When I first heard that Samsung was releasing a touchscreen, front-facing QWERTY phone styled after the Blackjack 1 and 2, I was very intrigued. The Samsung Blackjack line was one of my favorite Windows Mobile powered devices ever. Did it live up to my expectations? …
The Samsung Blackjack series was one which, by some opinions, helped save Windows Mobile. It was an affordable phone with an easy-to-use keyboard, respectable battery life, and excellent ease of use. The BJ2 featured WM6 Standard Edition, 240x320 screen, GPS, and a high capacity battery. Last year, Samsung introduced took things a step further with the i788 in Europe. It carried the same basic form factor, but added WM 6.1 Professional, a 320x320 touch screen, European HSDPA, Wifi, and an interesting optical mouse in place of the D-pad.
Fast forward several months, and the Samsung Epix i907 was released on AT&T. Thankfully, it retained all of the features of the i780 while also including US 3G bands.
- Front-facing QWERTY
- 624 MHz Marvell CPU
- 256 MB ROM / 128MB RAM
- 2.5" diagonal 320×320 TFT Touchscreen
- GSM 850/900/1800/1900 WCDMA 850/1900/2100
- GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA
- Built-in QWERTY-type keyboard, 37 keys
- microSD card slot
- Bluetooth 2.0
- Built in A-GPS
- WiFi: 802.11b/g
- 2.0mp camera
- 4.6" x 2.4" x 0.5" (117 x 61 x 12.7 mm)
- Weight: 125g
- 1800 mAh battery 420 minutes talk time, 14 days standby
First impressions:
The Epix is a stunning looking device. The steel grey color combined with black chrome accents really makes this a classy looking business device. The device feels very good in the hand – enough weight to feel solid without being too chunky to carry in a front pants pocket. If you’ve used the Blackjack 2, it’s a very similar feel with just a bit more heft.
On the right side, the microSD slot and charging port are both covered by hinged flaps that feel like they’re going to break off the first time you open them.
The left side has the power button and volume button.
Samsung has included the typical accessories with the phone included a USB sync cable with their proprietary tip, an AC charger, and a 3.5mm adapter for use with normal headphones (way to go Samsung!).
Usage:
After inserting the battery and closing the battery door with the much-improved latching system, I powered up the device. While the screen size is adequate, there was not the wow factor I was expecting. I think the touch screen overlay reduces the clarity of the screen slightly when compared to a non-touchscreen device like the BJ2. However, fonts were crisper and the graphics looked slightly smoother.
My initial concern about the lack of a d-pad was unfounded as I found the optical mouse to be a joy to use. The Epix uses an innovate finger mouse in place of the traditional 5 way d-pad, and gives you the option to use it as a 4-way navigation (using swipe gestures) or a traditional mouse on the screen. I tried it both ways, but eventually settled on the mouse.
Although this is a touchscreen device, items which were once very hard to touch without using a stylus are now easily accessible without reaching for the included (but awkward)stylus.
The keyboard was a joy to use. The keys provided very tactile feedback without being too hard to press, and I found that this allowed me to type quickly without hitting the wrong key.
The typical AT&T bloatware is included in the ROM so the trick of soft-resetting before customization begins will not prevent the bloatware injection. I usually don’t use any of them, but in case you’re the type to enjoy using software pushed onto you by your carrier, they are: AT&T GPS, AT&T Mail, AT&T Music, MEdia Net, CV, IM & Email, Fox Sports Mobile, Mobile Banking, MobiTV, and The Weather Channel. There are also several trial games. Samsung has included more thoughtful software: a nice Samsung branded RSS Reader, a photo slideshow program, and WikiMobile.
Samsung includes a couple of custom today screen plugins that are nice. Below is the Samsung Clock plugin with a tabbed interface.
In normal usage, the device felt snappy, and I really tried to put it through its paces as my main device. This included loading all of the typical software that I use every day. Skyfire recently introduced support for 320x320 screens, and I think it rocks on this device. The combination of the finger mouse, touch screen, and increased resolution work in harmony to make browsing work well.
There are a variety of programs for WM to increase the entertainment factor. Slingplayer Mobile is a program that lets you watch TV on your phone from anyway you have data coverage. It was recently updated to include support for new screen resolutions such as the 320x320 screen found on the Epix. Something disappointing to note is that although SPM now supports the Epix, it does not take advantage of the larger screen real estate. Instead, you get a smaller view of the actual video, and it is surrounded by a toolbar. Nonetheless, this is not a knock on the Epix, but if you’re a heavy Slingbox user, this might be a concern for you.
I used the Epix for several telephone calls in my everyday usage. Voice quality was fine for me. Those on the other end of the phone told me they could hear me fine, and that I sounded good to them.
Another neat feature of this phone is the Haptic feedback. Haptic feedback causes the device to vibrate when the screen is pressed to simulate a keypress. Several devices have started using this technology to provide user feedback (most notably on the Samsung Instinct). It’s not a huge deal, but it is nice to get actual feedback when you’ve pressed the screen.
Battery life was great for me. My typical day starts off the charger around 7:30am. I’m a heavy data user with 3-4 short calls per day. With browsing, email, texting, Twittering, and those short calls, I would end the day around 30-40%. The high capacity battery more than makes up for the extra size by the increased real-world battery life.
Messaging is standard fare for Windows Mobile. I used it with my Exchange account, and it worked fine. Text messaging is threaded in 6.1 which offers nice organization. Otherwise, nothing different from any other WM 6.1 Pro device.
Camera
The 2.0 megapixel camera takes adequate shots, but they aren’t impressive. The camera has a dedicated launch key on the keyboard. It has a lot of nice options including a panoramic setting. Support for AT&T’s Video Share is also included, but I don’t know anyone who subscribes to that so I was unable to test.
Conclusion
If you are a Windows Mobile Professional user who really enjoyed a WM Standard phone (such as the Blackjack 2 or Dash), but really missed the flexibility of a touchscreen device, I think you will really like the Epix. The combination of a front-facing QWERTY, snappy processor, ample onboard memory, innovative optical joystick, and touchscreen make for a pleasant user experience. While I found the screen real estate smaller than what I’m used to, it was still adequate for a QWERTY smartphone. I don’t know if the bump in resolution was worth the tradeoff in software compatibility. Luckily, most major software developers have already addressed these incompatibilities so you’ll be safe. Overall this is one of my favorite Windows Mobile devices ever, and it offers the complete package for both novice and power users.
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