Samsung Omnia 7 - The Super AMOLED Way
Samsung's WP7 device comes with a 4.0-inch AMOLED screen, a 1 GHz Snapdragon processor and a lightweight body of 138g. How does it stand out amidst the other WP7 smartphones? Hit the jump to find out.
Samsung Omnia 7 - The AMOLED Way
The Korean giant hit relative success with the , one of the top-tier Android smartphones, and was one of the few then with a 4-inch Super AMOLED display. Similarly this time round, the Samsung Omnia 7 is the only Windows Phone 7 (WP7) device thus far with a 4-inch Super AMOLED display. Other mandatory WP7-related but still impressive specifications follow, so do read on for our comprehensive review on the Omnia 7.
Looking simple and straightforward, this is the Samsung Omnia 7 - the Korean giant's first Windows Phone 7 device.
The Omnia 7 sports a simple and clean build that's congruent with most smartphones these days - a large screen takes most of the real estate on the front with three simple controls. While the phone looks hefty, it is extremely lightweight at 138g (to be precise, it is the lightest WP7 device we have reviewed to date). The good thing is that it's not a fragile handset and is in fact a sturdy device with its back protected by a nice steel cover. Given its light weight and reasonable build, the Omnia 7 feels right in place on our palms. Its slim form factor allows for easy handling and slides in/out of our pockets without hassle.
One thing we have noticed from past Windows Phone 7 device reviews is that the functional buttons on the sides of the WP7 phones aren't exactly well designed - they are too slim and flat for tactile feedback. This time, thankfully we don't have the same complaints as the buttons on the sides of the Omnia 7 are kept small but yet extremely easy to press. The only peeve we have is that the Omnia 7 sports a mixture of touch and physical buttons on the front face. The Home physical button (the one with the Windows logo) is slightly concave and flanked by both Back and Search touch 'buttons'. While there's ample space between the screen and the buttons, there's a tendency to accidentally press the touch controls since the home physical button is rather small. This could have been easily avoided if all of them were actual physical buttons.
The small Home button might prove to be a struggle for those with big thumbs.
By positioning the button on the sides of the device instead of the top, it is more ergonomic for users. For your info, the right most button is designated for camera usage.
Similar to the other Samsung juggernaut, the Galaxy S i9000, the Omnia 7 sports a sliding cover rather than a plug cover over its microUSB port, adding a sophistciated touch to an already polished-looking phone.
The USB slide-out cover is a nifty touch as it keeps the unsightly USB port out of sight as well as prevents dust from accumulating. The only complaint we have is that it sometimes gets in the way of plugging in the USB wire.
The phone's 5-megapixel camera with LED flash is sported here.
To release the lock that keeps the battery cover in place, simply release the catch just below the cover.
Samsung Zone
With Microsoft's tight guidelines in place, most vendors have chosen to position their phones through exclusive apps. Like the rest of Microsoft's partners, Samsung has chosen to hold its fort with Samsung Zone in the Marketplace. This strategy isn't unique to Samsung though; LG and HTC has their own specific app store and apps that highlight their exclusive material. As of now, there are a total of four apps available for downloads, namely Network Profile, Samsung Photo Sharing, Samsung Now Hub, and 3 (H3G only). The first one basically allows you to select from a list of available mobile networks, which can already be done in the phone itself under Settings; the fourth one is not relevant in Singapore. The only two apps that we foresee users to be using are the Samsung Photo Sharing app and the Samsung Now Hub.
The Samsung Photo Sharing app allows you to upload multiple photos at the same time to one of the following social networking sites: Facebook. Flickr, Friendster, MySpace, Photobucket and Picasa. Surprisingly, Twitter is not on the list. The app is a simple one-stop solution for uploading photos to your online collection (you can also select which folder to add them to). We tested the app, and while it worked smoothly, we were hoping that the app could allow us to upload to multiple websites at the same time.
Sites with blue tabs are accounts that you have already logged on to.
Simply click on one of the websites available to launch the Upload Editor - here you can add more photos, choose a title (do note that if you are uploading multiple files, text entered in the title field will apply to all photos) or a particular album.
The app also provides a simple overlook of what you have uploaded thus far and to which site.
The Samsung Now Hub gives you a condensed panoramic view of current affairs from weather, news and stocks. The information is pooled from accuweather.com, Reuters and Yahoo! Finance respectively. These feeds do not automatically refresh, so users have to do so manually. This is a very basic app with few sharing options (you can email interesting articles to friends, but you cannot cross post them on Twitter or Facebook; yes we know, it needs improvement).
Rain or shine? The weather data here should be sufficient for your reference.
In the news section, you are limited to Reuters' Canada, India, UK or US edition. You can only display one category of news at a time.
Super AMOLED it!
Like all the WP7 handsets before, the Omnia 7 performs exceedingly well in terms of navigation speed and messaging. Of course, this is achieved with a capable 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Likewise, we noted no lags with screen transitions, as well as apps operating quite smoothly with no slowdowns whatsoever. Messaging is a fluid affair too, not only in terms of agility but also thanks to the decently sized 4.0-inch screen, which gave us ample space for our fingers to maneuver. Microsoft's text prediction algorithm and auto-correction functionality further improved our messaging experience.
Since we're making references to the screen, don't forget that the main draw is its Super AMOLED screen. As usual, the Super AMOLED screen outsells itself and can only be seen to believe - compared to its other S-LCD equipped comrades, it performs better in color representation and contrast. The viewing angle is better under sunlight and works extremely well tilted horizontally or vertically. This greatly enhances multimedia viewing, be it videos or photos, with richer colors and sharper details to boast of. Complementing its excellent screen is a relatively decent audio playback, which can generally termed average in sound quality.
