Updated: read our full review of the Samsung i900 Omnia.
It's important to put a disclaimer at the start of this: we are aware the Apple iPhone 3G and the Samsung Omnia are not aimed at the exact same market.
The Omnia is a business phone (as shown by the fact it uses Windows Mobile 6.1) and the iPhone is...well, you know what it is.
But no company on this green Earth can release a 2.8inch touchscreen phone and not have it directly compared to Apple's cash cow. Especially when it's released on the same day.
Stylus fighting
And there's the problem for the Koreans. In direct comparisons, the only thing the Omnia can beat the iPhone with (apart from its stylus, should it grow arms, cognitive thoughts and emotions) is a 5MP camera.
Other than that, the interface is slow (Windows Mobile, remember) and relies on a stylus. The chap from Samsung came over and offered us one when he saw we were using our fingers; think that says it all really.
The web browsing uses the same touchscreen theory as Apple, in that you can 'throw' the web pages about. However, unless you use the bundled Opera browser it is stuck in mobile web mode, which is, frankly, rubbish.
Sluggish
The touch interface itself was unresponsive when it needed to be, and it took us 10 minutes to make head or tail of the messaging.
Simply put: while the device looks good and talks the talk, and undoubtedly would be great had the iPhone never been conceived, this isn't good enough to usurp Apple's beauty.
The days of the stylus should be dead by now; and the fact RIM keeps coming out with better and better smartphones means the Omnia is going to need a lot of good marketing to make waves in users sales.
Your comments (2) Click to add a new comment
sleeper
September 2nd 2008
2. Oh yeah, and it's a 3.2" touchscreen, not a 2.8" one.
Come on guys, this is just lazy journalism.
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sleeper
September 1st 2008
1. This isn't quite true, is it?
Firstly, a stylus isn't really required because the device uses an optical mouse and, in saying that, unless you're monkeying around with the Omnia's innards you aren't really going to be using that anyway since the Touchwiz skin gives you access to all the bits you need as a user.
Secondly, you mention the interface is slow. Slow compared to what? The Omnia I have - and I appreciate it may be on different firmware - is as fast as the iPhone's. To mention 'Window's mobile, remember' kind of misses the point that WinMo isn't an issue if it's run on adequate hardware which in the Omnia's case it is.
Thirdly, I'm not sure what you mean about 'unless you use the bundled Opera browser' as that's the default browser on the unit (well it is for Voda anyway) and you can change the config from handheld to desktop recognition with one click. I mean what else are you going to use? Mobile IE?
Your point about the messaging is a bit baffling as well since you run most messaging from contacts I can't see why it's a problem and even if you're not you just pop the number in, type your message (using whatever keyboard you fancy - I prefer T9 for SMS and QWERTY for e-mail) and off you go.
Don't get me wrong, the Omnia isn't perfect and there are some annoying bugs that Samsung and Voda need to get sorted in the same way that Apple needed to do with the V2.0 firmware but what seems to have been a twenty minute fiddle with the phone seems to have given you a false impression of what it can do.
YMMV I suppose.
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