, and while I like it, I hate the fact that Samsung doesnt support their products. Meaning no updates for the bugs.

[Bixmen Posted Jul 30th 2009 1:20PM]

weren't previous touchwiz phones locked with respect to their interface? as in couldn't remove/move items from the little dock? is that the case here, too? so sick of carriers screwing up the firmware on phones...

[tdburn Posted Jul 30th 2009 2:21PM]

The price comparison between the $99 iphone and the $99 Solstice is not a very good comparison because the Iphone requires a much more expensive plan!

[Aaron CT Posted Jul 30th 2009 4:03PM]

I suppose you can say there are better phones out there, but when you compare the iPhone to this you're only counting the price, not the actual plan. Which.. is probably leaps higher.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 30th 2009 6:58PM]

yeah the iPhone 3G costs the same amount idgi

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 30th 2009 7:01PM]

Also the 2mp camera is not enough with phones nowadays. Especially smart phones

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 30th 2009 8:48PM]

wonder how much they lose $ wise on trying to beat the iphone

[Davis4ever Posted Jul 30th 2009 9:11PM]

I'm sorry Samsung, but it seems you haven't learned anything from the i910. The Samsung Online Widget is pretty much the worst touchscreen smartphone software ever invented. Let's hope they installed SPB Traveler or Samsung Today on this thing too.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 8th 2009 1:00AM]

Samsung Solstice a887 user manula and PC studio Download:
http://www.att-phones.org/att-samsung-solstice-free-software-pc-studio-download.html