Samsung S7220 / Ultra b
Discontinued 3rd March 2009
The Samsung S7220 Ultra b
continues Samsung's rather silly naming convention where
every phone seems to have a name with a superscript.
And to look at the Ultra b, you might wonder why Samsung
have bothered with such a trendy name when the phone
itself looks so very dull.
But in fact, the Ultra b is a lot more
interesting than it first looks. This is a 3.5G phone
with a 5 megapixel camera and GPS that comes in at a
very lightweight 88 grams and should retail for only
around €240 SIM-free.
This isn't quite an "N95 class"
phone though. The display is only a standard 2.2"
240 x 320 pixel OLED panel, the S7220 lacks WiFi and
it doesn't appear to be a smartphone.. although
the built in software seems to be very good.
The camera is one strong point - this
5 megapixel unit has flash and autofocus and can also
geotag photographs with their GPS position, and it has
a panoramic capture function, smile detection, macro
capabilities, image stabilisation, red-eye reduction
and a number of other useful features. Samsung haven't
said what sort of video capture capabilities the S7220
has, but you can upload video clips and stills images
directly to a blog or other social networking site.
The
Ultra b's GPS comes with the Route 66 personal navigation
application and will come with some preinstalled maps.
Route 66 features voice directions and on-the-fly planning,
although it isn't known if this will require a fee or
not. Alternatively, you can use Google Maps.
Multimedia support looks pretty comprehensive
- the Ultra b / S7220 can play back Windows Media files
plus standard formats such as MP3, AAC and MPEG4. The
S7220 can be synchronised with Windows Media Player
on a PC too. In addition to this, the S7220 has an FM
radio and stereo Bluetooth support.
Other software features include a document
reader, support for Microsoft push email, a web browser
and RSS reader. Although Samsung are keen to push the
S7220's compatibility with Microsoft products, it does
appear that this is not a Windows smartphone.
All the other usual features are here
- microSD expandable memory, USB 2.0 connectivity, flight
mode and Java support.
So, underneath the S7220's unassuming
exterior, it seems that this is a very powerful phone
and pretty good value for money too. We don't have any
exact word on availability, but it certainly seems destined
for Russian and Nordic countries, so it will probably
be widely available throughout Europe and elsewhere.
Update: In the UK, this will
be marketed at the Samsung
Lucido.
|
Samsung
S7220 / Ultra b at a glance
|
Available:
|
Soon
|
Network:
|
GSM
850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
+ UMTS 900 / 2100
|
Data:
|
GPRS
+ EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA
|
Screen:
|
240
x 320 pixels, 262k colours
|
Camera:
|
5
megapixels
|
Size:
|
Medium
monoblock 114 x 46 x
12mm / 88 grams
|
Bluetooth:
|
Yes
|
Memory
card:
|
microSD
|
Infra-red:
|
No
|
Polyphonic:
|
Yes
|
Java:
|
Yes
|
GPS:
|
Yes
|
Battery
life:
|
Not
specified
|
|
|