Samsung Focus S Pro Reviews

If you want to give WP7 a shot, the Focus S should be one of your top considerations. It'll go head to head with any other WP7 phone on the market, and it does it in a thin, light, and sleek package. It also makes a great choice for anyone looking to upgrade from a Blackberry, Windows Mobile, or WebOS device; however, that's not to say an iPhone 4S or Samsung Galaxy Nexus wouldn't be an equally valid upgrade. Anyone coming from iOS or Android will really need an open mind if they don't want to wind up smashing the Focus S out of frustration.

The Focus S takes all the good things I saw in the Focus Flash and offers them in slightly larger and better-looking package. The Focus S performs well across the board and there's little negative I can say about it. The worst problems the Focus S has are related to Windows Phone 7's rigid appearance and behavior. If you don't care all that much about customizing the appearance of your smartphone, however, this needn't concern you. Bottom line? All three Windows Phone 7.5 Mango smartphones offered by AT&T are excellent devices. The HTC Titan is the enormous Father Bear. The Samsung Focus Flash is the Baby Bear. The Samsung Focus S is akin to the Mother Bear. It's not too big, it's not too small. It works well, and is a good addition to AT&T's roster of devices.

It seems hard to find a better player than the Samsung Focus S in the US Windows Phone game at the moment. The device’s hardware is as good as it gets for the platform, but its main selling point is certainly the Super AMOLED Plus screen – its ultra-deep blacks and Microsoft’s Metro UI are a match made in heaven. However Microsoft’s hardware limitations do not allow for better differentiation between budget and high-end Windows Phone devices and that may steer a lot of people clear from spending extra cash on the same user experience. And given that the Samsung Focus S is priced at $199.99 with a two-year contract on AT&T Wireless it's in the pond with some pretty big fish. For this amount of money, you can purchase a lot of high end smartphones, but chances are that if you are considering the Focus S, you have already set your mind on the Windows Phone platform.

Out of all the Windows Phones currently available, the Focus S is the most enticing. If you’re not interested in the iPhone 4S and find Android confusing, the Focus S might be for you. You’ll especially like it if you rely on Microsoft products, like Office or Outlook, for work. If you love jailbreaking and installing custom mods on your phone, however, though, Windows Phone Mango's limited customization options won’t appeal. The Samsung Focus S’s brilliant display, fluid performance and bevy of features make it the Windows Phone to beat.

We're still waiting for the first truly high-end Windows Phone device, but the Focus S comes closer than any other before it.

The Samsung Focus S is an impressive and enjoyable smartphone to use. While it is not perfect by any means, and it suffers from Windows Phone's continuing growing pains, it has some really great qualities that make it worth a look for anybody in the market for a new smartphone. The only real negative might be its price ($199 on-contract), since the Focus Flash offers a very similar user experience for significantly less money up front. However, if you are able to get over the sticker shock, you will be rewarded with a larger, nicer screen and a much better camera, not to mention a friendly user interface and decent battery life to boot.

Unlike its Android counterpart, the Samsung Focus S lacks the prestige and notoriety of its close sibling, but more importantly, it’s clearly fashioning a foundational core to set it apart from other Windows Phones. Impressively, it’s the best Mango filled device to own right now, edging out the HTC Titan just by a tiny bit, mostly because it snaps the better photos and videos between the two. Add in that it’s able to pique our interests thanks to its Super AMOLED Plus display, fast performance, light weight feel, and thin profile construction, they all come together in greeting us with a lovable experience that showcases the beauty and wonders that are obtainable with Windows Phone Mango. To sum it all up, this is as good as it gets….for right now!

Samsung has definitely led the way with Windows Phones, from the original Samsung Focus to the loosely related Focus Flash and Focus S we see now. Any way you look at it, the Focus S, with its clean, attractive, powerful minimalism, is easy to use and lets Windows Phone shine. There are few overt flaws, and the device brings Microsoft's mobile platform the closest it's ever been to being in direct competition with Android and iOS superphones. However, as much as I recommend the device for day-to-day use, the analytical part of me can't help but feel like Samsung is cheating just a little bit by reusing the widespread Galaxy S II design that's become its Android flagship. As heartily as I approve of recycling, I'd love to see Samsung create a Windows Phone that introduces a style all its own. The device is about neck-and-neck with the huge HTC Titan, which does have a more polished, though hefty design, and it will still face competition when the U.S. version of the Nokia Lumia 800 lands on our shores. Yet, not everyone wants a screen as large as the Titan's, or a body as unwieldy, and I suspect that the phone will have an overall wider appeal. Until then, the Focus S and the Titan are battling it out for the Windows Phone crown.

Last year's Samsung Focus was arguably the best Windows Phone available so I was certainly expecting Samsung to step it up with their second generation Windows Phones. The Focus S is actually the high-end model among two new Samsung Focus phones with the Focus Flash being a more budget-friendly device. At $199 you'd expect the Focus S to be quite good and it certainly is. The thin and light form factor makes the Focus S feel like you could throw it at a window and it would just glide across the room, hit the window and fall to the floor unscathed. On the other hand the HTC Titan feels like it would fly right through that window and land outside unscathed. Then there's the iPhone 4S which feels like it would shatter both the window and itself. Anyway, the big thing that I didn't like about the Focus S is the battery cover. The little snaps all along the edge are difficult to tell if they're all attached to the device properly. It's not uncommon for many of them to remain detached and thus easier to pop off. Besides that, there are a lot of things to like about the Focus S. The 4.3-inch screen is absolutely gorgeous, the speed increase is extremely welcome in the processor intensive games, and the camera works very nicely. The excellent battery life is sure to make your Android and iPhone friends jealous as well.