The Samsung i900 Omnia, like several others on the market today, is a full touch-screen, no keyboard. It offers top specs, all bundled together in an attractive casing. The phone is clearly positioned as a premium, top-of-the-range product, and has the functionality to back it up.
Samsung introduces TouchWiz, an interface that will replace its Croix interface on all of its upcoming touch phones. The system includes several features that make this OS a big step up from its previous offering. These include a widget system and expanded menu options.
Being a touch-screen, the Omnia comes with a stylus. However, one point I found extremely annoying is that it has no place to store it. I also found, especially on the qwerty keyboard, the keys are too close together to select accurately and easily with your finger. There is also no pop-up to show which key has been selected until its too late. In addition, the phone features a traditional abc keyboard option and a letter recogniser that needs a stylus. Once again, the problem is there is no storage for one. On the other hand, the shortcut menu and programme list are fine for fingers.
Another positive is that the screen is lovely and bright, and very clear, and the display has a nice feel to it. One feature I particularly enjoyed was the Today screen applications bar. It is very useful - I don't know why all phones don't feature something similar. Basically, it's a collapsible bar on the left side of the screen, featuring application tabs and information that can be dragged onto the background and moved around as you like.
The Omnia's five-megapixel camera is good - better than most phones. It features extensive software for photo tweaking and editing. It comes with a whopping 8GB of storage, useful considering the number of applications and suchlike it supports.
At the end of the day, if you're looking for a Windows Mobile device, the Omnia is definitely one of the best choices overall. Its strengths propel it to the head of its class for the moment, particularly in this form factor.
I say: A little pricey, but a really good Windows Mobile phone
Plus: Excellent functionality, many applications
Minus: Annoying keypad, nowhere to store the Stylus
Contact: Samsung +2711 549 1500
Price: R6610.00
Specifications:
7.2Mbps HSDPA
Quadband EDGE
5 megapixel autofocus camera
3.2-inch capacitive WQVGA touchscreen
GPS
Windows Mobile 6.1
WiFi
Eight or 16GB of Flash with microSD expansion
FM Radio
MicroSD
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