Samsung Omnia 7 (WinPho7) - 1 week on......

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So, last Tuesday I took delivery of my Windows Phone 7 equipped Samsung Omnia 7 phone.

OS review will follow later.

So, first impressions of the device on opening the box are very good. The aluminium body feels cold to the touch after its many hours in a delivery van in a cold October morning! Initial slotting together was really very easy, and the curved edges make holding the device quite comfortable. Although less so than the massively grip friendly and larger Toshiba TG01. The battery cover (hence 90% of the back of the device is aluminium. Another nice touch that operator branding (Orange in my example) is isolated to the plastic base cover. I suspect this can easily be removed by the usual methods.

Front on the device looks purposefull and simple. Its not a device with a massive amount of flair, or flourishes in the look department. Its a serious look and some might call it bland. I think I prefer the term "understated". The standard 3 buttons are available on the front. The "Windows" (home?) button is recessed and concave in shape, an feels smooth to the touch.

All the hardware buttons on the side of the phone are nestled inside the aluminiun casing, and are plastic in construction. Keypresses are solid and re-assuring, and the camera button has a half-press/focus function.

The top and bottom of the device are a plastic and the top contains a small sliding door to hide/keep clean the micro-usb port. A neat little touch! And the 3.5mm jack socket it also housed on the top. in my opinion, this is the best place for it. Having the two sockets on the same face makes perfect sense!

Powering on, and the first thing you notice is the blackness of the screen. Its not a wishy washy grey, but a deep solid and beautifull clean black! Initial setup of the device is quite simple, sign in to a few things, and import some contacts over as per usual!

The OS navigation is so quick and smooth, it's really a revelation. Menus are quick, and loading times between features are minimal. Animations and screen sensitivity are perfect.

Once you have the home-screen set as you want it, finding what you need is rarely more than a couple of gestures away. Most of the time, it's one click. This makes fiddling around through menus obsolete. I have not had to mess about much at all! No instructions use was needed.

Battery life has so far been impressive. Never had to worry about my battery dying during the day, and thats with 2 hotmail accounts syncing, plenty of games play and texting/calling. That to me is exactly what is needed. 24 hours of full use between charges. 48 hours with lower use and no games should be easily do-able.

The screen quality is awesome. The HD video example of the phone playes seamlessly, smooth, and with fantastic colours. People really do comment when they see the video.

I think I made the right choice going to the Omnia, it seems the right mix of screen size/looks/design and the screen quality pushed it to the forefront for me.

Overall, this is a top notch device. Easy to use, powerful, neat and feature-packed.

It gets a 4.5 out of 5 for me. To get the full 5, it would need to be a tiny bit prettier, and smoother edged for more comfort, but I am really nit-picking :D
 
Very nice write up, I really like the look of the WP7 OS and for me this handset looks like the current pick of the bunch.

The battery life sounds great for a modern smartphone, I shall look forward to your review of the OS.

Out of interest, what phone did you have previously?
 
How are you handling the fact that WP7 is so damn ugly?

Edit: I re-read that and realised it sounded a bit trollish, it really isn't intended to be.
 
How are you handling the fact that WP7 is so damn ugly?

Edit: I re-read that and realised it sounded a bit trollish, it really isn't intended to be.

Ugly? You really think so? Interesting, will cover this in part 2 :)

Very nice write up, I really like the look of the WP7 OS and for me this handset looks like the current pick of the bunch.

The battery life sounds great for a modern smartphone, I shall look forward to your review of the OS.

Out of interest, what phone did you have previously?

Thanks :)

I came from a TG01, but have previously had a wide selection of WinMo devices previously (From the Orange M5000 to the HTC rose) back from about 2003 starting with the original SPV. I also work with Iphone/Ipad/Ipod touch devices through work.
 
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Never posted in this section before, but having just gotten a Samsung Omnia 7 on Sunday night I have to agree with Malt_Vinegar. It is a very nice phone in both the hardware and software. Feels nice to hold and the OS is so quick, I have yet to have any lag, just feels so nice to use.

My only complaint is the OS is lacking some basic features and no msn client as far as I know (I new about these), but if Microsoft add these (seems they are adding quite a lot) and listen to the users the very good OS can only get better.

Coming from a satio (still have one year on my contact :( ) this is a massive improvement but then a 3310 would also be from that phone.
 
I think the hardware itself is very nice, but the OS in its current state is incredibly limited.
No flash, HTML 5 or even Silverlight support. No copy paste and a general lack of settings and options. You can’t even do simple things like using custom ringtones.
However, what it does, it does very well. It’s very smooth.
 
Flash - Coming soon
HTML5 - Yup, although currently WinPho 7 runs IE7. An IE8 update will not be far off.
Silverlight - Apps are already made using silverlight
Custom Ringtones - Does anyone actually use these anymore?
Copy Paste - Coming early 2011

MSN client, we are less than 2 weeks from launch, and an app is already available with basic functionality. Admittedly, its not the best, but its being worked on :)

WinPho 7 is being driven strongly by MS, and they are making changes and improving it. The fact the hardware is being kept within specified standards will help MS with releasing updates and adding features without having to spend ages testing for hundreds of hardware specifications.

