Samsung Omnia i900 Comments

I thought the battery life was meant to be one of the selling points for this phone, but telling us it lasted a day and a half hooked up to an exchange server doesn't give much information. For example, was that over 3G or WiFi or a mixture of both. What else was the phone being used for.

Maybe you could run a continuous music-play test as Sandra does, then we have something to compare with other reviews. Quoted talk time and standby time are always nice to see, but a review should really be testing these out.

What about the GPS? does it come with a pre-installed package? how did it perform in tests? What was music quality like? Can we have some sample camera shots please and a real feel for the camera's ability rather than what it can and can't do.

Sorry, but this review falls a bit short of thorough - The interface is important, yes, but how well do ALL the features actually work?

In what way is the "launcher" program any better than the WM default programs screen? It's just a list of programs with icons the same size as the WM one...

Also, are there any sample pictures of the camera, as that is one of the Omnias best selling points!

And, finally, is the accelerometer as limited in use as it is on the Diamond, or does it do things in every program?

I'm kind of puzzled by this review and the score of 7 awarded at the end. I know there's a lot of hate for Windows Mobile in TR but this is, frankly, more than a little odd especially when you compare this to the iPhone 3G which scored 10.

For example, you give the Omnia a 7 for value when it's actually cheaper on contract than the iPhone 3G which you give a 9 to. In addition you state "there's a pile of features and many of these appear to match or outstrip the iPhone 3G equivalent". Well, actually on several fronts it DOES outstrip the iPhone there's no appears about it.

Moving on...

The Omnia doesn't provide stylus storage because it doesn't need one - for the more intricate bits of the OS you just use the optical mouse. Of course, the casual user is kind of unlikely to be venturing into that territory with the possible exception of setting the clock which actually is awkward. You kind of admit that when you mention it applies to the more advanced settings.

You mention the keyboard but don't mention you actually have about four to choose from ranging from T9 to QWERTY. Although responsiveness is a personal choice I can't say I've had any problems with text input on the Omnia so far. The iPhone on the other hand, because it's a dead keyboard, certainly did give me the urge to throw it through a window.

Finally you mention the battery life. I take yor point but how does this compare to the 3G? From what I can see on most tests it's better and as good as the top performing smartphones out there.

So, to recap, you give a 7 for design which seems a little harsh, a 9 for features - the same as the iPhone despite it, and let's be honest here, being much better featured, an 8 for performance, a 7 for value - which you clearly seem to have got wrong because you rate the iPhone 3G as a 9 despite it costing considerably more - and a 7 overall.

Shurely some mistake? as Privtae Eye used to say.

All I can say is that from personal experience it's a better phone. I suppose opinions will vary but this review just seems a little short of the mark.

Thanks, Gordon. However, I'm not sure I agree:

"The Omnia is being reviewed here sim free at a cost of £467 - hence the value score"

Fair enough, however since you can't buy the iPhone 3G sim free at all shouldn't the comparison be based on contract costs?

"The stylus is needed on a regular basis. Just because casual users won't use them regularly does not mean they should be scared off by these areas if they do venture into them (that's a point off the features right there: inaccessibility)"

Again I disagree. The stylus isn't needed because it has the optical mouse. Sure, it's nice as an option to have one but necessary? I don't think so.

"- The battery life is inferior to the iPhone which can achieve these impressive figures in optimum settings (how ALL phone battery scores are calculated):
Talk time: Up to 5 hours on 3G, Up to 10 hours on 2G, Standby time: Up to 300 hours, Internet use: Up to 5 hours on 3G, Up to 6 hours on Wi-Fi, Video playback: Up to 7 hours, Audio playback: Up to 24 hours"

Up to or actuals? What tests were run on both units? What criteria were used? If it's exactly the same then fine but there's not enough detail here to see that.

"- Any touchscreen handset in which T9 becomes an appealing option has made a mess of the Qwerty keyboard."

Gordon, I didn't say that, I said there was choice. I use the QWERTY for mail and T9 for SMS because that's what I'm used to and I appreciate the choice of input methods. Could I use the QWERTY keyboard for texting? Sure but I don't want or need to.

"I also found it terrible in comparison to the iPhone (a device where a day or two's worth of practice had me typing faster than on my old Blackberry - you have to stick with it)."

With a day or two's practice? Well, yes, but one wonders had you stuck with the Omnia if you would also get used to it? I understand it's user preference though - like I said the iPhone's dead keyboard just frustrates me.

"- iPhone features the Omnia lacks: responsive multi-touch equalling gesture control"

True. Never found this much use though to be honest.

"a comparable browser to Safari"

I'm sorry, Opera 9.5 isn't comparable? Are you sure?

The rest is kind of subjective.

"- You have to live with an iPhone for a week to fully appreciate it. In my mind the two are leagues apart unfortunately."

Fair enough. I lived with the iPhone for about ten days before I realised it just wasn't for me. Have you lived with the Omnia for that long?

I don't want to get in a silly argument over devices because, like all things, opinions are subjective. I suppose you guys have to call it as you see it. It just seems you've glossed over some of the 3G's failings and the Omnia's virtues.

Ah well, I'm sure they'll both sell by the bucketload anyway!

It seems reviewers don't like to criticise the iPhone, where as they'll happily pick up all the faults (and some that don't exist) on WM. Is Apple paying you, or are you just biased?

The optical mouse also brings better one handed use than a stylus.

Also, how often do you actually use multi-touch on an iPhone? It's used in the photos program, and Safari, and that's it! And, it's no use one handed! (although, neither is the iPhone as holding the damn thing is difficult enough)

Opera is faster than Safari - even if Apples adverts disagree, an iPhone on WiFi (lets face it, you're not actually going to be able to load a page before the signal breaks on 3G) against virtually any WM device with Opera on WiFi will loose on page load times, and Opera 9.5 is still beta!

And, even if the IM on the iPhone is better than the Omnias, how many third party SIPs are there for WM, which are better than the iPhones? (I would ask the same about iPhone third party SIPs, but you can't get those, so another point to the Omnia!)

"Multi-touch is not something you can turn off it IS the control system." Where (other than the photos and Safari) is multi touch implemented instead of normal (single point of contact) touch screen? Multi touch is nice, but its capabilities are so under used in the iPhone, it may as well not even be there!

The iPhone has a 624MHz processor downclocked to 400MHz... That's half 800MHz!

"Third Party Support" - Whoop! I can pay money to be able to write an app that can't run in the background (so, as I said no SIP replacements), and can't do much because when Apple checks the code (as they do to everything so you iPhone nuts don't end up crying because you downloaded something without reading what it said) they'll notice you trying to access things you can't have because you're not Apple (eg decent location awareness).

Anyone can download a free IDE and compiler for WM, and write an app for free and then release it for whatever they like without Apple taking anything for them selves!

Apple haven't revolutionised anything, they've just marketed the iPhone in such a way as to brain wash the general public into buying outdated, under powered hardware because it has a pretty Apple on it.

@Andys comment "Would you buy an MP3 player that required an adapter to plug in a pair of headphones? I think not." People bought the original iPhone even though most headphones wouldn't fit into its headphone socket, and look, reviewers didn't really care, 'cause it's an Apple product and therefore must be perfect!

"Not sure of your point here: the iPhone doesn't need an optical mouse or a stylus. " WM doesn't "need" an optical mouse or Stylus to do everything the iPhone does. Its just helpful when changing settings the iPhone doesn't have!

"@Oliver - do you think there might be a reason WHY professional reviewers don't life to criticise the iPhone? Perhaps it might be similar to the reason professional cinema critics don't regularly criticise the year's best films?!"

Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the name of this site "Trusted Reviews"? There should be no bias.

Anyway, critics are ALWAYS criticising the years best films! That's what they do best :)

The only part of the review I disagree about is the design score, it's certainly objective but in my opinion the samsung looks much nicer then the 3G, I just find Apples design so bland and boring whereas someone obviously made a little bit of effort with this.

Got to say, I was looking forward to this review and I've been sadly disappointed by it's lack of real testing. In fact I've learned more and have been more entertained by the comments page.

Given the mauling that has been dished out, do you think we could have an addendum to the review adding the detail and true comparisons that have been asked for in the comments so we end up with a decent review that is actually helpful to people looking to get a new phone in the next month or so...either that, or give it to Sandra who regularly produces thorough and consistent reviews of excellent quality with no discernible bias.

Sorry guys, but it really isn't up to scratch.

I can't believed I've even bothered to register to post a comment.

You got to realise most reviews done here have such bias views that only suits their own personal needs and preference. If you look at all mobile phones reviewed here, what plays high on TR is STYLE. If it's slim and sexy then it will have a chance to score high and get a recommended rating. They focus so much on how thick/thin a device is!

I just read reviews here for a bit of fun and look elsewhere for serious reviews.

Personally I like the samsung omnia and can cope with it fine, people I know who are not tech literate have picked it up and used it with ease so I'm considering buying it as a phone. Ultimately I think it's much better value than an iphone because it has a similar pixel density to the iphone, has far more features including the ability to play many more file types, use msn, opera mobile which is far better than mobile safari without a doubt, office software and many other extras.

The iphone has the built in 3.5mm jack etc and is better for consumers who just want a media player with a cool interface, and occasionally use it to phone people but beyond that the iphone 3g is useless when compared to the functionality of the omnia or diamond or even blackberry bold, it's not a smartphone and doesn't even come close to one which is why I think you should never compare it to one.

Gordon, no professional reviewers?

Well I did a quick Google on "Samsung Omnia review" and the first one was this:

http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Samsung-OMNIA-Review-review-gallery-r_1981-p_6.html

Interestingly they appear to go into far more detail than your review does - to the extent they go through the phone's capabilities and frailties in some detail, including a video review. They do this with most other phones, including the 3G as well. Interestingly the 3G gets an 8 whilst the Omnia gets a 9.

Whether they are professional or not they do appear to believe in thoroughly covering their subject material it seems, something that appears to have been missed here. So whilst you may consider the Omnia to be a weak offering regrettably I must extend that criticism to your coverage. Still, I must thank you for making me search, thus enabling me to find a site where the product is actually reviewed comprehensively.

@Gordon

The site Sleeper referenced, didn't say it had a 3.5mm jack but adapter (this is directly from the site and not a translation).
*http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Samsung-OMNIA-Review-review-r_1981-p_6.html*

I really think this review is a bit harsh. I know the iphone is a very good multimedia phone but since its launch, there has been no week that i dont come across a problem that users are experiencing. From firmware issues, bad reception, battery life, to even its material casing( about not being rain friendly).

A lot of reviewers get sucked into its design (interface and body), do not give a thorough review on its functionality and prefer to sweep all its shortcomings underneath the carpet when some phone capabilities are meant to be standard in this generation of mobile technology.

Am a bit disappointed with this review and its just because i feel generally, there is partiality when brands are reviewed. People just have their preferences or a brand that resonates with them more than other offerings. Am not talking about fanboy-ism(which is when some keeps ranting about a particular brand they like). I think you guys try your best to play fair everytime you review gadgets/technology but maybe not this time.

Another thing (slightly outside the discussion) i wanted to mention is something which i actually tested out. A lot of guys do tend to dislike samsung as a brand when it comes to mobile phones. I think it has something to do with a conception of it been more suited to the feminine audience?!

Just want to chip in on behalf of the site Jonathan and Gordon. I've been reading TrustedReviews since it started and it is very obvious to me that they take an editorial style with all their articles and reviews. This means that their opinions and mischievous comments are threaded throughout the site. With this in mind I know that the reviews are not going to be so scolarly as some sites where they spend pages and pages unpacking boxes and analysing every feature in a very dispassionate way.

I know those sites are out there and I will read them if I'm considering a purchase, but I always look here to see what TR has to say. For me they give what I'd call a "gut instinct" review of a product. Which is sometimes more acurate than the analytical approach.

Give them a break. They produce fun copy on a daily basis. That is not easy.

"For me they give what I'd call a "gut instinct" review of a product."

The number of years they have both been doing it - it's usually on the money.

I have a cheap £20 siemens phone which can send picture messages, does this make it better than the iphone, as I want a phone that can send mms and the almighty, multimedia king of all phones who all should bow to cant send a simple little picture message. Hmmmm, how many camera phones today cant to this, iphone really is in a league of it's own.

An interesting review, I expected this to have a higher score but has not put me off getting one.

Im very anti-apple and have not bought into their brand at all so I will not be getting a 3g ibrick... this phone look like a good alternative :)

I totally agree that different people like different things. But to have a phone where you can't change the battery, can take a decent photo, can't send picture messages, cant expand the memory, can't install mainstream programs (tomtom, co-pilot) and say it has sat-nav, and to dismiss other devices email clients when they are using outlook. I mean, people claim this is God's gift to phones, it's not it's just an Ipod touch which can make calls, whopeee.

Yes Gordon - not nearly enough pandering to Apple - will they ever lend you a macbook air?! ;)

As an aside on touch screens in general - when I was in the Voda shop at the weekend, the guy serving me was phoning his credit check people using a new Omnia - he was having high problems hitting numbers on the screen to skip through the automated options - it seems the screen does not default to number pad when you're in call, so he had to go through several menus every time he wanted to select a number. Is this a problem with all touch screen phones?

I would personally prefer it if Sandra did all the phone reviews, it makes comparisons much easier.

Also, that other review is not a translation, it's referring to the Greek meaning of 'Omnia'.

there are many proffesional review sites that think the omnia is an iphone killer. this site just is not one of them. There is no point arguing your case. just find a site that agrees with your opinion and comment on it there! type in gsmarena in google and go to there website. Their review of the omnia is pretty good

Hi, just a few words on the comments here and the responses: I have up until now read TR mostly for fun. I must say that the news bits are interesting, however the reviews show quite some bias. The apple/iphone issues seems fairly obvious here, but I must point out similar problems with digital cameras as well. There Fuji seems to be a hot favorite; the reviews there make for a fun read often contradicting the pictures at the end of the articles. But in general, review sites are usually objective for a while, then get discovered and used as marketing tools.

"@dave - "the iphone 3g is useless when compared to the functionality of the omnia or diamond or even blackberry bold" - I'm sorry that's completely ridiculous. Other than a superior camera in the Diamond and Omnia there is nothing to be missed here. As for the Bold - have you tested it or are you just throwing random handsets in?"

What can the iPhone do that an Omnia can't? - multitouch. Whoop! I can have two fingers used at the same time in two of the programs. I'm going to pay £100 more for that alone!

Now, what can an Omnia do that the iPhone can't? - open Office files, expand memory, have third party software running in the backround, have custom IMs, MMS, copy/paste, multi-task, and more!

"the best maps integration,"

It can't even dp turn by turn navigation FFS!

"the best email interface (it syncs just fine with Outlook)"

Interface maybe, but what if I want tasks to be synchronised? - "fine" is not "good", or "great".

I can get push email, task and calendar updates pushed to my phone, whilst playing music and browsing the web with Opera, whilst typing on a custom SIP, and then copy/paste a page take a video, browse through my files to find it, or an alternative video, and then send the page and the video via MMS. - I've been able to do this since 2006! What can your iPhone do?

Sure, the iPhone may have a great user interface, but that's not the be all and end all of a mobile device! The UI needs functionality - which the iPhone just doesn't have - to be at all useful!

Having worked/played with 40+ phones model in the last 12 months across all OS, from Linux, Brew, S40, S60, OSX, all versions of WM, I can say that there isn't a perfect phone, they all have issues that annoyed. It's whether you can live with the negatives to enjoy the positives.

I happen to agree with the score on the review but my main problem with this device is its performance.

I went for the omnia for the functions as a winmo pocket pc more than anything else and had come from using a simple phone and separate pocket pc (my 3 year old HP ipaq 3715). My old ipaq has a 400MHz processor with about 64MB RAM running winmo 2003. So I thought this smartphone would be the perfect 2 in 1 device. How wrong I was!

This phone is mysteriously slower and laggier than my 3 year old pocket pc. It's most likely because windows 6.1 is crap. Cursor is a novelty but what on earth is the point in having such a tiny touch pad with cursor on a TOUCH SCREEN device. Might as well not make it touch screen. Samsung have gone halfway to no where. They made a device clearly needing a stylus, but haven't put a slot in. They've made some gimmicky touch pad device, when a d-pad would have been far more user friendly. And having played around with an iphone for a while, it's clear that the UI is miles worse on the i900, lagging when you try to do finger slides perhaps because the screen technology is way behind (capacitance on the iphone works much better).

I'm no iphone fanboy (I don't own one - I need winmo to use my skyscape programmes), but really, there is no competition to them at the moment. Here's hoping xperia or touch pro can do a better job.

Have we got to the TR record for number of comments on an article yet? Do tell!

Multi-Touch is great, I'm not arguing with that. But, where does the iPhone need multitouch over any other capacitive screen? Photos, and Safari. That's it!

Okay... "what the Omnia can't do to me IS important." What can the Omnia not do? :p

"iPhone CAN open Open documents" *.docx? *.ppt? Can it create documents?

I'm not saying the iPhone is rubbish, but it's marketing is complete lies, and the reviews do not seem to reflect what it can/can't do accurately. No reviewer seems to notice the 3G issues, or the crashes, or the problems AppStore causes, whereas reviewers seem all to ready to criticise non-issues on WM phones.

Gordon > "@ILoveGagdets - from what I understand Sandra would have been even more scathing of the Omnia than Jon. "

My point was that this review was a long way short of thorough - Sandra's reviews generally are a lot more thorough. If she doesn't like something then we're still given a full coverage of the features and how they perform along with the reasons why the weaknesses outweighed the strengths. At no point was I complaining about the score or whether it compares favourably or not to an iPhone.

This site is called "Trusted Reviews" so I think it is only fair that first and foremost the site is about factual, good quality reviews. I'm quite happy to see glib comments and tongue-in-cheek comparisons to other similar personal favourites of the reviewers. but basics first, personality second please.

Ok, now I understand why the Omnia got a 7 score. Reviewer was busy with the Touch Pro and he's reserving the 8 and recommended status for that one! ;)

I was really hoping to buy an iphone because it clearly is a fantastic bit of kit. Unfortunately I cant coz it doesn't do all the things I want it to. Hence the reason why I'm going to buy an Omnia which does beg the question as to whether Jonathan or indeed the reviewer of the iPhone got it right. To understand why I'm not gonna buy an iPhone I think it would be useful (as my old science master used to say) to go back to 1st principles. In an ideal world what do we want a smart phone to do? We'll I think we all want a single device that we can carry round at all times that does all the things (well) of the myriad of devices that we currently have to lug about (phone, camera, video camera, computer, gps, music player, dvd player, games console). I only carry 2 of these devices around regularly (phone and camera) but my camera shoots decent enough video (vga) to record the antics of my kids. So as I'm sure you've worked out by now, as a smart phone, the iPhone falls at the 1st 2 hurdles - as I understand it, it doesn't shoot any video and 2mp ain't really good enough for stills. Next on my list is how does it function as a computer. On the face of it, it scores high marks for input but then it doesn't have a proper keyboard like the Touch Pro and you can't use perhaps one the greatest labour saving devices ever invented - copy & paste (it was apple who invented it right?). Although I understand this may change. It is for the latter reason I am again opting for the Omnia. Now clearly from your review the Omnia as a smartphone is not perfect at lot of things it does but it appears to be the 1st smart phone that does do the majority of things it should do and to do them well. I'm ruling out the Touch Pro here and Samsung's next monster coz for me they are too thick in the age of the skinny jean to be trully pocketable. The iPhone is not a smart phone in the true sense of the word and should not be compared to the Omnia. As Steve Litchfield (look him up - reviewer par excellence - though sadly only of symbian devices) put it "the iPhone excels at media consumption" but sadly not in creation. If the bench mark that was used to review the Omnia was the iPhone, then it was reviewed inappropriately.

Well one thing you certianly have to give to the omnia that the iphone doesn't have.....a replaceable battery, I mean come on I thought apple were supposed to be geniuses, what genius makes a phone with a built in battery, that's just pure idiocy. "Oh my battery died, well it's a good thing I make tons of cash I can go and buy a whole new iPhone for like £300+" (Practically all other phones: "Oh my battery died, oh well I'll order a new one").

But yeah ok I'm not saying the iPhone is terrible but I do have to say that this is one of the only, well actually the only site that has given the Omnia a bad review. GSM arena users love it, GSMArena seem to love it, sure they admit it has flaws but it mostly seems good.

I know I'm getting one but that isn't why I'm sticking up for it,(after all it isn't even ordered yet) I'm sticking up for it because I have a history of samsung phones and I know how well they are designed and the stability they ensure. Maybe the Omnia isn't as good as the iphone 3g, maybe it is but it is certainly the poorer customers choice, and unless you're rich you aren't going to be buying a new model phone sim free.

The iphone has obviously shaken up the phone market completely and has paved the way forward to new UIs and phone features. But what we have to remember is that the majority of the iphone's strengths only lie in it's software. And this isn't going to last long.

Google will be releasing the Android operating system for mobiles at the end of this year. With features that will leave blow the iphone out of the water and an OPEN SOURCE ethos, this could certainly rain on Apple's current parade!

I am currently writing this on my Omnia in Opera which is a pleasure to work with. It is just as intuitive to use as Safari and the qwerty keyboard is fast and easy to use.

It's also been interesting to read that Apple is being taken to court in america by a group of people who are so angry that their new 3G iphone's are so poor. Battery issues, signal issues, firmware problems - the iphone obviously isn't the glossy finished product it appears to be.

And here is another one:
http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i900_omnia-review-267.php
Seems to be quite a bit more balanced.

Hi all, am new to this site but came across it looking for info on the Samsung i900, and boy did I get it! I have never owned either iphone or i900 yet but have an i900 on the way in the next day or so. Up to now have always been a Nokia user just purly cause it was so easy to transfer my info from one phone to another. Because of my job I really wanted an iphone because I have an itouch which is invaluable to what I do, so I thought as a back up why not get the iphone with all I want, all the info I need to store plus it's a phone. But of course am on Vodafone, not possible. The nice people at Vodafone recommended the i900 as a good "substitute" for what am lookin for. Hope they're right? After looking at this site and various others, I think they are. The only thing I can't understand is why on earth apple have only allowed O2 to use their MASTER product? I won't leave Vodafone just because of somethin like that, I spend a lot of money with them and they treat me accordingly, but I am just one of many millions who must think the same? Maybe apple have an agreement with other phone manufacturers to use their concept ie Samsung and will make more from that area? Who knows? Anyway will recieve my i900 in the next day or so and after practicing for a WEEK or so:) will give my opinion, been nice reading yours.

Oh dear, one of my favourite review sites, after all this time, has become polarized to one product - the iphone.
Why on earth would you ask Shilo to 'please' not refer to the ipod touch as the itouch? Everybody knows what he meant!
I think that your reviews of any windows mobile devices are predetermined because they are a windows mobile device & you are obsessed with the iphone.
I have not had an iphone but two of my friends have & they both took them back because they lost the signal inside their homes. I compared one with my HTC Tytn II with full bars whilst he had no signal.
Unless you can be objective I believe your reviews are not worth taking into account when choosing next phone - which they were before!
Forget about the iphone comparison - most people don't care!
Sort it out Gordon!

hi guys i have read several reviews regarding the samsung i900 and the HTC touch diamond but i am still non the wiser- which is a better phone? i currently use a t mobile compact iii and i want to upgrade to a phone that offers better internet access and has PDA like qualities with a decent battery life and has GPS. oh by the way, do not recommend the iphone not my cup of tea! please help ASAP
thank you

Hi Gordon and others.

I will be in the market for an "upgrade" of my n95 in a month's time... so have been watching the phone market.

