Just some of my random thoughts on my new Omnia. Will give more details later! Hope this helps those who have been thinking night and day about the Omnia (like i did before buying it!).
Omnia – Pros
- Sms – threaded sms (conversation). no longer to filter thru a long list of earlier sms to get a clear picture of the sms conversation! there are problems though...see cons.
- Expandable memory and large hard drive - there is a choice of 8gb or 16 gb hard drive and the sd slot is able to read up to 16 or perhaps even 32 gb cards. currently mine is a 8gb card with a 16 gb hard drive.
- Charging by usb port -- anytime better than the stubborn Nokia which refuses to implement this feature. It is not like mobile phone batteries last several days in this day and age, so any and every opportunity to replenish battery juice is much appreciated.
- Touchpad for confirmation - this is the square pad between the phone keys. it can be used as a mouse when you move your fingers over or as a confirmation button when depressed. nice touch from samsung!
- Touch screen is locked when calls are connected - to activate any options on the phone, u will need to press the touchpad. ingenious!
- Display of pictures surprisingly sharp - this feature often confuses my friends. they think it is the camera which is fantastic (which is not completely untrue) but actually it is the screen that is sharp.
- Lots of ram -- much appreciated given the windows os. but how i wish the os is symbian, which is so much more efficient with memory assignment.
- Legible under sunlight -- by no means great (ie it is nowhere close to nokia e90 or n95 8gb) but hey at least i can work on sms and email while walking on the sunny streets. ever so often i am reminded of why i had to ditch htc touch dual even it is my fave phone ever (i love touch screen+phonepad).
- Today Screen -- samsung gives us a two of its customised options: Today Screen 2 and the Widget screen. but to be honest, i decided to use the good old windows home screen with spb pocket plus 4 installed on it as this combination makes for good ease of use.
- Widget screen
- Torch -- too bad the phone does not have double LED flash!
- Relatively fast, responsive screen and thumb friendly-- after all the processor is 624 mHz. but not all screens are thumbable; everytime windows rears its ugly head, it is time to resort to finger nails to select accurately.
- Haptic feedback which can be deactivated and strength can be adjusted
- Does not hang (much; usually because of my indiscriminate installation of programs)
- Numerous programs -- digital frame, google launcher, messenger, podcasts, rss reader, search, shozu, smart converter, streaming player, tv out viewer, task switcher, touch player, video editor, windows media player ( i do have problems using some of them)
- Good 5mpix camera (but not as good as N82) with lots of options
- QWERTY keyboard good with landscape format
- Accelerometer is sensitive and level of sensitivity can be adjusted
- Very fast internet speeds -- a combination of the 7.2 mbps transfer speed + opera mobile; much faster than i ever connected using nokia phones
- Trackpad mouse -- user friendly and we have a choice of using the mouse or as a trackpad
- Slim and sleek, minimalist styling
- No limit to number of alarms
- Opera mobile is ok -- although i prefer opera mini
- Program list highly thumbable and scrollable and can be edited with shortcuts
- Samsung virtual keypad is good
- Phone and videophone fast; predictive number
- Self adjusting backlighting
- Has tv out
- Widgets -- fun and responsive
- Thumbable slide show -- but nothing as fanciful as htc touch phones. good response to movements of the fingers though
- Relatively good battery life -- strangely it was better when i first bought the phone. these days it seems to drain much faster than before, especially when i am surfing the net
- Large 3.2 inch screen -- the screen is a joy. reading webpages has never been this comfortable!
- Flat back -- you only appreciate the stability of a flat back when u try to key in information with the phone flat on a table. With the touch diamond and the new iphone, they are wobbly.
- Has wifi, gps, volume rocker
- Camera has autofocus and lots of settings; shot to shot speed is good!
- Good earphones; with adaptor to 3.5mm
- Divx playback excellent
- Music Player -- sound is good but the player can be much better. Playlist creation not very intuitive
- Speed is good; memory never seems to run out
- Microsoft office and pdf - office documents can be edited. even OneNote is included.
- Good volume and sound on phone -- as good as my previous nokia phones...except 9300.
- Fast to use google maps
- Quality materials used -- i love the metallic curves and the (?) carbon back cover
- single press of camera button launches slideshow; longer press launches the camera (configurable)
Omnia – Cons
- Windows interface (which results in the rest of the complaints) is sucky and not suitable for thumb use.
- Sms – threaded but cant delete individual sms; lines can be obscured when keypad in use
- No profiles
- Some programs do not work – msn, rss reader
- Same port for charging, earphones
- No 3.5mm earphonejet
- Does not detect phone/network settings quickly
- Phone book scrolling is slow
- Power button is level with phone – hard to depress
- Bluetooth settings can be confusing
- Widgets cant be personalized
- No slot for stylus
- Sd card not hotswappable
- Poor video recorder
- Earphones are not comfortable (or maybe i just do not know how to wear them)
- Some sites don’t load properly – slate, gsm hangs, M1.
- lacks flash 3.0 support (i think)
- camera shutter sound cannot be deactivated
- volume rocker ought to be higher.
