News - Rethinking the Samsung Omnia

Rethinking the Samsung Omnia

With much of the general tech community praising the iPhone, it is refreshing to see Windows Mobile getting some objective loving based on good design, great hardware, and functionality that beats the iPhone. The Windows Mobile phone in question is none other than the Samsung Omnia with its customized Widgets and user interface and compelling hardware, which includes an FM radio, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, TV out support, and haptic feedback for the touchscreen, which is unsual for Windows Mobile at WQVGA.

According to MobilitySite, Matthew Miller from ZDNet finds that "the Omnia is better than the iPhone in so many ways." Among the things that stood out, Matthew found that the Omnia could do the following that the iPhone cannot:

-Rotate all applications in any three directions; the iPhone's screen rotation is limited to select applications.
-Ability to stream music wirelessly to Bluetooth headphones for music.
-Tethering natively and straight out of the box.
-Download and store podcasts over the air.
-Access the file system.
-FM radio.
-Edit and create Office documents.
-Cut, copy, and paste.
-Handwriting recognition.
-3rd party navigation software for voice guided navigation.
-Advanced Exchange functionality.
-Removable battery.
-Removable storage card.

And I'll add another one to the list: third party applications that don't crash the phone and render the user begging for mercy to avoid an eight-hour sync.