Windows Phone 7 Profile: the Samsung Focus

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/windowsphone/glance.aspx' target='_blank'>http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/...one/glance.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Thin and light, the Samsung Focus offers a 4.0" Super AMOLED display and a 5mp camera with enhanced photo options such as panorama, smile detector, Lomo mode, Add Me, and BeautyShot."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/wpt/auto/1286827446.usr1.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p><p>One of the few devices with am AMOLED screen, the Samsung Focus has a sizeable (4 inch) screen, a slender 10.9mm profile, and fairly standard specs otherwise. As I profile each of these phones, I find myself increasingly disappointed that so many of them are only coming with 8 GB of storage. That's worthy of a separate post I think...stand by!</p><ul><li>4.0", 480x800 Super AMOLED screen</li><li>4.82" x 2.53" x 0.43" 110g</li><li>512MB RAM/1GB Flash/8GB internal storage</li><li>Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD 8250 1 GHz</li><li>Battery life - Talk time: 3 hrs/Standby: 250 hrs</li><li>5MP camera/720p HD video</li></ul><p>More photos after the break. <MORE /></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/wpt/auto/1286827681.usr1.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/wpt/auto/1286827813.usr1.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p>

[ptyork]

I SURE hope that 3 hour talk time figure is incorrect (yeah, I saw it on the WP7 site, as well). If it is correct, this is DOA. Major league DOA. Won't make it half a day without charging, assuming moderate data use. I'm sure it's wrong, though. The Captivate (basically the same phone in Android clothing) is listed at around 6 hours. Unless this has a < 800 mAhr battery...

Anyway, assuming this is a typo, this is my favorite of the bunch, so far.

Anyone know for sure if this will support Audible content? Zune does, but I've not heard anything regarding WP7.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

I'm curious, what made this your favourite? They're all so same-y. Only thing that would really interest me is the Dell, and that's because it has something different; a portrait slider keyboard.

[ptyork]

I'm curious, what made this your favourite? They're all so same-y. Only thing that would really interest me is the Dell, and that's because it has something different; a portrait slider keyboard.

Let me be a little more clear about it. It is my favorite on AT&T, which is really my only mobile carrier option (all the others have spotty coverage in my home, which can't happen because I no longer have a land line). Beyond that, I actually like the lack of a physical keyboard now that I've gotten accustomed to the virtual one. And I really like the Super AMOLED screen, as well. The thinness doesn't hurt, though it's not a deciding factor for me.

BUT, I think I might get the HD7 if AT&T had it. The super big screen is very appealing, as is (remarkably) the kickstand.

The Dell's portrait slider is not interesting to me. I've had a Treo and (very briefly) a Pre (and long ago an ancient Blackberry--pre-phone days), and I've had my fill of these tiny things. Landscape is okay, but if I'm going to be plucking away at an itty bitty keyboard, I'd honestly rather just have it be virtual and not sacrifice thickness (and likely long-term issues with the slider mechanism).

[ptyork]

Incidentally, Audible says the WILL support WP7, so one less stumbling block for me. I'm an Audible junkie.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Virtual keyboards do my head in; still prefer physical keyboards. I've been using them since the Palm Tungsten W. Loved the Treos lots.

I forgot about carrier preferences, and how the manufacturers are spreading very similar phones across different telcos (wonder what's the rationale in that). That's certainly important. As for me, I'm still going to take a wait and see. Mind if there was a Tasks and Notes database with full sync to Outlook and Onenote I might consider it...

[Jason Dunn]

I'm curious, what made this your favourite? They're all so same-y.

Yeah, I'm personally a little disappointed that we didn't see a little more variation - the chassis 1 spec is pretty tight, but it's tight on the MINIMUMS, not the maximum. I was hoping we'd see one device with a 1.5 Ghz CPU, 32 GB storage, etc. Something really killer. :D

[ptyork]

Virtual keyboards do my head in; still prefer physical keyboards. I've been using them since the Palm Tungsten W. Loved the Treos lots.

I remember laughing at the stupidity of a virtual keyboard when the iPhone was first announced. Even after release, I thought it was ridiculous, having gotten introduced to them through a PocketPC. But then I got an iPod touch and realized that it was actually easier for me to type on than my trusty Treo, so I migrated to the iPhone. I have missed the "just start typing" experience on the Treo (and the ability to assign shortcuts to any key), but other than that, I haven't really looked back.

[ptyork]

I was hoping we'd see one device with a 1.5 Ghz CPU, 32 GB storage, etc. Something really killer. :D

My biggest hope was that someone would go whacky with the battery size. Maybe a 3000 mAhr battery (thickness be damned!!!) and give me a two day effective usefulness between charges. That's been my #1 complaint with the latest breed of smartphones. Form over function.

As for memory size, this is a pet peeve. How much would it cost to add a 32MB or 64MB option? Apple charges $100 to jump from 32 to 64 in the iPod Touch and you KNOW they are turning a healthy profit on the option. A 64MB phone would give you a major selling point over the iPhone. Give me a $299, 64MB WP7 device, and I'm pretty much sold. (yes, my music, audiobook, and video library is pretty enormous)

[Jason Dunn]

My biggest hope was that someone would go whacky with the battery size. Maybe a 3000 mAhr battery (thickness be damned!!!) and give me a two day effective usefulness between charges. That's been my #1 complaint with the latest breed of smartphones. Form over function.

Nah, come on man, how the heck would a phone that's 2x as thick as every other one sell at retail? No one wants a thick brick of a phone other than a few people here. :D I'm a battery life guy too - and would accept a thicker device to get more battery life, but we're in the minority...

As for memory size, this is a pet peeve. How much would it cost to add a 32MB or 64MB option? Apple charges $100 to jump from 32 to 64 in the iPod Touch and you KNOW they are turning a healthy profit on the option. A 64MB phone would give you a major selling point over the iPhone. Give me a $299, 64MB WP7 device, and I'm pretty much sold. (yes, my music, audiobook, and video library is pretty enormous)

Couple of things here. First, it's cheaper for OEMs to go with a microSD card on the board rather than flash memory chips. So right now there's a hard limit of 32 GB no matter what (because there's no 64 GB microSDHC chip on the market yet). In terms of costs, Apple buys an UNGODLY amount of flash memory and gets discounts that no one else can match...so while I agree 100% that we need a 32 GB Windows Phone 7 device, I don't think there's any way it can be as cheap as you're hoping. :(

[Jason Dunn]

Virtual keyboards do my head in; still prefer physical keyboards. I've been using them since the Palm Tungsten W. Loved the Treos lots.

I used to agree with you, but once I got my iPod Touch, it changed my mind - it's quite good. Not perfect, and not quite as good as a physical keyboard, but I'd say about 90% as good and I appreciate having the bigger screen (although the Dell Venue gives you both).

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

I'm one of the first users of the iPod touch; bought mine 3 weeks after they arrived. Still does my head in. In fact I really do not like the Apple virtual keyboard, and prefer the Android implementation. My main pet peeve is in auto-correct; the Apple version only has one at a time, and canceling it involves clicking on that tiny "x" wherever the word is being typed. Second annoyance of course, is that I'm just slower with it.