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Overview
The mere mention of the words 'touchscreen' and 'Windows Mobile' in the same sentence can shoot shivers up the spine of many a mobile phone fan, however, Samsung have managed to achieve where others have only managed to fail in the past, by creating a sensible, responsive touch system using Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional - behold, the Samsung Omnia i900!
Features at a Glance
3.2" touchscreen with TouchWiz control and interactive widgets.
- 5 megapixel autofocus camera.
- Built-in GPS with assisted GPS function.
- Music and video player for a wide range of media files.
- It's a 3G device with HSDPA support and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Why You Should Buy the Omnia
Windows Moible is notoriously unfriendly to the finger, however the large 3.2' screen found on the Omnia capable of displaying a resolution of 240x400 has worked wonders. This resistive screen may lend itself to stylus control, but the Omnia's is simply one of the most responsive on the market and feels great when used with your finger. The addition of a handy set of widgets running down the side of the home screen which are activated when dragged into the centre, also decrease the amount of time spent within Windows Mobile itself, and far more effectively than other similar systems too.
The Omnia has been well built too, the sturdy casing feeling nicely weighted in your palm and no hint this is a delicate handset needing to be wrapped in cotton wool. Just two traditional buttons sit below the screen for call start and end, separated by a handy optical mouse-style control - making navigation around the screen, especially using the excellent Opera 9.5 browser, even more natural. Available in both 8GB and 16GB flavours, the Omnia still includes a MicroSD card slot to increase the memory even further.
Anyone hoping to use the Omnia i900 as a mobile office will be pleased with the array of business features and connectivity on offer. This being Windows Mobile means you have the mobile versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint built in, plus the ability to read and edit many other file types. The 3G capability is backed up by GPRS and EDGE, however when your network allows, the Omnia can cope with 7.2Mbps HSDPA. There's Wi-Fi and A2DP Bluetooth too. Finally, the i900 has Assisted GPS built-in with Google Maps pre-installed plus the option to run third-party mapping software.
The Omnia is not all about work though, there a little bit of playtime too! Samsung have created the Touch Media player, a mix of Windows Media Player looks and the ability of the Samsung Pixon's player, which handles both music and video through one piece of software. The Omnia is also the first Windows Mobile device to offer DivX support out of the box, which makes a nice change! The FM RDS radio, podcast downloader and a TV-out socket complete the media line-up for the i900 Omnia.
Summary of the Samsung Omnia i900
Windows Mobile may not be perfect, but the Samsung Omnia could just be the most perfect application of the software to date. It's fast and easily controllable with your finger, plus you get the benefits of using such a universally recognised operating system. Add in the Omnia's superb array of features, the 5 megapixel camera and you have one of the most complete smartphone solutions currently available.
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