Author Archive: James Richardson

Samsung Omnia Pro B7610 Review

Yes, it’s another Omnia. This time though with a slide out QWERTY keyboard. There is certainly a market for this style of device but can the Samsung compete with the all ready well established HTC Touch Pro2?

Samsung OmniaPro B7610

 

What’s in the box:

• Device
• Battery
• Charger
• USB Cable
• Wired Headset
• Manuals
• Software

Take a look at Matt’s Samsung Omnia Pro B7610 unboxing video for a preview of the hardware and OS.

 

The ten second review:

Device: Samsung OmniaPro B7610

Price: £366.85

Summary: A feature packed Windows phone with the bonus of a slide out keyboard.

Best of: Keyboard, GPS, Wi-Fi, 1GB Internal Memory + MicroSD up to 32GB.

Worst of: Lock button

 

Samsung Omnia Pro B7610 Specification:

• Operating System – Windows Mobile 6.5
• Processor – 800 MHz
• Memory – 1GB Internal
• Display – AMOLED resistive touchscreen, 16M colours, 800 x 480 pixels, 3.5 inches
• GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 
• 3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100  
• 3G HSDPA 3.6 Mbps
• WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, DLNA
• Bluetooth  v2.0 with A2DP
• MicroUSB
• GPS – Integrated with A-GPS
• MicroSD up to 32GB
• DivX/XviD/MPEG4/3gp/H.263/H.264 player
• TV Out
• Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• Camera – 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
• Battery – Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh
• Dimensions – 112.6 x 57.8 x 16.2 mm
• Weight – 159 g with battery

 

General:

On the top of the handset are two ports which come with plastic covers. One is the headphone jack and the other is the microUSB port.

Samsung OmniaPro B7610 Top

 

The left hand side houses the up/down volume rocker and also the “work & life” button.

Samsung OmniaPro B7610 left Side

 

The dedicated camera button and the lock key are located on the right side.

Samsung OmniaPro B7610 Right Side

 

On the rear of the device is the camera lens, flash and speaker grill.

Samsung OmniaPro B7610 Rear

 

The front is fairly typical Samsung with a menu button between the call send and end keys. In addition, at the top, are the secondary camera lens and light sensors.

Samsung OmniaPro B7610 Front

 

Highlights

• QWERTY Keyboard
• GPS
• 3G/Wi-Fi
• Multimedia

 

Lowlights

• Lock button
• Finger print magnet

 

Review:

 

Straight out of the box the Samsung OmniaPro B7610 feels quite chunky and weighty but I would expect this as it has that nice slide out QWERTY keyboard. Its rounded edges give it a comfortable feel in the hand. Like most of Samsungs devices it would appear to be very well made although very plastic. The battery cover has that nice maroon colour to it, like on the Samsung Jet and Omnia II, which appears black in some lighting conditions and maroon in others. Its quite a finger print magnet though like the 3.5 inch screen.

Any one who buys this device is obviously after the slide out keyboard, otherwise you would have bought the Omnia II.

Samsung OmniaPro B7610 Keyboard

 

As I mentioned at the top of the page this device will be up against the HTC Touch Pro2 as both are slide out Windows phones. The keyboard on the Samsung is quite different to that on the HTC. For a start the Samsung has a four row, compared to five on the HTC. This means that when entering numbers you must hold down the ALT key to allow you to access the numbers on the top row. Not a major issue but its easier on the HTC with its dedicated number keys.

The keys themselves are also very different. They are actually a bit larger on the Samsung but there is no spacing between them like on the HTC.

Samsung OmniaPro B7610 vs. HTC Touch Pro2

 

The feel of the keys is also totally unique. The Samsung keys have a kind of rubbery feel to them and require only a very light press. The HTC keys are much firmer.

