Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 Preview

Introduction:

A number of interesting things happened last month. The Palm Pre and iPhone 3GS rolled out and both managed to pique huge interest. Samsung also had their 15 minutes of fame, announcing four new Omnia handsets. In this preview we are taking a closer look at the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610, also known from the rumors as the Louvre. It is a side slider that comes equipped with a full QWERTY keyboard, 3.5” high resolution AMOLED display, 5-megapixel camera, features DivX & Xvid support and the set of functions characteristic of high-end cell phones, like GPS, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity etc. What we find more interesting is the operating system, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, has been heavily personalized. The TouchWiz 2.0 interface not only changes the phone home screen, main menu and several minor elements, but it also penetrates the software in depth, so even applications look differently. We can keep beating about the bush, but we better get to brass tacks right away.

Design:

Similarly to the Samsung Jet, the back cover of the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 is showy with its beautiful, red light-reflecting design elements. Actually, it looks so nice that we are willing to turn a blind eye to the rather bulky size and less dainty face side of the phone.



You can compare the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.



Similarly to all AMOLED screens we have seen to date, the phone display delivers lively and truly saturated colors. It measures 3.5 inches, comes with a high resolution of 480x800 pixels and utilizes resistive technology, meaning you can use any object to press against it. More on the different touch sensitive screen technologies is available here.

The Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 is a side slider and the QWERTY keyboard appears (surprise!) when you open it. The buttons are large and arranged in four rows – one less than on the HTC Touch Pro2. There are two non-standard buttons on the left of the Space key. The first, with a symbol that resembles Menu Key found on PC keyboards, acts as a shortcut to the menu that also shows up on sliding the phone open – it features links to your messages, calendar, notes and the phone search function. The second button, the one with a white arrow on it, is used to fast switch between applications running in the background without the necessity to enter the Task Manager. Unlike the Touch Pro2 and N97, the OmniaPRO B7610 display cannot be tilted at an angle.



On its either side you will find the volume rocker, screen lock/unlock key, camera shutter and one other button that we find most interesting. It´s located on the left hand side of the phone and used to switch between your Work and Life profiles. This is quite nice a function we will tell you about in a short while.

Interface:

The standard Windows Mobile 6.1 interface looks quite boring and dated. This is why manufacturers have been falling over backwards to come up with modifications and customization packs that lend some color and make the interface upbeat and friendly. HTC´s TouchFLO interface is an illustrative example. Samsung has adopted a similar practice and equips devices with the widget-full TouchWiz interface. The Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 utilizes version 2.0 that is the chief culprit for the vastly penetrating personalization.  Unlike the first TouchWiz, this particular version permeates the operating system in depth and managed to leave us with open mouths in just a few minutes. WOW! It´s so heavily personalized that you wouldn’t even notice you are using a Windows Mobile 6.1 device. Honest to goodness, we can say the TouchWiz 2.0 has done away with all shortcomings of the standard Windows Mobile 6.1 interface. Almost every single menu is either changed or features an alternative, is comfy to use with your bare fingers and so designed that shows it´s made by Samsung. Even pressing the Start button at the top of the home screen takes you in an entirely different menu, both in terms of overall look and available options. The Task Manager is virtually the same as on the Samsung Jet S8000 and similarly to the Palm Pre, you can see active icons for all applications running in the background.

The home screen looks completely in character of Samsung and you have three separate areas to place widgets. There isn’t an 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 phone. If you think the motley widgets simply don’t go with your conservative business style, just press the W&L button on the left hand side of the handset. It allows you to fast switch between both available modes – one to fit your daily, out of office routine and another, better suited for work (similarly to Nokia E series devices). The second shows info boxes 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 easy to change and interface elements can be rearranged or hidden. Mode Mananger allows you to place more functions on the home screen, set another wallpaper, background, ringtone, applications (say, you can get rid of widgets in Life mode), connectivity options or set the mode switcher to automatic.




Opening the slider switches the phone to landscape and makes the Composer menu pop up on screen. It features shortcuts to messages, emails, calendar, notes and search function. The phone contacts menu is pleasingly customized and allows filtering by first letters using the slider on the right. New contact entries are added through a personalized screen with large info fields. There are different versions of the calendar, alarm clock (appearing together with the annually recurring events, world clock and stop watch), messages and the phone file manager that are all quite comfier to use than the standard ones that come with the operating system. As a whole, the personalization doesn’t add functionality, but changes the background (so that is goes with the overall interface) and makes icons larger, so they are more comfortable. We like it a lot, because it creates the impression that you are using a handset that doesn’t utilize Windows Mobile. Congrats, Samsung, way to go!



The main menu hosts up to ten pages, where no more than 12 applications of your own choice can be placed. Non-personalized versions of the apps are available in “Other programs”.




While rummaging through the phone menus, we ran into something that might be of great interest to high-tech buffs – an app to overclock the phone processor that delivers four different CPU frequency settings – High, Normal, Low and Auto, be we decided not to experiment with the prototype.



Similarly to the Samsung OMNIA i900, HTC Touch Diamond2 and others, the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 comes preloaded with Opera Mobile browser and allows for fast internet connectivity over 3G and Wi-Fi. All told, there are no major improvements or nasty surprises here.

Camera and Multimedia:

The 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash that is located on the back utilizes pretty much the same interface as the Samsung OMNIA i910. Some functions are conspicuous in their absence, although none of the missing is of utmost importance – you have face and smile detection, white balance, color effects, ISO sensitivity settings and a number of presets. Videos are captured at VGA resolution, which looks slightly below par for a contemporary cell phone, but the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 is designed to be an unpretending device in terms of video capture anyway. We took several snapshots and a short clip, so you can get an idea of the camera performance. Just keep in mind the handset is a prototype, so we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about the camera quality.

Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 sample video at 640x480 pixels resolution





The phone TouchPlayer unifies all audio (visualized by relevant album or artist) and video content available. We are pleased to see the player appears differently when switched to landscape – it turns to something quite similar to what can be seen on the Samsung OMNIA HD i8910 (or rather, Cover Flow on the iPhone), with large album art and a row of letters below it that allows filtering. Selecting a particular album makes all available tracks show up, so you can choose what to play. There is also the intriguing option to change playback speed and we must say listening to Rihanna´s Pon de Replay at 1.5 times the normal speed is an awesome, unmatched experience!




Videos can be browsed in portrait mode, show up with preview frames and each one of the latter casts a really nicely looking reflection downwards. We didn’t have any troubles watching DivX content on the prototype, but Xvid video files just wouldn’t play. Still, we are sure the problem will have been fixed by the time the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 rolls out.



Expectations:

Wedo expect the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 will prove to be one of the bestbusiness oriented handsets when it finally appears on the market. Theprofound Windows Mobile personalization pack is impressive indeed. Webelieve Samsung has managed to take their device to another level andis about to throw down the gauntlet to the leader on the Windows Mobilesmartphone market – HTC. We can only guess at what´s in the cards forthe Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 and how the retail version will stack upagainst the competition, but we think the phone stands a pretty goodchance of making it to the top.