Samsung Epix Review

Introduction:

Samsung has been perfecting their own smart phone lineup for some time now with each device that it releases. Over the past couple of years, Samsung’s BlackJack line has been the most popular QWERTY smart phone series in AT&T’s selection. Now enters the Samsung Epix which hopes to attract more heavy business oriented users with its packed new features. Although the Epix retains some of the design elements found on the BlackJack II, there are a lot of additions packed into the shell of the phone such as a touch screen and innovative optical mouse. Users will also be glad to see the phone installed with a variety of third party applications to keep them entertained as well.

The boxed package includes:

• Samsung Epix SGH-i907
• A/C travel charger
• USB cable
• Lithium ion battery
• 3.5mm adapter
• Stylus

Design:

There is no doubt that Samsung kept the design of the BlackJack II in mind when creating the Epix. Holding the phone in your hand feels quite pleasant thanks to its smooth plastic exterior. Overall, it is slightly thicker than the BlackJack II while noticeably light for a phone that has almost the same dimensions as the AT&T Tilt.



You can compare Samsung Epix with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The QWERTY keyboard design found on the Epix is identical to the BlackJack II with no changes in the layout of the keys. Typing for some can be difficult due to the small keys and cramped spacing of the design. Characters are easily distinguished thanks to the white backlighting. Dialing phone numbers can be performed using the numeric keypad, which is part of the QWERTY.


Samsung decided to revamp some of the hardware underneath its shell which packs a 2.5” TFT touchscreen that displays 65k colors with a resolution of 320x320 pixels. Although the brightness works well in low light conditions, it was difficult to view in direct sunlight. This is one of the few phones that implements a touchscreen with the full QWERTY keyboard layout similarly found on Palm’s popular lineup of smart phones. The Epix utilizes the traditional resistive technology found on many other Windows Mobile smart phones. Unfortunately we have found that multiple presses must be made in order to register when we clicked on a specific area on the screen. The phone provides a small vibration to signal that the user has touched the screen.

Navigating can also be completed by using the optical mouse found in the center of the phone. Samsung decided not to keep the BlackJack II’s rotary D-pad and instead uses something completely new and not found traditionally on phones. At first, one may be thrown off noticing that the Windows Mobile platform now uses a mouse cursor for navigation. It’s best described as a miniature version of a touch pad found on laptops but for phones instead. The optical mouse is quite sensitive when navigating through the menus on the phone and found it effective best with web browsing. Pressing down on it will select a link or command. We found that Windows sometimes registers this as a double click and very inconvenient especially when using the side scroll bar in pocket Internet Explorer.

The Start and OK keys are found directly to the left and right of the optical mouse respectively while the Send and End keys border the top portion of the keyboard. As with other Windows Mobile enabled phones, the soft Left and Right keys are also found towards the sides. We found that all of the front hardware buttons are slightly raised and easy to select. The volume rocker and dedicated power button is found conveniently on the left side of the device while the microSD slot and charging port are found on the right side. The back houses the 2-megapixel camera with a self portrait mirror and speaker. As with other Windows Mobile Professional phones, the stylus compresses when placed into the slot found on the upper left corner. Meanwhile, the multi-LED indicator is found on the top right hand side. Lastly, the microphone can be found solely at the bottom right side.

Interface:

Many manufacturers have recently redesigned the look of the home screen for Windows Mobile in order to disguise the default bland design. This is especially true with Samsung creating a new theme for the Epix which runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. Large and colorful icons dominate the home screen with the digital clock right in the center. On the top portion of the personalized theme lies a rotating carousel of four icons associated with different quick functions. Minimal animations are implemented with the new Samsung theme and seem uninspiring when compared with HTC's TouchFLO 3D.


The first icon in the carousel is the home that provides quick access to your text messages, e-mail, and recent calls list. The second one is the favorites launcher which allows you to add or remove any applications you want to quickly open without going through the standard menus. Thirdly, you will find the contacts that provide you with up to six different people whom you choose to be selected from the screen. Once you select a contact, you will then be able to place a call or send messages to them. The last icon on the carousel is the settings which allows for various general settings to be modified such as the screen brightness, vibrate mode, and activate the phone lock. We have seen several themes that have masked the Windows Mobile platform quite well, but the new Samsung theme pales in comparison to the complexity and personalization of others.

Phonebook:

The phonebook of Epix is almost identical to the other WM6 phones. The number of contacts that can be added is not restricted and depends only on the memory available. All contacts are displayed as a list; each field consists of the name and the number of the contact, while a letter placed beside them indicates what the type of the number is (w – work; m – mobile, etc.). Pictures are not displayed even if there is one attached to the contact.

