The official Samsung i900 Omnia 'Ask Paul' thread

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Let me ask you what is one of the most anticipated devices of the year... it features Windows Mobile 6.1, a slick custom UI, it's own internal storage, a stunning design, minimalist buttons, speedy 7.2MB HSDPA, auto adjusting backlight, an orientation sensor, Opera 9.5...

Is it the Diamond I hear you say?

OK, so how about if I add it has a 5 megapixel camera with face recognition, smile recognition and a flash, a wide format screen, 16GB of internal storage AND a microSD slot, a 624MHz processor, a 1400mAh battery and you have probably guessed i'm talk about the other hot Windows Mobile release that's for once NOT coming from the HTC stable...

The Samsung i900 Omnia!

Courtesy of the wonders of eBay and FedEx, a 16GB Samsung i900 Omnia is what I have sitting in front of me now... which means it's your chance to quiz me on anything you'd like to know! Regular readers will know i've been giving the Diamond a thorough workout of late, so I should be ideally placed to compare the two.

Fire away! :D

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[Guest Monolithix]

Hows the little joypad thing? :D

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I still prefer a real dpad, but unlike the i780, this one has a proper 'click' action?

*edit: Mono tells me the i780 had that too :D*

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[Guest hunyango_uk]

paul, can you provide some photos taken by the device. if it's not too much to ask. cheers mate.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Here's 4 random pics I just snapped (default settings).

The camera application is supremely responsive :D

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[Guest bashi007]

Paul how is the 3G reception, is it the same as the diamond?

[Guest Fizz_daz]

I've been waiting to upgrade my E650 but I like having a keypad of somesort (bit it slidy or numbers etc.).. this device looks good but how easy is it, in the real world, to cope with having a keypad on a touchscreen and therefore how much viewable space is there on the screen etc...

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Not ventured into 3G yet :D

I'm quite used to soft keyboards now, shame there seems to be no keyboard haptics. I also seem to be unable to update my device to the latest ROM!

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[Guest chucky.egg]

still got the silly charging connectors? or have they seen the minUSB light?

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Samsung proprietary still i'm afraid!

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[Guest bashi007]

I thought that it had Haptics on keyboard, according to samsung website

[Guest acbanks]

I thought that it had Haptics on keyboard, according to samsung website

Maybe a ROM upgrade (that paul can't do, heh) unlocks that functionality?

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Not in the build i'm running (DXHG3) nor in the newer one (DXHG4), which unfortunately doesn't want to flash to mine, keeps saying 'incorrect software version'! Bah!

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[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I think the DXHG2 build had MORE haptics!

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[Guest markdotpeters5]

FINALLY! A winmo mobile with a decent camera, are you listening HTC!!!

What's the video recording like pls Paul?

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Not tried yet, but I believe its QVGA @ 30 FPS or VGA @ 15 FPS. First VGA capturing WinMo?

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[Guest Syphon Filter]

The camera is very respectable for a phone thats for sure but it's not great either (there's quite a bit of colour bleed/possibly focus issues).

Any more shots of the UI? Also what resolution is the screen?

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Screen is 400x240 IIRC...

I'll post some shots of the UI later.

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[Guest pdtp]

ok so i see you said it had a flash, is that a real flash like the ones on blackberrys or are we talking some little light that doesn't do diddly like on the 8125 (HTC wizard)?

Woot 200th post :D

Edited August 12, 2008 by pdtp

[Guest n20nine]

what i love about the omnia is its 5mp camera..if htc has that in the diamond..it would be fantastic. paul, how about a diamond vs. omnia side-by-side review? also, i know that the screen res is a bit unusual, do all programs work? how is the camera in low lighting conditions? thanks mate.

[Guest frottage]

what i love about the omnia is its 5mp camera..if htc has that in the diamond..it would be fantastic. paul, how about a diamond vs. omnia side-by-side review? also, i know that the screen res is a bit unusual, do all programs work? how is the camera in low lighting conditions? thanks mate.

What the hell are keyboard haptics anyway ??

Im also looking at this device as a possible replacement to my vox - i have to say im extremely wary though - I message a lot via email, text and IM and im concerned how fast "on screen" texting would be. Any chance of seeing UI pics of how the messaging works Paul ? I know you also have (had) a vox - how does the device stack up against it ?

Finally Ive heard talk of the screen res being the achillies heal of this otherwise feature packed device - I wonder if its as bad as people suggest it might be ?

oh and battery life ??

[Guest argh]

Screen res sounds okay to me. Not VGA, but that usually means a better battery life. 400x240 is better than QVGA, and between 16:9/16:10 for good widescreen video viewing.

[Guest n20nine]

Screen res sounds okay to me. Not VGA, but that usually means a better battery life. 400x240 is better than QVGA, and between 16:9/16:10 for good widescreen video viewing.

its ok, but i am worried if some programs dont work or wont run full screen or even look stretched on screen.

haptics if i'm not mistaken gives u vibration feedback everytime u touch the screen.

[Guest BrownSource]

Hi Paul - is it a proprietry headphone jack? And is there another media Player or is it WMP?

Thanks

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I've installed a bunch of software, so i'll see what works and what doesn't! So far, so good.

It IS proprietary, but there's a 3.5mm adaptor in box :D

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