The Samsung Omnia 2 is bigger and better than its predecessor: at 3.7 inches the screen has got larger; at 480x800, the resolution has nearly quadrupled. The new Omnia phone has an AMOLED screen which consumes less power and produces more vibrant images. Other plusses include connectivity options like 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS.
Omnia 2 has an 800MHz processor which is unarguably one of the best available in the market. Other specifications include a healthy 256MB of RAM and 512MB ROM. The internal storage capacity is 8GB.
Design
Omnia 2 has a simple and straight forward design. It resembles Samsung Jet in many aspects, but is bigger. The most striking feature on the phone is indeed its giant display. Everything else has been kept to a bare minimum. Most controls on the phone are in the front. The rear part of the phone simply houses the 5 megapixel camera.
Display
The display is brilliant. It produces crisp and vivid images. On the flip side, the display supports just 65000 colors as against the 16 million found on Palm Pre, iPhone and N97. Another drawback is the plastic housing on the display which gives the phone a cheaper feel than it deserves.
Features
Samsung Omnia 2 runs on the Windows Mobile 6.1 OS. The featured Samsung TouchWize user interface makes navigating simpler. Samsung has announced that the Samsung Omnia 2 will be upgraded to Windows Mobile 6.5 Pro version when it becomes available later this year. Samsung Omnia 2 provides full HTML web browsing experience and comes well equipped to support 480p high resolution video recording and playback.
Camera
The 5 megapixel camera has a dual LED flash. Picture quality is acceptable with sufficient lighting. Video recording has improved. There is some noticeable delay in the camera. Video playback is great. It supports MPEG4, WMV, DivX, XviD, H.263 and H.264.
Performance
Performance is adequate. You will have no issues understanding the callers, but the voice quality could have been better. Sound too could have been a bit louder. At 10 hours the rated battery life is well above average. Standby is rated at 430 hours.
Conclusion
With Omnia 2, Samsung has done an excellent job of penetrating the Windows Mobile market. The biggest selling point of this phone is indeed the TouchWiz 2.0 User Interface. The menus are large and finger friendly. Omnia 2 comes very close to being the best, but there are a few things that hold it back. For instance, there is some lag on the home screen which at times gets bad enough to spoil the entire user experience. Look beyond these shortcomings and you may find Samsung Omnia 2 a great phone overall.
Availability
Samsung Omnia 2 is expected to be released by GSM carriers in Europe. The GSM version is quad-band based with HSPA 850/1900, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Verizon will most probably be the carrier of this phone in the US. The Verizon version will be a CDMA phone with EV-DO Rev.A.
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Sam Lee is a mobile enthusiast and runs the popular website
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