There are a few things which iPhones do not have which would rule it out of contention, some are things you probably have not heard before, some have been talked about a lot in the past.

1/ multimedia limitations of iPhone - you cannot view html pages offline!!! I like to save Allmusic pages in folders with my MP3 albums so I can have them all in one neat place on my hard drive, then read up about the artist while commiting for 3 hours a day.

2/ multimedia limitation of iPhone 2 - when listening to music, I would like have quick access to the folder the music is stored in so I can read text files, with reviews, lyrics, biographies etc while listening, and also to be able to open the html pages i mentioned above.

3/ loading music limitations of iPhone - you HAVE to have iTunes and HAVE to have Quicktime and HAVE to have their proprietory USB cable before you can begin to share music or load music. (I have a 17 inch macbook pro and an 8 core MacPro of my own and still hate itunes)

4/ loading music limitation 2 - cannot do it wirelessly? is that really true, after all, this is a (wireless) mobile phone? ouch.

5/ Modem - On my long commutes I often use my n95 as a modem - cant do that with iPhone

I dont know which of these issues exist with the Omnia or Touch HD, but the iPhone IMO is big on candy floss, a case of style over content. I will now read your Touch HD review, but at this point, Omnia seems to be my #1 choice.

Cheers,
Mark.

You guys are only writing but I am suffering as I bought SIM free Sansung Omnia. I also own iPhone but after using for 15 months though of change and ended up in bigshit.
I sold on Omnia's camera but it will never work so before anyone buy samsung Omnia
read my experience clearly also you can visit me so see this Samsung's shit.
1>Every day Samsung Omnia needs atleast dozen on reset & restart
2>If you want to use camera, most of you will encouter error message
"Not enough video memory, close other applications" but camera will work only
if you restart the phone. iPhone's camera is worst camera I have ever used but it always works and very responsive , you can take & save pictures very quick.
3>Scrolling is pig slow and most of the time in between other application is opening
4>Fucking Opera brower is worse than pig it is atleast 1 million years behing iPhone safari. Opera is the worst browser I have seen. I tried IE on omnia but that is also very difficult to use.
5>NOW THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WHICH IS MISSING IN SAMSUNG OMNIA AND NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT IT, YOU CANNOT MAKE CONFERENCE CALL, I.E YOU CANNOT ADD THE CALL WHILE YOU MADE 1 CALL WITHOUT THIS FEATURE I CANNOT USE THIS PHONE AT WORK
(DO NOT WORRY GUYS , I AM RETURNING THIS PHONE & IF THEY DO NOT GIVE FULL REFUND, I AM GOING TO SUE SAMSUNG NO MATTER HOW MUCH IT WILL COST ME)

6>SAMSUNG SHOULD TAKE SHAME FOR SUCH A WORST TOUCH SCREEN , DESPINE RELEASED LATER THAN
Iphone, OMNIA;S TOCH SCREEN IS 100 YEARD BEHIND IPHONE.
7>No comany on the earth can match iPhone's mutimedia capabilities. Samsung's color screen & mutomedia capabilities are 100 years behind iPhone.
8>Mr. Author use my samsung Omnia for 1 day and you will give zero marks to this shit
so in future use any gadget/phone for atleast 1 day and then give scores and write review.
9>I do not want other people so suffer like me anyhow I am behind the crminal(Samsung)

Just wanted to add my thoughts about the Omnia and the reason why I bought it.

The Omnia is a pretty nice all rounder and I believe that if we want to see manufacturers other than Apple go out on a limb with interesting phone designs, we need to support the ones which do step up and try something different. I know what you are going to say, the Omnia is a straight copy of the iPhone, which is not wrong. However, consider the fact that the iPhone asthetic is still rather new in the mobile phone market and that many manufacturers are still happy to produce endless clamshell, slider or candybar phones and you start to see why, if you want them to push the boundaries of phone design, you should lend you support to those manufacturers that try something different.

My reasons for chosing the Omnia over other phone, for example the iPhone, are listed below in order of importance:

1. The phone needs to support the Ogg Vorbis audio codec. I have just under a terabyte of music in Ogg Vorbis format and am not willing to re-convert it to mp3. Plus I support open source software and open standards, which pretty much makes mp3 a no-no for me.

2. The phone needs to be quad-band. I travel a heck of a lot between the UK and Japan. My phone needs to be at least usable in both regions.

3. The phone needs radio. I like to listen to radio 4 whilst coding, its not a crime ;)

4. The phone needs to have a removable battery. This was one of the things that annoyed me about the original iPhone and I am not sure if it has been sorted out in the 3G version.

Some of the things that I do not like about the Omnia.

1. Windows Mobile. As an open source advocate and developer, I would prefer my OS to be something a little more developer friendly and open.

2. Touch screen. Shouldh have been capacitive like the iPhone :(

3. No stylus holder. If the Nintendo DS can find a sliver of a gap to slide the stylus into, you would think Samsung could do the same.

