Samsung Omnia 7 review

If you’re more interested in music and videos, you still have to process everything through Zune, in the same way that Apple users are tied to iTunes. This walled garden approach makes it easy to organise your files but gives you little control, and if you decide later to switch devices, you’ll have problems getting at any files stored on your old phone.

Windows Phone’s Live Tiles really stand out on the AMOLED screen, which is amazingly bright and colourful. The 480×800 resolution may not be the highest, but it’s more than enough to fill the 4in screen and make images and text look sharp. The phone’s metal casing makes it quite hefty for its size, but this adds to the impression of good build quality. We liked the inclusion of a camera shutter button and a cover for the USB port.

Photos snapped with the Omnia 7’s 5-megapixel camera are crisp and lack the noise in dark areas that plague most other cameraphones, but colours are muted. An LED flash helps illuminate dark shots, but videos, which can be recorded at 720p, are dull and noisy.

Current Windows Phone 7 handsets will receive free updates to Mango once it’s finally released to the public and, once new handsets are launched, you may find the Omnia 7 at bargain-basement prices. However, we much prefer Android’s open Market and customisable home screens to Windows Phone 7’s limited apps and rigid homescreen, however pretty and smooth it is to use. The Motorola Defy has similar features, better battery life and costs less.