We finally got a good, hard look at the Verizon-customized version of Samsung's
Omnia II, and we've got good news and bad news: the good news is that the phone's a darker, more reasonable shade in person than it was in
that press shot we'd seen before, but the bad news is that we've confirmed it's running 6.1. Anyone daring to release a 6.1 phone at this point is at serious risk of getting laughed out of the room unless they offer an upgrade path mere minutes afterwards, so we're hoping that by the time this is on shelves, it'll either be running 6.5 out of the box or there'll be an update program announced in conjunction with the release. Otherwise, the display's absolutely phenomenal (indoors, anyhow) and
TouchWiz seems to work as well as it did on the original model, though scrolling through menus got a bit laggy at times -- isn't it kinda weird that a years-old platform can practically max out a circa-2009 device? Check out a quick gallery below.
posted Oct 7th 2009 6:29PM
in before the verizon + cripple combo comments!
So....does it have WIFI Support????
I just got my Omnia sch-i910 from ebay. I must say . . .at first I was really disappointed by the slow screen response and laggish device performance of VZWs WinMo 6.1. . . . .until I found the customized WinMo 6.5 ROMS on the web. Now I'm a super happy camper and loving the device. Its no iPhone, but it does a nice job.
I'm starting to learn my way around WinMo since I've been a blackberry user for 6-7 years now. BB does e-mail really really well. and I love bb's text completion function. I'm sure I'll find a solution for WinMo too.
Anyway. I'm loving my Omnia i910, but the screen looks beautiful on the Omnia II.
Yes it has WiFi. Just like the Omina 1 did.
"...and TouchWiz seems to work as well as it did on the original model"
Ummm... I don't remember that being a strong suit of the original model... as a matter of fact, I am pretty sure it was the laggy interface that made the original less than the star it could have been.
Count me in as one that will be laughing if this isn't running 6.5 once released.
As it is, I consider this a monumental F-up on Verizon and Samsung's part. This is the one device I have been looking forward to for months and if they have the gall to bring this to market with 6.1, I'll definitely be looking elsewhere. The i8000 has apparently been running 6.5 just fine since August when it was shown in a review and if there are no hardware changes, there is absolutely no reason this should be on 6.1.
This though, is misleading and shows a lack of understanding: "though scrolling through menus got a bit laggy at times -- isn't it kinda weird that a years-old platform can practically max out a circa-2009 device?" Windows 6.1 and its lack of optimization for newer hardware is the issue, not the hardware being unable to keep up with an older OS. I'd like to point you guys, once again, to GSMArena's review of the i8000 with the phone running 6.5. The 'lag' is not there because 6.5 undoubtedly pre-loads the images into active memory where they will be accessed much faster as opposed to 6.1 which was *not* designed to have iphone-esque image scrolling.
If they're showing it off with 6.1, it isn't going to have 6.5 out of the box. Pathetic.
Did verizon remove the front facing camera
Pretty sure they did. CDMA does not support video calls, so there really isn't much of a need for the front camera.
I'm thinking about moving to Verizon since I have the Omnia II, love it except for the fact that I get weak signal strength and rarely access the 3G network on At&t. If these are the following specs for network coverage - GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 850/1900 MHz, HSDPA 7.2Mbps, HSUPA5.76 Mbps - why shouldn't it work on the At&t network? Got no answers from At&t and Samsung here in the U.S. won't support it since I got it before it was launched here. Any ideas?
The bigger screen will help with usability over the current Omnia on Verizon (is it just me, or does the portrait keyboard feel better than the landscape one?). The hardware, especially the processor seem pretty good as well. Lots of storage, nice screen. But the thing that will be the number one usability improvement for me?
3.5 headset jack instead of Samsung dongle.
DAJ
Samsung has updated its teaser site for the Omnia II (i920), https://www.samsungmobileusa.com/Omnia2PL.aspx. The blacked out graphic of the device now includes a swash of color (at top of the device graphic), which appears to indicate that Verizon's release of Omnia II may be imminent (perhaps to coincide with Thursday's Verizon press conference, http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Verizon-to-showcase-its-Holiday-line-up-on-November-5th-article-a_7 691.html).
UPDATE ... Samsung has pulled the "swash of color" from the Omnia II (i920) teaser site. Now it's back to the old solid black graphic.
ONE question / issue and my ONLY one complaint...
Is Verizon going to lock out the GPS just like they did with the Omnia 1?