Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 review

The Samsung Omnia suite of devices is going from strength-to-strength and, for this reason, we're always glad to see a new device land. This time it's the Omnia Pro B7330, which takes some queues from BlackBerry and has its sights set firmly on the business user market.

The device itself incorporates a mini Qwerty keyboard, which makes it ideal for serial emailers and texters alike.

Unfortunately, a miniature keyboard on the front of a smartphone does make for a small screen. In this case we are talking about 2.6 diagonal inches of display at 320 x 320 pixels. Now, it is sharp, clear and bright, but it certainly is not the kind of screen you want to watch movies on or, for that matter, do to much Web browsing with.

Nor is it touch sensitive. The Omnia Pro B7330 runs Windows Mobile 6.5 but it is not the touch responsive version we’ve seen in every other WM 6.5 smartphone to date. This is the Standard, non touch sensitive version.

That means navigation around the screen relies on the pair of softmenu keys, shortcut keys and D-pad that sit beneath it, and that full Qwerty keyboard, of course.

The good news on this front is that the keys are very well made. The D-pad is large and its outer rim is nicely raised from its surroundings so it is easy to press at speed.

The shortcut keys that surround it, two softmenu keys, home key and back key, are small but individually domed so they sit comfortably under the fingers. Call and End keys sit outside those other keys and are tall and again easy to find.

The main Qwerty keys are similarly well put together. If you’ve large hands you might find them a bit of a squeeze, but the keys are nicely domed and that helps make them comfortable to use. We got a fair turn of speed with texting. There is a dedicated key on the bottom row that takes you straight into creating a new SMS, which should make texters happy too.

You can set up Alt key preferences so that pressing the Alt key and another key launches any application you like. This could be especially useful if you make a lot of use of a few apps. In addition to this the home screen has a horizontal scroll bar which has app shortcuts on it, and a link to more shortcuts that you can configure. Fiddle with this lot and you can personalise things nicely.

This is a fairly small smartphone for the hand and pocket at 114.9mm x 59mm x 10.7mm and it weighs just 109g. Its plastic chassis is quite solid, and the shiny black finish is a little blingy but no more so than we’ve seen before. The backplate attracts grease a bit, but not horrendously so.

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