Samsung's GT-B7330 Windows 6.5 smartphone, aka the "Messenger" in Canada and the Omnia Pro in other markets, is reminiscent of Palm's Treo line of smartphones and RIM's BlackBerry 9700. In terms of styling, it is conservative, a bit stodgy and clearly born and bred for the corporate world. This is what you would expect from a company issue phone; all business, very little fun.

The look-and-feel of the thing confirms this at once. Turn the phone on and you're greeted by a well-weathered Microsoft Phone OS, Windows Mobile 6.5. While undeniably the latest and greatest version of Microsoft's long-in-the-tooth Mobile OS, 6.5 on the Messenger nonetheless feels very staid, traditionally corporate and familiarly dull.

Moreover, Mobile OS 6.5 that ships with this phone is the final OS and will not be upgradeable to the more touch-savvy Windows 7 Phone OS slated for release in the fall. So what you see is what you get for the life of the phone. Folks in suits might like that no-school-like-the-old-school sensibility, most others likely won't.

It is somewhat modern in that the Samsung Messenger also gives you immediate access to Twitter, Facebook and other social media applications right off the bat, which is handy, and its mail and browser programs are reliable, as expected. However, navigation on the device's directional pad is tedious. People coming from a touch screen device will find their fingers stumbling on the unresponsive and non-tactile screen.

The Samsung Messenger is an extremely pocketable, light and slim phone, mind you, and its most important feature, the QWERTY keyboard, offers apt resistance and is easy to use. That said, it's not as well designed as what the latest keyboarded smartphones from RIM or Palm.

Battery life is extremely good, especially for such a comparatively diminutive device. Testing revealed four days of occasional calls and web surfing off a single full charge. Full time business use would drain batteries more quickly, obviously, but four days of light duty is pretty spiffy nonetheless.

There's a lot of tech crammed into Messenger, too, including Quad Band GSM capability, 3.5G data speeds, Wi-Fi, an FM radio with RDS, 3.2 Megapixel camera with auto-focus video recording and even GPS for good measure.

The device's 2.6" display is fairly bright and clear. The 3.2 MP camera with auto focus does the job - though more control would be nice - while the Windows Live Messenger platform and built in Social Networking functions enables quick sharing of images. The unit's expandable memory (up to 32 GB microSD) means you can store a great deal of multimedia files as desired/required.

The Samsung Messenger comes with a host of usual, useful applications like a calculator, scheduler, the requisite Microsoft handouts such as Internet Explorer Mobile, Microsoft Mobile Office and all the tie-ins for exchange and ActiveSync.

You also get access to the Windows Marketplace for Mobile that offers downloadable apps at varied prices. There are a few hundred apps there and many of them are free. Sadly, only a handful is really riveting. Furthermore, seeing as Microsoft will soon launch Windows Phone 7, its doubtful that many developers continue offering apps and support for older versions of the OS... Oh well.

Ultimately, while the Samsung Messenger is a good phone with a solid if serious design and a lot of functionality, it's probably a little too serious and unentertaining for the younger / socially-mobile set. For the business types, it's no Blackberry, either, and the fact that it wears its looming obsolescence on its sleeve doesn't help in the least.

Nevertheless, the Samsung Messenger is currently available to Bell's "mobile business" customers for free on a three-year term, or $300 without a contract. Rogers sells it for $50 on a three-year-lockdown or a no-term price of $400. Bell has the better deal, obviously, but the Messenger is still darn near D.O.A.