I got one on Orange, and sent it back after 16 horrible hours.

On the plus side- it looks nice, and feels well made.

On the minus side - the software! This is the third windows mobile phone I've had, and I've hated every one of them, but I keep on thinking that MS might have finally got it right this time. Not so.

To be fair, one thing Windows Mobile has always been good at is synching contacts with Outlook. However, this is less of an advantage now that other manufacturer's synch programs by and large have caught up.

So - to the bad.

1. I managed to get it to connect intermittently to the WiFi router at home - but not at all at work (even though the router is the same model).
2. I couldn't get it to sync properly via bluetooth, or connect to my car radio/handsfree (AVIC-X1 BT). My Sony Ericsson k850i has neither problem. It did sync with my wife's parrot, though. (I was going to edit the last sentence for clarity - but what the hell. I like it the way it is).
3. The software crashed three times, and needed a total restart (battery out job - the reset button didn't work). The screen backlight went off and wouldn't switch on again, and again required a restart.
4. The connector looks similar to that on other Samsung phones - but isn't, so you can't share chargers.
5. Call quality was pretty poor.
6. I couldn't get it to switch from landscape to portrait using the accelerometer - no matter what the accelerometer settings were in the control panel (although I liked the way you could mute it by placing it face down - so I know the accelerometer was working).
7. I tried to get it to link to wifi when available, and only connect to cellular data when it wasn't. I've had problems getting this to work with other Windows Mobile devices in the past. After a while I gave up.
8. The camera does't work consistently, and the flash isn't really a flash - just a bright LED.
9. I'm thinking of getting an iphone instead, but this experience has scared me, plus I'm seriously put off by the fact that the iphone won't work as a modem.

Aaagh!

- Andrew

I've had my Omnia on Orange for 2 weeks now. £25 a month on an free upgrade BTW.

My impression is generally very good, certainly no issues with crashing etc etc. The battery life owns my old N95 too, so that's a plus. It'll go 2 days of average use e.g. some internet browsing, music to and from work, calls and e-mail while out and about.

No doubt that the user interface isn't quite up to the standards set my the iphone. The little attentions to detail are still missing. BUT I can multitask, I can also download documents and excel sheets on the move and do a little work. Those that comment about the typing interface - I've got fat chip fingers, but I can type quite quickly with the handset in a horizontal position - the keys become wider. Auto correct also usually catches any errors. The DivX compatability is fantastic - copy and paste and I was ready to go. Finally I haven't used the stylus yet. If it gets a tad tricky the optical mouse works a fantastically.
Iphone - I've seen the adverts and played with a friends - they should be sued for what they claim can be done.

Overall get an Omnia if you are a pro/business user. Get an iphone if you're more of a casual, fashionista.

hi guys, Just a quick one, i have been reading through all of the reviews and certainly value the opinions that have been made. I have bought the Samsung Omnia and it arrives tomorrow, though after reading some of the reviews i am slightly regretting my purchase however i won't be able to formulate my opinion until it arrives. Just a quick one how does the phone perform as well a day to day phone without lloking at all the fancy gadgets and gizmos???

Cheers

I got my Omnia 16GB 1 week ago and i have to say it's the best phone i've ever had! The battery lasts about 3 days, that's with moderate use every day. The touch screen is very responsive. The comment about the keyboard - as someone has mentioned can be changed to suit, either Qwerty or keypad. I have a few problems with the internet, Opera isn't too great, but that's it really. I love it! and it's much better than the IPhone!

General rule of thumb, I never write a review in the first 2 weeks of owning a product. Got hold of the Samsung Omnia with Vodafone, I was after a phone to have a play on the internet, pick up emails and generally looks nice. Started with the Nokia N96, however the battery was terrible and net surfing was a pain, then tampered with the iphone (non 3g) and just didnt like it. Enter the Omnia: So far on modderate use the battery has outlasted any phone I have owned, naturally eveything electronic crashes from time to time, I was therefore expecting the Omnia to be somewhat tempermental, as of yet nothing. I regard myself as a technophobe,the Omnia is easy to use, has a range of office programs, and acts as a great phone for texting and calling. Many people have slated it for being complicated, it does take a few days of playing with to get used to it, however you are buying a mini computer here based on a windows system... you would expect to have to investigate into the programs before jumping in to be a competent user. Texting was a concern, I have large fingers and struggle with many phones, however the screen is not over responsive therefore "mis presses" are minimal and the buttons (samsung keypad) are large enough for the biggest of fingers, (there are 5 different keyboards availble to suit) you even get a cheeky vibration when you hit the key to let you know it has responded! Net surfing is great, naturally this is going to be slightly slower than your laptop, 5 mega pix camera is of good quality even when blown up to a4 size, only down side so far is when in standby mode you cant tell if you have a message or missed call, the power button will flash red if you have any of these, something that people have not picked up on from reading problems on other pages. All in all nice phone, looks good, works well, more programs and potential for additional programs for more advsnced users. If you are looking for a phone that sings and dances and is availble free on many tariffs, this is the one!

