Camera Phones Plaza

Samsung B7320 Omnia PRO and B7330 Omnia Pro, are not the only models, from Samsung's portfolio that are competing with the BlackBerry devices. These two models both include a QWERTY keyboard within a candy bar form factor. However, Samsung has planned to steal as many customers as they can from the Canadian manufacturer. This competition started two years ago when BlackBerry decided to create phones with more appealing features, but still sporting the QWERTY keyboard. Therefore, other manufacturers, such as Samsung decided to include QWERTY keyboards within its products.

Even so, BlackBerry lacks a side slider QWERTY phone, while Samsung has at least two, one business orientated and the second one based on the business model, but equipped with a designer logo. Samsung B7610 Omnia PRO was first announced in June 2009 and released in September 2009. This phone sports a more HTC look, than BlackBerry look. However, the B7610 Omnia Pro looks great, conservative but stylish. It's conservative because the front, left and right sides are all black, while the back cover sports a patterned style (flame waves). The front cover sports a glossy black material around the huge display, while the front keys sport a metallic look, similar to the frame included on the sides. The materials used within this phone are extraordinary, and the build quality is flawless, worthy of Samsung logo.


On the front case, above the display you get beside the "Samsung" logo and the earpiece, the ambient light sensor, the proximity sensor, and the second video camera that enables video calling. Under the display you can find three keys, the back key, the call key, and the end call key. The full keyboard slides from the right to left. The QEWRTY keyboard includes good sized keys, but lacks space between them. However, Samsung successfully created a great keyboard, which delivers excellent feedback, which can easily be used when typing in a hurry. The keyboard sports a backlight so the typing process is very comfortable within any light environment conditions. With a height of 112.6 mm, wide of 57.8 mm, deep of 16.2 mm, the B7610 Omnia PRO weights about 159 grams.

The above values should make you understand that this Samsung phone is by far portable or light. Samsung included within the B7610 Omnia PRO a 3.5 inches AMOLED resistive touch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, capable of rendering 16 million (but the effective value doesn't exceed 65000 colors).  Beside the common by now accelerometer sensor for auto rotate, you also get an advanced R touch screen display. The performances delivered by this phone are almost similar to what an entry level netbook has to offer, with the Samsung S3C6410 processor with 800 MHz and a dedicated graphics accelerator, and 256 MB RAM. Therefore, the Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional (upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5) will run smoothly on B7610 Omnia PRO.

With the excellent hardware specs, this phone can easily be considered a true business device. The onboard memory has a value of 1 GB, expandable if using the micro SD memory cards, or the Trans Flash memory cards, up to 32 GB tested. The connectivity department is ensured by the Class 10 GPRS (4+1 / 3+2 slots) with a varying speed from 32 Kb per second to 48 Kb per second, Class 10 EDGE with a maximum speed of 236.8 Kb per second, HSCSD, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, version 2.0 micro USB connection, HSDPA with a 3.6 Mb per second speed, and the Wi-Fi connection with 802.11 b/g profile.

Samsung also included within the B7610 Omnia PRO a 5 megapixel digital camera with a maximum photo resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels, featuring auto focus, dual LED flash, wide dynamic range, panorama shot, geo tagging, image stabilization, and face and smile detection. This digital camera is also capable of video recording within the VGA mode, 640 x 480 pixels with 30 frames per second. it is nedless to say that this phone with the latest Windows Mobile operating system packs all the possible applications, including an extended music player, an extended video player, a photo editor, pocket office - including editing and viewing Word documents, Excel documents, and view Power Points presentations and PDFs.

Samsung included in the B7610 Omnia PRO a lithium Ion battery with 1500 mAh, capable of 580 hours in standby in the 2G network (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) and up to 480 hours of standby in 3G network (HSDPA 900 / 2100). In the talk time department, the B7610 will provide up to 12 hours in 2G network and almost 7 hours in 3G network. Overall, this product is certainly interesting to say at least, since Samsung delivers a complete business phone with a form factor that lacks in the BlackBerry's portfolio. The second Samsung phone to be presented in this article is based on the B7610 Omnia PRO. However, this phone is orientated to the business customers that demand the ultimate style within their devices. The latest Samsung phone released with the "Giorgio Armani" logo is not just a nice looking phone, but a rather powerful phone even for the business users. For the time being it was only announced in October this year. The release date is still unconfirmed.

The B7620 Giorgio Armani is the styled twin brother of the B7610 Omnia Pro. In the design department, Samsung improved this phone, with a stylish look. Even so, the overall look (by details) is similar to B7610. The only form factor difference is that if needed the B7620 can flip its display with a consistent angle (not more than 145 degrees). However, the details make the difference. Therefore, you will easily observe the gold frame that surrounds the upper case, and the gold looking panel on the back cover. This phone is certainly luxurious but I am not sure about the design at all. Maybe too much gold within an economic crisis might make you feel seek as well. However, the QWERTY keyboard can be opened from right to left.

This keyboard is thankfully not gold, but black, and not metallic but rather a rubbery material, with excellent sized keys, sufficient space between them. Even more, thanks to the material used within the keys, you get a good grip when typing improving the overall usability of this phone. The feedback and key layout are similar with what B7610 has to offer. In terms of design, this phone looks nice if you like opulence. The build quality is remarkable, but the handling has a minus from me, because all the metallic body makes this phone too slippery. On the front cover you can find above the display, beside the "Giorgio Armani" logo the second video camera, the proximity sensor, and the ambient light sensor. Under the display, Samsung included the call key, the end call key and the back key. With a height of 118.5 mm, wide of 58.3 mm, deep of 16.4 mm, this phone weights even more than B7610, 164 grams.

The above values (in terms of dimensions) show once again that this phone is build based from the B7610 Omnia PRO. Samsung included within the B7620 a 3.5 inches AMOLED resistive touch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, capable of rendering up to 16 million colors (but only 65000 effective colors). The same processor, Samsung S3C6410 800 MHz with dedicated graphics accelerator, and the same RAM value are included in the hardware specs of the latest Giorgio Armani phone. Even more, Samsung decided to add the same operating system, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional (upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5).

As expected this means you will get excellent audio and video player, photo and video editing, and business applications, such as Pocket Office for viewing and editing (only a few documents formats) Office documents and PDFs. The onboard memory was improved from 1 GB found on the B7610 Omnia Pro to 8 GB found onboard the B7620, expandable value if using micro SD memory cards, or Trans Flash memory cards up to 32 GB. The connectivity department is ensured by the Class 10 GPRS, Class 10 EDGE, HSCSD, Wi-Fi with 802.11 b/g profile, Bluetooth version 2.0 with A2DP, micro US 2.0 connections, HSDPA with a maximum speed of 7.2 MB per second with the HSUPA sporting a maximum speed of 5.76 MB per second. the B7620 also sports an excellent digital camera with a 5 megapixel value, sporting a maximum photo resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels, including autofocus and LED flash. The same features found on the B7610 can be found on board the B7620. This camera can also record video within the VGA resolution, 640 x 480 pixels with 30 frames per second.

Samsung added the same Lithium Ion battery with 1500 mAh providing the same values of standby time and talk time, 580 hours in standby in 2G networks, 480 hours of standby in 3G networks, 12 hours of talk time in 2G network and 6 hours of talk time in 3G networks. For an average user these values mean at least 3 days of autonomy, depending on the usage. Overall, the Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani is the overpriced model of the B7610 Omnia PRO. If you need to make a statement you can buy the B7620. However, the B7620 is not better than B7610. Even more, the B7610 Omni PRO is a more balanced phone, sporting a conservative look, yet modern, and sufficient specs for any user, either business or multimedia fan.