Goodbye Omnia & ROMS - thanks for the experience...

[Guest le.bouch]

since you've stopped using the omnia i910, the latest WM6.5 branch [23037] is porting VERY well to it [both naked and skinned].

That's great. Have they managed to fix that increasing ring tone thing on the Omnia yet, out of interest?

[Guest Ob1haze]

I am the sucker that was recommended to buy the Omnia by a friend. After playing with his for a few hours it seemed like the ultimate phone, I did the research and was amazed by the flexibility of all the cooked roms. I am a geek and an engineer, and I love tinkering, but I spend more time flashing and cussing at my Omnia than actually using it. The real problems are not the type of screen, but its size (just too small for a useful keyboard), and WinMO - they are in version 6.1 (or 6.5) and its still that buggy with such a garbage UI? So bad that it has created this incredible community of developers and addicts spending all their free time trying to make it work.

Two friends of mine have iPhones, Stu and TC:

Stu works in the mobile industry, he is a system integrator and developer for a major WASP, and is definitely a power user, he has owned and used most phones on the market, but is completely converted to the iPhone and keeps trying to convince me to get one too.

TC is a phone fanatic, and as an early adopter he has the 3G (didnt see the need to upgrade to the 's'), and while he says the lockdown is really significant, and he detests iTunes, he still loves the phone. When I chat to TC on google talk (we now live on opposite sides of the planet), I can't tell if he is on his laptop, or his iPhone - There is NO WAY that any Omnia user can claim that kind of typing speed. My girlfriend who is a serious txt'er hates my phone.

I agree with most people here - if you want a toy to constantly tinker with the Omnia is fun, but when I need a phone or a browser, I just want something that works, no reboots when apps won't open or the screen rotation goes wonky, no insane fiddly finger-NON-friendly buttons, occasional inability to answer calls without dropping them, and an inconsistent (thin) UI.

Apple is definitely the Devil (far more evil than M$ could ever be - In sexy packaging), which leaves me with Android, (Stu claims its still too much in its infancy to be a serious contender), and I am looking down the barrel another 17 months on my current contract (I doubt i will be able to stick it out that long).

I very often use the GPS (the reason I got the Omnia over the iPhone originally), and living in South Africa where google maps are still pretty bad, means I would have to buy the phone and a GPS - a regression from the unified device I always wanted.

I would like to thank the incredible work done by all the Chef's here, and still religiously check the Andromnia status daily (please please please get it working... please)

Let the next round of research begin...

[Guest Sb.]

Farewell brother!!! Always remeber when you get sick of your iphone due to its lack of customability we will be here waiting for you!

[Guest topsun]

I am the sucker that was recommended to buy the Omnia by a friend. After playing with his for a few hours it seemed like the ultimate phone, I did the research and was amazed by the flexibility of all the cooked roms. I am a geek and an engineer, and I love tinkering, but I spend more time flashing and cussing at my Omnia than actually using it. The real problems are not the type of screen, but its size (just too small for a useful keyboard), and WinMO - they are in version 6.1 (or 6.5) and its still that buggy with such a garbage UI? So bad that it has created this incredible community of developers and addicts spending all their free time trying to make it work.

Two friends of mine have iPhones, Stu and TC:

Stu works in the mobile industry, he is a system integrator and developer for a major WASP, and is definitely a power user, he has owned and used most phones on the market, but is completely converted to the iPhone and keeps trying to convince me to get one too.

TC is a phone fanatic, and as an early adopter he has the 3G (didnt see the need to upgrade to the 's'), and while he says the lockdown is really significant, and he detests iTunes, he still loves the phone. When I chat to TC on google talk (we now live on opposite sides of the planet), I can't tell if he is on his laptop, or his iPhone - There is NO WAY that any Omnia user can claim that kind of typing speed. My girlfriend who is a serious txt'er hates my phone.

I agree with most people here - if you want a toy to constantly tinker with the Omnia is fun, but when I need a phone or a browser, I just want something that works, no reboots when apps won't open or the screen rotation goes wonky, no insane fiddly finger-NON-friendly buttons, occasional inability to answer calls without dropping them, and an inconsistent (thin) UI.