Which keyboard is better? That’s a hard one. If I had to pick I would probably go with the HTC Touch Pro2 purely for the fact that the spacing between the keys makes for slightly easier typing due to the fact that you can feel your way round the keyboard better. The Samsung OmniaPro B7610 keyboard is fantastic too but I think HTC have just got the edge on this one.

However the sliding mechanics feel a little better on the OmniaPro. It does not tilt like the HTC but its a much smoother slide and requires less force to perform the for mentioned slide movement. Unfortunately once open though the OmniaPros screen feels a little wobbly when you move the phone. On the Touch Pro2 it is real tight.

Samsung OmniaPro B7610 with keyboard open

 

The Samsung OmniaPro B7610 runs Windows Mobile 6.5 which has been around for a while now. Like all Windows phones you get the standard stuff such as Office Mobile, My Phone, Marketplace and Windows Live Messenger.

As on the Omnia II, Samsung have put a heavy skin over the top of most things in Windows Mobile. To start with with we have the homescreens.

The OmniaPro comes as standard with three different options. The first is new Windows homescreen that all 6.5 devices come with. Its not the most fancy but it does work.

Windows Mobile Homescreen

 

Next we have Samsungs Touchwiz that has been around for a while and it features on the Omnia II, Jet and Pixon among others. This is made up of three screens.  These can be accessed by a simple swipe left or right.

Samsungs TouchWiz

 

On the left hand side of the screen is the widgets bar. From here you can drag and drop widgets of your choice onto the homescreens giving you access to common features. These can be positioned anywhere on the screen you like.

 

The third option was a surprise and I didn’t know it existed until half way through the review. On the left hand side of the phone underneath the volume rocker is a button with “W&L” printed on it. This stands for Work and Life. From Touchwiz if you press this button a new homescreen will appear.

Work Homescreen

 

This new homescreen is the Work one and is obviously designed to give you fingertip access to any information you may need to keep in communication with people. The screen comes as standard as seen above but I was pleased to see it can be customised:

Work Screen Settings

 

I have never been a fan of Touchwiz and finding this option was a real treat as I really liked it. Its not as fancy as Touchwiz which is the “Life” option but its meant to make you as efficient as possible, as many people that use Windows phones have them as a business tool. Within the main menu you will find the “mode manager”. This will allow you to tweak the settings for the homescreens. The best bit here I think is that if you do toggle between “work & life” you can alter the sound settings which will be handy if you are not allowed your phone to be ringing in the office.

 

As I mentioned earlier in the review, Samsung have heavily customised the operating system. The first example of this is the menus on the phone. You have two options:

Menu Option One

 

Menu option one is the standard Windows one and this as always is accessed by pressing the start icon on the top left of the screen. Here you can scroll down the list and this list can go on and on depending how many apps you put on the device. Its a jumpy scroll though! You cannot scroll from top to bottom in one go but only in sections which is a bit annoying. This is a Windows thing though as its the same on many devices.

 

Option two is accessed by pressing the hardware button between the send and end keys.

Menus Option Two

 

This is the Samsung menu. It contains the same stuff as the windows menu but just in a different format. This time the menu is made up of four screens that can be scrolled left or right. I’m not sure why Samsung do this as its not any better or worse than the Windows menu in my opinion but that’s just the way it is.

 

The Samsung OmniaPro B7610 (God, that’s a long title!) comes with a great calendar and this can be accessed from the “Work” homescreen if you choose to have that option onscreen. Scheduling appointments in the calendar is simple and once entered you have several options of viewing the calendar, which you don’t get on some handsets.

 

Samsung OmniaPro B7610 Calendar

 

Another nice application on the OmniaPro is MSN Weather.

MSN Weather

 

Its fairly basic but gives you all the info you need and with three different views. Cor blimey govnor, its chilly today!

 

Messaging on the Samsung OmniaPro B7610 is a breeze. You can use active sync for one email account and this will push mail to you. In addition you can add numerous other email accounts but these will not be push email. You can set these to sync with the server every 5, 10, 15 mins etc.

