After the slew of recent device announcements... HTC is now busily prepping the follow up to it's 'mini-laptop' form factor HTC Universal, better know as the SPV M5000, i-mate JASJAR, T-Mobile MDA Pro, O2 XDA Exec etc

The follow up to the Universal, codenamed the 'HTC Omni', is set to offer a similar design, VGA support once again, and boosted connectivity with HSDPA support.

The Intel processor is expected to make way for a Samsung unit (similar to that found in the HTC Hermes).

From a form factor perspective, the HTC Omni will be slightly thinner than the Universal. Additional hardware buttons make an appearance, however an external LCD - a popular user request on the Universal - is not included in current designs.

The device will ship late '06 / early '07 with at least Windows Mobile 5 AKU 3 as standard, which enables in the base OS a feature that is expected to be a unique selling point to the Omni... the facility to output to a projector!

As the device is in early stages, much of the specification is still fluid... but it's sure to be a winner amongst existing Universal owners, who are understandably reluctant to give up their VGA screens!

P

I'm curious as to how the it will look/feel in comparison to the hermes and the universal.

so if it has a output for a projector... what kind of connector will it be? if it's ordinary video output it'll be able to hook up to my TV aswell. or to your in-car-entertainment-centre... that's a nice idea. Omni in front of me and a couple of more screens around the car and sound through a killer sound system!... aah how nice it is to dream

Pigo

That is something I have been wanting on a phone for a LONG time, even more so now the Nokia N93 apparently does such a fantastic job of it.

If that is in WM5 AKU3 does that mean any device upgraded to that ROM will have the ability to output to a projector? If so, how is this enabled? Can it be done via USB, in other words if my Hermes was running AKU3 will I be able to output to an LCD monitor, or better still a normal TV, like the N93?

Also - wheres the piccy?

I'd be surprised if any existing devices could be software upgraded to support video out... I would also think that any VGA capability would be via a new, possibly dedicated, connection. If they designed it to come out of the USB port then the entire presentation would have to be made running on battery power as there would be no way to charge it at the same time.

True. However the N93 does output via the pop port I believe, not a dedicated VGA out, although obviously it has the graphics hardware for this.

The whole USB charging thing is starting to feel like a nuisance on my Hermes, which didn't even occur to me on my C500, so think this will be even worse on the Omni unless they have a really big batter in it.

Theoretically any AKU3 device can support it in software... it's whether the OEM can then make it work with the included hardware!

P

I'm sure any new devices could be made to output VGA over the USB connector if required, it's just pin matching but:

1. I don't think they would have made this provision in current devices, so I doubt a simple software upgrade could make this happen to those.
2. Is outputting video over USB a good idea even if it is possible ? The inability to charge the device at the same time would be my problem, unless they invent some weird dongle on the cable that allows signal to come out and charge to go in, but I can't see USB handling different actions depending upon the signal direction....

If the feature does make it into Omni, i'd be surprised to see a dedicated port.

P

How is the Hermes behaving in term of battery, voice clarity & call volume? Any major issues? Did you buy from HTC directly?
I am very interested in one but not available in the US. Thanks much

So, any word on Sprint getting an EVDO version? It would be awesome if I could get this to work with Sprint's EVDO data...

I really do hope more details come out soon. And hopefully it retains the SD card slot [I think I saw a SD to VGA out IO device somewhere online a few weeks back] I mean if it will be about the same size as the Universal why slap miniSD or microSD onto it. Hopefully there will be pics soon!

Thanks Paul for the info! Im eager to hear more about this and also cant wait to see pictures, i remember the 1st time i saw the HTC Universal i nearly fell of my chair in horror, but then strangley i fell in love.i personally love the Xda Exec screen and keyboard so hopefully they will stick with a similar thread this time around!

Good work!

Bryson

No external screen?
Output to a projector? Not something that I have any use for.
HSDPA -

Camera? Battery life? - these and reduction in size are the other imprvements I want over my Universal.

Depending on memory card format and if they've got the silly headphone socket of the Herpes will influence wether I get one or stick with my Exec - but HDSPA and the fact that I'll have had my Exec over a year by then.....

you are clearly confused Herpes is a disease [an STD I think] you might mean the Hermes unless you look at it [The Hermes] as a disease hehehe J/K Confucious you make excellent points though I wouldn't want the ExtUSB connector or microSD or even miniSD for the Omni as well, I would love to see it have SDHC + SDIO ready slot though [or maybe two SD slots one SDIO and one SDHC hehehe but that would be overkill but imagine the possibilities if you have two SD card slots on one VGA PPC Phone... that would be awesome...

hello all,
..when the blue angel was released i questioned why it wasn't equipped with two memory slots such as my old psion 3 series. i recall being laughed at and sent to the idiot's corner of this forum or similar (can't remember the exact replies i received). as for an external screen... good idea i would have thought ? seems to have worked for many tens of flip phones, and of course the nokia communicators. also, i personally would like to see a dab, or at least fm, radio built in to a windows device for once. and just for total one-up-manship... why not build a pen-type scanner into this future business phone?


pooks

Hi, I've been interested in the Omni since I heard about it in early September. I've been a happy Blue Angel owner for 18 months, and I like the Universal but couldn't quite justify upgrading to it when it came out.

I can imagine I'll be ready to upgrade next year, and if the Omni takes the Universal features (VGA, big keyboard etc) and adds HSDPA (hopefully someone will come up with affordable flat-rate UK HSDPA data), it'll probably be the one for me!

However, call me sceptical, but the ONLY source for the existence of the Omni I've found is THIS thread, specifically Paul's opening post. (There are quite a few references to the Omni on the web, but they all eventually link back to this thread!)

Does ANYONE have any concrete facts about the Omni at all?

Paul, was this info sourced from HTC or who?

As I'm new I was unsure whether or not to start a new thread, or to resurrect this one.

Either way I'd like to ask once more if there's any other evidence for the existence of the omni, because of this comment;

http://buzzdev.net/index.php?option=com_ph...y=read,40,26329

I didn't start the thread, but the response might interest some... so anyway I'm just looking for some sort of confirmation either way, as I was planning on waiting to upgrade to the universal.

Thanks in advance for any response

Hi HTC

I hope you are keeping in touch with the polse of this community to make sure you are developing devices to what the peoples need.

So if you are going to upgrade/rethink/restyle/rework/... the Universal please include following:
- A small external screen + numeric key pad for taking and placing calls (the external screen doesnt have to be touch sensitive it only needs to show basic phone functionallity making it easy to use (like nokia 9300))
- A GPS chip integrated (SirfStar III )
- HSDPA
- Decent camera (Universal one is not up to current standards and the reaction time is horrible), I prefer no camera than the current camera
- Try to reduce size (it cannot grow)
- at least 1 GB of internal memory
- At least mini SD extension (SDHC complient), please no micro SD
- Keep all of the current goodies from the Universal

I hope my prayer is answered (somewhere Q1 2007 )

Is this the HTC Omni at last...?

o2 XDA Argon - launching 18 April 2007 apparently - no other clear details:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread...highlight=argon

http://www.coolsmartphone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=14270