Apple is definitely the Devil (far more evil than M$ could ever be - In sexy packaging), which leaves me with Android, (Stu claims its still too much in its infancy to be a serious contender), and I am looking down the barrel another 17 months on my current contract (I doubt i will be able to stick it out that long).

I very often use the GPS (the reason I got the Omnia over the iPhone originally), and living in South Africa where google maps are still pretty bad, means I would have to buy the phone and a GPS - a regression from the unified device I always wanted.

I would like to thank the incredible work done by all the Chef's here, and still religiously check the Andromnia status daily (please please please get it working... please)

Let the next round of research begin...

I think I'm gonna agree with you. I'm about ready to get rid of mine. Its always crashing. :) I'm thinkin Palm Pre

Edited October 1, 2009 by topsun

[Guest Sb.]

The omnia is more of a phone which you experiment on, its for people who love to tinker with gadets and try to perfect them.

My wife wanted a new phone so i got her an apple iphone cos its simple and easy to use and she doesnt have the need to customise her whole phone like I do but she has had issues like a freeze up for 1 and a half hours and one day 75% of her apps just dissapeared.

I too was at a point of throwing my omnia away and buying an iphone and I felt like I was missing out on something by not owning an iphone like everyone else and then i started flashing and now im addicted to it. I love the rush of flashing and not knowing what the outcome will be.

All in all ive tried the iphone,omnia and the new samsung HD i9810 and I wouldnt swap my omnia for any of the others, but it all comes down to your personal choice and I love having a phone which is on the hunt for perfection.

[Guest Ob1haze]

I think I'm gonna agree with you. I'm about ready to get rid of mine. Its always crashing. :) I'm thinkin Palm Pre

Seems the universe is listening to me - my friend Stu I mentioned wants to upgrade to the 3GS and offered me his old 3G (for a pretty decent price)...

Good way to ride out the 17 months...

[Guest attak69]

I must say that I completely agree with this post! I've had my Omnia since Christmas '08 and have spent a lot of time updating it with new ROMs, downloading different keyboards and trying different UIs. After all this time, I think I've reached the point where I've had enough and just want something that works reliably. It seems like phones based on WinMo are just not quite there. I'm not sure if the OS is to blame or the manufacturers who develop on the OS.

Don't get me wrong, the Omnia had some great advantages over the iPhone which is what led me towards it in the beginning. At the time, you couldn't get a good GPS turn-by-turn application on the iPhone 3G while with the Omnia you could. And I've gotten great value from iGo 8 on the Omnia, and still do. But its the simple things that other phones have been doing well for years that the Omnia doesn't (i.e. SMS and calls). Also, the general performance, user interface and touch panel are just not the same as the iPhone's. When my brother and sister were looking at getting phones, my gut told them iPhone and I'm glad I told them that. I've used their phones a number of times and am so impressed with its performance, reliability and intuitiveness. And from what I hear/read, the 3GS is a vast improvement on some of the core features which the 3G lacked.

I know that the Omnia II is now out but I am a bit skeptical of it because most reviews are based on a short amount of time in use. It looks great and seems like they've improved it but at the same time, it took me at least a week or 2 of general usage to realise that the Omnia was not the most intuitive phone.

When my contract runs out in another 13 months I will probably be jumping on the Apple bandwagon because they know how to produce products that just simply work. They may not have all the latest features but the features that they do have work very well!

[Guest prelude]

An interesting piece. I can understand your choice and opinion. There is no doubt that the iphone UI is way above anything else at the mo. WinMo desperately tries but natively is no good. Skinned it is better.

I have spent the last year vehemently defending the Omnia. A colleague bought one on my recommendation and hates it.. I am always explaining that if he installs free windows apps then there can be problems.

The whole WinMo OS does seem buggy and unstable and believe me I have flashed almost daily (I blame sector for being so efficient) and I am addicted to ROMs

But whilst I am fond of my Omnia, I find it harder and harder to defend it, even though it is gradually getting closer and closer to what I want.

I had really hoped that SPB MS 3 would be fully comprehensive and integrate into the OS but I still have to use the crappy WinMo interface in the background.

I doubt I will ever have an iPhone, mostly because I have spent the last year saying wot it cant do, although I have been leaning towards it over the last few months.

But, the new Android OS and S-Class UI seems nice and I am still waiting for the graphical UI that blows me away.

