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We’ve shown you the Hardware Hands-on Video and we’ve shown you the Software Hands-on Video for the Samsung Omnia, which we think could get released by AT&T later this Fall, though honestly it's still a bit unclear.
Anyhow, we figured that the day we discovered that the FCC has cleared what looks to be the Omnia would be a good day to give it an honest-to-goodness review. Now, we dig a little deeper and offer our thoughts on how the phone performs day to day, how it may stack up in the current WM device arena.
There is one HUGE caveat to this review. The Samsung Omnia is an Asian model that does not have 3G support and when the 3G models hits the market. It also has a ROM that may or may not match what will ultimately be released (if it ever is).
This is one of the more challenging reviews because where I may find a problem with this Samsung Omnia, the problem may very well be addressed and fixed with what eventually hits the shelves as the AT&T Omnia, Mirage, Duckbill Platypus, or whatever name they decide on.
Form Factor
Out of the box, the Omnia feels good in your hands and makes a nice first impression. Keep in mind, the last WM Pro device I used for any length of time was the Palm Treo 750. When the slimmer WM Standard devices (Samsung BlackJack, Motorola Q) came out I would eventually make the move to Standard, in part, because of the slimmer form factor. I was pleasantly surprised to see a thin touch screen device. It feels about half as thick as the older Treo 750 and rivals the BlackJack II on the WM Standard front and the Treo Pro on the WM Pro front.
Here is it up against the Treo 750.
And compared to the Motorola Q9h
The brushed back is a really nice touch in that it doesn’t attract fingerprints like honey attracts the bee. The screen, while dominating the face of the phone, takes up the slack and does attract fingerprints. The sides are smooth and rounded, allowing the Omnia to fit nicely in your hand. The face of the phone is as simple as you could get with the large 3.2 inch screen, a multi-directional pointer, and the customary answer/end keys. While it loosely resembles the iPhone, it’s slightly narrower and shorter than the Apple.
Volume keys, a back button and a home key rests on the lower right side of the Omnia and a small, tiny power button rests on the top right of the phone. One nice aspect of the home key is that if you press and hold it, you find the Task Manager appearing on your screen.
A lanyard loop rests on the upper left side of the device that is used to attach the dangling stylus. My only problem with the layout of the phone’s design is the power button is incredibly small and the idea of have the stylus on a lanyard instead of a silo is just plain bad. The power button was a little difficult to press and I just don’t see having a dangly stylus working out. I would have preferred the phone to have been a smidgen wider to accommodate a stylus port and a slightly larger power button. It also seemed to take forever in pressing the power button to get the Omnia to cycle up.
Another design feature that may not be too appealing is that the micro-SD card slot is located behind the battery. Not really the most convenient location but for those of us who keep a 1GB card in place and rarely pull it this may not be an issue. Those who are constantly swapping out cards, I can see this being a pain.
One interesting design feature is the center control pad that rests between the answer/end buttons. The best way to describe it is that it is like a mini-touch pad (like those on laptops) that can either act as a four-way slider or a mouse. When used as a four-way slider, you simply slide your finger across the mini-pad and the screen or selection slides in that direction. Use it a mouse and you have a stylus that is controlled by your movements on the mini-pad. Press on the pad and you have something similar to a left mouse click.
I’ve yet to get really excited about cell phone cameras but have to say I was impressed with the 5mp camera on the Omnia. As long as you don’t utilize the digital zoom and make sure you have plenty of light, it doesn’t take half bad pictures. It does have a flash, which is actually more of a spot light, but don’t rely on it for photographic purposes. It can be used more effectively as a flashlight but not as a camera flash.
The Omnia has the typical Samsung proprietary connection requiring an adapter to use headsets. The nice thing is that if you’re upgrading from the BlackJack II or another Samsung device, your cables and chargers should be compatible.
Performance Again, an AT&T version would be different under the hood than the Omnia that I’ve field tested. However, several features should be similar and this Omnia should give us a good measure of what the end product should be like.
As far as phone performance goes, the Omnia had good reception and call quality. It has a fairly large speaker that brings in calls clear and crisp. Battery life was good with the 1440mAh battery, giving me about a day and a half of heavy use on EDGE.
Here’s what the Omnia has under the hood as far as hardware goes. 16 gigs of onboard storage, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, microSD card slot, 5mp Camera, FM Radio, and a very large, colorful 240x400 WQVGA screen. I don’t see this changing with the AT&T version. The Omnia does come in an 8GB version but there has yet to be any indication if that will be an option with AT&T.
