Samsung have never invested too much effort into designing smart and PDA phones, keeping this direction as an experimental one, where the engineers were not afraid of mistakes. A day has come, and Samsung have gained enough experience to take on a more professional approach in this segment. A Symbian-based i8510 model is just about to appear, following the upcoming i900 model. The former is a serious challenge even to Nokia (on their native S60 field!), offering a 8 Mp handset at an earlier date. The latter opposes the leading WM manufacturer’s top-ranking entry, HTC Diamond. Both solutions look very promising; let’s first pass on to the WM one.

Samsung i900, alternatively (and more widely) known as Omnia and dubbed WiTu on some regional markets (e.g. in Russia), is expected to hit the shelf in September at prices 630 and 770 euros for the 8 Gb and 16 Gb versions respectively. The closest available alternative is HTC Touch Diamond, several indirect competitors by E-TEN and Gygabyte (belonging to the hi-end segment) are currently in the works, yet sporting a less technologically advanced stuffing. The i90 model is especially memorable for a 5 Mp auto-focusing camera, something very unusual and long expected in a WM smartphone. To keep you entertained till a full review of the gadget is published, we offer you a brief preview article touching on the most principal points you would (or wouldn’t) expect from this piece of technology.

Appearance

The gadget looks really good, yet we couldn’t help pointing out blatant allusions to the iPhone design. An important point of difference is a lack of metal, which makes the handset look cheaper and not so showy as Apple’s brainchild (yet the American handset costs twice less). Even the chrome framing is little than a stylization of a plastic surface. The back panel pretends to look in a way similar to grinded metal, still it’s plain plastic just because it is made of plastic, little than that. It’s not too resistant to physical wearing, so scratches and worn spots grow quickly the longer the plastic comes in contact with rough surfaces.

The device’s big advantage (in comparison with Diamond) is its grease-proof nature, which makes the casing of i900 in this sense a lot more practical. This doesn’t fully compensate for the really good looks of the HTC product though. The Korean smartphone is closer to iPhone in weight and measurements, which is not to be liked by everybody. The screen size is above the average value found in the majority of WM smartphones – 3.2’’. Combined with a powerful cam and a substantial onboard storage, this makes the device a very appealing offer for the multimedia fans (oh, I just forget to mention the powerful CPU!..)

The quality of assembly seems rather average against the background of Diamond and iPhone – we really hope the commercial version will be stockier. Another thing we would want fixed (yet obviously to stay the way it currently is) is the ergonomics: it’s rather average, not to say poor. Samsung took an endeavor in reinvented the wheel, placing the stylus apart (in a fashion reminiscent of LG Viewty) and leaving but two buttons below the screen, apparently mimicking E-TEN. A rather unusual solution, hardly explainable in our mind.

On the other hand, a really pleasing moment still in place: the touchpad supporting text input makes you think of Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1. You can force the control element to show up on the screen or right in the browser window. Another good thing is that the casing manages to keep slim even containing a powerful camera like that. The side-positioned elements are something we weren’t too happy about – the charger and interface cable slots, as well as the audio socket, are all of the a firmware build, which is a worse option than standardized ones. The memory expansion slot doesn’t allow for hot swapping, you have to take out the battery prior to switching memory cards.

Biopsy

The closest competitive solution, Diamond, doesn’t even have a memory expansion slot; its onboard memory is not so capacious as what Samsung offers – in this sense, the lack of a hot swapping feature is a small minus outweighed by the big plus of extended onboard storage. The senior version includes a 1 Gb in the sales package, the junior version ships without one. A powerful 624 MHz CPU is a real achievement for a mass product like that. All of this produces a very reassuring impression (mind the user friendly finger-action touch interface)

The Samsung interface isn’t as rich in functions and produces a more modest impression when we come down to a comparison with HTC, yet it’s handier. I especially liked the widget system. The owners of Diamond often express criticism concerning the slow performance of TouchFLO 3D, and you won’t find anything like that in this product. The launcher goes smooth all the way along. This might look surprising minding that the device only has 128 Mb of RAM against the 192 Mb of Diamond. The ROM size is equal for both – 256 Mb. The Samsung launcher, of course, consumers less memory than TouchFLO 3D does.

The screen is probably the most challengeable point of i900. On the one hand, we get an a good quality and size (3.2’’, 240x400), good sun-resistance, yet the non-canonical resolution may cause problems in specific applications. We only encountered a few instances of this during the tests, yet the point should be kept in mind.

The camera is above all appraisals. Until an analogous Gigabyte model arrives, this will remain the sole camera smartphone leader on the whole WM market. A direct blogging feature for the photos is included. The photo quality is up to the standard established by some of the latest conventional phones by the brand, no surprises here. For the time being i900 is leading in this aspect, putting this atop of its feature list. The competing Diamond can’t pose any serious competition on this front, let alone iPhone.

The connectivity side of i900 keep on a high level, which is typical for top-class products. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are in place, as well as a RDS FM tuner. Unlike Diamond, the onboard GPS unit makes use of Route66 positioning software (and not Google Maps), which does Samsung justice. Navteq maps are used in the senior model, while the junior doesn’t come with a copy included in the sales package (yet it fully supports GPS).

Both versions are powered by a 1500 mAh battery which stands for a long lifetime, making twice the score of Diamond even during intensive use. A normal duty cycle wastes a full battery charge over 2-3 days which is a nice score for a top WM smartphone.

Compared to HTC Touch Diamond

Compared to Apple iPhone

SMAPE's opinion

Samsung i900 Omni/WiTu produces the ambiguous impression of a highly technological, yet imperfectly balanced product. The camera is really good, yet on a general scale, the solution is not so optimal as Diamond, having a worse ergonomics and higher price. The all-plastic casing makes the model look cheaper, weakening its positions in the top segment. The device will hardly become a bestseller, yet a well-orchestrated promotional campaign would surely help it keep a stable audience in its native class. Samsung i900 is a smart, multimedia-oriented device catering to those who prefer fancy features to the everyday handiness. It is also the best WM camera smartphone currently available, no other comparable cameras to be found in the WM segment. A full-blown review is going to be published shortly.

Author: Dmitry Ryabinin, dm@smape.com

SMAPE.com

	Comments: