Samsung Focus 2 Review

AT&T continues to build an impressive Windows Phone lineup. The Samsung Focus 2 is the latest to find its way to store shelves and joins the Nokia Lumia 900 and HTC Titan Two equally 4G LTE Windows Phones.

The Samsung Focus 2 catches your attending on two fronts. Outset, it's sleeky white body sets it apart from the traditional black or grey smartphones. Second, the $49.99 contractual price makes it a very affordable Windows Telephone that is but as capable as the $99.99 Nokia Lumia 900 or the $150 HTC Titan Two.

We may refer to the Focus ii as an entry level Windows Telephone but that may non be an accurate description. Economic? Base line? Regardless of the term, the Focus 2 is really just hindered past it's smaller storage infinite (8gb vs. 16gb) when compared to the Titan II or the Lumia 900. Sure it has a smaller photographic camera (5mp vs. 8mp) but the Focus 2 can give the Lumia 900 a run for its money with respect to image quality.

The Focus 2 may not entreatment to everyone merely if your looking for a low price, nicely built, capable Windows Phone information technology's worth consideration.

Samsung Focus 2: Design

The Samsung Focus 2 is somewhat like to its older brother, the original Samsung Focus. Measuring 4.97" x 2.47" x .43" the Focus ii is just a smidgen smaller than the Focus (four.84" 10 2.56" ten .39"). The Focus two is slightly heavier (4.iii ounces compared to 4.1 ounces) than the Focus also.

While in that location are slight differences in these two telephone's dimensions, the Focus 2 fits comfortably in the hand. Having used larger Windows Phones such equally the HTC Titan and Titan II, the Focus two has a compact experience to it.

The layout of the Focus 2 has the power button on the upper right side of the phone with the camera button but below. Along the left side yous will find the book rocker and the micro USB ports sits on the bottom of the Focus 2. Your three.5mm headphone jack sits up tiptop and a 5mp camera is to the rear of the Focus. The face of the Focus 2 has the customary three capacitive button set for Windows Phones and a VGA front-facing camera. The capacitive buttons are brightly lit upon the touch and stays lit for a adept flake. Compared to the dimness of the Nokia Lumia 900'south buttons, the Samsung Focus 2 buttons could double as airdrome runway lights.

Dissimilar the nigh recent Windows Phones, the Focus 2 does not have a unibody blueprint. Which basically means it has a battery comprehend and removable battery. The battery cover is a peal-away type that is held in place by a series of tabs that snap into place. The cover is non as flimsy every bit the Samsung Focus S's but you lot can't help but wonder how easy those little snap-tabs could break.

The Focus 2 has a glossy white body that is accented with chrome trim. The white finish definitely makes the Focus ii stand out. My reservations on a white Windows Telephone is much similar my reservations on wearing a white shirt. Information technology looks good until you lot become that first dirt spot.

The Focus 2'southward cease does have a slick feel to information technology merely the phone is not glace to handle. First, information technology's small-scale enough that you can wrap your fingers around it for a solid grip. Second, the slick feel does have a little tackiness to it (especially on those warm and humid days) to give the phone a bit of grippiness also. The Focus 2 has a different feel to its finish than the darker finished Windows Phones but not necessarily in a bad manner.

After using the Focus 2 afterwards a few days, the white case seems to hold upwards against the dust and grime of everyday use. You don't have the event of finger smudges a nighttime finish has and the white case seems to frame the 4" Super AMOLED screen to make it stand out a lilliputian.

All in all, we tin't complain much almost the design of the Samsung Focus 2. It may not feel as solid as the Nokia Lumia 900 merely the Focus 2 is well synthetic within its own right.

Samsung Focus ii: Screen

The Samsung Focus two is fitted with a 4" Super AMOLED screen that performs really nice. Where Samsung had bug with the brightness on the Focus South, the Focus 2's screen performs more than closely to the original Focus. If not a shade ameliorate.

The Samsung Focus 2'south screen is protected by Corning'southward Gorilla Glass to requite the Windows Phone an added layer of protection.

Colors were nicely saturated, the screen nice and contrasty, and brightness levels were just right. Indoors the Super AMOLED screen shines only outdoors, it however has some room for improvement. Outdoors the Focus two is viewable but can be a little on the dark side and challenging to read at times.  Beginning, hither'due south a sample with the Samsung Focus 2 under directly light and the screen is tough to read.

But bring the Focus 2 out of the direct light and shade it a petty, things kickoff to improve.

