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Samsung Omnia 2 i8000. Tasty touchy

Martin — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:57:29 +0000

Touchscreens have been knocking around for a while now, but it’s not often that anyone other than Apple gets them right.

We’ve seen handset after handset now that, while promising to be “full touch!” or “super responsive touchscreen!” are little more than gimicky conversions of button-pressing phones. Sometimes, in fact, it seems like all that’s happened is someone’s imported all the software and interfaces from a non-touchscreen phone and slapped a basic touchscreen on top of it.

Not so with the latest range of Samsung phone’s, most impressive of which is the Samsung Omnia 2. This thing now only has a massive (huge, monstrous, biggest-ever, make-your-eyes-bleed) screen, but the thing actually works. In fact, it doesn’t just work, it hums, it sings, it positively screams slickness when you use it. This is thanks not only to the rather big screen (with its resistive response technology, super bright and crisp AMOLED display, 800×480 pixels) but to the UI that’s onboard. TouchWiz 2.0, designed from the finger up, as it were, is an absolute pleasure to use on the Samsung Omnia 2. Using is, you realise how shoddy some other companies attempts at ‘interactivity’ really are. Using a collection of completely customisable widgets, you’ll soon find you’re completely in synch with your handset, bouncing around between all its many and various functions quicker than you could imagine. The whole thing is based around a 3D cube navigation that not everyone will find attractive straight away, but with a little patience it turns out to be nifty enough for everything you’ll want to do with your Samsung Omnia 2 .

Available sometime in the Autumn. So watch this space for a future confirmation, and read this Samsung Omnia 2 review in the meantime. Or, have a gander at the video below.

Samsung Omnia Lite B7300. Pocket sized goodness

Martin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:24:58 +0000

Here’s a little rundown of the recently announced Samsung Omnia Lite, due to be released in a couple of months.

GPRS + EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA + WiFi data connectivity
3.0″ touchscreen with 240 x 400 pixels, 65k colours
3 megapixel camera
TouchWiz 2.0
107 x 52 x 13mm
103 grams
Bluetooth 2.0
250MB of internal memory, expandable with MicroSD to 32GB
GPS
FM radio
OS: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional

We have to admit there’s nothing much in this list to impress, but then that’s not at all what Samsung are planning with the Samsung Omnia Lite. The whole point, in fact, has been to trim down the somewhat bulky Omnia model and produce something that’s more pocket friendly – both in terms of size and price. So while the Lite isn’t going to be downloading quite as fast as its chunkier cousins, it’s still going to be more than enough for an average user. The same goes for the camera, the screen itself and pretty much everything else – nothing is of the highest quality, but you certainly won’t feel let down by what’s in the package.

And luckily there’s a few things that are pretty special. The new version of Samsung’s own TouchWiz interface looks absolutely fantastic. It’s a real pleasure to use something that’s been specifically designed for touchscreen interaction, rather than a UI that feels like it’s been shoddily translated from non-touchscreen use. Add to that some nifty little features designed to make the most of the GPS and the Samsung Omnia Lite B7300 that might just be the right fit for your pocket. Check out a Samsung Omnia Lite review here for the full lowdown.

Samsung Omnia Pro B7610. The legs to last?

Martin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:27:34 +0000

As with most smartphones, the upcoming Samsung Omnia Pro packs a mighty list of specs and features. Just have a look at this lot:

Windows Mobile 6.5
integration with Microsoft Exchange
3.5″ 480 x 800 pixel display 16m colours WVGA resolution
113 x 58 x 16mm
slide-out QWERTY keyboard
5 megapixel camera
3.5G support
WiFi
GPS
Bluetooth
800 MHz processor
DLNA support
TV-out connection
FM radio
microSDHC card slot (up to 32GB supported) and 1GB of onboard storage.
The battery tipped as a 1,500mAh pack

Pretty impressive, you might agree. And packing an AMOLED screen (ultra-bright, while being ultra-low in power consumption) we think this could be a cracker of a phone for those who need plenty of finger space for all their daily tapping, scrolling and surfing. Could be, that is, if the Samsung Omnia Pro B7610 was due out anytime soon. However, with the Samsung Omnia Pro B7610 currently scheduled for an October unveiling, we wouldn’t be surprised if this list was not quite so impressive come then. Check out a full Samsung Omnia Pro review here, or have a peek at the video below for an early hint at what’s to come. The video doesn’t show the video-playback capabilities unfortunately, but it does give a bit of a hint at what you can expect from that screen. Look at the size of it!