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Samsung i900 Omnia review: The whole nine yards

25 July 2008 | Read the review | Post your comment
Samsung i900 Omnia review: The whole nine yards - read the full textNow that the dust of the Diamond vs. Omnia PocketPC battle settles down, our up close and personal look at the rivals continues with Samsung i900 Omnia. Slick looks, great feature-pack and ingenious software solutions are things that hold true...

 

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This phone looks interesting based on the review. It will be my first WinMo based phone if ever I decide to buy this phone. I am currently using a Nokia E90 and have had this for the last 15 months. I wonder if the Omnia has a profiles system similar to the Symbian OS Series 60 of Nokia where you can screen caller alerts to preselected callers (those in phonebook or those in a predefined group). If anyone can help me out this would be great. If the Omnia doesn't have this then that would be a deal breaker. Thanks.

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  • 2008-10-06 02:59
  • Qdg1

> In reply to Yours Truly @ 2008-07-29 14:52 from 0BiV - click to readInitial reviews have already informed back cover is made of plastic. No surprises and I don't see any problem with tat. I was actually quite impressed of Samsung able to use plastic without making i900 look cheap. If the back is made of metal, another group of ppl will just come along and complain phone is too heavy. Ppl are just never satisfied.. thinking their SGD1000 deserve titanium or super duplex stainless steel.

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  • 2008-10-03 16:08
  • TKbT

is this phone better than the i phone 3g or not please advise someone?

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  • 2008-10-02 14:51
  • N9Ad

After reading user comments here and elsewhere, I am having second thoughts about buying the i-900. Currently using a Nokia N73, the biggest piece of garbage on the market and I can't wait to get rid of it. But, from what I am reading here, the i-900 has the same basic problems: slow system response, slow typing, SMS and texting capabilites, poor display in sunlight and terrible customer support.
If you have used this phone for more than one week and live in Europe, are you having any of these problems? I can't find anyone who believes in the Windows Mobile O.S. and several say this is the main source of problems. Any objective answers? I wasted a lot of money on my Nokia and don't want to waste almost twice as much on this phone if it is more of the same.
Thanks!

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  • 2008-10-02 11:40
  • SvKj

i ask my mom to buy me samsung omnia in California USA, can i use it in Philippines? Thanks

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  • 2008-09-29 11:08
  • uS}0

In the review it says flash dont wok, yesit does, install flash 7 for wm and flash workks in internet explorer.
t-mobile doesnt include the digital frame app, anyone know where i can get it. A good fone but my battery life is crap

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  • 2008-09-28 20:23
  • Bw@e

I really like this handest. When comparing it to the IPhone it really kicks butt. I prefer this to the Diamond & the I Phone.

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  • 2008-09-28 13:47
  • ftb}

samsung omnia (i900)

so i bought this phone a month ago. it arrived from hong kong very rapidly.
i read through the instructions, and installed a couple of apps online. i found that a lot of the windows mobile apps did not work with this phone

the blue tooth is appalling in comparison to other samsung devices like the yp-p2 and yp-s5, with the signal losing strength very easily, and cutting out a lot.

the phone oftens hangs once a day, and i have found that i have needed to remove the battery and switch it back on to use it again. which isn't helped by the very long start up time. i'm not surprised by the lengthy start up time, but could do without it on a phone.

as with all samsung products, they do not provide software for use on a mac, which is troublesome having to find a windows machine to transfer data, sync the phone, or make any kind of back-up.

i have found the text input works well, but for me the only viable option of the 9 available is the samsung phonepad, meaning i'm no better off than using a traditional phone. but this works much better than an my dads iphone which i've played around with a bit.

the battery life is poor. i found i could completely run down a fully charged battery in 3 hours with wifi turned on. with 3g on it would be dead in under a day. otherwise the battery life is great when used as a plain phone.

the camera looks great when it works, which i have found to be infrequently. §1the normal response when trying to start the camera is a box saying that the program can not be run to to a lack of video memory. even after closing all running programs this is not remedied.

the screen looks great, and the accellorometer works great, and i have no problems with the 1-3seconds it takes to rotate. the problem is with video playback. not only does the phone not play back .svi (samsung video) but when the device plays a movie it tends to be quite laggy and unpleasant.

i haven't tried using the phone with the headphone jack, so can't judge the audio.

network strength is fine. i find the phone book great although the touch and drag scrolling can be annoying. when you touch to drag, sometimes this doesn't scroll but opens the contact.

the menu system is great, simple, but the touch drag through programs proves problematic like with the phonebook.

adding further widgets does not work. so i couldn't add any weather widgets like with the htc phones.

opera browser is lovely to use, and should be available on all phones. it works in every way that could be expected, and i found it much better than safari on mobile. copying and pasting is a big point that windows mobile has over apple mobile.

the phone looks cool, and i have kept it in a sock so have no scratches or finger prints which keeps it looking wow.

my bottom line is that i think the phone is wonderful but windows is slow and prone to crashing so i am selling the phone.
having played with an iphone this last week, and trying the nokia n96, htc touch diamond and black berry bold, i am most impressed by the black berry bold, and keeping a separate device for media playing.
the htc dream is out this week, and new blackberry thunder (touch screen) so for now i choose my samsun d900i.

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  • 2008-09-23 12:47
  • ms55

Lots of good comments here and in the review and this looks like a pretty damn good phone. What I would like ot know is 'How does it synch its contact lists with your pc/notebook?' What software does/can it use for this purpose, will it synch with Thunderbird or do I need to install new software on my pc/notebook.

After all it is a smartphone that is supposed to be used fro business and this is one the most important parts of running a business.

Anybody care to comment?

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  • 2008-09-23 10:36
  • v}h{

Does the Samsung Omnia use 3g in the USA? That is what i need to know before i buy it. Thank You.

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  • 2008-09-23 03:07
  • kKWf

After reading many negative point and very little postive point i decided not to buy i900. GSM user review comment had save me, thats great. I borrowed my friend i900 which is 3 days old and use it for few hours the messing is really sucks. It takes me long time to msg a simple text. So bye bye to i900 and for samsung if u can't make reasonable perfect don realeaseit.

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  • 2008-09-22 02:36
  • PU3r

had a omnia for 2 days, sending it back and getting a w960i, the music player sucks, no cntrol if its in ur pocket like all Sony ericsson fones, have to get the phne out, unlock, go in menu and press 'next' or 'stop' texting is a farce, have to use the stylus, which has no housing, because my fingers are normal, not twig like . the wifi is good though but again let down by the input of touch keypad. avoid, unless you need 1,000,001 apps you will never ever use and have a month t get used to the interfarce!
my 2 cents...........

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  • 2008-09-18 23:51
  • Sbf@

I am not sure about the resolution and the response time of the touchdisplay. But I won't buy an IPhone because of only 2 MP camera and I won't buy a Diamond because of only 4GB memory.

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  • 2008-09-17 23:05
  • pP4%

> In reply to Brummie @ 2008-09-08 22:10 from pY8T - click to readI have the same problem, any luck yet?

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  • 2008-09-17 12:50
  • nFFD

Hi my Omnia arrived last week and I love the features, however I have a few problems. Could anyone tell me if I can create a group to send SMS messages to on a large scale basis? On my last Nokia this was very simple. Cheers all

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  • 2008-09-17 12:48
  • nFFD

i had this phone and sent it back the following day . . As per most posts on this forum texting seems to be the main problem. Its really difficult . .You cannot see the full text your writing and with the screen not being very responsive its a nightmare. The build quality leaves a lot to be desired . . The case is all plastic sprayed silver. This phone is full of bells and whistles . . If you can find them and your sat at a desk with the pointer working the screen . . And you dont send text !!back to my battered n95 for the time being .

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  • 2008-09-17 09:29
  • mpAC

> In reply to darkmax @ 2008-07-26 04:49 from TIEh - click to readThe review is nice, but incomplete on gps.
Tomtom does work on the Diamond but not on the Omnia.
Skype also does not work on the Omnia.
For USA-users who like garmin I would suggest the omnia as a serious candidate, but for tomtom-navigator lovers I think it is best to wait until Samsung/Tomtom take the many complaints on the internet seriously.

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  • 2008-09-14 19:03
  • M}9U

> In reply to DC @ 2008-09-11 14:33 from MSME - click to readI did try everything to adjust its responsivness but this did not help at all. I believe it is not built very well in this respect

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  • 2008-09-12 10:44
  • mqB8

> In reply to Daniel G @ 2008-09-08 12:48 from mqB8 - click to readDo anyone know if the responsiveness of the touch screen is a software or hardware issue, and if it is possible a change to the sensitivity may be changed or improved at some point???

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  • 2008-09-11 14:33
  • MSME

There are loads of Problems banded aroud with the Omnia and Autoanswer (see Vodaphone Forum). This is a Vodaphone firmware issue only, don;t let it put you off! Vodaphone are looking at a firmware upgrade.

  • Reply
  • 2008-09-11 14:30
  • MSME
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