In a nutshell: The Samsung Omnia 2 is one of the greatest
mobile devices ever! Running Windows Mobile, this is really a mobile
office with full email and MS Office functionality, as well as a
superb web browser, 5 megapixel camera, DVD-like video recording,
video calling, GPS and motion games. It's got a huge 3.7 inch display
with the highest screen resolution currently available, and it can
connect to just about anything via WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, 3.5mm audio
jack and DLNA. It may be big and it may be expensive, but this is
perhaps the most powerful smartphone so far released. Best buy:
*Free* with half-price line rental from Mobiles.co.uk.
Review:
November 2009.
Let's
declare some bias at the start of this review. At Mobile Phones
UK, we're fans of the Windows Mobile operating system, and we generally
like the current generation of Samsung touchscreen phones. That
doesn't mean that they're beyond criticism, but we tend to like
them. Funnily enough, our users do too, which is why our user reviews
consistently rate them at 4 or 5 stars on average. We loved the
first Omnia, and so we're really excited to be reviewing the new
Omnia 2.
The
Omnia 2 has been restyled, and looks almost identical to the Samsung
Jet. It's bigger and heavier than the Jet however. Bigger and
heavier than the original Omnia
too, making it quite bulky in fact. But there's an upside to this
increase in size: the screen has grown from 3.2 inches to a massive
3.7 inches, and the resolution has quadrupled to 480 x 800 pixels.
Samsung have achieved this by replacing the old TFT screen with
a crisp beautiful AMOLED display, which looks better and uses less
power. Only the HTC Touch HD can
rival the Omnia 2 in screen real estate. For power users, web browsers
and mobile photographers, this can only be a bonus.
Apart
from this outward change, the big change inside is the upgrade of
Windows Mobile to version 6.5. Windows Mobile is a very powerful
and robust computer-like platform for running a mobile phone. First-time
users sometimes find it overly complex, but for power users it offers
a very flexible and customisable experience. Version 6.5 brings
some improvements such as My Phone, to sync text messages, photos,
video and contacts to the Web; and Windows® Marketplace for Mobile,
a new marketplace that will provide direct-to-phone mobile applications
and can be accessed from both the phone and the Web. The new Windows
Mobile 6.5 home screen provides a dashboard-like experience to items
such as new emails, texts, missed calls and calendar appointments.
It also includes an improved touchscreen interface, and an updated
version of the Internet Explorer Mobile browser. Samsung have integrated
this nicely with their own TouchWiz user interface, adding widgets
to extend the functionality of the home page and providing quick
links to applications such as facebook. We're not disappointed by
the user interface.
The
Omnia 2 is a fabulous phone for all kinds of media. Whilst the camera
hasn't been upgraded, we can hardly complain. A 5 megapixel camera
with autofocus, face detection, smile detection, auto-panorama and
macro, the only weakness is the lack of a xenon flash. Instead the
camera uses a power LED flash, which makes it trickier to get good
exposure after dark, but otherwise takes excellent shots. The video
camera is excellent too, and is capable of recording in 480p format
at up to 720 x 480 pixels for DVD quality. The phone also supports
video calling, unlike Android phones for example. When it comes
to video playback, the high resolution screen is unbeatable, and
there's full multi-codec support including DivX support, so you
shouldn't have any format compatibility problems. The media player
can also handle most kinds of audio format, and we are impressed
by the audio quality. An FM radio with RDS is included. We also
very much welcome the 3.5mm audio jack, which lets you plug in standard-fit
headphones for the best possible audio experience. Top marks here!
The
Omnia 2 has a superb implementation of the mobile web. With the
highest resolution screen on the market, the latest release of Internet
Explorer Mobile and fast 3G access using HSPA, you really couldn't
ask for a better browsing experience. Features
such as one finger zoom make web browsing quick and intuitive. AGPS
is included, with car and pedestrian maps and features such as geo-tagging
of photos. If
you get bored of all this, you can also try out the various games
embedded in the phone. These make use of the touchscreen and motion
sensor.
When
it comes to office applications, the Omnia 2 has an edge, being
based on Windows Mobile. Whether synching with Outlook or accessing
push email with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, editing MS Office
documents or running third party apps, you'll find a real wealth
of mobile office functionality here, that makes Windows Mobile 6.5
the best smartphone platform in our opinion.
The
battery life of the phone is quite impressive, especially for such
a powerful device. The use of a powerful 1500mAh battery and the
OLED screen make all the difference here, although the downside
is of course the size and weight of the device. The amount of memory
available is also impressive, and has been increased to 16GB with
an option to expand this to a humongous 48GB with a microSD card.
