Samsung has recently launched the successor to the first Armani phone. The Samsung Armani Night Effect is the successor to the famous P520. The handset makes a departure from its predecessor by dumping the touchscreen form factor to take on the humble candy bar form.
The specs of the phone reminded me of one particular phone from Nokia’s stable which is pretty similar to M7500, the Nokia N78. The phones have almost similar dimensions, the same form factors.
The Samsung Armani phone has a 2.2″ 256k colour OLED screen versus the Nokia N78′s 2.4″ 16m TFT screen. Both of them are QVGA screens(320×240). The OLED screen as we know provides better colour reproduction compared to the regular TFT screens, so expect the screen of the M7500 to be better.
The glow created by the light effects on the M7500 are unique and something which the N78 can never have since it does not have lights at the side. This makes the new Armani phone stand out from the crowds.
An aspect where the two are similar to each other is the 3.5mm audio output jack on both the phones, clearly indicating their purpose to the user. The similarities do not end there, there’s more! The M7500 has dedicated music keys on the right side of the phone (ala 5310) and the N78 acheives the same with the help of a Navi-wheel. Both phones support high speed Micro SD cards. The front of the N78 and the M7500 are also flat. The only exception is the protruding keys on the N78. The materials used for the two are also different, while the N78 uses high quality glossy plastic, the new Armani phones uses high quality brushed metal. Also, both phones have bluetooth A2DP support to give its user a wireless music experience. The phones also possess a second camera in the front for video calling.
Looking at the camera aspect, both of the phones possess a 3.2MP auto focus camera. The N78 outdoes the M7500 by coming equipped with a LED flash. The addition of Carl Zeiss lens is also an advantage for the N78, which would allow the phone to take superior quality photographs. Its rather vague as to why Samsung chose to forgo the flash for a ‘Night Effect’ phone. The omission of WiFi is also glaring. The M7500 does not possess a WiFi chip, a feature that is quickly becoming a standard on most high end phones.
Which phone do you think is better, if given a choice I would prefer the N78 since it has a better camera, more flexibility with storing contacts(practically unlimited entries and fields v/s 1000 entries only), an FM transmitter, GPS and most importantly S60. What do you think?