Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani preview: First look

Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani 360-degree spin

The Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani is certainly not the slimmest or the most compact phone around but actually it's quite normally sized for its market segment and the current trends. It's still some 10g lighter than the HTC Touch Pro2, but is not any more compact that the HTC business flagship.

Design and construction

The Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani runs on a modified Windows Mobile 6.5 and Samsung have taken good care of covering almost everything with their much more thumbable UI (Microsoft, we’re looking at you right now).

Software-wise you won’t find many differences from the Samsung B7610 OmniaPRO – the business minded Work and Leisure mode switch is again here allowing you to quickly toggle between your personal and corporate stuff at the push of the button.

If you haven’t guessed it by now, we’re not such big fans of the golden styling of this huge phone. Honestly, we were quite surprised to see a smartphone with a business mindset come paired with a high-street fashion brand such as Armani. We somehow expected that all fashionable phones should be as slim and minimalistic as them girls parading on the catwalks on FashionTV channel.

Well, obviously Samsung and Armani are breaking the stereotype here and are letting the fat lady B7620 do the modeling. It’s alright, we don’t mind. We probably won’t be buying one anyway, but we certainly hope (for their own good) that there are people out there ready to pay the high-dollar pricetag.

Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani runs on customized Windows Mobile 6.5

Back to our thing, the devil is in the details, as they say. Well, the Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani however has got them just right. From the bunch of sensors up there along the videocall camera, to the gem-inspired Main Menu key.

This special gem key may not the most expensive-looking detail on the handset, but it’s quite practical, getting you the Samsung custom Main menu and opening the Task manager upon a longer press.

The QWERTY keyboard though is quite impressive with its golden base and black island-type keys that look quite MacBook inspired. The keyboard ergonomics are commendable – typing on it is quite a nice experience.

Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani in details

On the right side of the Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani there is the standard microUSB port hidden under a protective cap. The HOLD key used for locking and unlocking the touchscreen and the camera shutter key are also here.

Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani right-hand side: microUSB port, HOLD and camera key

The left side of the Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani is where you find the microSD card slot and the volume rocker. The new Giorgio Armani phone has some good 8GB of internal storage but expanding those even further is an easy option.

Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani left-hand side: microSD card slot and the volume rocker

On the top of the Samsung B7620 is the Work and Leisure key that we already mentioned. It toggles stuff such as your homescreen widgets, wallpapers, messages, calendars, etc. We are yet to see somebody who can separate their business and personal lives to that extent however.

The bottom of the smartphone is quite bare… though quite sizable to begin with – no indecency intended.

Samsung B7620 Giorgio Armani top and bottom side

The five megapixel camera lens is the only element that adorns the backside of the Samsung B7620 (if you don’t count the golden surface itself, of course). Next to it is the dual LED flash and as usual, don’t get your hopes high.

The battery cover surface is really nice to touch with a textured pattern that seems totally fingerprint resistant.

We won’t be providing any camera samples from that one as we’ll wait for a more final unit before passing any judgments. The camera certainly looks fine on paper with features such as face and smile detection plus VGA@30 fps video recording.

The back of the Armani phone • the 5 megapixel camera lens

Final words

Well, that's all about our brief encounter with the first Samsung-Armani-Windows smartphone combo. Though a bit on the large side, we certainly appreciated its performance and ergonomics. Samsung have done a great job in customizing the Windows Mobile 6.5 OS - much like in the Omnia II, while as for the all-golden design, we guess, we'll leave the judgment to you. After all, whether you like your classic Armani suit with a pinch of gold is totally a personal thing. You do have one, don't you?