This would let you store around 16,000 music tracks or 46 DVD-quality
movies! The range of connectivity options covers all the bases:
WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, 3.5mm jack, TV-Out and DLNA support. With
256MB of SDRAM memory and 512MB of Nand memory available for running
apps, you'll find that you can use the phone without any go-slow
or crashes resulting from low memory, and the super-fast 800MHz
processor packs enough punch to power the device without any noticeable
lag.
Overall
we're just as impressed by the Omnia 2 as we were hoping to be.
Samsung have made the device more powerful, yet easier to use at
the same time. They've made the screen enormous, increased the memory,
added a 3.5mm audio jack and updated the OS. The only issue is the
size of the device. But it's about the same as the iPhone
3GS, so we'd guess that isn't going to be too much of a problem.
No doubt about this one ... 5 stars all the way!
Features
of the Samsung Omnia II include:
5 megapixel camera with face detection autofocus,
smile detector, auto-panorama, 4x digital zoom and power LED flash
Video camera: 720 x 480 pixels, 30 frames per
second / 3G video calling
Talktime: up to 12 hours (2.5G) up to 8 hours
(3G)
Battery standby: up to 430 hours
Samsung Omnia
2 Consumer Reviews
Love
your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other
people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review
this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a
forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear
words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!
Average
rating from 21 reviews:
Reviewed by Geo from UK on 29th
Jan 2010
An amazing phone for lovers of Windows Mobile. Have owned a number
of Winmo phones inc. Touch HD and Xperia and this is by far the
best I've had. It has excellent battery life lasting 3-4 days with
average usage (far beyond anything I experienced on other Winmo
phones), an excellent camera with duel LED flash, lovely 3.7" screen
that looks amazing and is fast and responsive This is an excellent
media player for both video and music...the sound from a decent
pair of headphones is out of this world and can easily replace your
mp3 players...oh yes, and it's a great phone to use as a phone.
Windows Mobile newbies beware as this may not be the phone for you
but for those familiar with Winmo you'd be hard pressed to find
a better phone Rating:
Reviewed by Andrew from UK on
14th Jan 2010
It is an outstanding phone. It has a lot of features that are useful
and is quite fast. The only vad bit was the price Rating:
Reviewed by Yas from UK on 12th
Jan 2010
bought this phone 2 weeks ago and have had it replaced twice already!
has excellent features but is so slow and freezes constantly. total
waste of time Rating:
Reviewed by Kris from Thailand on
29th Dec 2009
I dont think both the Omnia i900 and Omnia 2 are sticks. Both of
thess phones are great, but it's only for people who want something
useful and ready to learn and tweak. Not just a call/receive phone.
Anyway, I think everyone would agree with me on this, "We dont buy
a plane to drive on the road, and again we dont use a Jaguar to
do construction." These two omnias are like plane compare to simple
nokia, and it's like a huge truck compare to i-phone. Each phone
serves different purposes. Rating:
Reviewed by nellie from UK on
19th Dec 2009
nice look and feel, but the interface is ridiculously complicated
so the phone has gone back. gonna get myself a Nokia X6 instead. Rating:
Reviewed by Matt from Slovenia on
19th Dec 2009
This is the worst telephone ever. Very unreliable OS, it's very
slow, non-responsive, writing SMS is a nightmare,forget about fast
typing, because the keyboard is very slow to respond. I regret switching
from Nokia! Do not buy the phone! Rating:
Reviewed by Owen from China on
12th Dec 2009
Phone is beautiful very slick and better feel than the Iphone. It
has all the features anyone could ever want. It made sense for me
to buy a smart phone that uses Windows since I am already familiar
with Windows and was hoping that it would be easier to understand
and use and my computer also is a MS Windows XP OS. The Win Mo is
a little confusing hope after a few days of serious playing I can
make sense of it. Updating was not with out its problems and I hope
that 6.5 makes win mo easier to use but the jury is still out on
that. Camera flash seems to be a problem as it’s not in sync
with the shutter. If anyone has a fix for this please let me know.
The Flash fires and then 1/2 second later the shutter opens and
closes. I am not sure if it’s just the shutter “sound”
that’s a ½ second late or if it’s the actual
shutter but I have tried to get it to solve back lighting conditions
and it always fails because the shutter and flash don’t operate
at the same time. Any help with this problem would be appreciated.
