This isn't really a review but more of a warning.
I have a corporate iPhone but was a little bit weary of relying on it as a sole phone, so I ordered a new line of Verizon service and received the Samsung Omnia for free. What followed was a week of misdials (touch screen dialing while in my pocket), frustrating web browsing, and sluggishness that made even readings simple websites frustrating.
The network was outstanding, mind you, but the resistive touch screen combined with a sluggish OS proved repulsive. The stock UI (winmob 6.1 and "touchwiz") was also inconsistent - some menus were in a somewhat attractive samsung skin and others were stock, making for a very cheap/pasted together user experience. Gestures and other shortcuts also worked at the devices whim - sometimes touching and holding on the far right of the screen would make a zoom bar (scroll up to zoom in, scroll down to zoom out) to pop up, sometimes it would not. Double tapping sometimes would zoom in, sometimes it did nothing. Sometimes flipping the device would change the orientation, sometimes it would not. Some menus were finger friendly, most where not. Having fat fingers I found myself reaching for the stylus more than not, which felt so retro to me.
I got into the rom scene and found the windows 6.5 roms even worse when it came to performance but with a slightly better UI/Finger friendliness, but it's also inconsistent. I actually have much more respect for microsoft post-windows 7, so I'm hoping some of that U.I. brilliance makes it into their mobile department, and hope that windows mobile 7 is a success, but 6.5 so far (it's still in beta) seems to be a quick fix solution, tacking more touch functionality over a core that very much resembles 6.1.
Lastly, and worse, the phone's screen scratches like a phone from the 90s. By that I mean that my long string of blackberrys and my iPhone has spoiled me, I can easily have change and my phone in the same pocket without ever having to worry. My iPhone is over a year old and looks like new, and I don't use a case. One trip in a pocket with change scratched up my omnia to the point of me calling verizon and canceling my service. YES, I should have used a case, but I haven't had a screen scratch on any of the numerous portable devices I carry around in years, yet the omnia seems to be made of plastic similar to those used on Windows Mobile devices from the 90s.
Speaking of windows mobile devices from the 90s - I had a Casiopeia (sp?) from 1998 that still works great but sits in the bottom of a drawer... I took it out of hiding for a comparison and, sadly, the UI and over all experience is strikingly similar to my experience with the omnia, not much changing in over 10 years.
edit: The end of my week with the omnia ended in me quitting verizon service and, not wanting to risk getting locked into service with a subpar phone, I signed up with Sprint and got a palm pre I'm pretty happy with right now. The reception isn't as good as verizon but the UI and touch screen responsiveness blow the omnia away. Of course they're different classes of devices, but the pre was worth every penny of the $299 I paid for it, while the omnia wasn't even worth the $0 I got it for.
I have a corporate iPhone but was a little bit weary of relying on it as a sole phone, so I ordered a new line of Verizon service and received the Samsung Omnia for free. What followed was a week of misdials (touch screen dialing while in my pocket), frustrating web browsing, and sluggishness that made even readings simple websites frustrating.
The network was outstanding, mind you, but the resistive touch screen combined with a sluggish OS proved repulsive. The stock UI (winmob 6.1 and "touchwiz") was also inconsistent - some menus were in a somewhat attractive samsung skin and others were stock, making for a very cheap/pasted together user experience. Gestures and other shortcuts also worked at the devices whim - sometimes touching and holding on the far right of the screen would make a zoom bar (scroll up to zoom in, scroll down to zoom out) to pop up, sometimes it would not. Double tapping sometimes would zoom in, sometimes it did nothing. Sometimes flipping the device would change the orientation, sometimes it would not. Some menus were finger friendly, most where not. Having fat fingers I found myself reaching for the stylus more than not, which felt so retro to me.
I got into the rom scene and found the windows 6.5 roms even worse when it came to performance but with a slightly better UI/Finger friendliness, but it's also inconsistent. I actually have much more respect for microsoft post-windows 7, so I'm hoping some of that U.I. brilliance makes it into their mobile department, and hope that windows mobile 7 is a success, but 6.5 so far (it's still in beta) seems to be a quick fix solution, tacking more touch functionality over a core that very much resembles 6.1.
Lastly, and worse, the phone's screen scratches like a phone from the 90s. By that I mean that my long string of blackberrys and my iPhone has spoiled me, I can easily have change and my phone in the same pocket without ever having to worry. My iPhone is over a year old and looks like new, and I don't use a case. One trip in a pocket with change scratched up my omnia to the point of me calling verizon and canceling my service. YES, I should have used a case, but I haven't had a screen scratch on any of the numerous portable devices I carry around in years, yet the omnia seems to be made of plastic similar to those used on Windows Mobile devices from the 90s.
Speaking of windows mobile devices from the 90s - I had a Casiopeia (sp?) from 1998 that still works great but sits in the bottom of a drawer... I took it out of hiding for a comparison and, sadly, the UI and over all experience is strikingly similar to my experience with the omnia, not much changing in over 10 years.
edit: The end of my week with the omnia ended in me quitting verizon service and, not wanting to risk getting locked into service with a subpar phone, I signed up with Sprint and got a palm pre I'm pretty happy with right now. The reception isn't as good as verizon but the UI and touch screen responsiveness blow the omnia away. Of course they're different classes of devices, but the pre was worth every penny of the $299 I paid for it, while the omnia wasn't even worth the $0 I got it for.
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