Samsung SGH-i780

Samsung is by no means prolific when it comes to Windows Mobile devices. That's fine, as long as the ones it has are good. The SGH-i780 is the Korean company's first touchscreen Windows Mobile device in a long while, and we got the chance to play with a pre-production unit. Here's our take.

Design

Samsung boasts of having some of the slimmest mobile phones in the world. The company has obviously applied its know-how to this i780 as it is a mere 12.9mm thick. That's even thinner than the incredibly compact HTC Touch which measures in at 13.9mm. That said, we were not as impressed with the design of the i780 as we were with the HTC Touch. Somehow, it just didn't have the "wow" factor--likely because it looks so much like the Samsung i600 smart phone which we have gotten very used to seeing.

The i780 (left) put beside the i600 smart phone.

The i780 has a large 320 x 320 display. This has 33 percent more pixels than the more common 320 x 240 QVGA screens found on Windows Mobile devices. The LCD takes up most of the front of the handheld, but still there is ample space for the QWERTY keypad. The keypad buttons are longish in shape and well-spaced out with good tactile feedback. It made for very good thumb typing, as good as what you'd find on Treo and BlackBerry devices.

Instead of a regular directional pad, the i780 has what Samsung calls an optical joystick. We have ever seen this in other devices, an example being the Raon Digital Everun UMPC. It's essentially an optical trackpad which controls movement in place of a four-way button. In mouse mode, a pointer appears onscreen and can be navigated by moving your finger around the joystick. It can also be set to work like a four-way navigator. In that mode, swiping in a direction is like pressing a direction button on a regular D-pad. You do have to make multiple swipes to keep it moving though, which makes it less effective than a physical D-pad. Pressing down on this optical joystick selects highlighted items in either mode. All in all, it's a novel feature, but we don't see how it works better than a normal D-pad.

Many of the buttons on the i780 perform two functions. For example, long-pressing the spacebar toggles the silent mode while the hang-up button keylocks the device. While common in mobile phones, other PDA-phone manufacturers should take a page out of Samsung's book to include more such features. This can only make their devices more user-friendly.

One shortcut button is found on the right side of the device. In camera mode, this acts as a shutter button. But if you just press it quickly, an onscreen console slides up from the bottom of the display, showing what music is playing in the background. This is great for those who use their PDA-phones as MP3 players as well.

Also on the right side are a microSD card slot and a single connector for syncing, charging and plugging in a wired headset. Like many of the current HTC products, there is no dedicated audio connector. It's worse for the i780 because the single connector fits only a proprietary Samsung jack--at least HTC uses the standard mini-USB one. This means you'll need an adapter if you'd prefer to use your own headphones. Having a second charge/sync cable will also cost more compared to the ubiquitous mini-USB ones.

Features

When it comes to connectivity, the i780 is a powerhouse. It comes with HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and also GPS for navigation. According to its press release, it will come with bundled navigation software. We'll be testing that feature out when we get an actual production unit.

As with the i600, the Home screen of the i780 has been modified for user-friendliness. Tabs with large buttons make it easy for you to get to commonly used applications and settings without having to remove the stylus.

As we've come to expect from Samsung, the i780 has a whole bunch of ringtones. Some of them are nice, some annoying. But they are good to have as it's a change from the boring standard Windows Mobile ones.

Outlook

We were not able to test out many of the i780's features because what we have is a preproduction unit. But from what we've seen, it's certainly shaping up to be a strong contender to some of the best WM6 devices out there. We'll be updating this article with a full review once we get our hands on a commercial set.

The SGH-i780 will be available from end February in Singapore. Samsung has yet to confirm its wider Asian availability and pricing.