The line displayed at the top of the screen is a search field, which initiates a name and number search on entering a symbol – the more symbols you type, the more accurate the match is – it’s quite useful! This one searches all names entered for the contact, but if you want to find an acquaintance by other field like “company” for example, you have to use the “Search” application. There are tabs with different letters (divided in groups of three) just below it. This way you can arrange the contacts so that only the ones beginning with a given letter are displayed. These two search features are quite handy and they make finding a particular contact in the phonebook very quick.

The old tabs, filtering by first letter have been replaced by a vertically positioned bar, with all the symbols possible on it. If you run your finger across it, the letters enlarge as you pass over them so you can easily choose the one you want. This is very similar to the iPhone but is way more comfortable from the other WM6 phones.

Too bad that’s not the case when adding a new name to the phonebook; the device offers way too many capabilities, including multiple work and home numbers, but there’s only one for mobile –something quite inconvenient as that’s exactly where we wanted to add multiple numbers to. The numerous address, e-mail and other address fields confuse you even further – it would have been a lot easier if the most frequently used fields are highlighted in some way. We would choose this to be done with the Name, Picture, Mobile number and e-mail fields and thus finding them would have been easy, eliminating the need to go through the long list.

Personal photos and ringtones can be assigned to each contact; there’s no restriction on the dimensions of the pictures but they are visualized in very small size even on an incoming call – we think they are useless. You can also add a note to each contact.

Dialing a number:

To dial a number, which is not stored in your contacts, you’ll have to use the numeric hardware keys or virtual keypad that is a menu option.

Pressing the buttons you will start imputing the digits of a possible number, but at the same time you will search the phone book as if imputing a text by a predictive text input system. So, to call John you can press 5-6-4-6 and the matching contacts will be visualized in the list.

Organizer:

When it comes to PIM applications, this version of Windows Mobile 6.1 has nothing new. The Notes, Tasks, Calculator, and clock PIM functions are the same that we have seen on other mobile devices. Similar to other Samsung devices, the Epix forgoes the traditional miniUSB connection found on other smart phones for their proprietary USB connection.

Alarms can be accessed through the home screen, by tapping on the clock icon. Three of them are available, and they can all be configured to be active for certain days of the week, assigning names and different sounds to each of them. All alarms can be active simultaneously, and overall they are easy to use and do what they are supposed to. We are rather disappointed that their number is limited to three, as it was in the previous version of the OS.

The next tab in this menu is the clock; there is a field called Visiting next to it, which can be used as a World Clock – select another location and the phone starts using its local time. The clock has an option to be displayed on the title bar of all the menus, which is handy.

The electronic calendar, where you can save your appointments, can be found in the HP Shortcuts menu. You can use options like: reminder (PRIOR NOTICE 1/5/10/15/30/45 minutes, 1/2/3/4/5/6 hour/day/week), recurrence (Once, Every (same-day-of-the-week), Day (same-date) of every month, Every (same date-and-month) for every year, sensitivity (normal, personal, private, confidential). You can also add attendees (required or optional) from your contacts where e-mail addresses have been added and where meeting requests will be sent.

Messaging:

The different types of messages (SMS, MMS and E-mail) are placed in the same menu. Since the Epix does have a full QWERTY keyboard, you will only find the traditional virtual keyboards:

Just a few steps away, is the option to add your e-mail account (POP3 or IMAP) and to use it on your mobile phone. Very nice extra is that the phone can try to get the email settings automatically from the internet, and so we configured our Gmail Account by entering only the username and password. Windows Mobile 6 already supports HTML formatted e-mails.

The client is very similar to the Outlook on a computer, you can filter your inbox to see just some results, reply to a message, or forward it to other person. The support for attachments allows you to download or send one, in addition to the text body. The phone can be set to synchronize with your company Exchange Server.

Connectivity and Data:

The Samsung Epix is a quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz), with a tri-band 3G (850, 1900, 2100 MHz) which makes it a true world phone for all those traveling. In addition to 3G, the Epix comes with a Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g card for an alternative internet connection and something that the BlackJack II sorely missed.

Bluetooth 2.0 is also included with the Epix which allows for the connection of Bluetooth headsets and stereo headphones. Depending on what operating system you utilize on your PC, you will either have to use ActiveSync for XP or Windows Mobile Device Center for Vista in order to install programs, synchronize phonebook, calendar, etc.

