written by on 12/03/2010
I have now come to the end of an 18 month contract and cannot wait to replace the handset. Other reviews cited a poor operating system, unresponsive screen, freezing and hanging applications; I'm afraid to say this is all true and in my experience in many respects generous.
I have also found that reception is poor on this handset, no or limited signal in areas were other phones (on the same network) have full strength.
There are very few redeeming features of this handset, in fact I cannot think of one. To this end I am definitely shying away from any Samsumg product in the future.
All in all this is possible one of the worst mobile phones I have used.
written by sir19 on 08/07/2009
Have had the Samsung Omnia now for 8 months, on an 18 month contract and am very disappointed with the phone, and pretty much have been since the day I got it but thought I would get used to it. Very difficult to use, cannot see the screen outside and the phone often freezes.
I pay £35 a month and do not like the phone at all, but im not sure if there is any way of getting out of the contract, could anyone help?
written by theangryhellcat on 30/04/2009
I got the Samsung Omnia i900 16GB about four months ago and have to say I am a little disappointed. I got the handset for free on a cheap 2-year contract from Orange, although if I had paid for it I would have been very dissatisfied.
The feature set on the Samsung Omnia is good with 3G, Wi-fi, full internet and a host of Windows Mobile programs. However, the touch-screen is unresponsive and innaccurate - it is pressure-sensitive, rather than the electro-static method used by the Apple iphone, which the Omnia is clearly competing against. I find that writing a text message takes much longer than it used to on my old Sony Ericsson phone with keys! It is very easy to make mistakes and select the wrong option / letter.
Another negative is that the general operation of the phone suffers from various speed lags, which I attribute to Windows Mobile. One curious point is that, every now and again, the clock loses some time and starts showing the incorrect time!
Overall I'm satisfied enough with the Samsung Omnia i900 as I didn't have to pay for the handset, but if I had paid full RRP for it I would not be happy. Am already thinking I should have dug deep and just bought an Apple iPhone!
Written on: 23/07/2009
Haha, fair enough, I can't say I haven't been tempted to do the same! Would mean buying out of my current contract as well as stumping up the cash for the iphone though so might stick it out for a while until I have saved a bit! :)
Written on: 23/07/2009
Thanks for the information Tim but in the end I got so fed up with using the Omnia I got rid of it and brought the iphone 3Gs when they were launched....best phone ever.
Written on: 23/07/2009
Just to follow up on this, I have since downloaded the SPB Mobile shell, which overlays a different 'skin' and user interface for the Omnia.
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<br/>Have to say this has made using the phone a lot more enjoyable (it's more touch-optimised), although native windows programs still run as they used to (adding contacts, etc).
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<br/>Still not as good as an iphone and the touchscreen issues remain but I'd recommend the SPB Mobile shell to anyone who wants to make their Samsung Omnia more enjoyable.
written by on 10/02/2009
The Samsung i900 Omnia is a great phone but the WiFi heats the phone up a bit, but not enough to stop the unit charging. Samsung's official response to my problem was to buy a bluetooth GPS device?!?!?! What's the point of having a built in GPS then? When used as GPS navigator in car after 30 minutes unit heats up to 80 c or 176 F which causes the unit to stop charging even while plugged into power. Can not charge phone until cooled down.
BATTERY LIFE: Realistic figures:
STANDBY: 20 Hours
USAGE : 2.5Hours
GPS RUNTIME: 40 minutes on battery
80 minutes on charger (stops charging after 40mins)
It has a large memory and expandable even further!! Using SPB Mobile shell this phone kills all!! All the apps you could ever want.
written by on 04/12/2008
If you have a lot of contacts it slows the phone book down. I have 1500 contacts in the phone. Battery life is terrible. I mean real bad! I don't even use the phone that much and it's dead by mid afternoon. Phone has to many screens were things are to small to touch and the mouse isn't that great. Buy something else or wait for something better to come out. I was playing with Blackberry Storm today and it seemed a lot more user friendly. The Iphone is much easier to use but lacks the amount of options the omnia has.
written by on 17/09/2008
A Samsung Omnia Review - I have had this phone for about a week. When I read about this I thought this would be a great rival to the iphone. It is not. Sadly this is another poor imitation.
I am now considering trading it in for an iphone, swapping contracts and waiting for the software to catch up. The touch screen is not very responsive and requires far more force than would be expected. My previous HTC was much better and neither are a patch on the response of the iphone.
General user interface is far too slow making it infuriating to use
The phone works much better with the stylus but unlikely the HTC this is separate to the phone!
On a plus side it does have a good camera, word and excel are useful for business (but almost unusable with the poor key pad). I especially like the OCR smart reader, this is very useful for quickly storing business card details.
written by on 25/08/2008
Samsung i900 Omnia review - Got mine Friday, used it ever since, trying everything i can think of, i found it great on most occasions, but did find scrolling through contacts, music etc a pain it would either bring the contact up where your trying to touch the screen to scroll down, or just whiz all the way through, this didn't change how soft or hard i tried, either with my finger or with the stylist,then it comes to trying to look at the screen outside. Unless im missing something, if the sun is out or its just a bright day, you've got no chance of seeing the screen, so to make a phone call read or send a text message or anything else come to think of it, its is near impossible, yes i have taken the protector off, the screen seems more like a plastic than glass, this makes its difficult to clean when it gets greasy or if its raining, it just smears making it even harder to see the screen in bright conditions, one more thing it failed at is when I downloaded a sat navigation mobile, that iv used many times before on other phones, I did download the right version for this phone, the thing froze 3 times in a 3 hour period, the only way to get the phone to work again was by taking the battery out, surely its not a lot to ask for when buying such a super phone that it would work with a mobile sat navigation, so if you work inside and only go out on dark days and never want to have a mobile sat navigation on your phone, get this one, otherwise make sure you use it as much as you can in the first 7 days so you have the return option, which i am going to do and a get another phone.
Written on: 18/09/2008
I found this review helpful because I have read so many write ups of this phone, it sounded amazing. At least I now know the pitfalls. Would like it compared to the new N96 and not the new I-phone 3G. Tell me can you watch TV on this phone?
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Adam Shepheard's Response to theangryhellcat's Review
Written on: 09/06/2009
I completely agree with Tim Robinsons review, I could not decide between the iphone and the Omnia; I chose the Omnia (for free) but wish I had chosen the iphone. The touch screen is tricky to say the least unless you have fingers the size of a 2 year old. I dont know how many times I have sent a text when I wanted an "r" or the space bar! The stylus is OK but impracticle to carry with you hooked to the phone or in your pocket.