For business users you have the added benefit of Office Mobile. Here you can create Word, Excel and OneNote docs and also view PowerPoint. It works a treat on the OmniaPro much like on similar devices.

 

Web browsing is as good as you would expect on this high end device. The device comes loaded with two different web browsers. The first is the latest version of Internet Explorer which I am not so keen on. The second, and better one,  is Opera Mobile. As the AMOLED screen is so good, web browsing looks fantastic. Scrolling is super smooth and it scrolls faster than some other smartphones. You have the option to view the web pages like you would on a PC or you can select "mobile view" which takes away a lot of the adverts on certain websites and presents the page to fit the phone screen allowing you to only scroll up or down. I prefer browsing this way and the Omnia rendered the pages beautifully.

When using in portrait mode the onscreen keyboard if fabulous. Its sensitive, the keys are a decent size and you get some haptic feedback to round things off.

 

Watching video on the OmniaPro had its good points and its bad. The bad bit is I could not find a YouTube player on the phone. I cant remember the last time I had a phone that did not come with one but if it was there it was hiding. Its a shame as I tend to use YouTube apps quite a bit.

On the upside watching movies was excellent. The Samsung OmniaPro B7610 comes with a media player installed and I thought this may be restricted to a few formats like WMV files but I put a full movie on the device I had converted from DVD to MP4 and it played fine. The AMOLED screen certainly helped the colours pop out from the screen. It looked sweet.

 

The one thing that frustrates me the most about Samsung phones is the lock button they put on the device. Once the device goes into standby mode its a real pain having to hold down the lock button for a couple of seconds. Then you have to unlock the screen with the new windows mobile 6.5 screen lock. Its just too much and it got right on my nerves.

 

One thing I am always pleased with on Samsung phones is the music player. Once again it was fantastic on the OmniaPro B7610. The speaker was of reasonable volume but where Samsung do a great job is with the headphones. They just sound great. They are in ear headphones and feel well built. The music quality always sounds good through these and me and Linkin Park had a good rock session. Good job Samsung.

 

The camera on the OmniaPro was also very good, just like on the Omnia II. The interface is very nice with lots of on screen options. You can have the flash on, off or on auto. Focus options include macro, face and auto. You can change the exposure so in low light conditions you can let more light into the lens. There are many shooting modes including, single, continuous, smile, mosaic, panorama and action. All work well. There are also many scene modes – portrait, landscape, sunset, dusk & dawn, night, text, sports, indoors, beach & snow, fall colour (autumn), firework and candle light. Samsung really want you to get the best results possible. Its a shame the other major manufactures cant supply as many features with there cameras! In the settings you can alter white balance, effect, ISO, contrast, saturation, sharpness, metering and quality. There is a timer and an anti shake option as well.

 

 

Conclusion:

So is the Samsung OmniaPro B7610 a decent device? Hell yeah. I found very few things I didn’t like about it. Its a good all rounder with the added bonus of the slide out keyboard. Is it as good as the HTC Touch Pro2? I would say they are pretty much equal. The keyboard on the HTC TP2 is very slightly better but apart from that its a real close call. The camera on the Samsung is better than on the HTC so that may be a deciding factor.  Keyboard aside I think deciding which to get may come down to the user interface. If you like TouchWiz and its other options then go for the Samsung. If you prefer TouchFlo 3D on the HTC then that’s the one to get.

 

Posted by: James

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Review

Looking for a slide out QWERTY smartphone? This one may be right up your street.

Sony Ericssons Xperia X2 is the much anticipated sequel to the X1 but is it as good as the original? Read on to find out if this new version is worthy of you spending your cash.

 

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2

 

What’s in the box:

• Device
• Battery
• Charger
• USB Cable
• TV Out Cable

Also have a look at Matt’s unboxing video for more details.

 

The ten second review:

Device: Sony Ericsson Xperia X2

Price:TBC

Summary: A feature filled Windows phone with the bonus of a slide out QWERTY keyboard.

Best of: Email, Keyboard, Camera, 3.5mm headset jack.

Worst of: Build Quality

Get it now from: Sony Ericsson

 

 

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Specification:

• Operating System – Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional
• Processor – Qualcomm MSM 7200 528 MHz
• Memory – RAM – 256MB / ROM – 512MB
• Display – 3.2" VGA, 800 x 480 pixel, 65,536 colour touchscreen
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
• UMTS/HSPA 900/1900/2100
• WiFi
• MicroUSB
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Internal GPS antenna with aGPS support
• microSDHC memory card (up to 16GB)
• Bluetooth stereo (A2DP)
• Camera – 8.1 megapixel
• Geo tagging
• Full QWERTY keyboard
• Optical trackpad
• Talk Time -GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 – 10 hours
• Standby Time – GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 – 500 hours
• Battery – Standard battery, Li-Po 1500 mAh (BST-41)
• Dimensions – 110.0 x 54.0 x 16.0 mm (4.3 x 2.1 x 0.6 inches)
• Weight – 155g (5.5 oz)

 

 

 General:

 

On the top of the device is the 3.5mm headset jack, the power button and a speaker grill.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Top

 

The left side contains the microUSB port and also a battery cover release knob.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Left Side

 

On the right is the up/down volume rocker, the dedicated camera key and the housed stylus.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Right Side

 

Situated on the back of the device is the 8.1mp camera lens and flash.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Back

 

On the front are the function keys and optical trackpad at the base, and at the top is the secondary camera, proximity sensor and speaker.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Front

 

Highlights:

• Wi-Fi/3G
• Camera
• Keyboard
• 3.5mm headset jack

 

Lowlights:

• Build Quality
• Screen is slow to react
• Hardware Keys

 

 

Review:

Out of the box I was surprised by how heavy the Xperia X2 was. At 155g its heavier than some similar devices but this factor has never been one to put me off a phone. The device comes in two colours, black and silver. I had the silver one and its quite attractive to look at. In terms of build quality it doesn’t feel as high class as it initially looks. The battery cover in particular feels flimsy and by pressing slightly on it I could feel and hear it moving. The movement opening the sliding keypad if reasonably smooth but once open the screen section feels unstable and it actually wobbles a wee bit. It will be interesting to see if this worsens over time?

It looks tight but its not!

 

On the front of the device, under the screen there are four hardware buttons. They are not what I would call proper buttons as they are flush with face of the device, although they do give a little click when pressed. These buttons comprise of a call send/end, an okay button and a Sony Ericsson menu button. Between these buttons is an optical track pad.

The slide out QWERTY keyboard has to be one of the main attractions to the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2. It consists of four rows (unlike the HTC Touch Pro2 which has five rows) and its not too bad to type on. Its certainly not the best but its far from being the worst. I could type perfectly on it straight away, but I am used to using a Touch Pro2. Its not as comftable to use as the TP2 and the main reason I can give for this is that the keys have very limited space between them. The keys are smaller than on some other slide out QWERTY devices but they are responsive. I really don’t like where they have put the number keys though. Not only is it awkward using them in this position but its also hard to see them. I couldn’t get the keys to light up like on the TP2 so using in the dark may be a real issue.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 Keyboard

 

I didn’t review the original Xperia X1 so I am unable to compare my personal opinions on whether the X2 is better than the X1 but at this stage in the review I am a little disappointed in the hardware!

 

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 is a Windows phone and comes with windows mobile 6.5 installed. I’m not going to go into to much detail with the OS as its been covered in several reviews recently but I will cover the changes /tweaks that Sony Ericsson have made.

First off is the home screen. Like the Xperia X1 the X2 comes with the panels option. Here you have a choice of numerous home screens.

 

Above is “Tilewave” from Sony Ericsson. This consists of common used features on the home screen. If you shake the phone the tiles bounce up and down. How exciting!

 

Next we have the Windows Mobile standard screen. Here you can either drag the highlighted bar up and down or if you prefer you can move the whole list. Its not great and the icons don’t bounce but it works.

 

Sony Ericsson have teamed up with SPB to include mobile shell 3.5 on the Xperia X2. This is a decent and extremely popular shell and consists of three home screens sitting side by side. Swipe left or right and stick whatever icons you want on the screens.

 

Above is also SPB Mobile Shell 3.5. Normally when you buy this application you can swipe up or down to switch between a professional shell and a personal one. On the X2 you need to choose one or the other so this is the other!

 

This one was is extremely pretty but not very useful. At first the screen is blank and then the flower grows. This is then followed by a bumble bee flying around the screen shortly followed by a ladybird.

 

 

This one is really clever but there is no way I could use it. The screen is an animated city with people walking about, moving cars and trains and even a helicopter flying around. Certain building are the phones features such as in the above picture the cylinder building accesses the battery status when pressed.

 

There is also a night time version.

 

In addition there are a few other panels such as Facebook and CNN but these are obviously not home screens. One good feature with the panels is that you can set panels to change at different times in the day.

Its nice to have different options as a home screen but certain ones above will be just a novelty and I would imagine most users will probably stick with SPB Mobile Shell after playing around for a while.

 

Unlike the HTC and Samsung Windows phones, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 does not come with Opera Mobile pre installed but just internet explorer. Of course you can download Opera anyway and I would advise it as its better than internet explorer. Mind you, there are lots of browser options now and as the X2 is WinMo it is dead easy to download what you like.

 

As the Xperia X2 is a little smaller in size than a few of its rivals you will be pleased to know it comes with a stylus as you may need it. Sony Ericsson have not customised the OS as heavily as some other manufactures and although WinMo 6.5 is better than previous versions its far from perfect. The supplied stylus slots nicely into the rear of the device but it has to be the thinnest one I have ever seen. Its like a big needle!

 

The music player on the Xperia X2 is quite basic which surprised me. The quality wasn’t too bad though. Not the best but okay. As a 3.5mm headset jack is supplied you can use which headphones you desire.

The camera was reasonable though. At 8.1mp I was expecting decent photographs and the ones I took turned out to be bright and vibrant. Its certainly not as good as a proper digital camera but for being on a phone its pretty special. The interface though is bland and rather unexciting. I also didn’t like the dedicated camera button. It just didn’t feel right. Not sure why.

Camera Sample

 

Like with all Windows Phones setting up email accounts is easy. You can have multiple email accounts using pop/IMAP and also one account using Active Sync and this latter one will offer push email as opposed to the others that with just sync with the server. They all work flawlessly.

 

Like most smartphones these days the Xperia X2 comes with an onboard YouTube client. I’m afraid to say its one of the worst I have used to date. The video playback is terrible. For some reason the videos all appear blocky, kind of like it was when video was first introduced on mobiles. Very odd!

 

You get all the normal Windows phone apps as standard, such as My Phone, Marketplace, Office Mobile and messenger. These all work fine on the X2.

Google Maps is also pre installed on the handset. As the Xperia X2 supports A-GPS you can also run turn by turn navigation software such as CoPilot or TomTom. I didn’t try running them on the X2 as by this stage I had had enough to be honest!

 

 

Conclusion:

I’m afraid to say that I think this is a rather poor effort by Sony Ericsson. Don’t get me wrong, the device is not terrible, its just not as good as other handsets on the market right now. The one thing that really frustrated me about the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 is its clunkiness. Its very laggy and although Windows Mobile is not the fastest of operating systems its runs much better on other devices I have reviewed recently of own myself. Its a shame as you would have though that a sequel phone would be fantastic but this one just doesn’t tick all the boxes.

 

Posted by: James