And now for some news about a company besides HTC:

The Samsung OMNIA looks like a lovely WM 6.1 Professional phone. Apparently it's the first Samsung device to come with their "widget" interface as well as WM. 

This CNET Asia article has more official information.

 

Another interesting screen resolution, WQVGA this time - 240 x 400. Compared with the Xperia's WVGA screen - 480 x 800.

I like the look of the Widget Screen, looks extremely interactive.

And a 5mp Camera in a WM phone... 

 

Biomehanika:

And a 5mp Camera in a WM phone... 

I remember when 5mp cameras were considered top of range.

Ans Sony Ericsson have just produced the C905 with an 8.1-megapixel camera. WOW

Biomehanika:

Another interesting screen resolution, WQVGA this time - 240 x 400. Compared with the Xperia's WVGA screen - 480 x 800.

I keep reading this comment over and over again on mostly any blog site that has some news on the Samsung Omina. Now, I don't know much about screen displays, but what makes the Samsung Omnia's display resolution so bad?

I doubt this will be "reasonably" priced. If we look at HTC's recent phone (like the HTC Touch Diamond unlocked version for instance), people have to pay almost $800 for a phone that they have to keep cleaning almost after every use, has a small screen, no QWERTY keyboard, and a below average camera. Don't get me wrong, I love the Diamond's design and of course the TouchFLO 3D. But you might as well get an HTC Advantage for that price.

I will certainly be disappointed to see the Samsung i900 priced around $700 (my expectation) just because it has a 5.0 megapixel camera and built in GPS. Phone manufactures have to realize that there are a lot of mobile phones these days with the same features (if not more) and start slashing their prices and make it more competitive.

I found the following site with several Samsung Omnia hands-on videos. Enjoy!

http://samsungomnia.com/omnia-videos/

Ahmed Eltawil:

I found the following site with several Samsung Omnia hands-on videos.

Good find - Thanks Ahmed.

Ahmed Eltawil:

Biomehanika:

Another interesting screen resolution, WQVGA this time - 240 x 400. Compared with the Xperia's WVGA screen - 480 x 800.

I keep reading this comment over and over again on mostly any blog site that has some news on the Samsung Omina. Now, I don't know much about screen displays, but what makes the Samsung Omnia's display resolution so bad?

It's not that strange a resolution really. It's the same as the current displays on devices like the Hermes and Kaiser but slightly wider (in landscape). I guess it'll be the same size as the Tosh G900 but not as good a resolution.

Here is another find which totally disappointed me. You can pre-order your Samsung i900 Omnia at Expansys UK. Click the following link to know how much it's gonna cost ya!

http://www.expansys.com/p.aspx?i=166951

Wow. If that's the release price I can't see Samsung selling ANY of them. It's far too much. About £100 more than the competition from what I've heard about the Touch Pro, Xperia etc.

I was definitely shocked to see that sticker price. I thought it would be around $750 so that it can at least compete with the other handsets but I can hardly see that happening at more than $1000. The sad news is that I had my eyes on the Samsung i900 ever since the first photo was leaked. But at a price like this I don't think I'll be making the purchase.

One of the guys on 4WinMobile had a play with one of these in Singapore last week. He said the Dpad replacement optical mouse thingy (I believe that's a technical term) was very difficult to use. You can read his thoughts here:

 http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/4wm-news/16485-samsung-i900-omnia.html

Dave Parker MVP:

He said the D-pad replacement optical mouse thingy (I believe that's a technical term) was very difficult to use.

I always wondered who would possibly find that optical mouse useful. I mean, anyone can tell you that the D-pad is way more useful than the optical mouse when it comes to using a cell phone or generally on a Windows Mobile device. Plus, that optical mouse surface isn't large enough to even be considered usable, it's just way too small. If Samsung really wanted to add something fancy then how about a finger-print reader instead.

Expansys USA and Expansys Canada will be offering the Samsung OMNIA. It's currently available as pre-order for both countries. Unfortunately no pricing is available yet. Here are the links:

- Expansys USA - Samsung OMNIA

- Expansys Canada - Samsung OMNIA