One other problem I am having is that it is hard to get the phone
to stop trying to use the GPRS to get online rather than using the
wifi/wlan. I think this problem will be easier to solve but since
I am new to win mo and the Samsung UI it is just going to take some
time to figure it out. I also feel it would be much better if the
folks at Samsung with just put the Win Mo 6.5 at the factory. I
am in China and it makes it even harder to update since I had to
deal with the Chinese version of Win Mo 6.1 and I don’t read
Chinese (nightmare) and finding people here that both speak English
and understand Win Mo in English is not an easy task. Rating:
Reviewed by John from UK on 3rd
Dec 2009
This phone is amazing. Nice speed. Rating:
Reviewed by Joe from England on
29th Nov 2009
I got this phone on the o2 network, and the signal is amazing! on
my old blackberry, the signal was ALWAYS poor at the best of times
in my hosue, but on this it is amazing. the gadgets are also great,
wiht the internet access being second to non and the camera being
a 5 megapixel beast. i reccomend this to everyone who needs a phone
that works well, and does it all very, very fast. one of the best
handheld devices ever! Rating:
Reviewed by Amy from UK on 24th
Nov 2009
This is my first windows phone and I must admit it is not a complicated
as people originally made it out to be, the phone has a beautiful
screen, which is regularly commented on and I love the fact that
to turn the snooze on the alarm I roll the phone over(simple things:)).
This is much better than other phones on the market, and I am constantly
finding new features, the only extra feature that Samsung could
have added is the ability for the phone to make me a cup of tea
and cook me dinner when I get in from work!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Dave from England on
20th Nov 2009
Had this phone a week now and have to say its fantastic. It does
everything you could ever wish for in a phone. 10 out of 10 Rating:
Reviewed by savannah from england on
15th Nov 2009
this phone rings people when you dont want to. Rating:
Reviewed by Jane Taylor from UK on
9th Nov 2009
Returning my user-unfriendly and hugely disappointing Sony Ericsson
Satio for this. Only comment is that I thought it only came with
2GB Internal memory in the UK version and no microSD card in the
box? www.mobiles.co.uk says only 2gb internal memory... I wanted
a great camrea which is why I started with the Satio but would rather
have a great phone and 5mp camera rather than a 12mp camera but
terrible nightmare of a phone (the Satio). Rating:
Reviewed by Jeff Christopher from Glamorgan
Business School on 3rd Nov 2009
Yo what up homies, this phone is the shizz! Rating:
Reviewed by vernon from New York on
2nd Nov 2009
this is absolutely amazing phone...had omnia hd for quite some time
and got this as the gift from my uncle; believe me the os is much
intuitive and easy to use then the symbian one on omnia hd. As far
as the camera performance goes, honestly the hd video resolution
didn't really convinced me since the video were quite jerky and
the video size would ballon to several hundred MBs even for few
minutes recording... the music quality is amazing and it seems quite
much more pocketable then the ommia hd. Battery lasts quite better
then the hd. So far i am utterly pleased with every aspect of this
phone. Much better then nokia n97 for sure... Rating:
Reviewed by shaid from uk on
1st Nov 2009
excellent phone, responsive compared to all touch screen phones.
Video quality is excellent. Beware of one downfall, if you use your
headset often do not get this phone. Volume on headset is so low
you can barely hear it. Have checked with suppliers and tried different
phones and headsets they are all the same. but do not let this deter
you from what i think is the best phone i have ever had Rating:
Reviewed by hmmm from englan on
1st Nov 2009
jus lov dis fone.......... win mobile 6.5 is the best thing in the
world right now for sure...with symbian getting old and android
catching up you r sure not to miss anything else with this platform...
thankyou samsung , this is the best foneeee Rating:
Reviewed by Fred from Luxembourg on
29th Oct 2009
Brilliant phone, works exactly the way you always wanted a phone
to work. Crystal clear screen, all the buttons in the right place.
Fits into an iPhone leather pouch. Customise how you want it to
look and operate. Loved it from the moment it was switched on. Battery
lasts for ages - low SAR. Set up and Sync'd with Exchange Server
2008 in less than 10 minutes wired or over the air. Great !!! Rating:
Reviewed by malc from UK on 28th
Oct 2009
Fantastic phone. No problems at all, no freezing, crashing or anything
negative. Screen is amazingly clear and phone is amazingly fast.
youtube etc is no problem at all viewed on this phone. All in all
i am very happy with the phone and would recommend to anyone. Also
looks amazingly cool too. Rating:
Reviewed by Jo from oz on 19th
Oct 2009
WICKEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD Rating:
Reviewed by andy pull from uk on
9th Oct 2009
This phone is awsome ive had a omina i900 before and upgraded to
this baby its bigger faster.the screen is so clear compared to old
omina a 5mp camara and auto focus.the screen is much easier to use
than the i900 as sometimes the scree was delayed might have been
the windows 6.1.this has 6.5 and is way better.it also recors in
vers slow mode or in hd video format which is very good indeed.ive
dowloaded about 20 apps already most of them free it has an apps
store hope ive helped you out :) Rating: