Samsung GT-B7722

Have you ever thought of using two SIM cards at the same time? Well, if you have thought about it, you may want to think about the Samsung GT-B7722. Until now, mobile phones which supports dual SIM cards are made popular with Chinese and Russian manufacturers. It is safe to assume that Samsung is the leader in manufacturing dual standby mobile phones. Previously we had the D780, then the B5722 and now the B7722.

You may want to ask - "What is so special about the B7722?"

Well, to begin with, Samsung is clever to improve on its dual SIM card mobile phone. With the B7722, the first SIM slot is not only supporting GSM, it is also 3G enabled (supporting WCDMA 2100 only). Both SIM cards are on standby at the very same time and the user could receive and make calls on both SIM cards.

Besides that, the B7722 is also Wifi capabled and it comes with the usual bluetooth and 5MP autofocus digital camera. I am pretty impressed with the B7722 at this very moment. Users of the B7722 can also take standard 0.3MP videos and make VGA video calls! That is so cool, don't you think so? Apart from that, the B7722 user can also increase its memory storage to 16GB with the help of a microSD card. I would recommend Scandisk or Kingston in this case.

Some of you might be asking me whether the OS is responsive. I have to say that there are no significant lag in the menu speed but the browser might be a slight problem. I am saying this is because even though the browser supports flash, loading time is quite slow. It is so much different if you were to use an Iphone 4 or a Nokia N8. I wish that Samsung will improve on its browser performance via an OTA update soon.

When you are using the Samsung B7722, you do feel special. Do you know why? It is one of the very first dual SIM mobile phones to support 3G on it. Battery life is quite good even though it is running on two SIM cards. I would only need to recharge the phone on every alternate days (The Samsung B7722 comes with a 1200mAh battery). I think this is so much better as compared to the Iphone 4 (which comes with a 1420mAh battery) as I do always have to recharge the Iphone 4 every night or sometimes after 8 hours!

Since I am quite particular with the SAR, I have to give the Samsung B7722 a full 5 star. Do you know why? The SAR on the B7722 is only rated at 0.7W/kg at most! It is just fantastic, don't you think so? It puts RIM's Blackberry to shame!

I do feel good when I am using it even though the screen is resistive and it is only 3.2", unlike the Iphone and the N8. Nevertheless, it is light and easy to use. The only major drawback from using the Samsung B7722 is that it does not come with A-GPS. If you want to use Satellite Navigation, you would have to use an external bluetooth GPS or get yourself a TomTom or a Garmin Nuvi instead. Some people would prefer that it comes with everything... Well, you can't have everything though!

Update:

Criticisms

I gave up on the Samsung just after a short while. Do you know why? The main reason is that the UI is not user friendly at all! First and foremost, I can't type properly. When I use the landscape mode, the virtual QWERTY keyboard is just too tiny to work on. Samsung also did not provide a stylus pen to help users to overcome the problem. Secondly, the browser is a no no. It is running on 1.6 Dolphin! I have tried to use Kies to update the firmware, it does not allow me to do so.

Worst of all, Samsung app market is incompatible with the Samsung B7722! How great is that? There is no compatible skype apart from the in build Facebook and MSN Messenger app. I have tried using Skype Lite but it will charge me for incoming call, unlike using any Symbian s40 devices from Nokia where users will not be charged for incoming call.

Apart from the above criticisms, I still can't access to full flash. I think Samsung is making a big mistake by not improving on its firmware. The phone is good in the sense that you can use two SIM cards at the same time but the firmware is far from perfect. Perhaps Samsung should follow the footsteps of Android by releasing new firmware so often.

In essence, the Samsung B7722 is a good phone but a big let down in its firmware. I will most probably stick to the good old Nokia N8 instead.