Sharp looks and decent kit, Samsung S7220 Ultra b is one of those handsets that would rather do the job than do the talk. Not so long ago, the S7220 Ultra b could've been basking in the Soul kind of hype. Instead, today it quietly sits in the middle of Samsung's portfolio, ready to cash in without fanfare.
Samsung S7220 Ultra b knows to keep a low profile - and that's a compliment for a phone with a stunning screen and distinct styling. But it sure knows to keep up with the pace of the evolving midrange and takes a prominent face so you don't get lost in the crowd. In a busy corner of the market, it takes a few aces up the sleeve to keep the competition at a safe distance. The first impressions when we previewed the Samsung S7220 Ultra b back in February were very encouraging but let's see how it stands the test of a full review.
Samsung S7220 Ultra b
Key features
- Quad-band GSM and dual-band (900/2100 MHz) UMTS with HSDPA (7.2 Mbps) support
- 2.2" 256K-color AMOLED display of QVGA resolution
- 11.8mm thickness
- 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, Smile detection, Wide dynamic range and geotagging
- Built-in GPS with A-GPS support
- Stereo FM radio with RDS
- Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
- Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP
- microUSB v2.0, charging through USB
- Accelerometer sensor
- Basic Java multitasking
- Office document viewer
- Smart dialing
The most prominent feature of the Samsung S7220 Ultra b is its AMOLED display that sets it apart from the majority of market rivals. The excellent screen quality is topped by a pretty capable 5-megapixel autofocus camera.
Samsung S7220 Ultra b is paying us another visit - this time for a full review
The nice metallic finish and the distinctive styling do give the Samsung S7220 Ultra b a bit of an edge against its competitors. The decent feature set and the solid looks make it a credible contender in the midrange.
Hit the jump to start exploring the Samsung S7220 Ultra b. Bear in mind that while in different parts of the world the handset is known under various names, such as UltraCLASSIC, Lucido and Eltz, we will keep to the original Ultra b.
Design and construction
The brushed metal frame around the display is certainly our favorite but the phone is quite a looker overall. Some might argue that the handset won't wow you at first glance and they may perhaps have a point.
In all honesty though, the phone looks a whole lot better when the top-notch screen is lit up. We got quite fond of the Samsung S7220 Ultra b looks and we need to give it to the designers. It's a neat - even conservative - candybar handset, yet so infused with personality.
We grew fond of the design with time
The Samsung S7220 Ultra b is equipped with a 2.2" QVGA AMOLED display that takes about half of its front panel. As one might expect, the OLED technology and the sufficient pixel density add up to excellent picture quality.
The display is stunning in the dark
We would have preferred a slightly larger display - a 2.4-incher wouldn't have hurt. The AMOLED display also has poor sunlight legibility, making it quite a challenge to operate with the phone in the bright sun. It's not i900 Omnia bad but still not quite what we would've liked to see.
Below the display is the S7220 Ultra b D-pad and the four main controls around it. The call and end buttons enclose the two softkeys in a quite unusual linear layout.
This might be part of the handset's distinct appeal but it does raise some usability issues. To begin with, the D-pad leaves mixed impressions. Sufficiently raised from its surroundings at the top and bottom, it has a very solid and reassuring Up and Down press.
Anyway, the S7220 Ultra b D-pad still handles a lot better than the context keys. They are too thin and squeezed between the D-pad and the call buttons. As a result, the flimsy press is one of our biggest grudges with the handset.
Furthermore the soft key location is not well thought of, as the labels on the screen are right over the Call and End keys instead of the relevant buttons. This really makes the first experience with the phone somewhat awkward.
The part of the handset we liked the least - the soft keys are really uncomfortable
Luckily, the alphanumeric keypad is the exact opposite. With sufficiently large and terraced keys the numpad is really comfortable to type on and the press feedback is great.
The keypad is a pleasure to use
The right side of Samsung S7220 Ultra b hosts the microUSB plug (with a protective cap) and the camera button, which also accommodates the basic Task Manager (application switch). That's the same solution we saw in the Emporio Armani phone.
