The iPhone hit the scene and caused a mania. Back when it first entered the market, news stations covered the whirlwind that ensued over it, including people camping out at stores just to get the firsSamsung Omnia Looking to Upstage the Apple iPhone t grab of the delicious new hand-set. iPhone mania is likely over and a wave of new phones are coming out with varying carriers in an attempt to recreate the hype. A couple of weeks ago the Blackberry's delectable new Bold was debuted as a potential iPhone killer and now Samsung has dropped news of their take on the smartphone, the new Omnia. Let's see how it stacks up against the iPhone.
Specs
The Omnia comes with a 3.2' WGVGA touch display, according to Phone Arena. It will be coming in two models, ala the iPhone in a 8GB and 16GB version. In addition to all that the phone will also support MicroSD cards and will support DivX and Xvid, a wonderful thing for anyone who isn't big on encoding video in order to watch it on the go. The size is near identical to the iPhone with the Omnia offering up a slim 12.25mm design. Weight and length have a negligible difference. The Omnia really packs a punch to the iPhone were it matters the most; in features.
Features
The Samsung Omnia has some pretty impressive features. I'm perhaps most excited about the 5mp camera that is coming equipped on the phone. It is a camera phone that might actually produce usable pictures. The camera also comes with anti-shake technology which should help with people who don't have the hand control of a surgeon. The iPhone fell short with this feature offering up the standard 2.0mp camera.
The Omnia is also offering up visual voice mail, 3G capabilities, bluetooth, an FM radio and GPS. The phone, in true smartphone style, is also doing double duty as an MP3 player. According to Crave the phone will offer a 16GB MP3 player and will be capable of holding up to 4,000 songs or 100 minutes of video (that's a good 3 episodes of your favorite TV show)
Samsung's very own Touchwiz will surely be a big part of this little device. The technology was seen on a previous Sammy model, but that model fell short of the mark. According to Engadget all who used the technology seemed to like it so it's a welcomed addition to this new phone.
The iPhone has long been criticized for not offering 3G compatibility from the get go and that is where Samsung went big. With 3G capabilities and WIFI for when 3G goes MIA Sammy users will never be without the net and the painfully long load times of networks like EDGE seem to be longSamsung Omnia Looking to Upstage the Apple iPhone gone.
Availability & carriers
The Samsung Omnia will be available first in Asia and will find it's way to American Shores sometime in the second half of 2008. It will be dropping in Asia this month and Europe in July. It can only be assumed it will hit the American shores sometime after that. After some digging I came up with very little regarding the carriers that will be featuring the Omnia. Samsung doesn't have a long history of withholding and has pretty good relationships with a number of different carriers so one can hope that the Omnia won't be in the same league as the iPhone and their exclusivity with Cingular.
The carrier exclusivity is what burned a lot of people. I think people like a choice and when a great product comes out such as the iPhone being tacked to cingular isn't the greatest thing in the world. I suspect the iPhone would have gained greater success if there was no exclusivity, so hopefully the Omnia doesn't make the same mistake.
Performance & Design
Design-wise the Omnia looks a lot like the iPhone, but you know what they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it. The phone will offer up a huge touch screen and a really beautiful brushed metal back and rim. It's a little more appealing to the over 20 crowd than the iPhone in my opinion, just in terms of looks, but again that's completely up to the user's preference. Overall the iPhone and the Omnia are two great looking devices with sleek and sophisticated designs to appease their users.
It seems that people who have had their little hands on the Omnia are really excited about it's capabilities. The iPhone had a lot of drama in the beginning regarding bugs and load times for web pages but the Omnia seems to be on a better track already. No one will know for sure until it is officially released but the phone looks and sounds very impressive.
Conclusion
The Omnia might very well be the fist phone to really rival the iPhone. While the Bold was a beautiful attempt to the lack of touch might pull some users away from the design and the Omnia offers up all the iPhone has and more to appease those who worship atSamsung Omnia Looking to Upstage the Apple iPhone the alter of the cell phone gods.
