Samsung i760 Unboxed on MobilitySite

[Janak Parekh]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://mobilitysite.com/2007/10/verizon-samsung-sch-i760-unboxed/' target='_blank'>http://mobilitysite.com/2007/10/ver...h-i760-unboxed/</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Back at Digital Focus in Las Vegas, a media event during CES, I had a chance to get a look at the SCH-i760 from Samsung. It didn’t have a battery, but I knew I wanted to check it out. I realized later that the reason it wasn't been shown powered up was that Windows Mobile 6 was coming and it was probably already running it. Anyhow, 10 months later and here we are… The Unboxing of the Verizon Samsung SCH-i760. Video of the unboxing and more photos after the jump…"</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20071025-Samsungi760MobilitySite.jpg" /><br /><br />My first impressions at seeing Chris's unboxing pics of the unit is that it's smaller than I'd have expected for a 240x320 unit with a front keypad. However, I'm not sure about the ergonomics of the front keypad and the placement of the send/end buttons. Any of you thinking of picking this puppy up?

[egads]

With out a doubt that's the ugliest PPC/Phone I've seen in a while.
I've seen $5 universial remotes that have nicer buttons and layout than this thing.

[The PocketTV Team]

Game and video developers should test their applications on the Samsung i760, in Landscape orientation.

Apparently there is a display driver bug on the Verizon Samsung i760 that causes some games and video applications to misbehave or display video incorrectly.

We traced the issue to GETRAWFRAMEBUFFER: On the Samsung i760, rfbi.cxPixels and rfbi.cyPixels are permuted when GETRAWFRAMEBUFFER is called while the display is in Landscape orientation.

[Mark Larson]

Oh Samsung, what standards won't you ignore. :roll:

[Sagitario]

Now that has got to be the ugliest Phone I've seen in years. Does the key pad remind you of the old Motorola Brickotac.... oops,... sorry.... I meant Microtac :mrgreen:. It's been ten years 8O since I owned one, I tend to forget the name.

Good luck to Samsung with that one.

[lorettaboy]

I can't understand why people don't find this ppc super attractive. I mean, Samsung had a team of 12 monkeys working on this for at least a month :D

[mwfielder]

Game and video developers should test their applications on the Samsung i760, in Landscape orientation.

Apparently there is a display driver bug on the Verizon Samsung i760 that causes some games and video applications to misbehave or display video incorrectly.

We traced the issue to GETRAWFRAMEBUFFER: On the Samsung i760, rfbi.cxPixels and rfbi.cyPixels are permuted when GETRAWFRAMEBUFFER is called while the display is in Landscape orientation.
Did you find any solution? Slingplayer is one example--no video in landscape mode.

They went function over form in looks---but it does function well. Keypad on front avoids the need to slide the keyboard open, and allows calling without using the touchscreen. It's fairly slim as well--I'm liking it.

[sixftunda]

WOW tough crowd in this thread. After having ACTUALLY USED this phone for just over a month, I can say that this ppc kicks butt over all I have previously used (Treo, i730, 6700, Q). The front keypad makes it extremely functional. Even though it has less features than the TyTnII it does benchmark higher. It's really a sweet phone.

[kaps]

I completely agree that this is a really great phone. The form factor makes it very easy to use. I remember the old PPC Phones that had the keypad in the display, yuck!

It is fast and stylish.

KAPS

[johnm]

I hate unboxing videos. I can't imagine a bigger waste of my time. We used to have these things called reviews.

[barrypowers]

First, let me start by saying I have used Windows mobile PDA's since WindowsCE and the HP 660LX; I am used to ugly devices. That said, I used to change them about as often as Kenny Lofton changed baseball teams. The last one I had was the Samsung i730 and it lasted longer than any phone or PDA that I ever used (2+ years). The I730 was just the most complete convergence solution out there (PDA, broadband internet access, and phone); I could do more with that device than any iPhone user could even think of with it's expandability. internet speed and software options. Sadly, though, it looked like a tank when turned upside down because of the extended battery needed to watch an entire 9 inning Red Sox game on Slingplayer. That and the damned wired headphones made me feel so 1990's.

I just got the new i760 this week. MUCH slimmer and now has both the A2DP profile and a camera. No more wired stereo headphones! I have three relatively small gripes, though. 1) The video driver problem mentioned above makes Slingplayer only work in the smaller vertical mode 2) The charging / synching cables that come with the system make it necessary to take both on the road if you also want to use the phone as a broadband modem tethered to your laptop 3) the phone uses micro SD capped at only 4GB with a hack from PDAPhonehome.com

The folks over at PDAPhonehome.com usually hack fixes to problems like the video driver for us before Samsung makes corrections, so I expect this to go away quickly. Thank god I am going to watch the Red Sox win the World Series in HD, though! I have not seen this problem with any other piece of software I have, so it may be a Slingplayer problem and not Samsung's.

I have since ordered an after market synch and charge cable which should lighten the load while traveling. I am hoping that I can get another hack to take advantage of upcoming 6 GB and 8 GB (and maybe even 16 GB?!?!) Micro SD cards.

It's not as pretty as an iPhone, however I am a power user and take functionality over form every day. My old girlfriend, the I730, is now put to rest as an MP3 player / mini tv with wired &lt;gasp> JBL speakers. The I760 is a worthy upgrade to the i730 and I anticipate a long period of use.

[The PocketTV Team]

Did you find any solution? Slingplayer is one example--no video in landscape mode.

yes, the solution is simple: the application must detect the i760, and if the display is currently in landscape orientation, permute the values of rfbi.cxPixels and rfbi.cyPixels returned by GETRAWFRAMEBUFFER.

but affected applications need to be adapted to implement the workaround.

detection of the i760 is done using SystemParametersInfo(SPI_GETOEMINFO, ...) which returns "SAMSUNG SCH-i760".

we have implemented this fix in version 1.4.1 of PocketTV Classic (freeware) and PocketTV Enterprise Edition, available from www.pockettv.com .

[Bladefree21]

The portrait and landscape views work fine on the i760 from Sony LocationFree..

This is my first time watching cable TV on a PPC phone edition while riding down the road.. It's cool! 8) :D

[hang5lngbd]

I just bought a samsung i760 last week and love it so far. This is the upgrade I was looking for from my xv6700. Very fast, slim, with a solid feel. The updates to the Windows OS are great too.

The button layout is very well thought out, Im a big fan. Everything that you need is available keyboard open or closed

Liitle gripes that come with any consumer level product include the poor included charging solution (I plan to get a charge and sync cable and a chargng dock for both included batteries), and the 64mb of RAM (which seems standard for who knows what reason)

One vote for samungs new device.

[JMountford]

Well I could espouce the reasons I love the 760. Closed minded people think it's ugly. I think it's beautiful. It works great, better than any other PDA I have ever used. All I know is it's a keeper.

[pocketdoc]

I love my 760. I think it is attractive, and have found skins that you can apply to change the appearance to anything you like.

If you don't like this device, don't buy it and stop reading these articles about it.

If you hate box-opening articles, skip over them.

I think I will start a blog for people that like to rant and complain...

[Sagitario]

WOW tough crowd in this thread. After having ACTUALLY USED this phone for just over a month, I can say that this ppc kicks butt over all I have previously used (Treo, i730, 6700, Q). The front keypad makes it extremely functional. Even though it has less features than the TyTnII it does benchmark higher. It's really a sweet phone.

Aside from ugly, the concept of the form factor is nice. I'd say that even the button arrangement of the keypad has a point to it too... What I don't like is the buttons they chose for it. A bit more curves on the sides could have also helped a bit. The phone simply reminds me of an old corded brick we all probably used a decade ago. The specs definetly make it attractive, but it still looks like something I'd be embarassed to show off.

[dbrahms]

Can someone comment on the in-call volume with the i760? It is any better than the xv6700 for those of you who had this phone?

Thanks,
Dan