The second coming of the Samsung OMNIA is here, and it looks to be even better than its predecessor. Featuring the world’s largest 3.7 AMOLED display, along with a new user interface as well as 3-dimensional effects using a capacitive touchscreen, the OMNIA II has features which have been largely improved from the previous OMNIA while retaining much of its charm.
The device look sleeker now, with a body that has ample amounts of gloss and chrome on it to appear thinner than it actually is. The optical mouse now has been replaced by a single function ‘home button’, making this one of the few Windows Mobile Professional devices which does not offer a 5-way keypad of sorts.
In anticipation of navigational problems without a keypad, Samsung has given the OMNIA II a new user interface. The TouchWiz 2.0 user interface deviates from the standard Windows Mobile look and gives the OMNIA II a truly unique experience which eschews the need for a stylus. Samsung has gone an extra step ahead as the phone does not even include a stylus.
Users who are paranoid about its data input need not worry; the capacitive touchscreen gave us great accuracy and speed even with smaller virtual buttons. Full QWERTY on-screen keyboards offer easy text input, and single-finger browsing is made possible thanks to a new browser.
The TouchWiz 2.0 interface also features a new three-screen operation reminiscent of the many home screens of the iPhone. Unlike the Apple, you cannot add home screens, although our unit did come with several useful widgets. You can even instantly upload your 5-mega pixels images taken by the respectable camera to your Flickr or Picasa account via the provided widgets. It seems all fine save for the fact that by giving widgets this freedom, there is chaos in the screens as there is no pre-set grid for these widgets, and everything floats around like a primordial mix. We would have been grateful if Samsung had included a widget lock button like they had on the OMNIA HD. There’s also a new quick launch menu called Cube, a 3D interface with quick links and nifty animations for all your favourite programs.
We noticed that the OMNIA II has a snappy interface much unlike any others Windows Mobile device. It might be due to the two processors in the phone; an 800MHZ ARM unit and a dedicated graphics processor which is causing the sensation of speed. Applications launched smoothly, even when we had five more running in the background. Of note, it increased Opera Mobile’s rendering speed somewhat, while we were surfing via the wireless connection in our offices.
Performing all those and even more tests such as HD (720p) video playback did not cause the Omnia II to break a sweat, and surprisingly, its battery is rather long-lasting too, giving us slightly over a day of moderate-to-heavy usage with Wireless-G on. With everything it offers, the Omnia II would be a natural upgrade if you love Samsung’s previous performer.
Samsung Omnia II Specifications :
Network Support : HSDPA/GPRS/EDGE/GSM Quad-band (850,900,1800,1900 MHZ)
OS : Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5
Processor : ARM1176 800MHz
Display : 3.7” 480 x 800 65K WVGA AMOLED
Connectivity : Bluetooth 2.0 (support A2DP + EDR), 11-pin mini USB, Wireless-G, GPS
Camera : 5MP with video recording, VGA CMOS video call camera, Dual LED Flash, geo-tagging, face and smile detection, mobile blogging, 720p video
Memory : 256MB RAM, 512MB ROM, 2/8/16GB storage
Battery Capacity : 1500mAH
Dimensions : 118 x 59.6 x 11.99mm
Weight : 117g with battery
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