First impressions? very hit and miss + Samsung PORN

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Ok so it's been some time since I've used a new device, so yesterday I retired my trusty but failing C550 running the reliable WM2003SE for a nice shiny Omnia2.

Expectations for me were high and this has been on my wish list since its announcement by Samsung.

For me once you take off the initial wow factor of the screen and look some of the basic features appear to be soorly lacking in actual usability.

One of the main reasons for getting the device and going back onto a contract tariff with data plan was to use the internet but as standard bothe IE and Opera are terrible in their default settings.

The default samsung keypad, while working well with word prediction etc has one serious flaw, there appears to be no directional control. If you want to edit a web address that is larger than the address bar it's almost impossible to do.

I was shocked and disgusted with Samsung for allowing their default homepage to be filled with links to soft porn videos, while it takes a lot to offend me I have children at home who want to "have a go" with the new toy and I certainly do not want them to be exposed to such links.

Opera

All web pages are zoomed out, this means that you have to zoom in to be able to read pages properly, in Opera you have a close up zoom or full zoom out so you either stuggle to see the whole page or zoom in to see a very small section, and that's it unless you rotate the screen which helps a little bit.

The other issue are the default settings like auto full screen, nice idea but when you start entering a web address and turn away for a second the address bar vanishes and you go back to full screen mode.

The other thing I hate with Opera is that quite often pages are not loaded and you end up with a white screen, you then have to go back to the address bar and refresh the page. Finally links appear to be disabled until you zoom in on the page, so it's a lot of back and forth just to do basic browsing.

IE

A slightly better result for me, again the auto full screen monde is still annoying but at least you can zoom to different levels which makes it much more usable than Opera, the only downside is you can not rotate the screen.

With the zoom option working better with IE my only comment on improving the zoom feature would be for it to remember the zoom level when changing pages otherwise you have to zoom in again with every new page.

GPS

Not tested the GPS with an application like TomTom but geotagging photos would be nice if only you could connect to GPS and no have to use the AGPS trying to connect to the network every time.

My next task is to find some usable widgets, the standard ones are not that good in my opinion, some have nice ideas but they could be so much better. One example, there is a widget which shows your next appointment but it only gives the appontment name and time but does not give you the date so yesterday I had an appointment shown for 19:00 but it was actually referring to an appointment today.

Overall a nice device but needs some work to make it usable for an everyday device.

[Guest tacchan23]

Just a suggestion I give to every new Omnia2 user: Disable Samsung WidgetPlus and TouchWiz and replace them with any UI (SPB mobile shell, PointUI+PointSense, iPhoneToday, etc)

About the internet browsing I suggest you the new Opera Mini 5, it's a lot better than Opera Mobile 9.5 or 9.7

About the Samsung keybord I really like especially the 12 keypad... just too bad for the missing soft arrows:(

[Guest KSTAN]

think porn links could be a one-off thing, could have been done by the telco provider engineer.

German Toshiba TG01 was also shipped with virus pre-installed.

Welcome onboard... :)

Edited October 21, 2009 by KSTAN

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

My unit is not teco supplied so nice and debranded, the links are on the actual Samsung.wap site.

Will be looking at a new UI and Opera mini etc shortly.

[Guest La Traviata]

If you select "mobile view" in the Opera settings the pages aren't so zoomed out (on Omnia I, but I assume it also applies to Omnia II).

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Unfortunately not in mobile view they are zoomed right out as mobile is the default setting.

I've not had time yet but will look at min later on.

[Guest sub69]

Unfortunately not in mobile view they are zoomed right out as mobile is the default setting.

I've not had time yet but will look at min later on.

The Mobile View setting just changes the default to "Zoomed In".

But awarner, do you realise you can zoom in and out as much or as little as you want in Opera, in both "Mobile View" and "Full View" by holding your thumb on the screen until the zoom arrows appear, and then dragging your thumb up or down?

It's just the Samsung Way of zooming when in in Opera and Photo Album, but it's not clear from your post whether you found this feature?

And the main homepage was showing a load of soft porn for me yesterday too (wap.uk.samsungmobile.com). Back to the usual homepage today though... Can certainly see why parents would be concerned!

Edited October 21, 2009 by sub69

[Guest skinnypupp]

Mobile View in Opera Mobile also disables some CSS in text (for instance in A tags) so it's not really the best way to view.

I tried 9.7 beta before, but it has problems with its user agent not being detected as a mobile browser. I may try again though, now that I know how to spoof it.

I can't believe someone would recommend Opera Mini on a full PDA like the Omnia II.

Edited October 21, 2009 by skinnypupp

[Guest tacchan23]

I can't believe someone would recommend Opera Mini on a full PDA like the Omnia II.

Go read the reviews about Opera Mini 5 vs Opera Mobile^^

Edited October 21, 2009 by tacchan23

[Guest skinnypupp]

I checked it out, and it is pretty crappy and quite limited. Although a mobile browser doesn't need to be as full featured as a desktop browser, it should at least have capabilities that are possible on high end mobile devices.

[Guest lv_88]

As far as Opera goes, it is the best choice of browser for me, BUT, this only goes for the latest beta

which as of today is Opera Mobile 9.7 Build 35461 as of now.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=486502

The Opera Mobile 9.7 b1 that you can download from operas site is just HORRIBLE, the text reflow is

bad, the latest build 35461 on XDA is so MUCH better, improved, fast and its smooth! (without Turbo mode since I'm using wifi)

So, give it a try.

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Official beta installed and working better thanks :)

Did try one of the unofficial beta builds on xda but then Opera refused to work at all.

[Guest skinnypupp]

Do not install 35461 on your Omnia II, it will not work, and you won't be able to use the OEM 9.5 version either. Unless there is a reg hack to get it to work?

[Guest awarner (MVP)]

Auto screen rotate in the beta build does not work? or is it something else I have done lol

But certainly more usable, shame I'm effectively a newbie again I almost miss my C550......... naw :)

[Guest Moulin]

Official beta installed and working better thanks :)

Did try one of the unofficial beta builds on xda but then Opera refused to work at all.

Wasted an hour on this last night.........got the latest beta to work by installing to the device (as opposed to "My Storage" or the "Storage Card"). Auto rotate is working fine for me with that version.

Same comment applies to skinnypup.

This will probably wipe out 9.5 but once you have got to the stage that neither works it's worth it! :(

Got to agree about all the soft porn links - find it hard to believe this is anything to do with Samsung has their site been hacked? Has nobody noticed?!

Edited October 22, 2009 by Moulin

[Guest lv_88]

Do not install 35461 on your Omnia II, it will not work, and you won't be able to use the OEM 9.5 version either. Unless there is a reg hack to get it to work?

First off, it WILL work, I don't know what you base your claims on but build 35461 is working perfectly, however, it

does make the oem 9.5 useless cause it takes over, but that doesn't matter cause

build 35461 is:

- Faster

- Better rendering

- Far smoother than 9.5 especially during load times you can navigate around

without lag

This is of course my opinion and the fact that I find the latest build far superior to 9.5, each man to their own.

[Guest skinnypupp]

I see, the issue is that you HAVE to install it on the main memory, overwriting the original.