You can't really see the difference here, but the Super AMOLED screen on the Omnia 7 showed stronger contrast and had better viewing angles compared to the HTC HD7 and the LG Optimus 7.
Next, we scrutinized its imaging quality. As mentioned earlier, the phone comes with a standard 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. The Omnia 7's autofocus speed and image processing speed are slow compared to the LG Optimus 7, but roughly on par with HTC's HD7. Like both phones, colors weren't exactly well-balanced on the Omnia 7, inclining towards a more white-washed image. However, compared to the other phones, it exhibited better detail levels and less noise in its photos.
The camera does boast of an above average resolution, but with slightly weaker color reproduction.
Detail levels are above average, with the details of the fur more prominently seen.
As per normal, we compare the Omnia 7's battery performance with a selected group of devices chosen based on their similarities across battery capacities, display sizes, resolution and processing power. We have adopted the same complusory video looping test that we use on other platforms, but like the Optimus 7 and the HD7, the Omnia 7 does not support multitasking as it's a limitation of the Windows Phone 7 OS currently. As such, do take the battery results as a rough gauge of its battery mileage against the other multitasking-capable mobile phones. To reiterate, our standard battery test consists of looping a 240 x 320 pixels resolution video clip at 100% volume and screen brightness, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth switched on. For this phone, we compared it against the LG Optimus 7, HTC HD7, and the Apple iPhone 4.
The Samsung Omnia 7 fared significantly better than its WP7 peers, lasting an average of almost 2 hours more than its immediate competition. This is perhaps mostly attributed to its AMOLED screen, which is said to conserve up to 20% more battery life compared to phones with conventional screens. Our portability test also showcased better results, due to the fact that at 138g, the phone is much lighter than the rest of the WP7 devices. Despite its better standing, the Omnia 7 still trails behind the Apple iPhone 4 in both portability and battery life but shares relatively close results in terms of power consumption.
In addition to this strict lab test and comparisons, we've also used the Omnia 7 as our main phone to test out how its battery would fare on an average day-to-day usage scenario. This included 3G connectivity while partaking in heavy mobile usage throughout the day (e.g. occasional browsing on the web, internet messaging, and taking photos). On a single charge, the phone managed to last about nine hours. Pretty impressive, considering the HTC HD7 and LG Optimus 7 held on for about five to six hours.
Our Closing Thoughts
The Samsung Omnia 7's performance runs in the similar vein as its Windows Phone 7 (WP7) comrades due to Microsoft's strict guidelines, but with some exceptions. We were pleased with the simple design of the handset, and it does come off as a professional-looking phone. We would have preferred all the front panel controls to have had physical buttons since it is extremely easy to activate the touch-sensitive 'buttons' while navigating the main touch screen. Other buttons dedicated to volume, power and camera functions were easy to use unlike the ones on the Optimus 7 and HTC HD7. Overall, the handling experience was better than its counterparts.
Of course, its 4.0-inch Super AMOLED screen is the definitive issue of interest. For one, its screen with 480 x 800 pixels resolution showcased richer colors and contrast. Viewing the screen under the direct sunlight yielded better results too. All of these enhance the multimedia experience with truer blacks and as mentioned earlier, richer colors. Opting for the an AMOLED screen has also helped conserve battery, which has contributed to a longer battery life; in fact, it boasts the longest battery life out of the three WP7 devices we've tested thus far, chugging away for almost six hours during our video playback battery test, compared to the competition's average of four hours. Under normal use, the Omnia 7 also lasted longer at about nine hours instead of five to six hours on the others.
The battery life figures are still a bit low compared to the average of about a day of usage for non-WP7 smartphones. The Windows platform seems to be still inefficient in some ways considering the three WP7 devices we've seen thus far. Of course, if you're the sort who automatically takes the phone out to charge at work and then again at home, this would be a non-issue. But if you're the sort who expects a phone to last at least a day for normal usage, as has been prior to WP7 devices, these new phones could add a bit more hassle for your modern mobile lifestyle.
Back to the Omnia 7, one thing we didn't really like was the lack of exclusive content on the handset. The LG Optimus 7 had three solid apps that we could see users using quite frequently while the HTC HD7's HTC Hub looked set to have more content available. The imaging capability is still average, with slightly washed-out colors but better details and less noise in its photo captures as compared to the other two WP7 phones.
The Samsung Omnia 7 is the best WP7 device we've tested to-date. With an excellent display, good build, lightweight and better battery life than the immediate competition, it's hard to recommend other WP7 device options over the Omnia 7. Areas it could have bettered are the lack of front physical buttons and limited exclusive content. Overall, it still sounds like a better deal if you can stomach the nearly $1,000 price tag for the phone alone without contract.
The Samsung Omnia looks set to reign the WP7 space for now, with its stronger battery life and Super AMOLED screen. While little setbacks like lack of exclusive content and finicky front controls might deter it from getting a higher score, the smartphone still remains a highly recommended smartphone. If you are looking to embrace the new WP7 platform, you should go for the Omnia 7, but do bear in mind that it is also the most expensive at S$998 without any telco contractual arrangements.
If you're interested to compare all three of the WP7 devices we've tested to-date, you could do so with the "Compare This" feature on the page and add the phones to compare manually. For a helping hand, . Happy phone shopping!
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