For the persons that have played with this class, what is the role of the summoner in a 4 person party?
I mean, what is the summoner doing while the eidolon is on the front lines?
Does he becomes a controler or buffer spellcaster? Is he good at it? Or is he so dependant to the eidolon that you send him far enough so that he doesn't fall and sends your precious critter to his home plane?
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I'm not big on party 'roles' personally, mostly because our group doesn't follow traditional roles.
The big advantage of the summoner is he can be good in melee in the form of the eidolon, plus get some other actions in with their spells. They have enough good spells (grease, create pit, haste, black tentacles, etc) that they can do well for short bursts but they won't have much endurance that way. The summoner in our group uses some ranged weapons and wands to fill in the rounds when she isn't casting.
It doesn't really fit into any of the "normal" roles. Personally, I don't like its make-up but that's just me.
The main problem is that it's very different to the Play-test version and the Paizo guys have taken a lot of stick because of the changes. Even though those giving out said stick knew it was a play-test version, and should be extremely thankful that Paizo allows us the option to play-test stuff and contribute to the products that get released, they seemed to forget this when the stick was being handed around so freely.
Bottom line, Paizo have released what they feel is a balanced class and I think they did a pretty good job even though the class doesn't appeal to me.
If you want to play one, you could use the eidolon as a beat stick to replace the fighter - sort of, or you could take a back row seat and use the powerful SA SLA summons - a bit like a wizard.
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There's a lot of flexibility to the Summoner. With a 3/4 BAB and a smart feat selection he can certainly hold his own in combat, especially if he buffs himself. With only light armor, you'll need to ensure a decent Dex for a passable AC until you can afford a mithril breast plate (and get the armor proficiency) or enchant a chain shirt high enough. Between the Summoner and Eidolon a DPR matching anyone in the party would not be unexpected. Additionally, either by being small or waiting until 8th level for a large Eidolon, you can treat it as a mount and be pretty nasty. The +1 to hit for higher ground against smaller creatures helps with the 3/4 BAB. The somewhat low AC can also be mitigated by taking the archer route, if you choose.
Alternately, the Summoner can take a role closer to a Bard by handing out Buffs to the Eidolon and his allies. If you go this route, you'll pump your Cha as high as possible so as to get as many bonus spells as possible so you'll also be pretty good in the social situations, though you'll need to make use of traits and maybe feats to get them as class skills with sufficient ranks.
Finally, you can, for the most part, forgo the Eidolon in favor of a multitude of skittering summons. With a high Cha and the long duration after a few levels, you'll be bringing at least one and maybe more to each fight. This can be handy since you'll be able to pick the best creature for each situation (flying, swimming, grappling, etc) and the smite evil of celestial templated creatures can help stack on the damage.