LG's Optimus 7 & Samsung's Focus Reviewed: A Tale of Two Windows Phones
by Anand Lal Shimpi on December 3, 2010 10:14 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Windows Phone 7
- LG Optimus
- LG
- Samsung Focus
- Mobile
LG's Software Bundle
This is the way smartphone competition is supposed to work. You get a single, well done UI, and the manufacturers compete based on design choices, form factor, build quality and bundled value.
LG delivers build quality, screen size and attempts to offer additional value with its software bundle. Optimus 7 owners get access to three LG specific apps on their Windows Phone 7 device: Panorama Shot, Play To and Scansearch.
The Play To app allows the Optimus 7 to act as a digital media server capable of streaming content to any DLNA digital media renderer. This can be anything from an audio receiver to a HDTV, as long as they are DLNA compliant DMRs.
Launching the Play To app gives you a list of content types. You can choose from music, photos or videos although you can't stream content from your Zune Pass.
Pick the content you want to play, then pick the device you want to play it on. The device list is enumerated according to any DLNA compliant renderers that exist on the same network as the Optimus 7. For me the Optimus 7 discovered by Sonos Zone Players as well as my Samsung HDTV.
To push photos or videos to the TV I just choose the content I want to play, I get a message on my TV telling me what's going on and I'm good to go.
Data has to go over your WiFi network so there are obvious bandwidth and range limitations, but the Play To app is a great way to get content on your phone onto DLNA renderers in your house.
Photos stream well. The default view is a slideshow mode, although you can pause the slideshow and push individual photos over the network. It takes a couple of seconds for each photo to get pushed out to the TV. Don't expect anything instantaneous. There's no support for rotating photos either, so if you take any photos in portrait mode using the phones camera expect to be looking at them sideways on your DLNA compliant TV.
Videos stream via Play To just as easily as photos. Once more this is a great way of getting videos you've made with your phone onto a larger screen without any copying/syncing. There is a few second delay before you get started.
Music streaming works for content you have stored on the device as long as it's DRM free. Unfortunately that means you can't turn your Zune Pass equipped Optimus 7 into a jukebox of unlimited proportions.
Panorama Shot is exactly what it sounds like. It's LG's own camera app that lets you stitch together five photos for a single ultra wide aspect ratio shot. Once you take the first shot in a panorama you get a red outline on the screen telling you where to position the phone for the next shot. The process continues until you have taken all five shots required, you can't stop short.
Panorama Shot - first image
Panorama Shot - second image, note the guide to help line up shot #2
Then there's a lengthy stitching process on the camera. Remember we're still dealing with first generation Snapdragon silicon here.
The final product is workable but honestly doesn't look very good:
Panorama Shot produces 2.55MP images at 3656 x 698, but the resulting file size is only 1MB - there's a lot of compression at work here (although technically less than the camera's 5MP images).
Like many 3rd party apps on Windows Phone 7, the Panorama Shot app isn't very fast. The live viewfinder runs at what looks like 15 - 20 fps.
Scan Search is the final member of LG's app bundle for the Optimus 7. You get an augmented reality interface that uses your GPS location and data connection to find and mark points of interest on your screen (e.g. nearby restaurants).
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sprockkets - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - link
Or maybe you can comprehend that light that is picked up from an LCD in their measurements is the LCD trying to mask the BACKLIGHT and why they can never be as black as an OLED screen?popej_ - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - link
Do you know what is transflective LCD? That kind of screen can be perfectly visible in full sunlight without any backlight at all. You can get the same useless black measurement as for AMOLED :)strikeback03 - Monday, December 6, 2010 - link
My understanding was that transflective screens generally are worse on battery due to the need to power the backlight through the additional transflective layer. For a phone that was going to be used extensively outside it might be worth it, for a lot it wouldn't.Also I don't think most users are confusing reflections on a glossy screen with bad black levels.
banvetor - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - link
Hi Anand, thanks for the great review, as always. These 2 phones are exactly the ones I was setting my eyes on, and I feel I'm leaning towards Optimus 7 (since I live in Italy).Anyway, I posted this on Brian's HTC Surround review, but I figure I should ask the same to you also... could you give some details on the usability of each mobile OS when you DO NOT have a data plan?
I currently don't own a data plan, and actually don't plan on owning one... my main uses for my smartphone are music, taking photos, and some more occasional web browsing and e-mail checking when there is wi-fi or when I really need to (in which case I pay for the KB of data).
My main issue when switching from my current Nokia N96 to WP7 (I think I sit exactly with the people you mentioned on the first page, not really sold on Android and not wanting to jump into the Apple ecosystem) is how dependent this modern mobile OSes are on a always-on data connection. For instance, I'm guessing that Zune Pass will not be so useful to me, but maybe you can store some songs on the phone to listen to while offline... On Nokia even the maps are offline stored, but I guess this is too much to ask to these new OSes ;)
Anyway, it would be great if you could post some of your findings about this on your next reviews...
Many thanks!
Leo.
tipoo - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - link
I'm surprised that even the BB Torch and the Dell Streak running 1.6 beat these phones on the benchmark page, despite their faster hardware. Since this is a new product for Microsoft I won't rag on them for this, but it does look like some browser performance optimization is needed.JimmiG - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - link
The poor battery life of the Focus makes it very hard for me to recommend it to anyone. I know how frustrating it can be, since I have an HTC Desire, probably comparable to the Nexus One... Not being able to use the phone for what you want because you need to take a call in the afternoon and need to make sure there's some battery left, or having the phone die on you after 3/4ths of the commute home in the afternoon...that can be very annoying.. and the Focus is even worse. If I were buying a WP7 phone right now, I'd go with the LG for the battery life.Enrox - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - link
3 are the apps preinstalled but there are 7 more available in the dedicated LG app store in the markatplace.ltcommanderdata - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - link
I'm just curious whether your performance benchmarks for Apple's devices have been updated to use the latest iOS 4.2.1? I was interested in seeing if iOS 4.2.1 improves performance and/or battery life compared to iOS 4.1. iOS 4.1 used a Safari based on Safari 4's WebKit while iOS 4.2.1 comes with Safari 5 so it should offer much improved JavaScript performance. It would be useful if you included the iOS version number in brackets for your charts as you do for Android phones.VashHT - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - link
I was wondering what brightness levels you guys used for the browsing test. On the focus I found that the low brightness level was a lot brighter than low on the HD7 and very usable for daily use (unless you're in the sun). I'd be interested to see how the the brightness level affects the battery life of the focus.Esteban2 - Saturday, December 4, 2010 - link
Anand, nice job with review. I think it is one of the best I've seen and I've seen just about every one.I think you left out one important missing feature--Visual Voicemail. I was about to buy a Samsung Focus (who cares about cut and paste??) when I realized there was no Visual Voicemail. Honestly after almost 3 years with an iPhone I had forgotten about voicemail was like but this brought back the horrors very quickly. Another important missing feature--a favorites list. When you want to make a phone to someone you frequently call you don't want to go to contact list and all the mess of facebook postings, etc that you're forced to with WP7.
Anyway, I'm hanging on to my iPhone 3G for now and waiting to see when Microsoft updates and brings Visual voicemail. Honestly, I can't understand why this feature is missing it seems so basic but I actually like the OS so will keep watching and waiting for now. If not there in 6 months I may have to bite the bullet and go with iPhone 4.