Will Samsung's forthcoming Omnia become the new Windows Mobile phone "to die for"? Could be, according to reviewers, who rave about the international version's user interface and features. Yet, reviewers also express disappointment with the phone's slow operation on U.S. cellular networks.
Until now, HTC's Touch and its younger siblings -- the Touch Pro, Touch Diamond, Touch Cruise, and Touch Dual -- have been considered kings of the Windows Mobile hill, at least by those who admire Apple's iPhone. That's because all these devices include HTC's TouchFLO interface, which replaces Windows Mobile's standard shell with a finger-friendly front end. TouchFLO ships on many of the above devices with a version of the Opera Mobile 9.5 web browser that has been customized for iPhone-style touch-based panning and zooming.
In June, however, Samsung announced the SGH-i900 Omnia, a new Windows Mobile 6.1 phone clearly intended to claim the throne from HTC. Measuring 0.5 inches thick, it is styled similarly to the iPhone, with a brushed-metal back, and a screen that covers most of its front. Like Apple's device, it is available with either 8GB or 16GB of flash, and it also includes a microSD slot for the addition of more storage.
Samsung's Omnia has iPhone-like storage, plus a microSD expansion slot
The Omnia includes a five megapixel camera, a built in FM receiver, GPS, quad-band (850/900/1800/1900MHz) GSM telephony supporting HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access), Bluetooth 2.0, and 802.11b/g WiFi. For other tasty hardware details, see our earlier coverage, here.
The Omnia's Windows Mobile 6.1 origins are hidden under Samsung's own "TouchWiz" user interface, which allows personalizing the home screen with "widgets," according to the company. The phone's touch-sensitive, 3.2-inch screen uses "intuitive tap, sweep, drag and drop operations," and is supplemented by a tiny trackpad. As with the iPhone, a built-in accelerometer automatically switches the screen from portrait to landscape mode when the phone is rotated.
Reviewers weigh in
So how does it all work? The Omnia is apparently still not available in the U.S., but various North American reviewers have obtained samples, such as Engadget Mobile's Chris Ziegler. He quips that the phone "submits to the design direction forced on the industry by the iPhone, and does pretty much everything in its power to overcome Windows Mobile's limitations to make it competitive."
Ziegler criticizes the Omnia for not including a triband 3G chipset, but says "we had no problem latching onto our relic of an EDGE network and going about our business." Where the phone wins out, he continues, is with TouchWiz. "This doesn't have the bedazzling spit and polish of [HTC's] TouchFlo 3D, but what it lacks in sparkle, it makes up for in raw usability and functionality."
Another U.S. site, MobileTechReview, offers a review by editor Lisa Gade. She notes that the Omnia incorporates haptics, via which the device vibrates to acknowledge when a user has touched the screen. But, she adds, a ROM upgrade toned these down to the point that vibratory feedback is available only in the home screen and Samsung-specific applications. "In every other way," Gade writes, "the phone went from so-so to great, though. The user interface is much quicker and the screen is more responsive."
About TouchWiz, Gade says, "Samsung's customizations aren't as flashy and pretty [as HTC's TouchFLO], but we'd say they go further to improve usability and finger-friendliness." She adds that the Omnia's camera is "fantastic," with "blinding" built-in flash. The device's built-in accelerometer not only rotates the screen, it can also sense when the phone is placed upside down, automatically silencing the ring from incoming calls, she writes.
A review by Chris Davies and Vincent Nguyen of SlashGear criticizes the Omnia for its resistive touchscreen, which, unlike the iPhone's capacitive technology, is "less than responsive." The authors note that Samsung offers a couple of better-performing TouchWiz-based phones that have capacitive screens but do not feature Windows Mobile, the SGH-F480 and SGH-F490. Criticizing the Omnia for lacking user-interface consistency, they nonetheless laud the device for its "flexibility and power," in addition to the customized Opera Mobile 9.5 browser.
The main stumbling block for Davies and Nguyen, as for the other reviewers, is the Omnia's lack of 3G connectivity in the U.S. "Despite the Omnia being quadband GSM, its UMTS is 2100MHz only: that means the 7.2Mbps HSDPA so many would-be buyers had got excited about will only be available in Europe," they write.
So, from the reviews mentioned above, it sounds as if a North American-oriented version of the Omnia supporting 7.2Mbps HDSPA could someday topple HTC's Touch, and even Apple's iPhone, from the top of the mobile tree. Meanwhile, Samsung marketers are teasing the blogosphere with a novel take on the "unboxing video" cliche, as seen below.
This satire of the "unboxing" cliche promotes Samsung's Omnia Source: Samsung (click to play)
Further information
To read the reviews referenced above of the Samsung Omnia, see the Engadget Mobile, MobileTechReview, and SlashGear websites, here, here, and here, respectively.
Visual Basic 6.0 to .NET Migration
This paper focuses on the methodology and techniques which Infosys (Microsoft Technology Center) has developed for migrating VB 6.0 Applications to .NET. Our approach ensures a smooth, cost effective, and efficient migration.
Mobile Device Security: The Eight Areas of Risk
It's common knowledge that adding mobile devices to your network increases security risks. There are multiple facets to mobile security, all of which should be paid close attention to. This E-Guide presents a more in depth look into the eight key areas of securing wireless devices.
Quality Assurance and .NET
This paper discusses best practices for functional, regression and load testing of .NET applications.
SCADA Security in Integrated Networks
As businesses leverage their SCADA systems by integrating them into the business networks, they must also assure the security of the SCADA system.
The Advantages of Small Form Factor HMI
HMIs have mutated and changed with new requirements, and they have become more flexible and capable. And while they've been doing that, they've become smaller and more useful.
9 Critical Requirements for Web Application Security
Learn why your Web applications expose dangerous security breaches and what’s required to effectively protect your Web applications and the sensitive information behind them.
Will Samsung's forthcoming Omnia become the new Windows Mobile phone "to die for"? Could be, according to reviewers, who rave about the international version's user interface and features. Yet, reviewers also express disappointment with the phone's slow operation on U.S. cellular networks.
news feed