I strongly believe that most issues will be addressed if there is enough demand/requests for them. MS want to maximise this market!
 
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these phones do look good, But one major flaw is the fact theres no way of adding any memory, both this phone and the mozart iirc have fixed memory, which in a smart phone seems really daft.

Nice right up though.
 
these phones do look good, But one major flaw is the fact theres no way of adding any memory, both this phone and the mozart iirc have fixed memory, which in a smart phone seems really daft.

Nice right up though.

I agree, this is an issue. However, its gen1 devices, this will change. Either devices will come with larger internal memory, or MS will have to look at changing the policy with extended storage. I think some of the UK available 1st gen devices will come with 16gig for example.

Thanks :)

RE: pics
I will try and get some pics tonight. I don't carry a camera around with me, and taking pics of the phone from the phone is quite difficult!
 
Its interesting how Samsung made this phone to a high standard of quality (which it obviously is), but the Galaxy S, which was arguably going to sell better feels cheap and nasty in comparison.

I'm currently torn between this and the HD7, the finish and SAMOLED will likely swing it for me though. (You might have seen my other thread :p)
 
But one major flaw is the fact theres no way of adding any memory

As far as I know this is due to Microsoft demands.
They currently don’t allow manufacturers to include a microSD slot because they want to keep a very high standard for the hardware. The internal flash is a lot faster and a microSD might lead to speed issues.
There are other requirements for the phones such as 1ghz processor, 5mp camera and no OS alterations such as HTC Sense.
 
^
Storage has nowt to do with MS specs. The HD7 has a 16mb microSD card (just like the DHD/HD2) and the Samsung Focus (US only?) is fully upgradable.
 
^
Storage has nowt to do with MS specs. The HD7 has a 16mb microSD card (just like the DHD/HD2) and the Samsung Focus (US only?) is fully upgradable.

The HD7 has an SD Card slot, but it is not fully functioning and HTC said doing that, while possible, can end up bricking the phone as it can disconnect the antenna.

There are lots of reports of the Omnia actually having 'expandable' memory, not removable. All these mobile sites are an absolute mess though so I dont know if its true :p
 
^
Storage has nowt to do with MS specs. The HD7 has a 16mb microSD card (just like the DHD/HD2) and the Samsung Focus (US only?) is fully upgradable.

Actually, that is incorrect.
It does because it reads the external memory as internal which means it will save system data onto the external disc.

"apparently, according to Microsoft’s Charlie Kindel, they don’t like microSD, ‘cos they can’t guarantee that you won’t use a dodgy third party card, which’d spuff up your phone."

Anyways, if you are interested I suggest you take a look at this:

http://www.mobileshop.com/blog/mobi...-crack-with-microsd-cards-in-windows-phone-7/

edit:
they also demand a minimum of 8GB internal storage, so yes, storage has to do with MS specs :p
 
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I had seen that Redmelo, its just one of those strange things nearly all devices end up having.

Hopefully it will improve in the future!

The good thing is though, for here, you have a choice of the HD7 if you want 16GB memory (I'd say that is enough for 99.9% of people) and if you aren't fussed and want a slightly higher quality, albeit smaller screen, you have the Omnia 7.

Solid launch devices and I look forward to getting mine, though I haven't decided which deal yet for the Omnia, and if it ends up having loads of stock issues I might just get a HD7 to tide me by. :p
 
I would really recommend the Omnia7 at this point. Even if in direct sunlight the SAMOLED might not be as good, but indoors it is simply gorgeous.
The HTC Trophy is rather pale in comparison (I haven’t seen the HD7 yet but I presume it’s the same LCD screen).
 
Yeah, I'm sure I'll end up going for the Omnia, even if it might end up costing a few quid more in the end.

Its very difficult to appreciate the SAMOLED looking at pictures and videos, much like with the Retina display on my iPhone.

I watched a video of a guy playing with a HD7 though and the software (while restricted) looks absolutely fantastic. I'm genuinely impressed.

Heading into town now so I can perhaps have a go on one!
 
My only complaint is the OS is lacking some basic features and no msn client as far as I know (I new about these), but if Microsoft add these (seems they are adding quite a lot) and listen to the users the very good OS can only get better.
MSN client is free in the App store done by a MS Partner (Miyowa)
 
Actually, that is incorrect.

They currently don’t allow manufacturers to include a microSD slot because they want to keep a very high standard for the hardware. The internal flash is a lot faster and a microSD might lead to speed issues.

I was just referring to your first post ^ as you pointed out later a few have a (inaccessible) microSD slot for storage :confused:

XDA have found HD7s from o2 come with a class 2-4 16GB card (+ the usual 512MB internal ROM for the OS) After a hard reset all system files are copied back to the card, so apart from voiding the warranty it should be straight forward to stick a faster/larger card in. It'll be a cheap upgrade when o2 start selling one with more GeeBees next year :D

Anyway, isn't the lack of removable storage down to Zunes marketplace? So you can easily copy paid games/apps/music iTunes styleeee? :p
 
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