Samsung Ativ Odyssey Reviews & Impressions

Joshua Jackson

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Nov 20, 2012
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Since there is, seemingly, no love for the Odyssey, I figured I'd give a few lines of review.
I just picked up a cheap eBay Odyssey ($75) to replace my broken Nokia Lumia 928 (that replaced my broken HTC 8x).

First, of all, I like the 4" screen size.
Personally, I think phones are getting too big.
Obviously, that's a taste that will vary from person to person.
I think the 8x is the best feeling phone, I've had in my hand.
Unfortunately, it's just a bit big (again, personal taste).

It has a very bright screen.
It actually surprised me, quite a bit.
Unfortunately, I can definitely tell the difference between the 480p screen and my old 768p/720p screens.
When I first got the 8x, I compared it to a friend's Nokia Lumia 900 (480p) and I couldn't tell much of a difference.
Now that been in high definition, for over a year, it's much more apparent.
It's not bad, per-se, but I can see the pixel structure on white lines and aliasing on letters.
It's, certainly, not enough for me to scrap the phone.

The battery life is quite surprising.
I have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, location (basically everything except tap+send), and 10+ background tasks.
I took it off the charger about 8:00 AM and I'm typing this at about 7:00 PM.
I'm at 79% battery.
The Nokia didn't do nearly that well.
The battery is a little bigger, but I suspect that the lower resolution might have a significant contributing factor.

The speaker is really weak.
I could hear music, ringtones, etc... when my other phones were in my pocket.
I found that I missed multiple things, today, while the phone was in my pocket.
I usually keep my phone volume at 20/30.
It's normally plenty, but I might have to do 25/30 on the Odyssey.

Music quality, through Bluetooth, seems lower than the other phones.
Granted, I'm going Bluetooth from the phone to an FM modulator and then FM from the modulator to the car stereo.
But, it's the same setup that I used with the other two phones.
Beats and Dolby don't apply to Bluetooth, so I'm guessing it's just the phone.

The vibration seems very light, as well.
I missed the reminders and texts, while the phone was in my pocket, in equal part to not hearing it and not feeling it.

So, for $75, it's not a bad phone.
I'm not sure how much better of a phone the Nokia Lumia 822 is, but it was $25+ more ($100+).
As mentioned, I like narrower phones.
The 822 always felt too wide and I never cared for the style.
A 8X was another $25+, on top of the 822 ($125+).
Another 928 would have been another $50+ ($175+).
If I was getting a new phone, subsidized, I definitely wouldn't get this phone.
But, if you need to buy a cheap phone, it's not so bad.

The looming question, of course, will be what I do when the Nokia Lumia 929 is released.
Do I give in and get a bigger phone?
Who knows?
JJ
 

willied

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Jul 30, 2011
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Nice review. The screen on the Odyssey looks like it's a lower resolution than the 822 even though it's the same resolution. I think it has something to do with being a Pentile screen, but I'm not positive. I love the size of it as well. I wish there were more phones at that size.

I'm pondering the same thing about the 929/Icon. I want it, but I don't like how big it is.
 

monkeymind67

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I recently bought an Odyssey off the Bay. I'd wanted to to try WP for several months and the price was right on this model, so I took the leap.

I wish I'd taken the leap a couple of years ago, as this phone and OS are excellent. My previous phone was an iPhone 4, which iOS 7 rendered all but useless. I now have a fast, easy to use, and above all stable device to work with. I'm considering a larger phone, as working with spreadsheets can be tedious on a small screen, but the Odyssey easily meets my needs.
 

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