The Samsung Zeal is now available from Verizon Wireless, but much like Verizon did with the U740/Alias, the Zeal is simply a renamed Alias 2, including a shared U750 model number. That Verizon would reintroduce this phone over a year and a half after its initial launch speaks to just where we are in the market right now. While smartphones are simultaneously redefining what you can do with a mobile device, as well as seeping into the entry level market (LG Optimus One, Samsung Galaxy 5) feature phones are getting lost in the fray. The Zeal has a pretty standard flip phone design, save for the dual hinge that allows the phone to flip open both vertically and horizontally. It also seems a bit taller, probably to allow enough room for the full QWERTY keyboard when in landscape mode. With the flip closed, the device measures 4.01-inches tall, 2.04-inches wide, and .67-inches thick. It’s thinner than I thought it would be and feels pretty solid.
The front panel has a small display that will show the caller ID as well as the current time. This front panel also has media controls for when listening to music. Speaking of music, the Zeal has a 2.5mm headphone jack as well as a microSD card slot that supports up to 32 GB of external memory. The phone does not ship with a card.
The right spine of the device contains a (giant) red power button, a lock/unlock button for the external display, and the aforementioned microSD card slot. I did have some problems with the flap for the slot staying closed. This is what I was talking about in the Overview when I mentioned “build quality issues”. The left spine contains a Voice Command button, the volume rocker buttons, the proprietary charging port, and the 2.5mm headphone jack. The camera is on the front panel of the device, not on the back. Flipping the phone open reveals the nicely sized 2.6-inch QVGA display. The display is actually bigger than it looks in the pictures and is clear and bright.
The Samsung Zeal comes equipped with the standard Verizon media player. It’s not the greatest Samsung Zeal – Landscape Modemedia player in the world but it does its job and it does its job fairly well. The player will stop the music if you have incoming calls and will resume when the call ends. One thing to note is that the music will stop occasionally if you’re trying to multitask on the phone. As a smartphone power user, the fact that multitasking caused a strain was frustrating, but for those who are not smartphone power users, or for those who don’t wish to use smartphones, the Samsung Zeal seemed sufficient enough at the job. The media player can be controlled using the outside control keys on the display which does give the Zeal the feel of being an MP3 player as well.
Overall, the Samsung Zeal ranks in as an ‘Average’ phone in Verizon’s line up. It is a bit of a let down that the Samsung Zeal is pretty much identical to the Samsung Alias 2, if not the same. Coloring the phone black and releasing it as the new, amazing, dual hinge phone of 2010 is a bit misleading and frankly, a bit of a bad decision on Verizon’s part. The Zeal could have been a new name for a new line up of Samsung phones but instead it goes to what amounts to an Alias 2 clone. Yet, the dual hinge design, the innovative e-ink keyboard and the overall design of the Samsung Zeal cannot be overlooked. For Alias 2 users who have run out on their contract and want a newer version of their phone, they can reach out and grab the Samsung Zeal.
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