The camera key and the microUSB slot are on the right
All we get on the left is the volume rocker. Typical Samsung, it can be used for scrolling listed submenus up and down. The keys on both sides of the handset are large and comfortable enough, posing little obstacles to usability.
The volume rocker is OK
The bottom of the handset is pretty plain, featuring only the mouthpiece. It has the same color as the ornamental frame around the screen.
Not much to see at the bottom
The back of the Ultra b is where the five megapixel camera lens and the LED flash are accommodated. The lens has no cover, so the frame around it and the fact that it is slightly embedded are the only protection against scratches.
The 5 megapixel camera is the star backstage
Removing the battery cover reveals the 960 mAh battery. In our field test it managed three days of stand-by that included half an hour of talk time and a few hours of poking around the features and taking some photos.
Opening the battery cover reveals the 960 mAh battery and the microSD card slot
The microSD card slot is also under the rear panel on the right-hand side, but it's easily accessible without having to remove the battery. As we managed to confirm, the Samsung S7220 Ultra b can handle a 16GB microSD card, which is the largest currently available on the market. It also has an acceptable start up time with that kind of cards, unlike the S8300 UltraTOUCH, which was simply intolerable.
The general build quality of Samsung S7220 Ultra b is commendable and the handset looks reasonably fit to withstand daily wear and tear.
The Ultra b held in hand
User interface is well familiar
Samsung S7220 Ultra b comes with the classical Samsung non-touch user interface, except that this time it is Flash-based. The only noticeable differences however include some nice visual changes like the animated backgrounds in the menu.
The user interface has improved looks
A handy custom menu gets activated upon pressing the left soft key from the standby screen. The custom menu allows you to pin any of the items in the interface submenus for an easier access.
The custom menu is a convenient way of rearranging the main menu
The main menu is accessible from the stand-by display by pressing the confirmation center of the D-pad. The right soft key is reserved for the phonebook. The four directions of the touchpad have shortcuts of their own and these can be changed according to the user preference.
Samsung S7220 can use the animated traveler background (formerly known as uGo) with analogue clock we came to know since the good old Samsung D900. It sets the standby screen background image according to the country where the phone is being used. The wallpaper is animated: birds are flying in the sky, clouds are moving etc. From 7 pm till 6 am night mood takes over: the sky turns dark, while houses get lit up.There is also another option for the wallpaper - you can select a number of photos that can run in slide show on the desktop. The transition effect can also be changed.
The main menu displays a standard 4 x 3 grid of nicely animated icons. Sub-menus on the other hand appear as lists. All in all if you happen to have used a Samsung non-touchscreen handset in the past two years the Ultra b will hardly surprise you.
Probably the only major change is the added basic task manager - the so called Application switch, which lets you quickly toggle between calling, texting, browsing and Java Apps. The Java apps section allows you to run several Java titles simultaneously.
The uncomfortable thing about the Application switch is that it can only be started with the camera key. There's a setting that allows you to use the camera key for only the task switcher, the camera or for both. The last options brings up a popup window every time you press the key.
Samsung S7220 has some nicely designed themes that go excellently with its design. There were three of them preinstalled and then there's the nice little app that let's you create one of your own.
The two alternative themes available
The dialing display is also customizable by font type, size, color and background color - just as with every other similar Samsung recently.
Messaging duly covered
Samsung S7220 Ultra b handles its messaging duties seamlessly. The SMS and MMS share an editor. You can covert your SMS to an MMS by simply inserting an image or other multimedia content.
The SMS and MMS share an editor
There is also a counter at the bottom indicating the number of parts longer messages need to split to for sending.
There is room for 500 SMS, 30 push messages, 200 broadcast messages and 30 configuration messages in the phone's memory. As far as emails and MMS are concerned, they are not limited in number and storage depends on the free memory only. Incoming messages, like calls, can also be blocked based on a user-defined black list.
The email client is nice. It can manage up to five accounts - POP or IMAP; download is user-defined, opting between headers only and entire messages. Not only any files from the phone memory, but also business cards, calendar events, tasks or notes can be emailed as attachments. The client can be set up to check mail at a chosen interval (options vary from 30 minutes to 1 day).
The user's emailing needs are well taken care of
File management is great
The Samsung S7220 Ultra b file browser can list all the folders from both the phone memory and the memory card together or one by one. There are folders for different types of files - images, video, music, sounds, which allow the handset to sort the memory contents. However, if you misplace some file the handset will still handle it.
File browser
The downside that the Samsung S8300 UltraTOUCH had isn't present on the Ultra b - the bar handset reads memory cards acceptably fast. And it handles 16GB cards alright.
Image gallery is passable
The Samsung Ultra b picture gallery is an inherent part of the file manager and not a separate application. The pictures are seen as a list with small thumbnail next to each filename. Sorting can be done by date, type, name, and size.
You can view a picture in portrait or landscape mode with the change between the two modes automatic with the built-in accelerometer. There is also the Samsung proprietary picture scrolling when in landscape by tilting the phone to its side. Mastering the timing and angle of this however is rather hard and can get annoying at time.
Portrait and landscape modes are available for the gallery
You can also zoom in on a picture to see greater detail though we must warn you that zooming in and out is irritatingly slow.
If you wish you can also edit your pictures using the integrated Image Editor - it's one of the most capable image editing applications for mobile phones. It allows you to apply a whole bunch of effects and adjustments.
Music player is good enough
The Samsung S7220 Ultra b is a pretty decent application that hasn't seen much change either. It allows filtering tracks by author, album, genre and composers. You can also choose to play either the tracks you've recently listened to, or the ones that you've played the most. If that doesn't seem enough, you can create your own custom playlists.
The music player does the job
Various sound effects can be activated and there is a choice of three different visualizations, two of which include album art. They all look pretty nice but are hardly anything revolutionary.
Some of the player settings
Naturally, the music player can also be minimized to play in the background. It can than be controlled straight from the homescreen with the D-pad, in which case however the shortcuts applied to its four directions are no longer active.
Controlling the music player from the homescreen
FM radio comes with RDS
The Samsung S7220 Ultra b comes complete with an FM radio, which is doing quite well in terms of user interface. It has the self-tune option to store all stations of clear reception at the moment. There is also RDS that can be switched on and off depending on your taste.
The FM radio
A nice feature, available on most recent mobile phones allows the handset to search for alternative frequencies of the same station to achieve better reception. This might be pretty useful when travelling.
Video player is OK
The video player has a simple interface without too many features. All the basic are covered though and considering that the screen size doesn't suppose the user to watch whole movies on it that should do the trick.
The video player offers landscape and fullscreen modes
The player supports MPEG-4 videos but only up to VGA resolution. The D1 sample we tried to play turned out to be unsupported. The video player can also use the accelerometer so once you flip the phone to its side it goes landscape and fullscreen.
An excellent camera
Samsung S7220 Ultra b is equipped with a 5 megapixel camera with a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1920 pixels. As it seems, photography was high on the Samsung 7220 R&D team priority list.
The camera interface very much resembles that of Samsung U900 Soul. It is decently user-friendly but still needs some time spent getting used to it. However, the available settings are quite a lot so we are willing to forgive the somewhat complicated menu.
The camera interface
Some of the more important settings are picture size, shooting mode (single shot, multi-shot, mosaic, and frame), effects (black and white, sepia, negative etc.), white balance and face detection. The face detection feature itself works relatively well but is not capable of recognizing several faces so you might have issues focusing on group shots. The smile shutter however which automatically takes photos when a smiling face appears.
The additional camera settings include wide dynamic range, anti-shake, picture quality and ISO settings. Exposure metering is also configurable and the auto focus can be switched off if necessary. Then there's also geo-tagging which allows you to record your current location in the photo's metatags thanks to the built-in GPS.
The picture quality of Samsung S7220 Ultra b is excellent, somewhat exceeding our expectations. The image processing is very mature with balanced in-camera sharpening and noise levels and achieves pretty good scene detail without making the photos a noisy mess. Samsung S7220 Ultra b also showed precise exposure metering decent color balance and very good edge-to-edge sharpness.
Samsung S7220 Ultra b camera samples
The activation of the wide dynamic range option brings in some detail in the shadow areas at the cost of somewhat increased noise. We are just not sure that the regular user will know when to switch it on plus it's inconveniently buried inside the camera advanced options and gets turned off every time you turn off the camera.
All the other most important camera controls such the Macro mode switch, the Flash switch or the Exposure compensation switch are always handy as they are assigned to the four ways of the D-pad.
As far as video recoding is concerned, Samsung S7220 Ultra b is pretty much a disappointment. The best it managed to pull out are QVGA videos at 15fps which is quite unimpressive by our books. There might be those rare occasions when the videos will turn up usable but usually they are best used for MMS purposes where file size is quite limited.
Browser is fine, but for the flash
The Web browser of Samsung S7220 Ultra b is pretty decent for the class which usually renders pages pretty well. There are some exceptions in which the Netfront browser struggles but those are hardly frequent enough to bother you. However if you don't stick to the default page size things are slightly different and rendering errors are way more frequent.
The browser offers landscape and fullscreen views and also some nice features like search-in-page, mini map and the virtual mouse pointer. If you browse elaborate pages, the desktop view mode is more appropriate, while for simple sites it's better to use the smart-fit view.
The browser offers fullscreen and landscape and decent page rendering
A pretty big disadvantage of the browser (although probably expected in this class) is the lack of proper Flash support. This means that the fans of Flash video and YouTube will have to go without checking the latest additions on the go - unless you opt for the mobile streaming version.
Organizer and applications
The Samsung S7220 Ultra b calendar offers three views - daily, weekly and monthly. There are five types of events available for setting up: appointment, anniversary, holiday, important and private. The Calendar can store up to 100 appointments, 50 anniversaries, 50 holidays, 20 important and 20 private events.
The calendar is pretty much unchanged
There are five alarm slots on Samsung S7220 Ultra b. Each of them can have its own snooze time, number of repetitions and activation days.
Setting up an alarm on the Ultra b
Among the other offerings are the voice memo recorder, a world clock application, a calculator, and a unit convertor. A countdown timer and a stopwatch will probably seem appealing to sports-minded users. There is also a handy to-do manager that can help you organize your time better.
Some of the other organizer applications
The final application worth mentioning in the Ultra b is the integrated document viewer. It supports viewing MS Word, MS Excel and PDF files and handles them all pretty well. The application is very fast and generally a pleasure to work with. It has nothing to do with the scrolling and zooming of some other Samsung handsets that take ages on each step.
The document viewer is nicely done this time
The GPS speaks only Java
One of the cool features of Samsung S7220 Ultra b is its built-in GPS. It also sports A-GPS for faster initial lock acquisition. Unfortunately the Samsung Mobile Navigator (a rebranded Route66 product) application we saw in some of its relatives isn't anywhere to be found.
Instead, the eventual users will get Google Maps, which unfortunately doesn't offer voice-guided navigation and needs to download the maps in real time. This means that heavy data charges will apply if you aren't on a flat data rate. The cool part is that Street view is also available, and that certainly is one of our favorite Google Maps features.
Google Maps is all the Ultra b owners get
We tried to go for a 3rd party Java alternative that offers voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation but it turned quite unstable on this handset. And most o fthe available Java alternatives (at least the ones we know of) still require downloading the maps over the air, which can be quite expensive if you are roaming, for instance. So unless Samsung decide to offer the Mobile Navigator separately the Ultra b owners will be left without voice guidance.
Another pint to be made here is also the smallish 2.2-inch display, which is hardly GPS navigation friendly especially in an automobile.
Trial games only
The Samsung S7220 Ultra b offers a huge number of game titles but as usual for the brand starting them brings some heavy disappointment. The fact that only trial versions are included means that you won't be able to enjoy any of them properly unless you spends some extra cash on it.
The titles include Asphalt 3, Brain challenge 2, Midnight pool 2, Tetris Mania and World Series of Poker Texas Hold'em game.
Some of the preinstalled trial games
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