Samsung Giorgio Armani B7620 Preview

Introduction and Design:

We can easily declare 2009 year of fashion cell phone follow-ups. Some months ago we introduced you to the LG PRADA II. Now we’ve got our hands on the prototype of the second Samsung with the Giorgio Armani logo on it (M7500 Night Effect was branded as Emporio Armani). There is only one thing in common between these two though, the presence of a full QWERTY keyboard. While the LG PRADA II seems to have gained extra weight and managed to ruin the image of its trendy predecessor, the Giorgio Armani B7620 is another cup of tea. Our prototype is running on the Windows Mobile 6.1 OS, but the final unit will have WM6.5 on board. Aside from being a capable smart phone, the device seems to pack serious multimedia punch – DivX/Xvid video support, 5-megapixel camera and huge, 3.5-inch AMOLED display.

Actually, we lied to you. There is one other thing both phone have in common with – the rather serious weight gain compared to their previous makes. The Samsung Giorgio Armani B7620 is bulky even for a Windows Mobile smart phone and virtually the same size as the HTC Touch Pro2. Still, this is excusable given its solid metal front and large display.



You can compare the Samsung Giorgio Armani B7620 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The 3.5-inch display delivering resolution of 480x800 is perfectly capable of meeting the needs of contemporary users. If you girlfriend says something like this to you though, you should be worried indeed. Sliding the screen sideways reveals the keyboard and it can also be tilted at an angle to allow easier text entry, similarly to HTC Touch Pro2 and Nokia N97. Both send and end keys are below the screen along with mandatory inscription that reads Giorgio Armani and what looks like a chain store, bargain basement knockoff of a sapphire paste. Pressing it once calls up the main menu, while holding it pressed causes the multitasking menu to pop on screen.


The relatively large keyboard buttons are arranged in four rows with enough space between them. Since there is a row less than on the Touch Pro2, all special symbols are scattered among the letter keys and not as on normal computer keyboards. Finally, there is not enough room for your fingers if you tilt the display towards it and typing text in can get uncomfortable.  Both volume rocker and microSD slot are on the left hand side, while camera shutter, phone lock and microUSB connector are on the opposite. There is a button that bears cryptic “W&L” marking on top of the device that calls a function we will get down to in the Interface section of the review.


There is a fancy looking pattern on the back side of the Giorgio Armani, although the surface is completely flat, since a transparent, plastic layer covers the goldish stencil that makes for an excellent mirror.

As a whole, the overall look of the Samsung Giorgio Armani B7620 makes us think of these massive, diamond studded neck-chains with inscription reading P.I.M.P. on them. In other words, the flashy look and brand name of the phone make for quite an eye-catcher in a rather bulky, tawdry, gangsta way.

Interface:

Samsung has already showed us how well they can personalize the operating system with the Omnia II. Almost every single element has been changed or at least has an alternative outlook, looks great and feels really comfy to use with bare fingers. Again, we remind you that our prototype runs on WM6.1 so the interface should have some differences, as compared to the final variant.

Most menus look pretty much like the ones on feature phones by the same manufacturer and home screen is completely in character of Samsung. You have three separate areas to place your widgets, but there is no option to download more on the prototype, but still, one of the apps allows you to create shortcuts to every single program installed on the device. If the all colorful widgets don’t go with your conservative business style, you just need to press the W&L button that’s on the top of the phone to switch between both available modes – one to suit your daily life and another that is fit for work and business (similarly to the Nokia E series devices). The latter shows information fields that notify you of new emails, messages, meetings, snapshots or lead to shortcuts, settings, airplane mode, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi etc. As it might be expected of a smart phone, this is all easily changeable – you can rearrange or hide interface elements. Mode Changer allows you to add more functions to the home screen, set another wallpaper, ringtone, apps showed (say, you need to get rid of all Life widgets), the selected connectivity mode or get the mode switcher to automatic.



Opening the slider turns screen to landscape and makes a menu of shortcuts leading to your message inbox, emails, calendar, notes and searches appear in front of you. Contacts are pleasantly personalized and can be filtered by the first letter of names. Comfier versions of the Calendar, Alarm Clock (appear together with annual events, world clock and stopwatch functions), messages and file manager are available as well. As a whole, the level of personalization of most interface elements doesn’t add much functionality, but changes background color to black (to better go with the overall design) and makes icons larger so they are easier to press with your fingers.



All told, the main menu looks pretty much like straight out of a typical feature phone and houses up to five separate screens where you can place applications of your own choosing.



Camera and Multimedia:

Samsung Giorgio Armani B7620 comes with Opera Mobile and supports both 3G and Wi-Fi frequencies. As a whole, nothing has been improved here.

The same goes for the camera. It is a 5-megapixel, autofocus one with flash and features similar interface to the OMNIA. No new options have been added here, although it already delivers rich functionality with options like face and smile detection, white balance, multitude of effects, ISO sensitivity setting and loads of presets. Video is captured at VGA resolution and this can be considered a below par feature, given contemporary standards. The saving grace is the slow motion capture at QVGA resolution that seems to have made its way to the interface.



We do apologize for being unable to present any pictures taken with the Samsung Giorgio Armani  B7620 to you. All stored snapshot files are corrupted for some reason, probably owing to camera malfunction or software bug. We believe manufacturer will have fixed the issue by the time retail units are released.

TouchPlayer unifies all audio, filtered by albums or artists and video content available on the device. The player itself can be operated in landscape mode as well, its large album art and rows of text that allow filtering below making it look like the one on the OMNIA HD (or the iPhone Cover Flow in particular). Videos are showed in huge preview frames and each of them casts really nicely looking reflection downwards. You also have the intriguing option to change playback speed and we must say that Rihanna´s Pon de Replay sounds AWESOME at 1.5 times the normal speed! The good news is DivX and Xvid files are played without a hitch. Fashion buffs will be able to enjoy proper experience and see their favorite movies completely hassle free on the Samsung Giorgio Armani B7620, provided they are not coded in HD of course.




Expectations:

The Samsung Giorgio Armani B7620 looks like quite a promising, Windows Mobile powered smartphone. As a whole, we are pleasantly impressed by the personalization pack that the manufacturer seems to have polished to perfection to allow improved ease of use, but we just don’t know if how many people would go for its rather kitschy overall look. If you are looking for a functional, business device that will undoubtedly attract attention, the Samsung Giorgio Armani  is definitely your option. We will let you know more about it when we have managed to get our hands on a final, retail unit.

Samsung Giorgio Armani B7620 Video Preview: