Plemix: January 4, 2009

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Samsung M7500 “Night Effect” Emporio Armani Mini Product Review

Samsung was not the first to join hands with a famous brand. When LG lined up with Prada, Samsung joined force with Armani. Since the introduction of the second LG-Prada breed (LG KF900 Prada II), it didn’t take Samsung and Armani long to produce their own second child! The Samsung M7500 “Night Effect” Emporio Armani has possibly the longest name for a phone and the largest amount of light emission. If you think that the new Samsung-Armani has only style to offer, you will be surprised.

The package is quite full. Besides the usual phone/charger/battery/earphone combo, Samsung threw in an Armani strap in it and the in-ear earphone has the Armani logo as well.

Inside the square paper box is a camera-bag-like container with two zippers, the bag would be great for travel, since you can put pretty much everything inside. Samsung’s effort to organize everything nicely in a reusable container is a pleasant surprise, but the accessories (strap, earphone and the inside container) obviously begs for higher quality material to bear the Armani logo.

The phone is surprisingly thin, and the dimensions are just right for a firm grip. The EMPORIO ARMANI logo is very “flashy” and it blinks when you are turning on/off and navigating through the menu. The flashy rim runs to the top of the phone and extends to the other side of the phone. Honestly, I am more annoyed than impressed by this rather bold design. See the video below to get an idea of how this works, and you should be able to decide for yourself whether it is a selling point or a deal breaker.

The keys have very good drive, but they are pretty stiff with a rather slow rebound time. It is not a great problem in real life though and the keyboard is still good for casual typing.

The backcover has the Armani logo etched on it and a 3MP camera built inside. The camera has auto focus but lacks a flash.

You can choose between red, green and blue for the flash rim. As you can see, it is very bright.

Here’s another color (red).

The menu layout is typical Samsung. Unfortunately, the office reader suite is nowhere to be found. The bundled games are fun but their graphic is simply no match to those seen in LG models.

The bundled music player supports album art and sort by artists, albums and more. It can also minimize to the lower home screen.

The Samsung M7500 is a thin, light slab phone with a decent camera and music player. The EMPORIO ARMANI logos and the flashy designs are not very appealing (at least to me), but the 2.2” OLED display is one bright, crystal clear display that greatly enhances the user experience.

Samsung M7500 EMPORIO ARMANI Video Review