The Screen
Because the shell of the unit is smaller than other Pocket PC Phones, the screen of the i730 is smallest ever. Measured from side to side, the screen is a diminutive 1.75 inches; from top to bottom only 2.25 inches. Since the size of the display sets the device’s minimum size from top to bottom and right to left, this small display is the primary factor allowing the unit to be so small.
While VGA screens are all the rage, the i730 uses QVGA screen technology. Obviously the quality of the QVGA screen is nowhere near that of VGA, but because the screen fits the standard number of pixels in a smaller area, the sharpness of images and text is better than you might expect from a non-VGA display.
On the left-hand side of the device, the slider that powers-on the i730 doubles as a lock switch. When the slider is in its locked position, the touch features of the screen are disabled. The Samsung i730 can be easily pocketed without having to worry about inadvertently opening applications or dialing numbers.
Wireless: Three’s A Charm (Sort of)
Like the iPAQ h6300 Series Pocket PC Phones, the Samsung i730 has three wireless connectivity options: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and EVDO CDMA2000. Whether connecting to another device, a home or office network, or to the Internet while in a local park, the i730 has connectivity options for any situation.
The i730 employs Bluetooth 1.2, which was designed to play nice with onboard Wi-Fi. With Bluetooth, the i730 can connect to other Bluetooth-enabled devices like keyboards or wireless headsets. Unfortunately, the Bluetooth software on the i730 has limited functionality which does not include Dial-Up Networking (DUN) support. Therefore, the i730 cannot be used as a wireless modem to connect a laptop computer to the Internet over the Verizon wireless network. Bummer.
Sadly, the functionality limitations don’t end with the onboard Bluetooth. The integrated 802.11b Wi-Fi, while fully functional in itself, cannot be used when the phone function of the i730 is active. So, if you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network in your home or office, you cannot send or receive phone calls, and vice versa. Once the Wi-Fi functionality is turned off, the phone comes back online automatically.
Make the Call
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Frankly, we were quite surprised by the call quality of the i730. While no Pocket PC Phone we’ve used has what you would call “bad” call performance, no claims can be made that they’ve been top notch. And, while the i730 doesn’t offer the best mobile phone experience we’ve ever had, it certainly offers the best PDA phone experience to date.
The i730 is a CDMA-based phone, meaning that it can only operate on the largely American-centric CDMA wireless networks (Sprint PCS, Verizon, etc.).
In our testing we had strong signal strength and no dropped calls. |
Software
In addition to the standard Windows Mobile 2003 SE fare, The Samsung i730 comes with a generous offering of third-party software applications.
Perhaps the most useful mobile application is Wireless Sync, software that, in concert with a required desktop server application, provides always-on push e-mail in a fast, easy way. It’s called Wireless Sync because it seamlessly synchronizes your wireless organizer to your desktop PC. Once you’re synced-up, you’ll automatically get all of your new e-mail contacts, task lists, calendars and more delivered right to your phone.”
After signing up for the service, you select whether you’d like corporate settings (Microsoft Exchange, Lotus, etc.), standard POP/IMAP, or both. Next, you enter your account information: server address, username, etc. The “Wireless Sync Client” syncing software is then downloaded to your PC. |
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You can choose to either download your e-mail on command or automatically, so called “push e-mail.” When push is enabled, new email is delivered to your inbox without your having to request it. This process, in our experience, took about five to ten minutes from the time an e-mail was sent to the time it was pushed to the i730. A pop up message appears alerting you to the new message, and the e-mail is dumped into the i730’s inbox.
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Another useful application is Remote Control, a built-in IR remote software title. With Remote Control, you can use your i730 as a fully-functional universal remote compatible with TVs, stereos, DVD player and more.
The primary menu, shown to the left, lets you select the product you want to control, and the customizeable "buttons" screens allow you to set up the soft remote for each device the way that works best.
The IR port of the i730 give the Pocket PC a range that's effective across the room. |
Picsel Browser is an interesting piece of software with document reading, web browsing and file manager functionality.
Other software includes Launcher, a standard application launching program, Sprite Backup for backing up the i730 data to flash memory storage cards, VoiceSignal, a voice recognition dialing application, and more.
Conclusion
There are a few tweaks that would improve the Samsung i730, but it holds its own very well, being, by far, the best Pocket PC Phone ever sold in the United States. While we would like to see the unit support the Windows Mobile 5 operating system (which it may in the future), Windows Mobile 2003 SE serves the device well and the included software bundle makes the i730 even more useful than it would otherwise be.
Overall, we have to say that the Samsung i730 is the best out there for anyone looking to combine Pocket PC and Phone. Don’t hesitate if you’ve been eyeing this one. |
