Samsung SGH-i900 Omnia

Price: £439.99 inc VAT unlocked
Rating: 5 out of 6 (According to TestFreaks, who analyses most reviews)
Good: Well-specified; effective custom UI; clever optical touchpad
Bad: Proprietary USB port; touchscreen could be more responsive; high unlocked price
Verdict: The SGH-i900 Omnia is one of the better Windows Mobile smartphones with a bespoke UI, but the lack of keyboard limits its appeal.
Manufacturer: Samsung

We missed the launch of the Samsung SGH-i900 Omnia a few weeks ago and while this Windows Mobile smartphone has now been on sale for a while, we still thought it was worth reviewing. After all, if Samsung thinks it’s an important enough product to warrant a huge marketing campaign extolling its virtues, who are we to argue?

Smartphones have long evolved past the point where they’re just a way to make calls and manage your contacts, and Samsung makes much of the Omnia’s multimedia abilities in its ads (and made the best unboxing video we’ve ever seen). Of course a smartphone with any kind of audio/video pretensions now has the iPhone to contend with, but Samsung has taken some suitable compensatory steps.

In fact Samsung seems to have used the iPhone as a design inspiration for the Omnia – the flush-fitting touch-screen has the same silver trim, offset by a matte black back. There’s a bit too much plastic for the Omnia to feel like a really swish high-end smartphone, but it’s certainly among the better-looking Windows Mobile devices we’ve seen.

If you believe the marketing message, the Omnia’s multimedia credentials begin with its screen. This may look much the same as those on other Windows Mobile smartphones, but it has a 240 x 320 400 resolution rather than the standard 240 x 320. This gives an aspect ration of 1.66:1 rather than 1.33:1, and so is much better suited to displaying widescreen video. This may be so, but we should point out that since the Omnia’s screen measures a mere 3.2in from corner to corner, ‘better suited’ is a wholly relative term and we doubt many people will be buying one just to get a better view on their dodgy copy of Iron Man.

The screen automatically flips between portrait and landscape modes when the Omnia is turned on its side and the accelerometer’s sensitivity can be adjusted to stop the display from rotating inadvertently (a problem we had initially). The ability to silence the phone simply by putting it face-down on the table is a nice touch, too – much easier than fumbling with buttons when your Sugababes ringtone embarrasses you in a meeting.

The taller-than-usual screen makes little difference to the normal operation of Windows Mobile (the resolution isn’t that much higher than normal, after all), although it is rather grainy. Don’t go looking for a stylus to prod it with, though – there is a stubby one in the box, but there’s nowhere to stow it and it has to be tied to the Omnia’s lanyard loop. You’ll be better off not bothering, since the Omnia’s touch-screen generally works well with a fingertip, even though it doesn’t employ any special kind of sensing technology (though it will vibrate with each finger press, if you like).

The omission of the usual Windows and OK buttons from the front panel seems to be something of a trend with recent Windows Mobile smartphones and while it’s a pain to poke the on-screen Start button to open the program list and the X button to close a window, the Omnia at least has an alternative. Like HTC’s TouchFLO 3D, Samsung has fitted the Omnia out with its own custom user interface (called TouchWiz) that tries to keep Windows Mobile out of sight for as long as possible.

And it succeeds, to a large extent. Gone is the Today screen, replaced by a ‘Desktop’ onto which various tools can be dragged – much like the Sidebar in Windows Vista. The Desktop isn’t really big enough to cope with more than a few (most seem to be designed to make the worse possible use of available space), but it’s a handy way to get quick access to such things as the FM tuner or ringer profiles.

The Main Menu soft-key brings up a simple program launcher with large, colourful icons for installed applications. The awkward way in which the touch-screen responds to fingertip scrolling makes this occasionally infuriating to use, but it’s certainly a step-up from the usual Windows Mobile Program Files folder and Start menu.

Samsung has also included a handful of bespoke applications – the aforementioned FM tuner, audio and video players, a photo viewer, phone book, podcast manager and RSS reader. There’s nothing here that can’t be had with any Windows Mobile device, but the consistent and colourful design of each app makes them a good deal more user-friendly than usual.

If you lack the fine motor skills to fumble with the fiddlier parts of the Windows Mobile UI, then the Omnia has another neat solution. The usual mechanical four-way pad below the screen is missing and instead there’s the Omia has an optical sensor – this works in the same, but with just the brush of a fingertip. Alternatively, it can be set to work as a touchpad for an on-screen mouse pointer for much finer control of Windows Mobile’s features. It’s not quite up to a full stylus stand-in, but it’s fine for clicking radio buttons and dragging scroll bars.

Samsung drops a point for using a proprietary USB connector for the Omnia’s combine mains/USB charge and sync port, plus another for using the same port as the earphone socket. It gets one back for being sensible enough to supply a hands-free kit that will work with any earphones with a 3.5mm jack plug, although most sets will create a good eight feet of cable between the Omnia and your ears.

Nonetheless, Samsung isn’t alone in this socket silliness and this doesn’t overly detract from what is one of the better-looking and better-equipped Windows Mobile devices around. The lack of a physical keyboard means that it isn’t a smartphone for everyone (and the on-screen keyboard isn’t great), but if you’re unable (or unwilling) to use an iPhone, but still want a well-rounded multimedia model, the SGH-i900 Omnia is worth a look. You can view more best cell phone reviews at Testfreaks.com

Related Products

• Verizon Samsung Omnia Runs on Windows Mobile 6.5 Already?
• Samsung Omnia Goes to Canada via Bell
• BlackBerry Tour Photos
• BlackBerry Storm Unboxed Photos
• Sony Ericsson W995 Black Cool Phone
• Mobile Script Concept Phone
• Coming Soon Mobile Phones 2009
• Unbox LG Viewty Smart
• iNo Mobile CP09 Mobile Phone For The Elderly
• Nokia N97 Come Into The Market
• LG Chocolate Comes Back with Super Long Screen
• iPhone 3G S White Turns into Read Because of heat
• Nokia E72 with upgrades from E71
• Softbank 930SC – Sibling of Omnia from Japan
• BlackBerry Tour beside Bold and Curve 8900