BUT DOES IT LOOK LIKE A SAMSUNG TV?

rodsky

Ive used the Omnia, i own an iphone gen1 not the 3g.
and if you ask me i prefer the Omnia, Codec compatibility is trough the roof, in my case response was not as fast as iphone, but it was not the hellish slow Jesus describes, also i think they did a great job with the widgets, and the fact that the phone can give feedback for certain response. not to mention call quality was much clearer on the omnia in the same area than on my iPhone.
so overall if the fact that the omnia was a demo given to my brother to test i would have either stole it, r switched it with my iPhone. o and did i mentiones its not locked down like a certain other phone

dgelwin

I've used the phone and all these things aren't true.

skeptic11

New things come up all the time

The Bad: All the rest. Slow and buggy. The stuttering interface is particularly bad. The side bar widgets that need to be dragged and dropped onto the screen-to make them appear as tiny little programs-is atrocious. Samsung designers should learn that your telephone is not a desktop computer, and copying the Mac OS X Dashboard doesn't work in a tiny screen at all.

Well, wt's wrong with dragging and dropping, u make it sound like hard work, also what abt the other screens you can choose?

macwise

@mricyfire: Yeah man, this review felt a little more biased than usual. I can take a little Apple fanboyism as it doesn't bother me that much, but this was just little too much. Besides Jesus' recent posts always manage to mention something Apple related, even if the post itself has nothing to do with Apple.

Jomi294

I didn't realize all you other commenter's have used the phone and can say that all these things aren't true.

kevanio

btw, forgot to say .. Ever used the Nokia N95? .. THAT'S lag!

macwise

@mricyfire:

Yeah, I'm sure that Jesus is lying. After all, every cell phone ever made was excellent (except iPhone, which completely and totally sucks).

He's just threatened by Samsung's iPhone killer, and is reacting like a true fanboy. Everybody else lives for interface lag, bizarre menu schemes, and the feel of cheap crap in our hot little palms.

I wouldn't be surprised if the 'accidental' release of Steve Job's prewritten obituary was actually a bungled attempt to fake his own death, in hopes of avoiding the crushing humiliation of the Omnia.

NotMe

wow, Gizmodo! ... I Love Gizmodo, More then Engadget. But this is just wrong. I mean, since when has it been job for Gizmodo to write something like this?

Send songs via bluetooth? 5mp Camera that zooms? MMS's ... stuff like that?

I mean I'm an Apple Fanboy, I'w writing this on a Mac.

macwise

You know, on second thought. My hat is off to Jesus for being here over the weekend and holding the fort. I'll forgive any "bias" just this once and chalk it up to enthusiasm for a different product line ;)

robpruitt

Ha ha, i told you it wasn't going to kill it, you all laughed at me when i said it wouldn't kill the iphone! but whos laughing now!

anyways.....

hu_hu_cool

/I take a Twix and quickly it into my mouth to avoid setting off thread wars by saying my Vista machine pwns Jesus's face.

robpruitt

I've been trying to tell y'all, if you want the iPhone dead, hire Natalie Portman. Ever since Leon was blewed up, she's been the best out there, and I guarantee you she'll kill that pesky iPhone DED!!

banmojo

@gamecrazychris: or Maybe it is decent and Jesus is just overly biased to everything non apple.

Jesus is their someone that can be talked to about your reviews??

"The Good: It has Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, if that's your thing." was that at all necessary?..I personally think you should just make your own blog and go on rants and put a link on this site, but could you at least try to work on your reviews?

mricyfire

Thats pretty disappointing, I've always known Samsung to make great phones, I guess nobody's perfect.

gamecrazychris

Hey Jesus, when you lock the phone, does it actually lock?

Joseph

Oh, and what is a "marketdrone" spin?

Nickolai_the_Russian_guy

what da hell?

"...I got the Omnia expert **lady** to give it a marketdrone spin for me and **his** last sentence..."

Is it a man or a woman? And what do you mean when you say:
"I even thought that I was being even more thick than usual while trying it"?

Seriously, this is a very quickly written article with the least attention to detail I've ever seen on Gizmodo.

Nickolai_the_Russian_guy

The truth is microsoft has not put anything out lately that is worth a damn so if all you microsoft fanboys want to talk smack wait till your company of choice puts something out that works as advertised windows mobile is slow and clunky I got a palm treo 800 and now I wish my company used at&t so i could get an iphone I have used both side by side and have to say the iphone wins hands down

crash1105

Interesting thing about product reviews is that they are inherently biased by the needs and expectations of the reviewer. True, a reviewer should work hard to be as free of that as possible, but pobody's nerfect. But then, Jesus, please dial down the Apple-fan-boyism a tad. Except for that minor thing, I enjoy your work. And I usually don't notice it since it isn't over the top like so many others!
@Geoff: So ignore his writings.

hnkelley

@shorty6049: by who? you?

ustna

@shorty6049: the iphone does not feel cheap and fat.

hu_hu_cool

@shorty6049: FWIW, I have a 1st generation, it runs circles around this one. But this post is not a comparison with the iPhone. This is a first 45 minutes hands-on impression on the Omnia.

