Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 Review

Business-oriented handsets are not what they used to be. An increasing number of manufacturers are shifting their focus to more intuitive interface and appealing design. And the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 is an attempt at the very same things – enjoyable overall look and improved usability. Just like the Omnia II, it is a Windows phone personalized with Samsung´s TouchWiz 2.0 interface. Initially, the cell phone rolled out running Windows Mobile 6.1, but the manufacturer released a software update to version 6.5, plus recent units get cranked out featuring the latest OS edition. The Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 is a side-sliding device that sports full QWERTY keyboard, 3.5-inch high-resolution, touch-sensitive screen utilizing AMOLED technology, 5-megapixel camera with double LED flash, DivX and Xvid support, 800MHz processor and the mandatory (for all high-end devices) Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS etc. Samsung´s handset does have a lot to offer to people on the lookout for rich functionality and throws the gauntlet to the HTC Touch Pro2, its major and fiercest rival.  

What´s in the box of the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610:

•    The Samsung OmniaPRO B7610
•    Stylus
•    microUSB charger
•    microUSB cable
•    Stereo headset
•    User guide
•    Software CD

Design:

It´s been a while since business customers became demanding towards of not only functionality, but the overall appeal of their future smartphone. More than ever, they are interested in aspects like eye-riveting design and whether or not the handset fits their clothing and style etc. The Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 looks quite dainty and shiny and design-wise, follows in the footsteps of the Jet, Omnia II and other latest models of the manufacturer. No one would call the front side extremely attractive, but the back side is completely different cup of tea, the other face of the handset. The back panel is spectacular and features beautiful red, light-reflecting elements... it just looks awesome!



You can compare the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 is predominantly made of plastic that feels pleasing to touch, although we would have liked to see more metal elements than the single framing on the front side. Samsung´s device is slightly more compact than the HTC Touch Pro2, both in terms of overall size and weight. This is partly due to the nominally smaller display – it measures 3.5 inches as compared to the 3.6 inches of its rival (both utilize resistive technology and come with the same native resolution of 480x800 pixels). However, the AMOLED screen of the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 delivers much more saturated and vivid colors than the TFT display of the HTC TouchPro2. It´s extremely bright in the dark and we do recommend that you not switch off the light sensitivity sensor unless you want to end up with severe headache and we mean literally. Unfortunately, however, the screen is almost unusable in direct sunlight. As a whole, it´s sensitivity is proper, although it sometimes fails to register your touch when you press its corners. The front side hosts other components as well - proximity sensor, video call camera and three large buttons that feel comfortable to press. Actually, that´s what we think about the keys on either side of the device as well.




We haven’t forgotten the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 is equipped with full QWERTY keyboard. Its mechanism is tight and the phone opens and closes smoothly and easily. The keys are arranged in four rows, are large enough, have bright, white backlighting and pronounced travel. Everything seems at first glance, but we happen to have a gripe relating to the fact that pressing keys fails to get registered at times, especially when you type away fast. You can avoid the problem by slowing down and being more careful, but still, this spoils the good impression of the keyboard of the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610. We expected more from a high-end device like this and ultimately, we do prefer the HTC Touch Pro2 when it comes to texting.

Interface:

With version 6.5, Microsoft has lent color to the ageing interface of Windows Mobile, but aside from the home screen and Start menu, everything else looks just as simple and antiquated as before. Samsung, however, has come up with its own solution to eliminate most innate shortcomings of the OS interface, called TouchWiz 2.0 that is a deeply penetrating personalization pack. As we have already seen with the Samsung Omnia II, there is virtually nothing to tip you off you´re using a Windows Mobile phone, except for the Start button in the upper left corner that calls up the standard Start menu. The manufacturer has fallen over backwards to modify the face of almost every single menu. The interface is finger friendly and the fact that everything is colourful and motley is a clear sign the interface has been made by none other but Samsung.

Typical of TouchWiz, the home screen consists of three separate parts and where you can place various widgets for, say, access to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, Picasa or select stock market indices. Unlike the Omnia II, there is a W&L (Work and Life) button on the left side of the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 that allows you to quickly switch between two interface modes – one better suited for your pastime and one tailored for work. The function reminds us of Nokia´s latest E-Series handsets (the E75, E72, E71, E66 etc.). Both modes can be personalized to your own taste with different themes, can visualize varying information etc.



Opening the slider switches the interface to landscape mode and automatically starts the Composer menu featuring shortcuts to the search function, messages, emails, calendar and notes. This is something we do like and know from the HTC Touch Pro. Of course, you can turn it off anytime or simply use the OS interface in portrait mode in case you don’t share our opinion.



In a nutshell, TouchWiz 2.0 looks better and sports larger buttons than the standard OS interface, but comes with certain disadvantages as well. It´s not the first time we´ve said we aren´t eager fans of widgets. Most of the preinstalled ones are boring, because they lack interactivity and are nothing more than shortcuts to various functions and web pages (social networks). Moreover, Samsung´s interface is exceptionally sluggish, despite the snappy hardware components of the device and it´s such a shame the phone lags no matter what you do.

Organizer, e-mail and Office functionality:

As with everything else, Samsung has stamped their personality on the PIM applications as well. The calendar is large, finger friendly and you´ve got dedicated tabs for monthly, weekly, daily and agenda views located at the top. Smart Memo is improved version of Notes that allows users to draw with their fingers, type in using the on-screen keyboard and attach voice recordings, sounds and images. There are certain aspects that Samsung can definitely improve on, though. The contact list is easy to navigate, completely revamped and features tabs for your phonebook, categories, speed dial and favourites. Sadly, the Tasks application is unaltered. In fact, the standard WinMo apps for Contacts, Notes, Calendar, Task Manager and a few others are available under Edit via the main menu. Why would anyone want to use any of them is beyond us, given Samsung´s versions are far superior in every respect.



Come to messaging, we are really glad to see Samsung provides the same on-screen keyboard we know from the Omnia II. The manufacturer has redesigned the app, but its functionality remains unchanged. All told, Windows Mobile is truly capable text messaging system. The phone doesn’t come with preinstalled chat clients, but you can always install as many as you feel like.

Working with Office 2007 documents is not a problem at all on the OmniaPRO B7610 and you can open and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Adobe Reader LE 2.5 comes preloaded, so you shouldn’t encounter any issues with PDF files either.

Internet:

The Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi or over 3G (HSDPA 7.2Mbps and HSUPA). The phone is equipped with Opera Mobile 9.5 (Opera beta 10 is already available) and the application is the default browser. Of course, you can always use Internet Explorer 6 that is standard with WM6.5, although we wouldn’t recommend that you do that, since Opera loads web pages much faster, especially the latest version (beta 10), not to mention its interface is more user-friendly and intuitive. Finally, you can zoom in on objects by keeping your finger pressed against the screen for a while. One of its few disadvantages as compared to IE6 is that scrolling is exceptionally sluggish.




GPS:

The built-in GPS is fast and managed to pinpoint our location in 40 seconds after hardware reset and 3-4 seconds after software restart. The preinstalled navigational software of the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 is the well-known Google Maps that requires active internet connection. It´s a capable application, but you can always install another one in case you don´t like it.

Camera:

The Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 sports 5-megapixel camera with double LED flash and we know its interface pretty well from the latest WM-based handsets of the manufacturer (Omnia II, OmniaLITE, Giorgio Armani B7620). It offers quite a few options, including face and smile detection, but lacks touch focus functionality. You won´t be wowed by the snapshot quality that is best described as a tiny bit above average. Taking a look at your pictures in full screen reveals occasional lack of enough details and slightly thin colors. The situation is not any better with images taken in artificial lighting conditions with the overall quality taking a nosedive, but at least the flash is up to its task. All told, snapshots taken in such conditions are not bad, but you need a stable hand to yield proper results.




The OmniaPRO B7610 is equipped with additional microphone that kicks in when you start shooting videos and the maximum video capture resolution is 720x480 pixels. Unfortunately, their quality is rather low, they don’t have enough details and look more like cartoons than actual clips. Take a look at the test content to see for yourself.

Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 sample video with 720x480 pixels resolution

Multimedia:

When it comes to music and video playback, the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 does shine. Who says suits aren’t entitled to entertainment? With this particular handset, they will certainly get tons of it. Right out of the box, the phone allows for playback of DivX, Xvid and H.264 files with maximum resolution of 720x480 pixels (limited by the software) and high bitrate (above 1,500 kbps). The default application is Samsung´s Media Player also known as The Touch Player on previous handsets of the manufacturer. Files coded in any of the three aforementioned formats play smoothly and playback is not plagued by stuttering issues or lack of sync between audio and video streams. As a whole, we are really pleased, but we do have a single gripe – the native resolution of the screen is slightly higher than the maximum supported video resolution, which equates to occasional image pixilation.



The same player is used for music playback and you can filter tracks by several criteria and apply various audio filters. The application looks pretty cool with the phone turned sideways to landscape mode. The boxed headset isolates the environmental noise and dun perfectly and delivers truly loud sound, but the audio quality is mediocre. The OmniaPRO B7610 is, however, equipped with 3.5mm jack, meaning you can plug in a better pair right away. The loudspeaker is rather weak and we strongly suggest that you avoid using it for listening to audio.

Performance:

We have already mentioned that we are pretty disappointed at the operational speed of the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610. Despite the capable hardware, the improper optimization of the TouchWiz interface makes the phone sluggish and it lags almost all the time and no matter what you do, just like the Omnia II. What´s more, Samsung´s business-oriented device is not any better at an aspect that´s vitally important for any phone – the sound during calls and unfortunately, the handset leaves us rather disappointed yet again. The OmniaPRO B7610 delivers below average in-call quality and what you hear is surreal voices that tend to get muffled, sometimes to the point of becoming practically unintelligible.  The situation is almost identical on the other end of the line, but your callers will have to endure slight crackling on top of the other issues. The loudspeaker is rather weak and virtually unusable. All told, we are profoundly displeased at the performance of the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 as an actual phone.

The battery is robust and the fact that it provides for long continuous talk time would have been great if talking on it was a pleasing thing to do. We are under the impression that the OmniaPRO B7610 remains operational for about two days if you use the Wi-Fi for about two hours and limit your calls to about an hour, both on daily basis.

Conclusion:

All told, the disadvantages of the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 far outweigh its positive sides and make us look at the HTC Touch Pro2. Samsung´s device may look more spectacularly, but functionality and reliability are more important for business-oriented devices. And that´s what the OmniaPRO B7610 is quite bad at. A high-end device like this is supposed to be much, much better, not to mention the out-and-out appalling in-call quality. As a whole, we believe the Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 is not worth its retail price, so we simply cannot recommend it. The best WM6.5-based alternative that you have is the HTC Touch Pro2, because as we already mentioned, it´s better in almost every respect. If you are not an eager fan of hardware QWERTY keyboards, you might want to consider the HTC HD2 - it´s a great, really snappy WM handset equipped with giant capacitive screen.

Samsung OmniaPRO B7610 Video review: