Samsung i900 Omnia

[LewisBrooks]

Just noticed this new Samsung Phone

Samsung i900 Omnia

Specs from Gsmarena.com

General
2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network: HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100
Announced: 2008, June
Status: Coming soon. Exp. release 2008, June

Size
Dimensions: 112 x 56.9 x 12.5 mm
Weight: 127 g

Display
Type: TFT touchscreen, 65K colors
Size: 240 x 400 pixels, 3.2 inches
Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate
Handwriting recognition

Ringtones
Type: Polyphonic, MP3
Vibration: Yes

Memory
Phonebook: Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call records: Practically unlimited
Card slot: microSD (TransFlash), up to 16GB

128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM
624MHz Marvell PXA312 processor
8 GB/16 GB internal memory

Data
GPRS: Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
HSCSD: No
EDGE: Class 10, 236.8 kbps
3G: HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
Bluetooth: Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port: No
USB: Yes, v2.0

Features
OS: Microsoft Window Mobile 6.1 Professional
Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
Browser: WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS feeds
Games: Yes + Java downloadable
Colors: Silver
Camera: 5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, autofocus, image stabiliser, video, flash; secondary videocall camera

- Built-in GPS receiver
- Java MIDP 2.0
- FM Radio with RDS
- MSOffice document viewer
- MP3/AAC/AAC+/WMA/OGG/AMR player
- DivX/XviD/WMV/MP4 player
- TV Out
- Voice memo
- Built-in handsfree

Battery
Standard battery, Li-Ion 1440 mAh

[waveydavey]

Nice, any pics to accompany the details? Strange screen res. Widescreen 320x240.

[neilm]

Looks to have a massive feature set, in a package marginally larger than the HTC Diamond.

Interesting to see which operators carry this in UK

[waveydavey]

Be interesting to see if they sell ANY of them at £540!!!

Buy a Samsung i900 Omnia (UK, Black, 8GB), #SGHi900BLK8_UK - eXpansys UK

[neilm]

Oh dear- and that's only the 8GB version as well!

I can't see the UK phone operators releasing this, as it will compete too heavily with their own branded devices. Orange could be the exception as they've dropped the 'SPV' branding. They have the HTC Shift as 'coming soon' but no mention of the i900.

[boz]

It does have a massive feature set, but comes out poorly against the iPhone in comparison reviews I have seen.

[waveydavey]

To be honest I think it's very difficult to compare a WM device to an Iphone. If you're an Iphone user you're gonna hate the complexity and the UI of WM, and if you're a WM user you'll hate the lack of functionality. I'd be wary personally of reading too much into Iphone - WM reviews. A review against a Kaiser would be more useful.

[boz]

I still think comparisons between the two give a good pointer to how well the Omnia will fare in the market place, especially as it is meant to be an iPhone beating device.

[Dr Ravi Sachdev]

I'm in Singapore on holiday, and the Omnia was just launched this week, so I've been able to play with it for a bit. Prior to my hands-on experience, I was so sure that this would be my next device. It's retailing here for S$1098, which is approximately GBP410 (for the 16GB version). Well, the 1st thing that got me worried was the strange resolution - 240x400 (WQVGA), which I haven't heard of before and couldn't find anywhere else on a Google search. Secondly, this phone is being marketed as a "WM-based iPhone" and, although a stylus is included, all apps are touch-based. However, some of the built in apps (like the photo browser) seemed a little sluggish to touch-control. There are no soft key buttons - they are also touch-activated, similar to the Diamond and Touch Cruise. However, the biggest reason why I decided not to pick it up was the fact that they've replaced the d-pad and centre button with an optical mouse. The mouse is rather slow and not very sensitive. When accessing a popup list of options, it's easier to just click on the item you want than to scroll using the mouse, which is a bit of a hit-and-miss effort. In fact, after 5 minutes, I gave up on the mouse completely and touch-scrolled everything. I had wanted to use the stylus, but it had been removed from the trial device and the demonstrator could not find a spare one to lend me. The Omnia also changes its screen orientation based on the position of the device (like the iPhone), but I found this incredibly annoying as it seemed a little too sensitive. Just a slight tilt would change it to landscape mode, and in trying to counteract the change, a tilt in the opposite direction would change the orientation to the opposite landscape mode, which meant more fiddlying (and this means that I actually had to hold the phone in portrait and tap it several times - lightly, of course - to get it to change to portrait mode.) In the end, I walked away from the phone with no regrets. Yes, its a WM6.1 phone, but it's for people who want an iPhone but hate Apple or don't want to be tied in to a contract. Its certainly not for the user who wants a device that he can customise, as there's too much missing for third-party support.

[fowljr]

Hi Dr Ravi Sachdev, thanks for the very interesting insight there. Sounds like Samsung need to do some work on the device...