Samsung i900 Omnia vs. HTC Touch Diamond... fight!

At this point, neither the HTC Touch Diamond nor the Samsung i900 Omnia need any introduction, but we're happy to announce that these two have stepped into the squared circle and faced off in an epic nine-page battle. Reviewers manhandled both phones for an extended time and broke down the UI, hardware, features and overall usability, so if that sounds like something you'd be interested in, cover your face and head on down to the read link. We're warning you though, it gets ugly.

[Thanks, Chavdar]

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 4th 2008 2:30PM]

Props to GSMAreana.com! That was a great review. Very extensive in detail.

Some of the things I wish HTC fixes or changes on the Diamond are: 3.5mm headphone jack, screen glare, stability and speed of the UI, fix for camera lens cover smudging, and get some decent video capturing (640x480 30fps).

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 4th 2008 3:03PM]

man thats probably a good comparison but i just couldnt do it!
very wordy. i made it to page 4 and i was out.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 4th 2008 3:38PM]

Everytime you do that , a teacher cries in heaven.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 4th 2008 3:50PM]

hmm yes its a bit long but the two phones have so much features you can't describe them in two words

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 4th 2008 7:53PM]

Withouth reading this article i'll answer.

OMNIA OWNS THE TOUCH

thank you.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 4th 2008 10:30PM]

Before this excellent review I wanted the Omnia.
If the Omnia cost too much (rumored at $800 - $1200) then i would get the 3G iPhone for $300.

After reading this review I am even more convinced.
--Diamond drawbacks--
1.How anyone would want a phone with a "pretty" screen that dies so fast is beyond me.

2.Explain how video playback is a plus for this phone when it holds less han 4GBs worth of video and AGAIN dies in about 1 movies time.

3. HTC dropped the ball on sceen size. Cutting the screen size for the unneeded hard controls at the bottom is horrid. If you need hard buttons to control your device then don't get a touch screen phone

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2008 4:55AM]

a divx encoded movie with vga resolution needs 500-800mb of space depending on the length of the movie and the quality you want, so 4gb are enough vor at the very least 4 movies

i dont get why you need to carry around more than 4 movies, thats more than you could watch on a normal day except you are unemployed. when you come back home you can replace them and the next day you have other movies with you

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2008 6:22PM]

@xstream

You act as if you will have the full 4GBs available for movie storage when in fact it will be divided amongst everything on the phone. It wont even be a full 4GBs because they always cheat you out of 300 - 700 MBs.

But anyway that wasn't my main gripe. My problems with this phone are battery and screen size issues

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 6th 2008 6:05PM]

Thats incorrect. The 4GB is a seperate drive from the 256MB or 512MB of ROM that the OS and installed programs sit on.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 7th 2008 11:30AM]

Its never wise to compare the price of the Omnia to the 3g Iphone's prices in that fashion. You are comparing a heavily subsidized product to the price of an unlocked Omnia. Why not wait to see what ATT will charge for the device before you make decisions. I can guarrantee the price of an unlocked 3g Iphone would be about 9 bills too. Your 300 dollars gets you the 3G Iphone and a 2 year contract with a fat monthly service charge to go along with it.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 5th 2008 4:06PM]

Just some information about the Touch Pro you might be intrested in if you don't mind the size of the screen or the physical controls:

1. It will have the same size battery as the Omnia, giving it close to twice run time of the Diamond.

2. Along with the 4GB internal memory, there also will be a memory expansion slot.

3. Full size Qwerty keyboard

4. Flash for the camera

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 6th 2008 3:45PM]

I just read that I'm wrong about the 4GBs of internal storage. Shame on you HTC, for how fat this phone is, it should!

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 4th 2008 1:48PM]

Great detailed review!

FINALLY !@! someone includes some detailed analysis on sideloading performance. I think this is the first time GSMArena has done this, and I haven't seen it anywhere else.

HTC Touch Diamond copy/paste performance:
* PC to handset -> 2 MB/s
* Handset to PC -> 5.9 MB/s
Samsung i900 Omnia copy/paste performance:
* PC to handset -> 3.9 MB/s
* Handset to PC -> 5.2MB/s