The iPhone is closest at the mo but i need a camera and I really doubt that the 3.15 MP on the iPhone is anywhere near the old 3.2 MP on the SE K800 which was excellent.

Just the ramblings of a fool.... but why isnt there a gorgeous graphical interface which integrates completely in WinMo... that would make me smile... and pay.

Cheers anyway,

GG

I find it both puzzling and hilarious that people has to defend their choice of device. You go to winmo forum and talked about iphone, the members will bash you like crazy. I think we should all just use whatever we deem fit, state your views and opinions and not bash each others' choice of device. It doesn't make sense at all to do so....if you like to use crap, then by all means use crap, if you prefer s***, then go ahead and use s***...all devices are shitty and crappy in one way or another anyway......hmmm...if only MS employs steve....then we will have very usable and cool products to use!....but for now...dream on...

Edited October 16, 2009 by prelude

[Guest wickedjinx]

I just started to read this thread and i just want to say that i'm really getting impatient with my omnia, i have to flash like 5 to 6x at 1 point just to find if the rom will fit me. I've flashed now to 6.5 new UI and the sms reply crashes all the time, i have to press the keyboard tab at the botton just to pop up the keyboard, that's what you get from wanting a new UI.. I can't seem to find a perfect fit, a ROM that i would use for more than a month, i kept thinking that maybe 1 day rom cooking and version update would stop even for 2 months just to have something that we can use and very stable. I've had my omnia for 8 months, i loved it at first, but when the touch starts to get buggy, man i really hate it.

I'm planning to switch to another phone, was thinking HTC touch pro 2, but it is still winMO right? Will it also have the same bugs that this omnia 1 have? I've seen omnia 2 and was not impress with the touch response, not really an upgrade aside from the amoled screen. Seen the B7610 also in youtube and well, laggy as hell. I've seen the touch pro 2 and the response was perfect. Yes it does not have any flash on the camera but i can live with it. What do you guys think on my choice of upgrade?

[Guest La Traviata]

I'm planning to switch to another phone, was thinking HTC touch pro 2, but it is still winMO right? Will it also have the same bugs that this omnia 1 have? I've seen omnia 2 and was not impress with the touch response, not really an upgrade aside from the amoled screen. Seen the B7610 also in youtube and well, laggy as hell. I've seen the touch pro 2 and the response was perfect. Yes it does not have any flash on the camera but i can live with it. What do you guys think on my choice of upgrade?

Yes, the TP2 is WinMo. The UI looks great, but from playing with it at a phone shop I was unpleasantly surprised at how flimsy and plasticy the phone felt. Granted, it was a demo model, so probably got handled a lot by uncaring hands, but I would expect to use the hardware keyboard on a regular basis and with the keyboard pulled out the screen was really loose and wobbly. Also, camera performance is supposed to be very poor. Conversely, I understand that once you disable Touchwizz and install a 3rd party UI the Omnia 2 is supposed to be pretty fast. I don't own either phone (still on i900), but this may help:

http://www.modaco.com/content/i8000-omnia-...eed-a-keyboard/

Edited October 19, 2009 by La Traviata

[Guest tacchan23]

I'd like to confirm that once disabled the crap software from Samsung and installing any 3rd party UI (SPB, PointUI, etc), Omnia2 is a very fast and responsive phone (no lag at all) (when I watch video on youtube or try myself a Omnia2 in a samsung shop with Samsung WidgetPlus enabled, it really looks like a complitely different phone)

After owning my Omnia2 for more than 2 months now, I'm really satisfied. The "tweaking" is still there if you want (and I love it) but also you can just settle down with very small tweaking (just remove Samsung crap) and you have a great phone.

EDIT: I made a small video of my Omnia2 with PointSense (and it's still in Beta atm) just to show there is no lag. Sorry for the bed video quality, I have just a cheap webcam to record^^

Edited October 20, 2009 by tacchan23

[Guest Maxwell Newton]

Well said Le Bouch,

Its funny, all the things i have been thinking, it appears you have too. I get an upgrade in feb so I'm still stuck to the computer flashing, downloading apps etc.

Just wanted to say, thank you for posting it, now i know im not the only one checking out iphones behind my omnias back. They are so beautifuly put together, they really were years ahead of everything else when they were released!

Thank you for a nice read!

Max

[Guest daneland]

iphone

Cons: Unless you jailbreak iphone it is useless.You are restricted to AppleStore and even turning the wifi on is a pain,no decent bluetooth,no USB,ridiculously expensive.

Pros: After jailbreak it is a very good phone.Thousands of applications.Stanza is something I really want to have on my Omnia.I still can't find a proper ebook reader for my Omnia.Browser is quite good.Safari is far better than any browser.Capacitive screen is better than resistive.

Omnia

Cons: Screen is not perfect, too small,touch screen could be better,CPU is slow,it requires many tweaks.

Pros: It is damn cheap I paid just £100.00 for it (second hand,after I wrecked my first Omnia),after customisation and tweaks it is quite practical to use.

I have been using a 6.5 ROM on my Omnia and it is OK, a decent phone and.The first was not that good (Vodafone branded,old touch screen).I wish Omnia had a better browser and bigger screen.Last week we got an OmniaII to my friend I loved it ,3.5 mm jack,micro usb,better screen resolution,faster CPU,no lag.And it is almost £250.00 cheaper than iphone.(~£36.00 per month 1200 minutes unlimited text-internet £50.00 cash back free OmniaII).

Edited November 10, 2009 by daneland

[Guest Pille69]

I've waited nearly two months to write this. Let me start by saying I am no Apple fan. I hate their locked-in paranoia and take-it-or-leave-it attitude. I hate iTunes. I hated the iPhone (no MMS, rubbish Bluetooth, crap camera -what a joke!) - but I wanted a touch screen phone and after much research bought an Omnia.

hello bouch

i agree in some points so far

from my experience with omnia i have to tell that it works. i had some cooked roms installed but was forced to go back to the original rom because of repair. and you wont believe it but the performance difference was huge. the cooked roms are nice, but slow / i tested uncountable much. as example

i have 2000 sm and nearly 2000 mails on my omnia. with the cooked rom to open the messaging windows needs up to 5 secounds / orginal immediately - reply a messages till i can write up to 5 secounds / original rom immediately. just to name some of the examples

i agree with you about the display and video quality - that would be the reason why i would buy a iphone. the sensitifity and quality of display is exeptional brilliant. the menu is easy, the overview is good.

i have to break a bone for omnia / keep in mind / if i want a mercedes then i must buy it and not complain why there are not bmw weels on it. to be honest, the omnia is more for peoples which want to playm customice and experience with the phone. you can also buy a blackbarry as example. every phone have advantages and disadvantages. i am happy with the orginal rom and maybe i will buy a iphone because to watch movies and listen to music. the iphone is exeptional good - no discussion about it.but what is the secret - just some icons as access to the apps, good display and movie quality.

i love the easy access over the icons on the home screen. as you said, in windows is that still a pain and no proper working solution for it. but its a different system/mobile. just accept it.

for my part i will try the original 6.5 rom with no modifications / who knows where i can download it please pm to me / and i hope it will works so stable and fast like the original 6.1 rom. i was more happy with it as with the cooked roms - no offence to cookers.

best regards

[Guest tacchan23]

I still can't find a proper ebook reader for my Omnia.

I think AllReaderPlus is a really good ebook reader, give it a try :)

[Guest prp]

For me though, the iPhone is miles ahead - and ultimately my 6 months with the Omnia was wasted. YMMV..

iPhone is better for dummies not for hardcore users.

I'm using the gps feature alot especially the garmin xt. I bet it will never run on iphone. If the battery of ifone become dull you cannot change it you have to buy a new one. Ifone sucks so don't agitate the omnia users to buy it if you are an ifone seller.

[Guest scoiattolo]

iPhone is better for dummies not for hardcore users.

I'm using the gps feature alot especially the garmin xt. I bet it will never run on iphone. If the battery of ifone become dull you cannot change it you have to buy a new one. Ifone sucks so don't agitate the omnia users to buy it if you are an ifone seller.

Some things are not correct:

- plenty of navigation programs for iPhone, including Tomtom/IGO/Copilot/Navigon/Sygic/Magellan and more :D

- you just replace the battery, you don't need to buy a new phone :(

- if the iphone is Jailbroken, there are pretty amazing things you can do with it

[Guest nmayer79]

See: The Omnia II :D

See it dec 2!!!!!!!!!!!

F*ck apple!!

[Guest Unisoldrew]

I regret to inform you that I too am jumping to iPhone. I was playing around with my brothers last week and decided that Windows Mobile is light years away for usability.

I've enjoyed tinkering with the Omnia and trying many different ROM's (thanks all for your hard work) but am just a bit tired of things just not working as they should, probably the most annoying being how you can see the time update when the screen wakes up.

I thought long and hard but thought i'd go for it.

I managed to buy out of my contract at £280 +VAT and the new provider offered me the 32GB version FOC as well as £140+VAT cash back for the Omnia - all on an (approx.) £36.00 +VAT/month contract (500 mins/texts for 24 months - reviewed after 21 months).

So basically the free phone and cash back more than cancelled out the buyout.

Not bad really.

Let's hope I made the right decision :D

[Guest le.bouch]

Thought I'd check back in, now I've had the 3GS for a good few months.

The good....

The (stock) phone has performed flawlessly and hasn't locked once. The screen is still brilliant and remains unscratched. Safari browser is rock solid. Wifi reception great. I run CoPilot sat nav on it and use the iPod side of it all the time. Video recording is very good. O2 reception has been fine. The App Store is full of brilliant gizmos (and a good few turkeys) and iTunes is actually pretty cool. As a functional gadget, it's up there with Sky+HD, IMHO.

The bad...

Forget the camera in all but bright light - but then it can be very good. Bluetooth works very well but is limited - no sending pics to bluetooth printers (or other phones even). I get round that by emailing the pics to myself! It would be nice to run two apps at once but actually only rarely has it been a problem. It's just a pain sometimes to have to close one app, open another, close it, go back to the first one, etc. I can easily live with that. Battery life not great but I have a cradle in the car and also charge it every night so it's not an issue.

In 20-20 hindsight I can absolutely say that I have no regrets ditching the Omnia for the iPhone. I started as an iPhone sceptic but.. could it be that the actual reason so many people now have iPhones is not because they're brainless sheep and all victim to an evil Apple marketing con.. could it be because the iPhone is.. very.. good.. indeed.. gasp. Not perfect by any means but.. very.. good... indeed.

Oh, and 'Omnia is for hard-core, iPhone is for dummies'? Hilarious. I'm actually USING a device for the purpose it was intended, getting on with life (look out the window 'hard-core' Omnia users - there are people you can actually socialise with out there) instead of constant download/install/reset/research/download/install/brick/research/wankery.

Good luck!

[Guest le.bouch]

Let's hope I made the right decision :D

You did :(

[Guest]

http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPho...p;idPhone2=2826

please have a visit

omnia vs iphone

[Guest Unisoldrew]

Thought I'd check back in, now I've had the 3GS for a good few months.

The good....

The (stock) phone has performed flawlessly and hasn't locked once. The screen is still brilliant and remains unscratched. Safari browser is rock solid. Wifi reception great. I run CoPilot sat nav on it and use the iPod side of it all the time. Video recording is very good. O2 reception has been fine. The App Store is full of brilliant gizmos (and a good few turkeys) and iTunes is actually pretty cool. As a functional gadget, it's up there with Sky+HD, IMHO.

The bad...

Forget the camera in all but bright light - but then it can be very good. Bluetooth works very well but is limited - no sending pics to bluetooth printers (or other phones even). I get round that by emailing the pics to myself! It would be nice to run two apps at once but actually only rarely has it been a problem. It's just a pain sometimes to have to close one app, open another, close it, go back to the first one, etc. I can easily live with that. Battery life not great but I have a cradle in the car and also charge it every night so it's not an issue.

In 20-20 hindsight I can absolutely say that I have no regrets ditching the Omnia for the iPhone. I started as an iPhone sceptic but.. could it be that the actual reason so many people now have iPhones is not because they're brainless sheep and all victim to an evil Apple marketing con.. could it be because the iPhone is.. very.. good.. indeed.. gasp. Not perfect by any means but.. very.. good... indeed.

Oh, and 'Omnia is for hard-core, iPhone is for dummies'? Hilarious. I'm actually USING a device for the purpose it was intended, getting on with life (look out the window 'hard-core' Omnia users - there are people you can actually socialise with out there) instead of constant download/install/reset/research/download/install/brick/research/wankery.

Good luck!

I also switched back in November. I too was an iPhone sceptic but was the best move I ever made.

The iPhone is light years ahead of the Omnia or any other WM phone. Everything just works so damn well. It's the first phone that's actually a joy to use.

I also can't understand this Omnia/WM for serious users thing. I've got loads of business stuff on the iPhone and the push mail works fantastic (for my personal and business accounts).

I haven't really used the camera much so can't comment but this is probably it's only flaw. I don't really care about the lack of multi-tasking. Why would I want to have 2 or more app's open at once anyhow? The fact that the iPod plays while using certain other things is all I care about.

I sometimes wonder how I could have lived with the Omnia without the custom ROM's but even with the best ones (Ryrzy etc) I just got so sick of things not working. I was stressful enough just trying to make a call! Having said this, i'm glad I held out as long as I did otherwise i'd probably have ended up with the 3G and not the 3GS.

I can't even imagine the latest generation of phone's on the market can come close to iPhone. Maybe hardware wise but usability, app's etc - no way.

Edited February 1, 2010 by Unisoldrew

[Guest DLCI]

I also switched back in November.

I find it great, that even now, after 3 generations of iphone and uncountable changes of the apple sdk policies, we're speaking and comparing the latest iphone to the good old Omnia and WM6.x, which is long time outdated :)

Don't forget - when omnia came to the market the Iphone was a complete joke. No 3rd party applications, no navigation, no VoIP, no camera, no mms, no video, no radio, no bluetooth, no divx/xvid...nothing at all! It was an expensive toy with soldered battery and nothing useful. It wasn't even possible to stop the data in roaming B) just last week (if I'm correct) they allowed voip over 3G....veeery revolutionary indeed.

But it is true - nowadays things have changed and iphone is more or less an open platform as soon as you jailbreak it...apple has also opened the way for most of the applications and the phone is a great platform.

If on the next Iphone apple keeps the good things from 3gs (which is not granted by apple at all) and if we see multitasking (yes, it is really important. More than you're currently thinking it is) and again a battery that can be exchanged (yes, it can be on 3gs!) ..why not iphone :D until then it has no benefit, unless you want to have a phone & a PSP in a single device

The good old Omnia still has perfect HW characteristics and has no HW issues (except a digitizer to on the first batch of handsets). Can't say that for all the HTCs and iphones I've seen so far B) And on top it is still capable of running the latest OS & all the software available. It does it even faster now than when I bought it an year ago - that's what I call a good investment and for us, the omnia users, it will be pretty tough to choose another device, when the time comes!

[Guest Unisoldrew]

I find it great, that even now, after 3 generations of iphone and uncountable changes of the apple sdk policies, we're speaking and comparing the latest iphone to the good old Omnia and WM6.x, which is long time outdated :)

Don't forget - when omnia came to the market the Iphone was a complete joke. No 3rd party applications, no navigation, no VoIP, no camera, no mms, no video, no radio, no bluetooth, no divx/xvid...nothing at all! It was an expensive toy with soldered battery and nothing useful. It wasn't even possible to stop the data in roaming B) just last week (if I'm correct) they allowed voip over 3G....veeery revolutionary indeed.

But it is true - nowadays things have changed and iphone is more or less an open platform as soon as you jailbreak it...apple has also opened the way for most of the applications and the phone is a great platform.

If on the next Iphone apple keeps the good things from 3gs (which is not granted by apple at all) and if we see multitasking (yes, it is really important. More than you're currently thinking it is) and again a battery that can be exchanged (yes, it can be on 3gs!) ..why not iphone :D until then it has no benefit, unless you want to have a phone & a PSP in a single device

The good old Omnia still has perfect HW characteristics and has no HW issues (except a digitizer to on the first batch of handsets). Can't say that for all the HTCs and iphones I've seen so far B) And on top it is still capable of running the latest OS & all the software available. It does it even faster now than when I bought it an year ago - that's what I call a good investment and for us, the omnia users, it will be pretty tough to choose another device, when the time comes!

Agreed, the Omnia has faired very well for a good length of time. I don't have a problem with the hardware whatsoever.

I still disagree regarding multitasking. After using the iPhone for almost 3 months, I haven't once felt the need for it. However, on the Omnia I was always forgetting to close programs which zapped the battery big time.