Windows Phone Thoughts: Pocketing Samsung's SPH-i700: The Ultimate Connected Pocket PC?

Performance
Performance on the i700 is decidedly mixed -- as a phone and wireless terminal, the i700 is absolutely top-notch, but, as I'll explain later, its PDA performance is lacking.

Phone and wireless performance
For those of you, like me, who live in an area that's blanketed with Verizon coverage, the i700 is a pure joy to work with. As I previously mentioned, CDMA is more spectrally efficient than networks like TDMA or GSM. This means that if you have a signal, you almost always can make a call out. I'd guess my outgoing calls fail one out of every hundred. Voice quality is good -- slightly worse than GSM, as CDMA uses a lower-bitrate codec by default -- but very clear. Earpiece volume is excellent; one of my major gripes with the T-Mobile XDA was that it had a relatively soft earpiece at any setting but the very loudest one, and the loudest one was just adequate for noisy environments like NYC. This didn't pose too much of a problem unless you put the T-Mobile device into a case, at which point the speaker simply became too soft for outdoor use. The i700 is not plagued by such problems -- the maximum volume setting is very loud and shouldn't pose a problem even if the device is placed into a case. The i700 also has solid reception, pulling a similar signal to other Verizon phones (even those with retractable antennas).

As for data performance, 1xRTT simply runs rings around GPRS. I can easily reach a 90-100kbps data rate in a variety of situations in NYC, even during rush hour. Connection reliability is also very good; I'd estimate that more than 90% of connections succeed on the first try. Latency is still so-so; typical latencies seem to be between 300ms and 800ms, which is better than GPRS but still not particularly good compared to commodity wired connections. However, this is not surprising considering the overhead 1xRTT CDMA (just like any other cellular technology) must place on network traffic. In fact, my biggest criticism about data usage on the i700 is that the slower PXA250 processor, as well as the older Pocket PC 2002 IE, is ill-equipped to handle the speed of incoming data. On the other hand, Thunderhawk works superbly as most of the rendering work is done server-side, and Inbox is finally useable even with a fair amount of email.

Audio playback quality
I tested the supplied earbuds with both music and voice. Overall, the quality of the supplied earbuds is surprisingly good. Music is clear, and bass is better than I expected, certainly much better than T-Mobile's bundled earbuds (either version of them, for those of you who have tried both ;)). They're comfortable to wear as well. The microphone bud hangs off the right ear, and contains a volume control as well as an answer button.

Volume is also above average. At the loudest setting, I'd estimate the i700 with its supplied earbuds is probably 20-25% louder than the XDA -- not loud enough to kill your ears (like the iPAQs are notorious for), but certainly loud enough for situations even with background noise. I was disappointed with the XDA's performance in this regard. However, I still don't think the volume is going to be good enough for larger headphones that need more power to drive them -- you'll want to stick with earbuds or get an inline battery-powered amplifier from Radio Shack.

Chances also are that third-party earbuds would improve the quality somewhat (such as my beloved Sonys), but I don't have a 2.5mm-3.5mm adapter for the i700; they are available from 3rd-party sites, like Pocket PC Techs. The iPAQ is still clearly superior with its tremendous volume and DSP-driven bass/treble controls, but for occasional music listening the i700 is perfectly adequate.

Pocket PC benchmarks
My main criticism of the i700 revolves around its performance as a PXA250-based Pocket PC 2002 device. By default, the i700 runs at "Normal" mode, which is at 200MHz, to save battery life. It's trivial to go into the Power control panel applet to switch it up to "Turbo" mode, which makes the device run at 300MHz, but the device will automatically regress to 200MHz on a soft-reset and battery life is somewhat reduced (if I'd have to guess, perhaps 20%).


Figure 30: The i700's CPU speed setting, in the Power applet.

While 200MHz is OK for PDA applications and simple games, more complex tasks, like having PIE render a complex page or having PI launch, is frustrating. The T-Mobile XDA, on the other hand, was superb with its 206MHz StrongARM processor.

I performed a suite of benchmarks using Spb Benchmark, and posted the results below. Note that I turned off the phone portion of the device to avoid incoming calls or other notifications (like the service popup) from skewing the data. In my experience, the phone module doesn't have a significant effect on overall performance.













If none of these blow you away, that's precisely the feel you will get while using the i700. It's tolerable, but not particularly snappy. The numbers show a striking similarity to the 1910, which uses the same processor and OS, and my experience using both also yields a similar result. Don't get this device for 3D game playing or intensive computation, but as a PDA it should be adequate. I've gotten used to it, but I can immediately notice the difference when I pick up my friend's 2210. I'm hoping a WM2003 upgrade will help in this regard, but it's still too early to make a reliable prediction.

You can download the XML files for Normal and Turbo mode if you want to run your own comparisons using Spb's comparison tools on their website.

Battery life
Unfortunately, battery life is extremely complex to calculate accurately, as it's highly dependent on what combination of modes you run the i700 in. As a result, I'll give you an approximate feel for the batteries' performance here, based on several months of typical use.

In my opinion, the standard (1000mAh) battery's life is inadequate unless you're willing to charge both in the middle of the day and the night. I'm a relatively heavy PDA user, and I can drain the standard battery from a full charge to about 60% with perhaps a half-hour of talk, one to two hours of PDA use and perhaps a half-hour of surfing (at medium brightness). It's worth mentioning that standby time, however, is decent; you could probably get 24-48 hours of standby with the regular battery if you use the device sparingly.

On the other hand, performance with the extended (2000mAh) battery is excellent. The same usage pattern as above might drain the battery to 80-90%, and I'd expect the PDA to last 10+ hours/four to six hours of talk, or somewhat less if you use 1xRTT. (In general, I find that 1xRTT communications drain the battery the fastest, while voice and PDA use are more manageable.) Standby time is excellent as well. With the extended battery, I can use the PDA heavily and be confident about leaving my charger at home. I'd estimate that with my usage patterns, I could go for two to four days without a recharge. Of course, YMMV, but if you get the i700, seriously consider using the extended battery in lieu of the standard one. I find the added bulk to be a minimal compromise, and have easily gotten used to it.