Samsung Focus
Phone Scoop Review
Oct 20, 2010 by Philip Berne
We tackle the Samsung Focus, one of the first Windows Phone 7 devices, from a business users perspective. Does it earn Microsoft a promotion? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
Good Phone
I have had this phone for about 8 months now. The Windows 7 Operating System is very smooth and organized. The menu is colorful and simple, definitely the easiest smart phone to use. The touch screen is very bright, great quality, sensitive and it has a 4" Display. The market did not have many applications at the start but are always adding more. This phone allows you to open Microsoft word and power point presentations straight from the phone. I have used this during school speeches, its a great feature. You can also type of word and excel documents from the phone (even though its a really small screen and not anywhere near the ease of a regular computer). The ability to link it with your xbox account (if you have one) allows you to play great games and message friends. The battery life is great, I do not talk that much but text on it a lot and it lasts a good two days between charges. It has a good camera and video mode except I have noticed that you cannot send the videos through text message. The whole problem with the microSDHC cards becoming embedded with the phone is kind of a turn down, I have not added one yet because I have not found a Microsoft recommended card in order to not slow down the phone. You cant have custom ring-tones with this phone, only the pre-installed ones. My phone has been having problems: screen not locking/nonstop text message received noises till the phone dies, but AT&T is sending me a new one free. Although Ive had problems with the phone, it is the best phone Ive ever used. The quality of the operating system is far beyond that of the iphones.
I recommend the samsung focus to anyone who wants to have a great, easy, beautiful smart phone.
OS To Impress
This phone was on my list between the Torch (Thank God I didn't go that direction) and the Captivate. I ended up with the Captivate, which I love, but after some really extensive experience with the focus (via my boss owning one) I must say that, despite my previous anti-windows OS posts, I LOVE everything about this phone. I would honestly recommend this phone for EVERYONE. If you're an Android head like me, then go with an Android, but don't rule this phone out. It's very simple, the user interface is completely intuitive and operates so smoothly ... and the OS is by far Windows best.
Windows previous phones were always OK, but not a contender in my opinion, but with these phones it seems as if they really got their (curse word) together and decided to compete with Steve Jobs and the monster that is iphone. I can't wait to see what windows has in store for the future.
PROS:
There are so many pros. For one, the music player defeats any stock android player (or downloaded ap). It's like owning a Zune that can make calls and has a pretty home screen.
Another great quality of this phone is the simplicity. Between the iphone, this windows phone 7, and Androids (as far as ease of use) I would say Windows is first, iphone second and Android 3rd. Complexity isn't a bad thing, but for someone wanting to get into a smartphone who needs something simple ... The Samsung Focus is the phone to go to.
I could go all day about all the great qualities. Samsungs superior brightness and color, etc. etc. etc. But, let me focus on the two things I DON'T like about the Focus. 8 GB of memory with the option to expand it up to 32 GB... but, once that card is in the phone it is not removable. It becomes part of the phone... and that to me was unforgivable. Granted, 40GB of memory doesn't really need to be removed ... but, not everyone can afford a 32 GB card.
It's also too simple... good for some, not for me. Great phone!
Fantastic Hardware and OS!
Hardware wise the phone is light, but feels very sturdy. It's curved back and sides feel very comfortable in hand and is actually a lot more comfortable to hold then the iPhone 4 especially when held in landscape. I LOVE the dedicated camera button which I think is a great feature that Microsoft forced on manufactures that no other smartphones on the market even have right now. I can go from pocket to taking a picture in 5 seconds flat. The Super AMOLED screen is gorgeous, the colors are sharp and full HTML web pages are rendered perfectly with little to no pixelation. The touchscreen is extremely responsive and texting is a breeze with the large keyboard, the built in emoticon keyboard is also a nice touch. Software wise I love WP7, the live tiles are a refreshing and unique approach to smartphone os's. The intergration with social media is something that no other phone on the market can even touch right now. I don't even look at facebook or twitter on my iPhone anymore cause it feels like so much work to get there. Truly everything is so easy on WP7, all the apps you've installed are lined up aphbetically on the second home screen. If you like playing mobile first or third person shooter or racing games, GET THIS PHONE NOW, it blow every Android and iPhone out of the water with the beutiful screen and Xbox integration. The only reason I didn't give this phone a full 5 stars are a few things that I know will be resolved through Microsoft WP7 updates. They're only minor things like cut, copy, and paste, multitasking with background applications. Another odd thing is that IE doesn't show URL or bookmarks bar when in widescreen, I'm looking forward to Opera releasing a version for WP7. Also don't let the doubters convince you, when I purchased my Focus a few weeks ago the app market had just crossed 10,000, and it's already up to over 12,000, give it another few months and it'll start to get up there with iPhone and Android.
