So we're still holding a bit of a grudge after it came to light that the Samsung Omnia HD would be running Symbian's S60 operating system and not Windows Mobile, as the original Omnia does. But lo and behold, Samsung has stripped the new phone of its Omnia name, reverting back to the old number scheme that we loathe with every fiber of our being have all gotten used to. Thus, the Omnia HD (which just cruised past the FCC) is now the i8910.

The reason for the change, you ask? Blame Windows Mobile, which is what Sammy told Mobile Crunch.

To avoid confusion between the original Omnia, which is Windows Mobile, and Omnia HD, which is Symbian, Samsung is deferring to the model number.

And Mobile Crunch posits that this news means we should expect more Windows Mobile Omnias in the future, which makes sense to us. Good news, indeed!

Ah, the dreaded question-mark headline. The scourge of journalists everywhere. But we're breaking it out with good reason this morning as word trickles in of an Omnia HD that will be released with Windows Mobile 6.5.

This is coming from Dutch site All About Phones (translated here), which says it sat in on a Samsung presentation with a baker's dozen phones, one of which was a Windows Mobile Omnia HD. There's nothing more to go on than that and a very blurry picture which can only be described as a black slab.

However, we can look back to Mobile World Congress, where Dieter got a hands-on with the Omnia HD running S60, so that'll give you a probably glimpse of the hardware, anyway. If this is on the level and intends to launch with WinMo, don't expect to see it anywhere before the latter part of the year.

Via Unwired View

Spotted on a billboard earlier today, the Omnia HD looks to be the final name for the previously seen Acme i9810 (the name sounded a little, ahem, generic to us too).  Now Samsung Central [via] has the official shots of the beast (it's on the left).  

We'll find out tomorrow whether the "HD" in "Omnia HD" truly means that we'll get HDMI Output, 16 gigs of storage, GPS, WiFi, and a 3.5 mm headset jack.  Them's the rumors, we're looking forward to facts.

Oh, and Samsung, just one thing -- we know you're fond of that TouchWiz interface and have been using it to run entire phones instead of just using it as a skin on top of Windows Mobile.  If you do that to the Omnia HD, we just might not recover from the heartbreak.  We'll admit to being a little nervous about it.

Update: Yep, our fears were right on. The Omnia HD's running Symbian. The good news is that our pal Matt over at Nokia Experts is smiling from ear to ear.