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Note: Here's a first look at the HTC Surround, LG Quantum and Samsung Focus, the initial crop of smartphones running Microsoft's new mobile OS.
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Samsung Focus
Overall Feel: The Focus carries forward design language from Samsung's line of Galaxy S Android phones but adds Windows Phone 7, instead. The result is the thinnest, lightest and arguably best-looking Windows Phone 7 smartphone for AT&T. It is mostly made of plastics, but they have a quality feel to them.
The Focus uses capacitive keys on the front for Back, Home and Search functions. As with the Surround, they offer haptic feedback when pressed. The camera key offers the same press-to-unlock-and-launch-camera trick that the Surround and Quantum do.
If you're into slab-style smartphones, the Focus offers the right trade-offs -- as long as you don't want a physical keyboard. The screen and overall size are an excellent combination for most tasks.
Performance: The Focus also has good calling performance. The Focus was always able to find AT&T's network, and quality of calls was very good. The earpiece volume and speakerphone volume were both excellent, making this perhaps the best pick of the three when it comes to basic telephony.
The killer feature of the Focus, however, is the 4-inch Super AMOLED display. It is flat-out amazing. Samsung has developed some fantastic screen technology with the Super AMOLEDs, and the Focus' display is far superior to every other Windows Phone 7 device out there. Web sites and movie, in particular, look dazzling on the screen. This is your best WP7 display, hands down.
It matches the Surround and Quantum with the same 5-megapixel and 720p HD recording powers. I found the Focus produced the best images and best video compared with the others. Exposure was consistently better, and both still images and video showed less grain across the board.
The one real problem, however, is battery life. It doesn't do as well as its WP7 cousins and barely makes it through an entire business day. All too often, it conked out by the time the end-of-the-day commute rolled around.
Sum: The Focus is thin and light, offers a great display and call quality, but suffers when it comes to battery life. It lacks...