When Samsung’s i8910 Omnia HD was first announced, I was literally gobsmacked by some of the high-end hardware that would be crammed into this handset. When I heard of the relatively large 3.7-inch OLED screen, I thought to myself, no longer do I need to squint on the train while watching a video. When I heard of the HD video recording, I thought, that will come in handy to film my little toddler (ditto the 8MP camera). The video playback codec support meant an end to wasting time converting video files.
Then on top of that, you have GPS, a long battery life, a powerful Texas Instruments OMAP 3 chip for a (hopefully) fast software experience and internal storage for your music library. Obviously, I don’t need to reel off a list of specs that most of you will be familiar with by now. However, all of these features got me thinking when I came across an interesting article over at UMPC Portal. The author discusses how the Omnia HD could be “the ultimate converged device” and one of the best MIDs (Mobile Internet Device) announced so far.
Whilst he doesn’t say the Omnia HD is perfect, he highlights the phones emerging technologies as a “taster of things to come” for other devices. It then made me realise how far advanced the Omnia HD is, not only compared to other phones, but also to other portable gadget devices. There is no other phone that has been released or announced right now, that packs so many of the features that I look for, into one single device. In fact, on the hardware side, I can’t think of one significant feature that I would have liked Samsung to add (well a xenon flash would have been nice).
I can imagine some may argue that the real revolution nowadays is not with hardware but with the software side of things, something that Apple has executed on brilliantly. What is your opinion? Do you feel that the Omnia HD can be a poster-boy for the ultimate gadget? Or do you feel that Samsung has missed the trick somewhere? Let us know below.
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Apple made lots of progress with software, but the iPhone was no slouch technologically. It was very, very good for the time and still is.
The cpu could go past 600Mhz if so set, and it had a graphics chipset which is still rare. Its camera sucked, and there were weird restrictions in the software, but its hardware was impressive.
So even Apple with its Church of the Holy Software recognizes that you NEED cutting edge hardware in at least a few areas to push the user experience forward.
OH! Though I suspect this is in the offing, I want full American At&t 3G frequency support. And while it may be too much to ask, support for 1700Mhz would also be nice.
The full-plastic case is also pretty nasty. Much cheaper phones have at least some metal or rubberized accents. I would imagine aftermarket cases will become available, but that’s more money for an already pricey piece of kit.
The lack of a lens cover is a big miss, I think. I hope an aftermarket cover becomes available, because the phone is large already, and a carrying case will only add to the girth.
I think that the big miss of samsung is the software, compared to apple its not even a condidate but the tech that the samsung omnia hd owns is amazing and comforts me for now..
we just have to wait and see if all the promisses are true.
I hope that the Omnia HD will sell like crazy and be able to revolutionize the mobile industry like the N95 sorta did. I will be picking up the Omnia HD when it comes out May 25th. And congraz on being a Samsung Ambassador
@ Dan: I disagree. The user interface is crap compared to the iPhone, but the underlying technology is just as advanced.
Furthermore, the Symbian market is still more vibrant and varied, even with the fabulous App Store. And when it comes to user control over the OS, Symbian is leagues ahead of the, albeit purposely, locked down iPhone.
I have to agree with you on this, I have been looking around for a all in one mobile device for a while and each one I looked at had a missing feature, like the screen to small, the camera crap, no 3.5 jack, it doesn’t feature GPS, no FM, no wi fi, the software to restricted, its only available on contract etc, but the Omnia HD is the first that ticks all the boxs and then some, I think software will only improve, s60 5th edition is pretty new, so it will take time for apps to appear but if you look at apple boosting something like 1 billion apps, only a handful are actually really cleaver and useful and I’m 100% sure that the most popular apps on the iphone will appear in some form or another on all the other phones like Android and s60 it just will take time. Plus I consider anything else I get for this phone a bounce, because right out of the box it will do all the main things I want it do.