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Samsung S7220 / Ultra b.
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.