Samsung i900 Omnia 16GB Review
Inspite of the ongoing hit and miss game, Samsung faithfully seems to be dishing out phone after phone, and each one with better technology. The next in line is the Samsung i900 Omnia 16GB. A high-end touchscreen smartphone with a screen large enough to please the eye, one wonders if the Samsung i900 Omnia is just one among the many players in the Wi-Fi mobile explosion.
The Samsung i900 Omnia has a large 3.2” touchscreen WVGA display that fills the front side, with just two buttons and an opti pad. The display is pretty impressive with the screen showing a large clock (different world time possible) and various icons showing the email status and recently used applications. On the side there is a dedicated button for the camera and the back side has the 5 megapixel auto-focus camera lens with the LED flash.
The camera features digital zoom, face detection and can take pictures in landscape mode. The plastic cover and the plastic screen look quite elegant and make the Omnia sleek and pocket-friendly. Some of the iPhone users who are used to glass screens may report a loss of quality.
The Omnia promises superior 3G mobile telephony with HSDPA, and high speed browsing and emailing experience with its Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth 2.2 technology. The Opera 9.5 browser allows full Web page browsing in landscape mode, and zooms in and out just by a tap on the screen. The Omnia runs well on the Windows Mobile operating system and its neat touch-friendly interface with large icons makes it convenient to add a number of shortcut menus.
Its office document editor enables editing using Word, Excel, PowerPoint documents. One can also work with Microsoft Exchange and view PDF documents. Instant Messaging is made possible using the Windows Messenger. Although the interface is not the most responsive, one feature that cannot go unappreciated is the haptic response that acknowledges input from the user. A full QWERTY virtual keypad allows necessary input as required for most official and personal purposes. The motion sensor automatically switches from portrait to landscape modes for better viewability. With all these features the Omnia is literally transformed into an office on the go.
The Omnia does not lack features when it comes to entertainment. Music can be organized into playlists and played in MP3, AAC and eAAC+ formats on the WMA player. It also has an RDS enabled FM stereo radio. Video recording and streaming can be done using MP4 and 3GPP file formats. The Omnia can be connected to a TV for watching movies in Divx format. While its 16GB internal memory is quite sufficient, the Omnia allows an external memory via a micro SD card. One minor drawback is that the back cover has to be removed in order to plug-in the memory card.
The Omnia definitely has an edge over the iPhone when it comes to working with Microsoft Office applications, which iPhone does not support. On the other hand the physical appearance and feel may lack the class one notices with the iPhone. Also the iPhone is definitely more touch-sensitive than the Omnia.
With just the right features, the Omnia seems to attain completeness, and is priced at $899.99. Without too many unnecessary features crammed in, it could be exactly what the tech-savvy person is looking for.