I love it, very impressed!
Go to the store, play with it for five minutes. I can't think of one bad thing to say about the Focus that can make it a deal breaker.
-stunning display
-amazing camera, especially 720p video
-great, fast browser
-super fast, zero lag processor
-WP7 is beautiful, streamlined, and easy to use
-speaker is crisp, clear, and loud- as is the earpiece
-great reception
-expandable memory up to 40gb total (be careful though, read more about this!) fyi, my 8gb class 4 kingston card works fine.
I just love this phone, its only $100 bucks and does everything I need it to, and then some. I couldn't keep my hands off of it for literally the first 3 days I got it. Extremely, extremely satisfied!
Btw, I'm a 23 year old, "tech-savvy" guy living in NYC using the phone for calling, music, movies, video/picture taking, email, and internet mostly.
Focus first 2 weeks
As ex iP3GS it was a big step to move to Samsung Focus. So far I like it and I am looking forward to upgrade.
Pro
Screen awesome. Speed on apps and change faster then ip3gs. Love the fact that you are not forced into itunes. Battery time much better.
Cons. More ring tones. No MMS video. No copy paste. Still learning Windows live... LOL
Insanely awesome phone
This phone is beyond amazing. I've dealt with the iPhone 3GS and experienced dropped calls with the iPhone 4, as well as going through the Sony Xperia and the Galaxy S. While the technology and development of iOS and iPhone hardware blows most smartphones out of the water and android has a vast amount of apps and combinations of customizing its interfaces, WP7 is a remarkably simple compromise to the glitz-n-glam of android's complex OS and poor signal service of the iPhone. I personally bought this phone to separate myself from my smartphone peers and hopefully pioneer a new WP7 movement because, besides the phone, the new OS is GORGEOUS.
I love that it's so simple. All my social networking is seamlessly integrated into contacts, and there is no immense app clutter like I had with my xperia and galaxy s. While it is true that the lack of app development is the single greatest drawback right now, I feel like the oversaturation of apps on both the iPhone and android os brought the phones down because, particularly for android, their performance suffered and I often experienced freezing, as well as cutting down the battery's life exponentially. I have yet to deal with that on my WP7.
PROS:
Simple
Quick
No lag
No signal issues
Phone will automatically turn off screen when face is on phone and turn on when face is away from the phone, regardless of whether the phone call is ended
very simple to navigate
no redundance with apps and functions
CONS:
inability to customize ringtones
zune is terrible at syncing and difficult to navigate
*perhaps my most significant disappointment with this phone is the bug when putting in memory cards. If you do have a memory card, you will have to completely reset your phone to get to be recognized
I still give this phone a perfect rating because I know that there will updates to fix these issues since this is a 1.0 version of WP7. This is definitely a great phone for anyone who is tired of dropped calls and phones that freeze.
Great Phone
I got this phone a few weeks ago and have been trying it out and comparing it to my Android Galaxy S on AT&T and my iPhone from AT&T.
Pros:
Super light weight
Large screen that is beautiful
Super quick
Superior call quality
Battery life has been great
Exceptional exchange email
Cons:
When charging, phone stays on.
If you are looking for a good looking, easy to use smart phone, than this is a great option. (I prefer this phone to the android device for more "work" related task and the iphone for more "non work" related task.)
Samsung Focus Windows Phone
This is my very first Smart Phone. For the most part, I love it!
Pros: Easy to use.
Great Camera.
Features are awesome, able to link up with facebook and hotmail. Not a bad phone at all.
Cons: Face dialing while trying to talk. End up pushing MUTE or SPEAKER OR WHATEVER IS CLOSE TO MY FACE WHILE TRYING TO TALK.
samsung focus
pros: screen, haptic feedback, photos, video, memory, games.
cons: batt. life, windows live for contacts it makes multiples and when deleting you have to delete each one I know of no other way, locale of power button, tooooo many steps to take a pix, to load a new contact, at times programs I added like iheart radio now not working, icon sizes, when typing for texting you type n have to wait for words to show up,
I broke my own rule of never ever get first year tech., programs etc due to bugs always show up. I wanted to give it a chance and will never buy from samsung again on anything. No wonder they had a 99% drop in profits its their products. I hope they right the ship
