When the Windows mobile phone platform was launched, phones running on this platform were considered to be pretty high class smartphone’s because of the serious hardware requirements by Microsoft. With a solid year under its belt and Microsoft coming out with Windows Phone 7.5 Mango in the market, several smartphones have adopted this platform and Samsung Focus Flash for AT&T belongs to this group. Last year, Samsung Focus was the best selling Window Phone 7 and in order to increase adoption of Windows Phone OS among user, Samsung Focus Flash has integrated several features in it. Apart from being cost effective, this affordable handset comes with a super AMOLED screen backed by a 1.4GHz Scorpion processor. Check out our exclusive Samsung Focus Flash review to know more about this device.

Samsung Focus Flash Case

The first thing which you will notice about this phone is its compact size. Measuring at 116x59x11 mm and weighing just 116 grams, the device is quite pocket friendly. Thanks to the rectangular curved shape of the phone, one can easily grip it. A shade of black and metal rear plate gives it an elegant look, but at the same time it picks up finger prints very quickly. The back cover of the phone is made up of metal and the rest of the materials used in construction of the device is high quality plastic. Going by the looks and design of the phone it is very difficult to say that this is a budgetary smartphone. Samsung has used premium materials in construction of the device and overall we were quite impressed by the looks and design of the phone.

Samsung Focus Flash Screen

The phone sports a 3.7 inches super AMOLED capacitive touch-screen which displays 16M colors of resolution measuring 480×800 pixels. The screen is easily one of the best in its class since it boasts of deep blacks, high contrast and great viewing angles. The colors displayed are quite saturated and watching HD Youtube videos on the phone is a real treat. Contrast was also pretty good and the screen responded to the slightest of the touches. On the right side of the screen you get the power/lock button along with the dedicated camera button while on the top of the screen you get the standard 3.5mm audio jack and a secondary microphone. The robust screen performance is one of the great features of Samsung Focus Flash.

Samsung Focus Flash Apps

One of the biggest weaknesses of Windows Phone 7 has been the limited selection of apps. Still the phone boasts of a couple of integrated apps such as

• Facebook
• Netflix
• Twitter
• Spotify
• AT&T Radio ($4.99 per month)

Samsung Focus Flash Features

One of the major USPs of Samsung Focus Flash AT&T is its software. The phone runs on new Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) OS which is packed with plenty of features.  The OS uses a dynamic Live Tiles interface on the home screen which is arranged vertically in portrait orientation.  The color theme is also very much customizable and thanks to the OS you can easily carry out multi-tasking. Another great feature of the OS is that you can control it through voice. The phone offers an internal storage of 8GB only and we were disappointed to find that there is no card slot for increasing the memory. The single core 1.4 GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 does a decent job and provides a smooth experience.

Samsung Focus Flash Keyboard

Just like other Windows Phone 7, Samsung Focus flash is equipped with a basic touch keyboard which has a clean and clear layout. We were quite impressed to find that the keyboard has @ and .com keys but because of the relatively small size of the screen, we made errors while using it. The keyboard lacks keys with secondary tasks and the other normally used symbols.

Samsung Focus Flash Camera Performance

The phone is equipped with a 5MP autofocus camera with a LED flash which clicks pictures of resolution 2592×1944 pixels. The interface of the camera is very simple and we were quite surprised to note that despite being powered by a single-core CPU, the camera is one of the fastest. We did not experience any lag while shooting and it was quite speedy to focus. However, the image quality of the camera is not that spectacular. Though colors and contrast was nice yet the images lacked fine details. The flash was quite speedy and powerful.

Samsung Focus Flash Video

The interface of the video camera is very much the same as that of still camera and the camcoder allows you to shoot videos in two resolutions – VGA and 720p. By default the videos are shot in VGA which is quite frustrating. HD videos captured in VGA resolution are not at all impressive and you need to set videos to 720p in order to enjoy detailed videos when viewed on larger screen. Unfortunately you cannot enjoy these videos through HDMI or wirelessly over DLNA.

Samsung Focus Connectivity

The phone covers all the connectivity bases. You get quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and a fast tri-band 3G with 14.4Mbps of HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps of HSUPA. Local connectivity of the device is taken care by Wi-Fi b/g/n along with DLNA support and Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP profile. Bluetooth is however pretty limited. You can sync your phone to your PC with the help of Zune app. There is also a microUSB 2.0 cable and a 3.5mm audio jack. Web surfing on the phone gave us mixed bag experience. Pinch-to-zoom was very smooth and the phone quickly rendered text and images. You get a tabbed menu which shows six different web pages which makes it easy for us to switch between them.

Samsung Focus Flash Multimedia

Samsung Focus Flash gives you access to Zune music and video service. The interfaces of the video and music players are quite simple and straight forward and you will not face any difficulty while using them. There is also an FM radio equipped with RDS. You can mark some of the stations as your favorite and the audio output was also quite clear and clean.

Samsung Focus Flash Call Quality

Call quality was quite decent and we were able to hear sounds crisp and clear. The speaker phone was quite good while making calls from large conference rooms and meeting halls.

Samsung Focus Flash Battery Life

The phone is powered by a standard Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery which gives a talk time of around 6 hours which is quite impressive.

Samsung Focus Flash Price

Samsung Focus Flash price in the USA is approximately $ 50. Price of Samsung Focus flash in India is not yet known.

Samsung Focus Flash Launch Date

The phone has been launched sometimes in November 2011.

If you are looking for experiencing smartphone for the first time, then you can surly go for Samsung Focus Flash. The interface is quite interactive and the super AMOLED display coupled with solid build makes this smartphone a good purchase.