Samsung Galaxy M Pro Preview

Introduction:

The Samsung Galaxy M Pro seems to illustrate very well the different categories in Samsung's new way of titling its smartphones. “M” should stand for “Mid-tier”, a level above the entry “Y”, and indeed, when compared to the Galaxy Y Pro, the Galaxy M Pro is taller, wider, and better looking. It also sports beefed up processor and rear camera, as well as adds a front-facing one. The screen resolution is higher than in the Y Pro at the same size, leading to better pixel density.

Are these upgrades enough to justify a price point in the higher bracket, or are they just granular improvements that don't bring along much differentiation? Read on our impressions from the prototype unit to find out...

Design:

We immediately have to say that the larger size of the Samsung Galaxy M Pro, compared to the Y Pro, is resonating with our big hands. The added width and length don't make the handset feel much bigger, since it is also thinner than the Y Pro, while carrying the same light weight, but they make it much more comfortable for typing.



You can compare the Samsung Galaxy M Pro with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

While our thumbs were hitting two or three keys at once looking for the right letter before, on the Samsung Galaxy M Pro, with its spacing between the larger chiclet-style domed buttons, we felt right at home firing away messages. The keyboard's layout is plain and standard, which is a welcome thing, since everything is right where you expect it to be.

The 2.6” touchscreen display is capable of displaying more colors than the one on the Galaxy Y Pro, and is also with higher 480x320 pixels of resolution, increasing pixel density, and thus making text and website details appear more distinct and easily readable.

The 5MP camera on the back is now being accompanied by an LED flash, and the back cover is partially made of brushed metal, which, coupled with the two-tone chassis, make for a distinguished enough outer shell, which is easy to handle. Moreover, the physical navigational buttons and  optical pad below the display are a comforting tribute to the days when we actually felt when we were pressing on something to induce an action.

Interface and Functionality:

We have a 1GHz processor in the Samsung Galaxy M Pro, which is pretty much standard for mid-tier handsets this day and age. It powers Android 2.3 Gingerbread fairly well on our prototype unit, devoid of lag or hiccups, but we'll spare a verdict for the final unit.

Samsung has tailored the TouchWiz overlay properly for the widescreen realities. The dock with shortcuts to your most used functions is now on the right-hand side of the homescreen by default, or it can be moved around, instead of being anchored at the bottom.


Having both a touchscreen and a physical keyboard means they complement each other pretty well for making selections faster and typing easier. When we add several enterprise features that the Samsung Galaxy M Pro sports, like Cisco Mobile, WebEx and Sybase Afaria for corporate phone management, it certainly becomes a suitable handset if you are the type that has to wear a suit all day.



Messaging, Internet and Connectivity:

Keying in those texts, ChatON messages or status updates is pretty quick with the spacious physical keyboard, and a bonus of having half the phone filled with buttons, is that the screen doesn't get covered by a virtual keyboard, so visually the real estate is the same while typing.


The Android 2.3 Gingerbread browser on the Galaxy M Pro performs its duties pretty well, save for the fact that it doesn't have pinch-to-zoom on this form factor, and doesn't support desktop Adobe Flash. The lack of Flash is a downer, since other Android phones with 1GHz processors are certainly capable of displaying those interactive restaurant menus on the go, but let's not forget we are dealing with a non-final unit here, and the software is still being tweaked for the handset. Text reflow fits the page content well on the screen, in digestible for reading format.


The Samsung Galaxy M Pro sports a decent suite of connectivity options for your busy lifestyle, too – 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, 2G, Bluetooth 3.0 + HS, Wi-Fi, A-GPS and FM Radio with RDS. It lacks DLNA connectivity, though, so you can forget about choppy streaming to your enabled TV or home stereo via the Wi-Fi router.

Camera and Multimedia:

The snapshots coming out of the 5MP camera on the Galaxy M Pro are rather decent.

We have a small LED flash on the back, which helps in illuminating the scene, and the shooter should also be willing to capture WVGA video with 30fps, which is borderline watchable, but shy of 720p HD video, which we are spoiled with from the current 1GHz mid-rangers.

The handset is capable of running MPEG-4 videos, even above the screen resolution, but DivX/Xvid support is missing out of the box, you will have to search Android Market for software solutions.

Expectations:

The Samsung Galaxy M Pro left a very good impression with us. Its main selling point, the portrait physical QWERTY keyboard, seems well-executed, with spacious key canvass and, since the handset is pretty wide, the buttons are large enough to avoid pressing them in tandem. The phone is also pretty thin and very light, and has a fairly distinct two-tone chassis with a brushed metal element on the back cover, giving it a more premium feel.

When we add a 5MP camera with LED flash, the latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread version, and the enterprise features, the Samsung Galaxy M Pro seems a worthy contender to battle for the attention of the corporate IT department, or anyone who digs this form factor without willing to break the bank for it. The phone could sway some BlackBerry fans which are looking to make the switch to Android, but don't want to give up their thumbboards, but we'll have to get a finalized unit of the Samsung Galaxy M Pro in order to determine how likely this scenario might be.

Samsung Galaxy M Pro Video Preview: