Samsung have their fingers in many pies within the smartphone market. As well as Bada, their own proprietary operating system, Samsung also produce handsets running on Symbian S60, Android and Windows Mobile. One of their most recently announced handsets, the Samsung B7350 Omnia Pro 4, will be released running on the Windows Mobile platform, but unfortunately not the latest version, Windows Phone 7; instead, the Omnia Pro 4 makes use of Microsoft Windows Mobile Professional 6.5.3.
Some may question the logic of releasing a handset running on a soon to be obsolete platform, but given the length of time that goes into planning, designing and marketing a mobile phone, it may be Samsung are trying to get a return on their investment before Windows Phone 7 steals all the limelight.
The Omnia Pro 4 is a monoblock designed device, measuring 118 x 60 x 12mm, quite long but very thin. The handset sports a full, four row QWERTY keyboard, which are very close together, but slightly raised at the edges to ensure ease of use when composing a message. Above the main keyboard is the centrally located Navi key, which has been turned at an anle to present as a diamond shape, as opposed to the more traditionally styled square Navi key. Flanking the Navi key are two soft option keys, which lie above the Ok and Windows Menu key. On the left of the keypad is the Call send key, mirrored on the right by the call end key. Although the QWERTY keypad looks rather cramped, in comparison the menu navigation keys are well spaced out, and should be comfortable to use.
The main display of the device is a QVGA resolution TFT resistive touchscreen, supporting up to 65,000 colours and measuring 2.6 inches across. A quad band GSM device, the B7350 also supports dual band HSDPA connectivity, with download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps available. The Omnia also offers WiFi 802.11 b/g, as well as Class 10 GPRS and EDGE. For local connectivity, the Pro 4 offers Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, and includes a v2.0 Micro USB connector.
The handset supports multiple email accounts, as well as offering push email, instant messaging support and the facility to access RSS feeds of your favourite sites. Pre-installed apps offer access to Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger, and also Microsoft Outlook Mobile and Pocket Office, for reading email attachments directly on the handset.
The handset includes a GPS receiver, as well as offering aGPS support, and you can choose from a vast range of mapping software from the Windows Marketplace to use your handset as a mobile SatNav device. The GPS unit can also be used to add geotagging information to the images captured on the handsets 3.2 Megapixel camera. The camera also offers autofocus and smile and face detection. The camera can also be used to record video clips, at QVGA resolution up to 15 fps.
A full media player is included, with support for multiple digital formats for both audio and video, including the ever popular MP3, AAC, WMA, MP4 and WMV. Internal memory capacity is set to a fairly generous 200 MB, which can easily be expanded up to 32 GB with Micro SD memory cards. There is a 3.5mm audio output jack, and a stereo FM radio with RDS is also included. The Omni a is powered by a 1500 mAh Lithium Ion battery, similar to that found in the Nokia E71, which should deliver an outstanding battery performance.
Overall, the Samsung B7350 Omnia Pro 4 is a solid device, with a strong set of features included, which should appeal to those who want a reliable handset without all the bells and whistles found on other smartphone devices.
The Samsung Omnia Pro 4 should be released shortly, scheduled for July 2010.
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