Refreshed Samsung Alias Gets Improved Keyboard, Not Quite as Ugly

We weren’t huge fans of the original Samsung SCH-u740. The dual-hinge design was sort of neat, but it kind of looked like a gaudy calculator and the QWERTY keyboard was confusing. So when Verizon Wireless recently renamed that fugly phone the Alias we just shrugged. Now there’s a “new” phone to go with the new name, and what you get isn’t bad for $129 (after rebate).

The two main upgrades with this Alias are the new silver finish and the slightly re-tooled QWERTY keyboard, which has color-defined numbers and letters for easier texting and dialing. You can see below for the rest of the specs and another image, but given that the LG enV2 is identically priced (at least for now) we don’t really see the point.

Samsung Alias Specs (from Press Release)

• 1.3 megapixel digital camera with flash
• Camcorder
• Get It Now® – downloadable games, ringtones, wallpapers, location based services and more
• Mobile Web 2.0SM – customizable, enhanced wireless Internet access to the latest in news, sports, weather and more
• Instant Messaging using AIM®, MSN®, Yahoo®
• Text, Picture and Video Messaging
• Bluetooth wireless technology – Object Push Profile for vCard, headset, car kits, serial port and certain dial up networking profiles
• Expandable memory with external microSD card slot
• Dimensions: 3.8” x 2.04” x .58”; 3.65 ounces with standard battery
• Bilingual user interface: English and Spanish
• TTY/TTD Capable
• Personal organizer with Calendar, Calculator, Notepad, Currency Converter, Alarm Clock, World Time and Stop Watch