First Hands-On: Samsung Access TV Phone Makes John McCain Look Sexy

One of the highlights of the Samsung booth was the Access, one of the first handsets that supports AT&T’s Mobile TV service, launching in May. With its sleek black exterior, 2.5-inch display, and huge dialpad, the Access is sort of like a BlackJack II for people who could care less about productivity. Channel-change times were three seconds or less, and the video quality was very smooth when catching up on the news.

I liked the Sony Movie channel, which will be unique to AT&T. You might not think that broadcasting movies to a phone makes a lot of sense, but when you’re talking about classics like Groundhog Day I can definitely see people tuning in for 10 to 15 minutes at a time and not caring whether they can start from the beginning or pause or fast forward, although those features would be nice.

Another cool feature that gives AT&T’s TV service an edge over Verizon’s MediaFLO technology is the slicker program guide, which displays whatever station is playing in a small window above the current listings. It’s a small touch but gives AT&T Mobile TV a cable TV-like feel for mobile couch potatoes. You can expect up to four hours of viewing time on a charge, which is pretty good given the size of the display. I also like that there’s no external antenna, unlike some of Verizon’s V CAST Mobile TV phones.

Add in 3G, a 1.3-MP camera, and Video Share capabilities and you have one of the better multimedia phones at CTIA. We look forward to reviewing this phone and giving AT&T Mobile TV a thorough test drive.

Just check out our video hands on and larger pics to get a better idea.