Excellent category-leading specs. But the only downfall indeed is the touchscreen keyboard - fiddly and inaccurate even with the stylus. In addition, the phone often cuts calls short - don't know if this affects everyone...

OMG what an awfull phone! Got mine on Monday went back on Tuesday. WiFi didn't work Sat nav didn't work phone turned off after 5 mins, remove battery or reset to turn it back on
Vodafone said "for every 10 they send out 7 are returned" DON'T BUY ONE

I've been reading this thread and got to Gordon's final (so far) comment, and had to register to reply.. I hope that was your intention, to troll I mean.

"Trusted Reviews?" Are you serious? You are so clearly either being paid by apple, or are spouting lies for some... less lucrative reasoning. I don't know which.

1. There's unlimited data on all iPhone contracts [...] Hours spent reading a 3.5in screen seems rather pointless to me.

Firstly, nothing to do with what the guy said. Secondly, how good is your reception on the London underground? Get decent HSDPA down there?

2. Lyrics are being integrated into tracks as we speak.

Nice feature, seriously. Wish I had.. wait I do.

3. No need to use Quicktime, no need to use iTunes as anything other than a reference library for the handset. If you wish to relegate it into the role of an iPhone sync tool that's all it needs be.

So, no need to use iTunes, apart form if you want to sync your phone, with anything, ever. Since all third party sync tools aren't allowed in the App Store.

4. No phone can load music wirelessly - ouch.

Again. Are you serious? I could have swarn I had \network on my 3 year old Windows Mobile device mounted as a Samba/CIFS share. You're telling me that if I copy/paste music from there over to my 8GBmicrosd, it just wont work for some mystical reason? Or is it just you want to "forget" about copy/paste, since that's not on the iPhone.

5. And the quality of tethered browsing is mind numbingly awful, [...]

Who is your carrier? Because I get ~4Mbps down and sometimes as much as ~900Kbps up when USB-Tethering with my HTC. Usualy I use USB which is slower, bus still VERY usable.

Unbelievably poor review I must say. My HTC is getting a little warn, so I'm looking for something new. It needs to be Windows Mobile 6 and capable of running 7 when it's out.

I Came here looking for a decent review of a Windows Mobile phone. NOT an argument about the CPU speed of the iPhone, it's 400Mhz BTW, not 800Mhz as you stated. I noticed you never replayed to the guy that corrected you.

What I need to know about a phone:
* Does it tether?
* Can it run custom software
* Am I at the mercy of the carrier / manufacture for firmware
* Is the camera decent (Almost covered here, would it kill you to upload a picture Jon?)
* Hows Bluetooth? HID, A2DP, PAN, OBEX?
* Battery life
* Can you read the screen in day light?
* What's the USB connector?
* What does/doesn't come bundled?

Of that lot, your review covered none. C'mon!

Why even mention the iPhone in the review. Do film reviewer mention their faviorte film three times in the open paragraph? Seriously, "Trusted Reviews," are you part of Apple Inc?

Don't expect to see me again, I'll be over at gsmarena reading a review that at least tries to tell people about the phone in question, and not how much the writer loves his iPhone/Apple Stock.

Any chance, from this point on, we can make the comments less about the iPhone/Apple and more about the Omnia?

That is after all the phone I'm considering buying. I've read the GSMArena review now (you should check that out BTW. Awesome review, included EVERYTHING) and from reading that... I'm still gona have to see this 240xCrazy screen in person, and hopefully get some sun on it to see how bad it is.

Can't be worse than my TyTN II really.

Lol..what an entertaining read these comments have made!

I am engaged to an Apple nerd..he is in Graphics and loves his reviews and loves his Apple despite also owning a PC (for gaming of course).

Now iPhones are ok - but not my bag - I own a Nano for music so why on earth do I need an iPhone? It has a pants camera and I am just no keen..

I need a WM device for work - especially now as my contract is up on my Sony and I my Palm has died..

I was very keen on the written review - put off by the video which seemed to contradict the written review and now it seems tha TR don't actually review that well...all I need to know is whether its worth my hard earned cash or do I wait a little longer for a better WM phone?

this phone is a pile of c***. I have locked myself into a years contract with this and I cant wait to get rid.

Your review doesn't do this phone justice. I checked on user videos and there are multiple ways you can change the 'look' of the operating system. I didn't like the widget system either, but after changing to the 'Samsung Today 2' option, I have found the navigation to be much easier and more fluid.
I would highly recommend this phone, everytime I want it to do something else, the OS seems to be up to the tasks set. Having used both this and the iphone, I would say this is better. But only if you are used the windows mobile! Otherwise the Safari system (though more limited), is easier for first time users to get to grips with.