Is the Samsung Focus 2's Super AMOLED better than the Titan II's Super LCD? Information technology'south a subjective measure with no existent winner seeing that the two screens come from differing technologies. The Focus 2 is more saturated while the Titan II has more brighter, natural colors. Both are quality screens and if you lot similar the look of the original Focus, you'll like the screen of the Focus 2.

With regards to sensitivity, the Focus 2's screen moves along nicely to the touch. Swiping, tapping, touching, holding and all the other multi-touch responses were spot on.

All in all, the Samsung Focus 2'south screen is very respectable.  Screen quality actually shines indoors only outdoors, at that place is some room for comeback.

Samsung Focus ii: Nether the hood

Under the hood of the Samsung Focus ii you will find a removable 1750mah bombardment. In testing the bombardment through WP Bench, the battery lasted merely over iv hours.  Granted bombardment life is dependent on how yous use your Windows Phone, the Samsung Focus two's battery should hands get you lot through the day on a single charge.

You will also detect a ane.4ghz processor, 512mb of RAM and 8gb of storage. With all the pre-loaded software and the Windows Telephone Bone, out of the box you volition accept vi.23gb of available storage.

Some will detect the memory storage on the Focus 2 likewise limiting but continue in mind the Focus 2 is a baseline model. Information technology'due south not designed for the "power user" who likes to proceed everything merely their kitchen sink loaded on their device. Still, 8gb volition exist plenty for the boilerplate user. Toss in the use of SkyDrive and you really shouldn't have an consequence with storage space. Nosotros actually can't knock the Focus 2 for only having 8gbs of storage.

Asides the smaller storage capacity, the Focus 2 has the same components nether the hood as other Windows Phones. There is the accelerometer, gyroscope, gps, and compass. You have Wifi and Bluetooth connectivity and 4G LTE (for those lucky enough to have that service).

Settings for the Focus 2 are your typical Windows Phone settings that likewise include a High Allegiance Position setting. This basically brings GLONASS (Russian GPS Network) into play to improve the accuracy of the Focus two's location services by essentially bringing more satellites into play. With respect to ringtones, while the Focus ii may not have the ... ringtones of the Titan Two it does come equipped with overnice range of 52 ringtones.

While the Samsung Focus 2 comes in every bit a base line Windows Phone, even with the smaller 8gb of storage, it is a strong performer. Are other Windows Phones more than capable? Sure, but nosotros would accept no problem relying on the Focus 2 for our everyday needs.

Software

There'due south very trivial to meet here.  The Samsung Focus ii is loaded with Windows Phone 7.v (version 7.10.8112.7), the customary AT&T software suite, and a few of the Samsung apps (Photo Studio, Now, etc.).  The prissy thing about all the pre-loaded apps is that if you don't care for the app, you can uninstall them to gratuitous upwards storage space. Out of the box, with respect to software, the Samsung Focus 2 can hit the basis running and as uncomplicated as information technology is to install new apps, it takes fiddling time to get upwardly to speed with boosted apps.

Samsung Focus two: Camera

The Samsung Focus 2 is fitted with a 5mp, 3.5mm (about 30mm equivalent in 35mm terms), f2.five rear facing camera and a VGA forepart facing camera. The software driving the cameras is your basic Windows Telephone camera software with very piddling bells and whistles.

You take controls to:

• Tweak exposure, dissimilarity, saturation and sharpness
• Set your ISO level. Choose your light metering mode
• Choose your AF manner
• Cull your image quality and resolution
• Choose one of three camera effects (mono, negative, and sepia).

For more artistic controls, Samsung includes their Photo Studio app that has a serial of editing effects as well as a panorama feature.

With respect to image quality, the Focus two tin can hold it'southward own upwards against the larger 8mp photographic camera on the Nokia Lumia 900. We actually recollect the Focus 2'southward camera is a nudge better than the Lumia 900. Images came out abrupt, nicely saturated but whites seemed to be a little over exposed.  We also saw a little banding in some images.  Everything we experienced could be edited and overall paradigm quality improved through mail processing software.  Nonetheless, if you aren't inclined to fiddle with photo editing software nosotros constitute the following internal settings helped improve things a chip.

• Dissimilarity - loftier
• Saturation - high
• Sharpness - medium
• EV - (-i)
• ISO - motorcar
• Metering - centered weighted
• White balance -auto

The camera is equipped with a digital zoom (4x maybe?) that works best at closer distances.  When you try to zoom into subjects that are at a distance, the baloney and pixelation is more evident. The first set of images were shot indoors from about two feet abroad from the subject. The second set up of images were shot at a more than considerable altitude away from the subjects.

