Review: Samsung Omnia Lite B7300

There are quite a few Omnias doing the rounds at the moment. The B7300 has no keyboard, and has a relatively small screen. So it has been given the moniker Omnia Lite. But in fact that does it a bit of a disservice, because the features list is quite impressive.

There’s HSDPA, GPS and Wi-Fi all here, for example, alongside a front facing camera for two way video calling, and the handset runs Windows Mobile 6.5. Samsung has overlayed its own TouchWiz user interface onto Windows Mobile, so that the handset looks to all intents and purposes like a pretty ordinary Samsung touchscreened mobile.

The three home screens have Samsung’s trademark usual bright plant related wallpapers for example, and there is a sidebar from which you can draw widgets onto the three screens.

The handset itself is quite small, measuring 107mm x 51.8mm x 13.3mm and weighing 109g. Unlike with some larger screened smartphones we had no trouble at all reaching all the way across the screen to use the Omnia Lite one-handed. We are fans of the fact that the microSD card slot is on one side of the casing. Protected by a hinged flap, its location means you can very easily get to it to hotswap memory cards.

Counteracting this is the fact that the supplied one-piece headset shares its microUSB connector with the mains power and PC connectors. There’s no 3.5mm option.

Under the screen there are Call and End buttons and what looks like it might be an optical navigation pad. In fact it is just a back button. That’s really no great loss – the touchscreen means you don’t really need a navigation pad of any kind.

The telltale sign that this is a Windows Mobile handset is the Start menu sitting along the top of the screen. Tap Start and the Windows Mobile ‘honeycomb’ apps menu pops up. There is an alternative in the shape of Samsung’s own side button invoked My Menu, which offers 3 x 4 grids of application shortcuts spread across four screens. The grids can be customised, and there is a task switcher here too.

Those not used to such dual systems might find things a bit confusing, but you’ll probably soon decide which of the two setups you prefer and stick to it.

Another case of doubling up comes in the shape of Samsung’s application store sitting alongside Microsoft’s own Windows Mobile one.

But the biggest oddity of all is the stylus. The touchscreen does, inevitably, pop up some quite small icons – too small to hit with a fingertip. We say inevitably because the screen measures just 3.0 inches across diagonal corners. Samsung has decided to provide a stylus, but not in the usual sense of giving one a space in the device shell.

Instead you get a nearly 80mm long plastic pen which you can hang off the phone via a wee lanyard. We hate it and resorted to using a pencil tip or struggling with fingernails.

Samsung has added several applications to the Windows Mobile standards including the Opera Web browser, an FM radio, a nice memo maker which supports both text and drawing, a digital picture frame app, a podcast manager and its own DivX and Xvid supporting video player.

The main camera falls a bit short at 3 megapixels and there is no flash. You can shoot in continuous mode and there are panorama and smile shot modes as well as a mosaic setting which lets you create larger pictures by combining single shots. You have to hold the camera quite steady for this to work.

We also found that the processor was a bit slow at times, with occasional waits for our fingertaps to be recognised and a general sluggishness throughout. Perhaps such limitations are to be expected, however, in what is a budget offering.

Price (as reviewed): £257
Web: www.samsungmobile.com

Essential Verdict
Performance: 7/10
Design: 8/10
Features: 7/10
Value for Money: 8/10
Overall score: 7/10

Originally published in Smartphone Essentials magazine. Written by Sandra Vogel.

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