The Omnia uses WM 6.1 Professional and comes loaded with a good amount of software ranging from Windows Office Mobile to Opera Browser to the standard WM games. What will be pre-loaded on the AT&T version is anyone’s guess. I will say that the Omnia showed no signs of slowing down running any of the pre-loaded applications and I just don’t see the AT&T version being any slower. If anything, data transfer will be noticeably quicker because the Omnia I’ve tested doesn’t support 3G while the AT&T version will (should?).
I tried to like Samsung’s widgets and icons but kept going back to the traditional layout. I don’t know if it was an issue of not having the phone long enough to get used to the unique style or being so accustomed to the traditional layout. Basically, the widgets allow you to add/remove and position certain elements to the Today Screen. The widgets include a clock, speed dialing, media player, web browser, and other core functions.
You have a Main Menu screen that has most of the commonly used applications and a sub-menu of shortcuts that can be customized to other applications. Samsung also provides two unique Today Screen layouts, aptly named Samsung Theme 1 and Samsung Theme 2. Theme 1 is has the date/time/provider at the top of the screen with a quick menu of commonly used applications.
Theme 2 has the date/time centered surrounded by icons for items that would appear on the traditional Today Screen (messaging, settings, call log, contacts). On either of the Samsung Themes, you can add items as well. I would be surprised if these two themes are not included in AT&T’s version.
The really nice thing about Theme 2 is that there is a Settings Icon that takes you shortcuts to most of your major settings menus. You can adjust vibration, motion, Bluetooth, wi-fi, mouse, and other key settings from this menu to avoid having to jump around the phone.
The icons on the Samsung Themes (as well as the Main Menu) give the Omnia a unique appearance, setting it apart from most WM Pro devices (in appearance). Some may even say to give it that iPhone feel. You can customize the Today Screen to the point that the casual observer might confuse the Omnia with an iPhone. In using the Omnia in public, I did draw a few “Hey, is that an iPhone?” or “I didn’t know Apple had a new iPhone out” comments. For the traditionalists out there, the Omnia does have the traditional Today Screens for you to choose from.
The screen is large and very colorful. Flick scrolling is available with several of the applications and hopefully the AT&T version will have Flick Scrolling available for all applications. Speaking of the touch screen, it was a little stubborn on the Omnia that I field tested. The stylus isn’t very convenient and the Omnia’s touch screen isn’t too finger friendly. I can only hope that the end product for AT&T is more receptive to your finger tips.
One cool feature on the Omnia (and AT&T would be foolish to get rid of it) is the accelerometer. If you’ve played with an iPhone or later generation iPods, you know what I’m talking about. The accelerometer understands when the device is upright or sideways and rotates the screen accordingly. I can remember the old days when you had a button to push to go from vertical to landscape views but with the accelerometer, it’s automatic. Be sure to check your sensitivity setting on this feature so the screen doesn’t rotate at the slightest angle or that it doesn’t take shaking the phone to get things rotated.
I haven’t mentioned much about Wifi but it’s nice to use if you need to conserve data minutes or in an area with a weak signal but have access to Wifi. It was nice to connect to my home network and access the internet using the Omnia’s Wi-Fi. There are areas in my house where the AT&T signal is non-existent and it was nice to be able to access the internet via my home network.
Overall Impression
I liked the Omnia and can only hope that the AT&T version mirrors the positives and improves the weaknesses present on the Omnia that I field tested. If they improve the touch screen interface to make it more finger friendly, find a way to address the dangling stylus, and enlarge the power button just a smidgen then the Omnia will be a tough phone to beat.
I liked the unique menus Samsung offers on the Omnia and hopefully AT&T will keep them around. They take a little getting used to but they grew on me to the point I wish other phones had similar options. I wasn’t a big fan of the “widgets” but I can see where some would find them appealing. The accelerometer is a nice touch and every large screen device should have one. Heck, throw them on the smaller screen phones as well.
I’m inclined to prefer the QWERTY keypad over the virtual keypad simply because I do a good bit of typing with email, messaging and mobile word. If you don’t do a lot of typing, this may not be an issue. With the stylus, the virtual keypad wasn’t that difficult to navigate but the stylus presented issues on its own.
The Omnia’s competition will likely come from the Treo Pro or the BlackJack III. I haven’t gotten my hands on the BJIII but the Omnia matches up nicely with the Treo. They are essentially the same size, they have quality screens, but the Omnia is noticeably faster and then there’s the keypad difference and tremendous storage difference.
For those who are using WM Standard devices such as the Motorola Q9h or BlackJack II, the Omnia is more similar to the BJII in size but is speedier than the Moto Q9h. If you’re looking to make the switch to WM Pro and you can live without a physical key pad, the Omnia might be worth a look.
The Omnia (under what name is anybodies guess) should be available towards the end of October and will be interesting to see how the AT&T end product will look like. Granted a lot will depend on the changes that occur during this transformation but I can’t help but think this WM device will give others a good run for their money.
