Samsung Omnia 7 Review

Introduction:

Undoubtedly, one of the most remarkable Windows Mobile phones was the Samsung Omnia. The device came with a 3.2” resistive screen and combined the OS's usefulness with some pretty impressive entertainment features in order to become one of the best smartphones for its time. It was released in the summer of 2008. A year later aboard came its direct successor, the Omnia II, which was a significant upgrade, thanks to a larger 3.7” AMOLED display (again resistive) and a new user interface called TouchWiz 2.0 to mask Windows Mobile 6's visual imperfections.

It is now a year later, and the time has come for Samsung to introduce the next device in this high-end series. No, it is not the Omnia 3. It's the Samsung Omnia 7, paying tribute to the brand new operating system it runs on – Windows Phone 7.

The Samsung Omnia 7 is a phone that's surely worth our while for a couple more reasons. First off, it has gotten an even bigger display compared to its predecessor, measuring exactly 4 inches of capacitive goodness, and secondly – it looks and feels better than ever. Having that said, there's a lot more at stake with the Samsung Omnia 7 than convincing us of its own abilities. Being one of the first WP7 devices, it is actually on a mission to convince us that Microsoft's new mobile OS is neither a letdown, nor a waste of time, but an inseparable part of the smartphone industry's future.

Design:

The Samsung Omnia 7 is a handset of notable size, and notable weight. Pick it up and you'll immediately feel the high-end nature of it. The manufacturer has used quality materials in its making and the result is a smartphone of great workmanship. Due to its large screen, you cannot navigate it easily with one hand only. When it comes to dimensions, the Omnia 7 is almost as big as the HD7 (which actually has a 4.3” screen), about the same size as the Galaxy S, and fairly bigger than the iPhone 4.



You can compare the Samsung Omnia 7 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

As mentioned, the Samsung Omnia 7 features a great 4-inch capacitive touchscreen. It is protected by a very firm and smooth cover, and underneath it – a beautiful world of popping colors lives, courtesy of the Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 480x800 pixels. The contrast is simply amazing and plays very well to the interface's color schemes. As usual with Super AMOLED, viewing angles are near perfect, while outside visibility is decent, although not really... good.


The pixel density on the Omnia 7 is neither impressively high, nor dangerously low. It's just fine to deliver a crisp image. The touchscreen's responsiveness is perfect and we have no complaints about it whatsoever. We would recommend this display specifically to heavy multimedia users who enjoy lots of video and images on their phones, due to its great size and rich colors.

Moving forward, or in this case downward, below the screen we find three keys – physical Home button and capacitive Back and Search. The Home one is very usable and did not cause us any trouble, but we sure did press the touch-sensitive keys a few times by accident, which is always annoying.


Since the Samsung Omnia 7 is such a premium device, it is only natural that all other keys are easy to use as well. The left hand side is where we find the volume rocker, while the right edge houses the power/lock key and the two-stop camera shutter. On the top side are located the 3.5mm headset jack, along with the standard microUSB port, hidden by an extremely convenient sliding cover.


The almost all-metal back side of the Samsung Omnia 7 owns a 5MP camera with LED flash, a loudspeaker and easy to remove (but not by accident) battery cover.


Samsung Omnia 7 is a dandy piece of hardware. Its design is very streamlined and functional at the same time. Build quality and style have obviously been top priorities for Samsung, and as it seems the company has met its goals.