Samsung Focus Flash

When the platform officially launched over a year ago, all Windows Phones at the time were deemed as high class smartphones, partly because of Microsoft’s stringent hardware requirements. Now that Microsoft’s mobile platform has a solid year under its belt, it’s primed to explode even further with the latest class of Windows Phone 7.5 Mango devices. The Samsung Focus Flash is right there to get the party started for AT&T. Flaunting a fabulous $49.99 on-contract price, it’s sure to get some attention with its affordable cost, but let’s hope that it’ll shine just as magnificently as some of the juggernauts in the Windows Phone camp. The Focus Flash feels surprisingly nice in the hand. Though most of the body is plastic, it has a pleasant heft and there's a large swath of brushed, dark gray metal across the rear that actually makes it feel like more of a premium device than its more expensive sibling. While it's not the thinnest phone on the block, it's certainly not a heffer at 0.41 inches thick. The rounded trapezoid profile also feels quite natural to grip, providing just enough slope to cradle effortlessly in your palm. Just above that pleasant expanse of actual metal is the five megapixel camera and LED flash (more on that later) and the speaker phone which is serviceable, but hardly impressive. All four sides of the device are interrupted with some form of port or button. Along the top edge is the 3.5mm headphone jack, while the bottom is home to the all-important microUSB plug -- you know for charging and syncing and stuff. On the left is the volume rocker, which doesn't have much travel, but is surprisingly clicky and sturdy. The same can be said about the power button on the right, which depresses with a satisfying tick. Sadly, the camera button, while it does provide some resistance feels significantly less robust (again, more on that later). There's also the trio of buttons up front. The physical Windows key is a nice touch and is flanked by the search and back buttons, both of which are capacitive. The two touch-sensitive keys seemed a tad too responsive in use. Simply brushing our fingers in the general vicinity of the search key was more than enough to launch Bing. This turned out to be particularly frustrating w Powering this petite Mango phone is a single-core, second-gen Snapdragon clocked at 1.4GHz. The Adreno 205 GPU that accompanies it is getting a little long in the tooth at this point and certainly can't keep pace with the likes of the iPhone 4S. It's not a huge deal, however, Metro doesn't require a ton of power to run smooth as silk and there aren't many games in the Marketplace that call for serious polygon pushing. In fact, Microsoft has spent so much time optimizing its mobile OS for this particular chip that while Android might balk at such a puny processor, Mango runs with nary a hiccup. In WP Bench the Flash scored a respectable 92.15 -- not quite as high as the Titan (96), but definitely an improvement on the Lumia 800 (86). And it should run circles around the similarly budget-minded HTC Radar which sports only a 1GHz CPU. SunSpider scores also fell right in between the Lumia and Titan, clocking in at 6,842ms -- only 300ms behind the 4.7-inch beast, but almost twice as slow as the iPhone 4 (not the 4S).

There's not much new on the software front. If you've seen Mango, well, you've seen Mango. All the things we love (notifications!) and loathe (lackluster sync support for third-party services) about Microsoft's second iteration of its mobile OS are present and accounted for. Of course, both AT&T and Samsung had to stick some of their own wares on the device. Chances are you'll never have to see them outside of their icons in app menu. The Samsung Now app isn't actually terrible. It's a simple news and weather aggregator, with a live tile that puts current temperature and conditions on your home screen. Of more interest, at least to some, will be the Samsung Photo Studio -- a Hipstamatic like app that lets you add retro effects to images and capture panoramic shots. Around its sides, the Samsung Focus Flash features a two-level shutter key, power button, volume rocker, 3.5mm headset jack, microphone, noise cancellation microphone, and microUSB port.

Lastly, there’s a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash and speakerphone grill located in the rear.