We were disappointed with only having the Pocket Internet Explorer as an option for web browsing support straight out of the box. This is a step back when compared with some of HTC’s devices that come with a modified version of Opera Mobile 9.5. Simple web pages load up fine with barely any slowdown, but complex web pages filled with media files can take some time to load up both on 3G or Wi-Fi connections. Plenty of scrolling must be performed in order to read text that do not fit to the size of the screen and can be tiresome after some time. As always, we recommend installing another web browser for a better experience such as Opera Mobile 9.5 or Skyfire.

Camera:

The Samsung Epix comes with a built in 2-megapixel camera which supports video recording in 3gp and AT&T’s video share connectivity. The camera can be started up either through the menus or by just clicking the dedicated button found on the keypad. Its interface managed to start up after 3 seconds and photos were taken roughly a second after pressing the shutter key. Unfortunately Samsung did not include an auto-focusing mechanism. On the other hand, picture quality came out okay even without it. We managed to take fairly decent pictures in bright and low lit areas without losing too much color in any of the photos.


For video recording, the Epix only allows for a maximum resolution of 320 by 240. Video quality is mediocre at best due to a choppy frame rate and low resolution display. Audio quality from the produced video was very difficult to listen when played back on a computer.

Multimedia:

Viewing various media files can be best described as bland especially now that it has a touchscreen. Samsung should have integrated it more with the media viewing interface. However, it only included a basic photo slides program where you can view pictures using the usual flick left to right methods found on other touchscreen phones. To an extent, editing features can be performed by clicking through the various menu options on the phone.

Some video formats that the Epix supports are MPEG4, WMV, and H.263 which can be played with the standard Windows Mobile Media Player. There is a separate skin with small menu icons installed with the phone that utilizes the optical mouse rather than the touch screen. The phone also comes along with other multimedia applications like XM Radio Mobile, Music ID, and Cingular Video.



Software:

Memory does not seem to be a problem, Epix is equipped with 256MB internal ROM and up to 150MB internal RAM. We are especially glad to see that it supports microSD cards up to 32GB for storage needs.

Speed is not a problem either, thanks to its lightning fast 624MHz processor. It manages to run smoothly while numerous programs working in the background. In general though, the phone runs exceptionally well in conditions where multiple commands are being executed.

Every WM6 Professional phone comes with programs that are modified, “pocket” versions known PC applications. Such programs are the mobile versions of (Microsoft) Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Internet Explorer, Explorer, Media Player, etc. The Officeapplications allow you to view and edit documents of the most-used types and the phone opens them without any error. The Epix also has Adobe PDF Reader preloaded that had trouble with text not displaying as sharply when you zoom in.  We opened a big document (1.0MB) and scrolled through pages. When zoomed to 100% it is almost immediate but the text is a little blurry and unreadable. Many more programs can be downloaded from third party sources.


Samsung Epix also comes preloaded with AT&T Navigator for real time turn-by-turn directions. Maps are updated in real-time with traffic conditions dictated by the software. There are numerous points of interests that even allows you to find the lowest gas prices around your location.

We are glad to see that AT&T packed it with a variety of third party applications like MobiTV, Wikimobile, and Mobile Banking to mention a few. Instant messaging is powered by Oz for either AIM, MSN, or Yahoo accounts to be used for chatting on the go with friends.

Performance:

Call quality was superb with no noticeable audio disturbances when listening to another caller. Our voice was audible and easily recognized by others as we conversed over the phone.  We are happy to say that the speakerphone quality was exceptional and did not crackle when placed on the highest setting. Playing music through the device was quite clear even when the volume was placed at its maximum setting. 

Although some might say the phone is thicker when compared to the BlackJack II, the added depth is dearly welcomed because the Epix is housing a 1800mAh Lithium-Ion battery. According to the manufacturer, you can achieve roughly 7 hours of talk time and up to 336 hours (14 days) standby. In our real world tests, we managed to get the phone down to 50% battery life on 4 days of average usage (roughly 30 minutes of talk a day). In addition, we are delighted to see that the higher capacity battery did not increase the total weight. As it stands, the Epix weighs 4.4oz (125 g) with the included battery and is somewhat considered a lightweight when compared to other similar mobile phones with the same class of battery size.

Conclusion:

AT&T clearly supplements their existing line of smart phones with the addition of the Epix which is geared towards heavy business users requiring the full suite of Office applications and a myriad of connectivity options. Even though it closely resembles the BlackJack II in terms of design, the additions like the touch screen and optical mouse makes it a complete different phone. Users will find the optical mouse as an alternative way of navigating through the Windows Mobile operating system. The Epix has a slight advantage over similar phones of the same class in terms of weight and battery life. However, the design of the phone is uninspiring BlackJack II users may want to upgrade to the new Samsung thanks to its feature rich hardware which provides a different mobile phone experience.