Isaiah's Tech

10. Samsung (I8000) Omnia II - This phone is, obviously, the direct successor to the original Omnia and Samsung has changed it enough to impress me. The Omnia II has: a 3.7-inch AMOLED resistive touchscreen display with a 480 x 800 resolution, a 5MP AF camera (with an LED flash, geo-tagging support, and face / smile detection) that's capable of shooting video at 720 x 480 resolution, a Samsung S3C6410 800MHz CPU with a dedicated graphics accelerator, 2/8/16GB of internal storage, 256MB of RAM, a microSD card slot, WiFi b/g with DLNA / Bluetooth 2.0 + A2DP / aGPS support, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Stereo FM radio with RDS, quad-band GSM / tri-band HSDPA connectivity, and a 1,500 mAh battery.

Samsung developed this new AMOLED display back in the beginning of June, so I'm glad to see that they're already shipping these out. I don't think anyone will be upset with the clarity of a 3.7-inch AMOLED display with a 480 x 800 resolution. I don't know how good the TouchWiz 2.0 UI, but I've heard that it's been greatly improved since version 1.0. Thankfully, it's just 11.9mm thick.

Unfortunately, the display is a resistive touchscreen so it's not as responsive as it could be. I tested this handset in stores and it was running Windows Mobile 6.5, but it was fairly sluggish - which made me quite sad. The widgets on the home screen were quite laggy and Samsung's customized UI is not as good as HTC's.


You can check out the Samsung (I8000) Omnia II here or on GSM Arena (photo credit), if you'd like.

9. Samsung B7610 OmniaPRO - Here is a great QWERTY keyboard-packed phone and it has amazing specs. The OmniaPRO has: a 3.5-inch AMOLED resistive touchscreen display with a 480 x 800 resolution, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a 5MP AF camera (with an LED flash, geo-tagging support, and face / smile detection) capable of recording D1 video (720 x 480 resolution), a Samsung S3C6410 800MHz CPU with a dedicated graphics accelerator, 256MB of RAM, 2GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, WiFi b/g with DLNA / aGPS / Bluetooth 2.0 + A2DP support, a 3.5mm headphone jack, Stereo FM radio with RDS, quad-band GSM / dual-band HSDPA connectivity, and a 1,500 mAh battery.

Thankfully, it's got a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, which is a great addition to any mobile phone. Like the Samsung I8000 Omnia II, this handset is also rocking Samsung's new AMOLED display that has a high 480 x 800 resolution. This is sure to bring you the crispest pictures and video you've ever seen on a mobile phone. An 800MHz CPU also joins the party, which is welcomed. This phone beat out the Samsung I8000 Omnia II simply because it has a physical QWERTY keyboard and the virtually identical spec sheet.

But, like I said, this phone has a resistive touchscreen display which is a let down. However, Samsung has placed their new "Advanced R Touch" technology on this handset. At this point, I don't know how much it will improve the touchscreen of the device. Another let down is, of course, the OS. Windows Mobile 6.5 hasn't received the best of reviews, but if you can get past the slight lag it'll do. WinMo is still quite good in the mobile OS world, they just need to improve the UI and the speed of it. Another bad thing is that it's 16.2mm thick, simply because of the QWERTY keyboard. A like it or hate it kind of thing is the back battery cover - it's red.

You can check out the Samsung B7610 OmniaPRO here or on GSM Arena (photo credit), if you'd like.

8. Nokia N900 - This is Nokia's first Maemo 5 device and I've read that the OS is quite nice, especially since it comes with full Flash support. The Nokia N900 features: a 3.5-inch resistive touchscreen display with a 480 x 800 resolution, 32GB of internal storage, 256MB of RAM, a microSD card slot, a 5MP AF camera (with a Carl Zeiss lens and a dual-LED flash) capable of shooting WVGA video, WiFi b/g with DLNA / Bluetooth 2.1 + A2DP / aGPS support, an ARM Cortex A8 600MHz CPU with PowerVR SGX graphics, an FM radio / transmitter, a secondary video calling camera, a TV output, a 3.5mm headphone jack, quad-band GSM / tri-band HSDPA connectivity, and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

This handset comes with more goodies like Skype and Google Talk VoIP integration, which is great for the future. I'm sure Skype will integrate video into their mobile software soon, especially with Fring doing that with the iPhone and certain S60 devices. Hopefully they roll out support for my device soon, just saying.

Unfortunately no phone is perfect. The resistive touchscreen display isn't as responsive as people would've liked and it's fairly thick at 18mm. The thickness wouldn't bother me much though since I always have baggy pockets and the phone I have right now is 17.9mm (it's an N81) - and I don't mind it.


You can check out the Nokia N900 here or on GSM Arena (photo credit), if you'd like.

What it doesn't tell us on the spec sheet is that the Satio is capable of playing PlayStation games in nHD (ninth High Definition) format. We don't know how well the Satio will play games, but it does have the same CPU as the iPhone 3GS, which is a good thing. We'll know more about the gaming capabilities of this phone in the future. The camera is more than impressive, but just remember that megapixels aren't everything. I should probably mention that you get an 8GB microSD card in the box.

As of right now, the inclusion of a 3.5mm headphone jack has not been mentioned yet, so I'll assume that it doesn't have one. This is a huge let down to most people out there. The touchscreen is supposedly resistive, but it's not confirmed yet. The Satio runs on S60 and it's not as touch-friendly as some of the other OS's out there. Like the LG BL40 - which didn't make my list - it has a small 1,000 mAh battery.

You can check out the Sony Ericsson Satio (Idou) here or on GSM Arena (photo credit), if you'd like.




Besides the 8-megapixel goodness, the camera also comes equipped with: an LED-flash, geo-tagging support, face / smile / blink detection, and image stabilization. The 3.7-inch display is the largest AMOLED to hit a mobile phone, but unfortunately, it's not the best one to hit Samsung devices. The Samsung I8000 Omnia II - mentioned earlier - has a 3.7-inch AMOLED display as well, but it has an improved 480 x 800 resolution.

There's not much to dislike about this handset, but it does have a couple of underwhelming features. The i8910 Omnia HD runs on Symbian S60 5th Edition and it's not as touch-friendly as the iPhone OS. The browser also doesn't have Flash support right now, but that's limited to a few handsets at this point.

You can check out the Samsung i8910 HD here or on GSM Arena (photo credit), if you'd like.

1. Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 - It wasn't a tough decision, even though I've always hated Sony Ericsson; I once hoped that they would just go bankrupt already, since they release the same cheap Walkman phones over and over again. However, the XPERIA X10 was made official about a month ago and the specs are pretty damn good. The XPERIA X10 is my number one phone to-date, even though it hasn't been released yet. Its specs are truly promising.
In addition, this phone is running a sexy and customized build of Android 2.0 (as seen here). And yes, I know what you're saying. How can this be your number one phone when it hasn't been released yet? Well, GSM Arena got their first look at this handset and mentioned that it is running a Qualcomm QSD8250 1GHz Snapdragon CPU.

What also makes the XPERIA X10 interesting is that it's looking like it will be Sony Ericsson's first Android handset, since they haven't announced anything else yet. Somewhere down the line though, it looks like Android devices will have multitouch support. 4-inch capacitive touchscreen display + 1GHz Snapdragon CPU + sexy and customized Android build + an 8MP camera = Love.

The bad thing about this handset is that it won't be available until early 2010. If you were to pick the Google Nexus One or the HTC HD2 over this handset, I couldn't and wouldn't argue with you. They're all great handsets, but the fact that this runs Android, has a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU, and packs a 4-inch OLED touchscreen display are the real punch-out factors for me.

You can check out the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 here or on GSM Arena (photo credit), if you'd like.

A bunch of notables - in no specific order: LG GW820 eXpo, HTC Touch Pro 2, Toshiba TG01, Nokia N97, LG Viewty Smart, HTC Touch Diamond 2, LG Chocolate BL40, Palm Pre, HTC Touch HD, , Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2, Acer (A1) Liquid, Acer (F1) neoTouch, HTC Hero, and the HTC Dragon / Passion / Bravo.

Yes, those are a lot of honourable mentions, but that's only because there are so many high-end phones that could be on this list. This list may not be perfect and I tried to do my best judging each phone by its spec sheet and other reviews that I have read. It's my first time making a list of the top phones on my blog and I understand that I can improve it. All-in-all I'm satisfied with my list - it just sucks that they're all expensive unlocked.

Of course, there are still phones to look forward to later this year. There has been talks of Samsung's WiMAX-capable handset running Android; it's rumoured to hit Sprint sometime in the future. Another phone to look forward to is a Samsung handset that will be running on the Nvidia Tegra chipset, check it out here. If this trend continues, Samsung will overtake Nokia.

Samsung has just announced and released their latest edition to their i8910 Omnia HD. This new variant is the Gold Edition and features 24 karat gold. This new model comes in two colours: Champagne Gold and Luxury Brown. In the box you'll thankfully find a TV out cable. According to Samsung, this handset should be available in Germany, Singapore, and the Middle East right now! The price wasn't mentioned, but it shouldn't be all that cheap.

[Engadget Mobile, Akihabara News]

The two phones I was hoping to get by the end of August were shown off at IFA demoing Samsung's upcoming application store aka the Samsung i8910 HD and the Omnia II. Samsung is set to launch their Appstore on September 14th, but we already knew that. "The list of partners for their store was also apparently quite impressive, with games like Tetris, The Sims, Spiderman 3D Racing and Ferrari Racing shown off." Below there are two videos that have to do with the Appstore, so check it out.





[WMPowerUser]

Looks like Samsung's app store is on the way. "The imaginatively named Samsung Application Store launches on September 14 for British, French, and Italian Omnia and I8910 HD handsets, later coming to the Omnia II and OmniaLITE as well as users in various other nations." Samsung has mentioned that "over 300" apps will be available at launch, "while partners like Electronic Arts, Capcom, Gameloft, and TAITO have signed on for the fun." Let's just hope it won't flop like the Nokia Ovi Store. Check out this website for what you see above.

[Engadget]

Five days ago, we heard about the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD launching in India; the one that launched with a 1GHz CPU. Well, it turns out that it was actually a mistake on India's part. They actually combined the numbers of the DSP chip (sound processing chip), which is 420MHz, and the ARM Cortex A8 CPU, which is 600MHz. Together that makes - give or take - 1GHz. This got me and GSM Arena shaking our heads because they have almost nothing to do with each other. Anyways, it looks like everything has been sorted out now. Even with the 600MHz CPU, it's still one of the best phones available right now.

[GSM Arena]

Arguably the best phone that is available right now - spec-wise at least - just got launched in India. Samsung's OmniaHD has just hit India with its normal: 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen display, 8MP camera capable of recording 720p video, and GPS / WiFi / HSDPA support. Now those look like the Omina HD's standard specs, but Samsung thought that they'd throw in a little extra flavour to this handset. Instead of the traditional ARM Cortex A8 600MHz CPU, they packed a 1GHz CPU inside of this handset. Yes, they made the OmniaHD even more of a Nokia N97-killer. The OmniaHD in India costs Rs. 33,990 ($705 USD).

Another phone was launched in India today is the Omnia Pro B7320. This smartphone has: a 2.4-inch display, a 3.15MP camera, WiFi / HSDPA / aGPS support, 256MB of ROM, a microSD card slot, 256MB of RAM, a 528MHz CPU, and it runs WinMo 6.1 - upgradeable to WinMo 6.5. The Omnia Pro costs Rs. 16,500 ($342 USD).

[Cell Passion]

The Samsung I8000 Omnia II looks like the official launch will be this weekend in Singapore. This is one of the best WinMo handsets to date, sporting: a 3.7-inch AMOLED resistive touchscreen WVGA display, a 5MP camera, 3G, WiFi, GPS, and a Qualcomm CPU. The Omnia II is expected to be available for around €440 ($620 USD).

The other AMOLED-packing Samsung handset is the i8910 OmniaHD. This handset is also said to be available soon - August 1st to be exact. It had an initial launch back in May, but Samsung stopped selling the handset because they had to fix the handset up a little bit. The OmniaHD is said to have a retail price of €540 ($761 USD). The OmniaHD is my favourite handset to date, it has: a 3.7-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display, an 8MP camera with the ability of recording 720p video, WiFi, GPS, a microSD card slot, and runs S60.

[GSM Arena]

The phone that was once the Samsung OmniaHD has just launched on Orange UK. The Samsung i8910 HD codenamed "Acme" is pretty dynamite. It has: a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen capacitive display with a 640 x 360 resolution, an 8MP camera, HSUPA connectivity, and will run on S60 with a bit of Samsung's own TouchWiz 3D UI. Surprisingly enough, this phone has launched for just £97.50 ($151 USD) with a £35 monthly plan. I say that it's surprising because it seems like such a low price for this amazing phone.

This handset would definitely be at the top my list if it had a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. This handset, in my opinion, is in the running for one of the best full touchscreen phones of 2009. Put the Viewty Smart up there also.

[Engadget]

Remember that so-called Samsung handset running Android? Apparently, this is where the picture was taken from. Maybe someone counted wrong, but I see 14 handsets. Apparently, 12 of these phones haven't even been officially announced before. Anyways, one of the phones that were shown at this Amsterdam event was the Samsung OmniaHD which was shown off at CES. At the event they mentioned 2 versions of the OmniaHD which is kind of weird and confusing. One of them running the standard S60 5th Edition and the other running WinMo 6.5. If those rumours are true then we'll see a Windows Mobile device capable of shooting 720p video, sporting a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen display, WiFi, GPS, and even an 8MP camera. Don't forget that the OmniaHD is only 12.7mm thin. We'll see what transpires from these rumours.

[Boy Genius]

The folks at Engadget tried the Toshiba TG01 for themselves at MWC and have said a couple of things about the 4.1-inch touchscreen phone. The home screen is a customized WinMo home screen because WinMo's needed an obvious facelift. The thinness of this device made the iPhone look chubby at times and they also mentioned that gaming was fast because of the 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Engadget also mentions that we'll probably see changes from now until the summer release of the phone and they said that they should implement more 3G bands, other than the 2100MHz that is already included. I think this device looks sexy and if you want to see a video then go to this link and scroll down, via Engadget.

LG recently agreed to make 50 Windows Mobile phones, but this is one of their phones that won't be running Windows Mobile. Meet the LG KT770. It will run on Symbian S60 and will have a 5MP camera and a GPS. If you want to see the video here (scroll down too, via Engadget), you will see that the UI is quite responsive, but fails at times. LG will probably fix up its blunders before the actual release, so you shouldn't worry much.

More from Acer. The brand that gave you 4 disappointing WinMo 6.1 phones; they will also be releasing 4 more smartphones by the end of the year. They'll even throw in two more smartphones that will run WinMo Android. This picture shows us their so-called 'roadmap' for the rest of the year.

Look out for the LG GC900. It looks like a full touchscreen with an 8MP camera. That is all the information leaked about this phone and GSM Arena couldn't get a picture. LG is keeping their lips sealed about this phone.

The Samsung OmniaHD is Samsung's new touchscreen and the successor to, obviously, the Samsung Omnia. Well, the Omnia had some touchscreen issues and it looks like Samsung never really decided to fix the issue. If you watch the video below, you will see just how bad the touchscreen is again. It looks like a disappointment because the phone actually looks amazing. In addition, it can shoot 720p video. That's HD for ya. Anyways, i might as well post the video on here, since this is absolutely horrible. Why, Samsung, why? Here's the video, via Gizmodo.


How Not To Do Touch Technology from Gizmodo on Vimeo.

Toshiba TG01 (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/17/toshiba-tg01-hands-on-and-video-walkthrough/
LG KT770 (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/17/lg-doesnt-rock-the-winmo-boat-launches-s60-powered-kt770-on-th/
Acer Working On Two Android Phones (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/17/acer-working-on-two-android-phones-to-launch-this-year/
LG GC900: http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_in_barcelona__km900_arena_gd900_gm730_gc900_and_the_rest-news-798.php
Samsung OmniaHD's Touchscreen Blunders (and video): http://i.gizmodo.com/5154841/how-not-to-make-a-touchscreen-phone

To answer Richard's question, it looks like 1080p on a small device might actually make a significant difference. One example would be using YouTube on an iPod Touch and watching "Jizz In My Pants" in HD and non-HD, you'll see a noticeable difference. Another example is looking at the OmniaHD and the Omnia. The OmniaHD's screen is significantly brighter, even on the default settings. The vibrant colours will also make the font's legibility better, but i think the Nvidia MIDs was just talking about video playback, so HD may not impact it much. Anyways, The beautiful colour of the flower on the OmniaHD just stands out!

I talked about Acer before and said that they were going to be releasing 4 new smartphones today and they pulled through. But, a new announcement says that they will release 8 new smartphones. So, the 4 from earlier today and 4 new ones to be released in the next couple of days. Hopefully, they won't all run on WinMo 6.1 or else that will be very disappointing.

The transparent keypad from LG will be sported on the LG GD900. Like you, i wanted another picture of this "transparent" keypad. Well, there it is for you. I'm curious to see the specs on this phone, but they [LG] still haven't revealed them. But, all you need to know is that the phone looks good. Now all we need is a video to see the supposed "glow" on this superb-looking phone.

So, the Lenovo will be releasing a 12-inch version of their IdeaPad netbook, dubbed the S20. They already have S10's which only sport 10-inch screens. Anyways, the S20's will "come equipped [with] an Atom N280 processor and Intel's GN40 chipset, along with Windows XP, and [will] cost about $586 [USD]." Hoorah!

Samsung OmniaHD (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/16/samsung-omniahd-hands-on-now-with-more-touchwiz/
Acer To Release 8 New Smartphones: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-10165218-78.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
LG GD900 (and picture): http://i.gizmodo.com/5154767/lg-gd900-phone-slides-to-reveal-a-see+thru-keypad
Lenovo IdeaPad S20 (and picture): http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/16/lenovo-said-to-be-prepping-12-inch-ideapad-s20-netbook/