As far as video capture is concerned, the Focus 2 is capable of shooting 720p High Definition video. Video quality was squeamish from both the front and rear cameras.  Unfortunately the weather wasn't too cooperative and all nosotros had to contend with was overcast skies.

Overall, we were pleased with the Samsung Focus two's camera operation. It may not be able to pace itself with the Titan II'due south camera but the Focus 2 can concord it's ain against other 5mp and 8mp Windows Phone cameras.

Other observations on the Samsung Focus two

• With respect to the Samsung Focus 2's performance as a phone, calls came in loud and articulate. The microphone picked upwards my voice nicely using a normal tone. Earpiece speaker volume was nice and I actually had to dial the volume downwards a bit. Speakerphone volume was skillful but did become a little toney when maxed out.
• The Samsung Focus two does take Visual Voice Mail, which we similar a lot.
• Volume, power and camera buttons operated smoothly with no stiffness or softness present. As with the Focus Due south and Flash, Samsung dropped the sliding embrace for the micro-USB port on the Samsung Focus ii.
• The Samsung Focus 2 uses a micro-SIM card which may exist an consequence if y'all swap phones with frequency. There are adapters you tin purchase such as this one at Amazon.com that work rather well. The industry is slowly transitioning to the smaller SIM card (why the Titan II doesn't use i is a bit of a mystery) and for a while they may exist a slight pain.

Samsung Focus 2: Is it better than the 900?

Permit me start out by sitting squarely on the fence and say both the Samsung Focus 2 and the Nokia Lumia 900 are both very skillful Windows Phones. Which is better is purely a subjective measure with neither displaying qualities that would have you lot run screaming from the room.

Having said that, the build quality of the Nokia Lumia 900 is more solid with the uni-torso design (heck, information technology tin drive nails) and the screen a smidgen better (might be the size that makes the difference hither). However, I like that you can access the Samsung Focus 2's battery and the camera on the Focus 2 is ameliorate than the Lumia 900's camera.

The Samsung Focus 2 has 8gb of storage while the Lumia 900 has 16gb. This may or may not be an consequence depending on your specific needs.

The Samsung Focus ii is running $49.99 while the Lumia 900 is running $99.99. Again, this may or may not be an issue. Yous tin find amend deals on the Lumia 900 through 3rd party retailers but you should be able to find like deals on the Focus 2 one time the newness wears off.

Then y'all have the intangible of visitor back up. Nokia has definitely set the bar high on client service and product back up. It's not to say Samsung'due south back up of the Focus two is poor, but information technology is something to sentinel.

And so which is better? Our communication is to bebop down to your local AT&T store and tinker with both. Run across which feels better in your manus, suits your tastes the all-time and fits your budget. Neither is a bad choice and nosotros retrieve the Samsung Focus 2 might surprise you.

Samsung Focus 2: Overall Impression

In a nutshell, if you're looking for a compact, economical Windows Phone the Samsung Focus 2 is well worth considering. If you're curious nearly Windows Phones and don't want to invest much into things, the Samsung Focus is worth considering.

The Focus ii is a baseline model and may not appeal to everyone due to the smaller storage space. Out of the box, you have just over 6gb available and that should exist plenty for calorie-free to moderate users. I consider myself a heavy user with my Windows Phone loaded down with apps I'yard reviewing. At last check I have almost 7gb installed and could easily trim things down and go well below 6gb. 8 gigabytes may not appeal to everyone only add cloud storage information technology should meet well-nigh users needs.

Beyond the smaller storage, the Focus 2 isn't much different from whatsoever other Windows Phone. It has Bluetooth, Wifi, an accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, 4G LTE compatibility, and all the goodness of the Windows Phone operating system.

While the Focus 2 has a slick feel to the finish, the Windows Telephone fits comfortably in the mitt. The 4" Super AMOLED screen performs exceptionally well indoors only is a little on the dark side outdoors.

I have to admit, afterwards a few days the white terminate grows on you lot and it held up nicely against the grit and grime of daily employ. The white finish does makes the Focus 2 stand out.

Again, the Samsung Focus ii won't appeal to everyone but that should non exist a poor reflection on a very nice, baseline Windows Phone. The Samsung Focus 2 is currently existence offered through AT&T for $49.99 under contract ($399.99 off contract).

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/samsung-focus-2-review

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