|
Samsung's Omnia line of phones has been a heady mixture of business and fun
thrown in together. The first Omnia (i900) was a great touchscreen phone, then
came the Omnia HD i8910 (check out the review in this isse itself) and now the
Omnia Pro B7320. Incidentally, the B7320 is the first phone from the 'Pro'
lineup in Omnia series, the major differentiating factor being the presence of a
physical keyboard.
The B7320 we got was a mocha brown color which is quite a surprize as most
manufacturers prefer to stick to black or silver for their business phones. It
feels great to hold and even with the brown color, it exudes an elegant and
professional look with navigation pad outline in silver as well as the white
backlit keys. I wish there wasn't so much plastic everywhere though. A little
stainless steel or brushed aluminium would have really pepped things up a bit.
The navigation, selection as well as the soft keys are comortable to use due to
their size and are responsive. The QWERTY keypad on the other hand might be an
issue for people with large hands. The small size of the keys leads to multiple
key presses at times. Being a business phone, a dedicated camera key is missing
on the phone. The landscape style display measures 2.4 inches which is good
enough to do daily work, but is an issue while browsing the internet or using
the GPS.
 |
The B7320 runs on a Qualcomm 528Mhz processor with 256MB RAM. It comes with
Windows Mobile 6.1, upgradable to Windows mobile 6.5 once it becomes available.
The main screen is customized with Samsung widgets which makes the device
handling a lot easier. In terms of connectivity – Bluetooth worked great, though
the WiFi connection failed to work on the connected network at times. GPS worked
splendid, and the device connected to available satellites in under 10 seconds.
Unfortunately, Samsung has not included any navigation software on the phone, so
you'll have to make do with Google Maps or purchase software and maps from a
third-party.
Samsung B7320 Omnia Pro
Rs 16,500 |
|
Pros
Looks, sound output, UI, PriceCons
Cramped keypad, no GPS software
Sold by
Samsung India, www.samsung.co.in |
Specs
Quadband GSM, 320 x 240 pixels, 2.4 inches LCD, QWERTY keyboard, 528MHz
processor, 256MB RAM, 100MB+microSD, 3.2MP AF camera, bluetooth, WiFi, 3G,
GPS, FM Radio, 1480mAh battery, 110 grams
Verdict
 |
The phone is rich in terms of multimedia. The 3.2MP autofocus camera features
face and smile detection even though it misses out on a flash. A disappointing
factor here is that the phone records videos in just 320 x 240 resolution, but
you can easily playback WMV files on it. However, the phone's sound output is
very loud and clear. The phone comes with 100MB onboard memory expandable via a
microSD card slot which is not hot swappable.
The Phone retails for around 14k in the market which makes it one of the
cheapest Windows Mobile business phones available with a full QWERTY keypad. If
you want to spend a bit more, then you can look at the Blackberry Curve 8520 (Rs
16k) or the Nokia E71 (Rs 18k).
|