Phone features include quad-band GSM, a speakerphone, conference calling, text and multimedia messaging. The phone book is limited only by the available memory (the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts), and there's room in each entry for multiple numbers, email addresses, instant-messaging handles and birthdays. For caller ID purposes, you can assign a picture, one of 20 polyphonic ringtones, or a group ID. Bluetooth 2.0 is also onboard for use with mono and stereo Bluetooth headsets, hands-free kits, object exchange and dial-up networking. There's no need for a Bluetooth GPS receiver, since the Samsung Omnia also has assisted GPS.
Multimedia plays a big role on the Omnia. As an alternative to the standard Windows Media Player 10 Mobile, Samsung includes something called the Touch Player, which features a nicer user interface and a functionality similar, but not as streamlined, as the iPhone's Coverflow. Supported music and video formats include MP3, WMA, AAC, eAAC+, MP4, 3GPP, H.264 and DivX/Xvid. Other goodies include podcast support, a streaming media player, and an FM radio, although you have to use the included headset for the latter. As for memory, the Samsung Omnia comes in two flavours: 16GB or 8GB. Either way, you should have plenty of storage — and there's always the microSD/SDHC expansion slot, which accepts up to 16GB cards.
The Samsung Omnia features a 5-megapixel camera with advanced settings and editing options.
The Omnia comes with a 5-megapixel camera with a range of advanced features. In addition to video recording and digital zoom, you get a flash, auto focus and face detection. For still images, there are three quality settings and six size options. You have a grand total of 15 shooting modes, ranging from sports to sunset to fireworks as well as white balance adjustment, various effects, ISO settings and much more. You can even geo-tag your photos thanks to the embedded GPS receiver. In video mode, you don't get as many tools, but you still get three size and three quality choices.
We were impressed with the clarity of photos, although we would have liked a bit more richness in the colours.
Picture quality was impressive. We were amazed at how clear and defined objects looked in photos, and the camera response time was also good. The only thing we thing we would have liked is a bit more richness in colour. Video quality was better than most camera phones we've tested. Once done, you can, of course, send your photos via email or multimedia message. The Omnia also has a Digital Frame application that displays the time and date, while rotating through your photo gallery in the background. Finally, you get TV-out capabilities and a video editing application is included on the device in case you want to make a quick movie on the spot.
Performance
We tested the quad-band Samsung Omnia in San Francisco on T-Mobile's network and call quality was OK. In general, audio was good but there were several occasions where there was some crackling in the background, and it got to be a little distracting. We didn't experience any dropped calls, though, and we had no problem using an airline's voice-automated response system. Our friends also reported fairly good results with just one complaint of slight distortion. The speakerphone was pretty clear, but the audio can sound blown out when you jack the volume to hear the calls in louder environments. We were able to pair the Omnia with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset and the Motorola S9 Bluetooth Active Headphones.
We were generally pleased with the performance on the Samsung Omnia. It was responsive most of the time but suffered a bit of that notorious Windows Mobile sluggishness when too many things were going on at once. Browsing the web on EDGE speeds (UK editor's note: 3G/HSDPA wasn't available to our US colleagues) wasn't ideal, obviously, but the smartphone had no problem finding and connecting to our Wi-Fi network so we could enjoy faster web surfing. Music playback through the phone's speakers lacked bass and, like speakerphone calls, the audio sounded blown out when we had the volume set to high. Again, we wish that Samsung included a 3.5mm jack so we could enjoy songs through a nice pair of headphones. Video performance was acceptable. We watched a couple of WMV clips, and sound and picture were always synchronised, but we'd still limit it to short clips.
The Samsung Omnia comes with a 1,440mAh lithium ion battery, which has a rated battery talk time of 10 hours and up to 18 days of standby time.
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Pros: Excellent camera with a flash (illuminates well, also works as a flashlight) - equivilant to a good digital camera, good music player, very aesthetically pleasing, multiple keyboard options to suit the user's preference, most suited to those looking for great performance, above average features.
Cons: Can lag alot, music player may not perform to the standards of cheaper phones, hard for those with big fingers, some parts are not user friendly, runs on windows mobile not like a normal phone, hard to understand due to capabilities, GPS is not that loud...
Final Comments: The Samsung SGHi900 is definitely more sophisticated than the iPhone, it's competitior. It's features far outweigh those in the same price range.
I would personally recommend this phone - if you like style, business and pleasure in one.