Video is coming up right now.

Jesus Diaz

"poor response time, buggy software, and it felt cheap and fat on my hand."- all things said about the 3g iphone...

shorty6049

@mricyfire: Sure, biased. Which is why I've been criticizing the iPhone in two articles lately, and people have been calling me anti-Apple fanboy in the Samsung X360 hands-on (which I said felt like a better machine than the MacBook Air).

I'm not biased. I call a spade a spade, and a piece of crap and piece of crap. Based on my hands-on, the Omnia is not good. I'm talking about my experience here. Maybe I got a bad Omnia, but the Omnia girl who did the other demo said the phone was ok and only had "too many open tasks".

From those 45 minutes, the performance of the Omnia and its interface is totally unacceptable in my book. You may have lower standards, but I would take a smartphone by Sony, Nokia, RIM, HTC, or Apple any day, thank you very much.

Jesus Diaz

Really not worth reading anything Diaz writes about an iphone competitor. He is so blindingly biased towards Apple that he can't come close to writing objectively.

Geoff

@rodsky: That made me laugh, thanks.

@dgelwin: Video is coming up, so everyone can check by themselves. Compared to the iPhone, the Omnia is very bad. On its own, it's bad enough.

Jesus Diaz

Wow, what a load. I've read other reviews and followed the Omnia Thread on Howard Forums, it might have it's issues but how long are we gonna hear WinMo is slow and laggy. WinMo is stable, more stable and capable than the current iPhone OS. The truth is the hardware kicks ass and winmo is highly customizable. So even if you don't like the widget interface there are 2 other home screens to choose from as well as any other 3rd party interface you might want to download.

Jesus no seas tan pendejo

Dland

So, is this the final market version of the phone?

It didn't look too bad until it sh*t the bed towards the end of the video. I'll give it the benefit of a software update before scratching it off the list.

I'm getting the TouchPro when it drops, so until then I'm open to other phones.

DustyButt

No phone is a Jesus phone so quit saying that; the Iphone is no where near Jesus, The Iphone can not do everything period and it does have its faults like everyother man-made product so get the shit out your head of it being perfect nothing on earth is perfect. The Iphone may be the best phone but that does not make it perfect you will something that is better eventually when is the question

I have 2 iphones so dont say shit, and also dont claim something to be Jesus or to be perfect when its not get the bs out your head and just accept it how it is.

utube2007

I already avoid Jesus's writing by not reading the bible, now this.

timp123

Guys, leave Jesus alone. True, this article was a little strong, but he was writing how he felt. He spent 45 minutes with it and that was his impression. Everyone has different standards for phones, this one didn't meet up to his standards. I kinda like his fanboyism, it gives me a frame of reference. I love my iPhone, and that isn't biased. I've used a Tytn II, and I've used an N95 so Ive used both interfaces. I much prefer the iPhone to either of these. So if you don't like Jesus's writing, just don't read it.

chizelord

@Jesus Diaz He says as the phone is held up next to an iPhone in the video, and the freakin' title is "no iPhone killer". No mention of the iPhone here at all

timp123

Was she hot?

Samifumi

Wow, and from the unboxing I had such high hopes for this phone:

[geektalkstech.com]

AZTriGuy

@NotMe: "Everybody else lives for interface lag, bizarre menu schemes, and the feel of cheap crap in our hot little palms."

This has already been proven by the sale pace of the iPhone 3G. Moving on.

I'm still baffled by this touch screen craze, and the attempt to re-create the tedious overly touchy iPhone interface. I don't want to slide my fingers everywhere thanks, I would rather do things quickly.

I'll give bonus points to Jesus for not being a huge dickhead like 99.99999999999999999999999% of Gawker editors.

Sussudio

@Samifumi: She has a hot German accent and in the video she says, "you can go up and down." What else do you need to know?

OK, having had a chance to see the video finally, I can't say that it looked that slow to me, but I use a T-Mobile MDA (by HTC) and the Windows phones are slower than many others. The only issue I saw in the video was the phone crashing. At least with other Windows phones, you only have to reboot them periodically (though I haven't since my last update MONTHS ago).

hnkelley

@extremer: Good question.

DustyButt

While the the Samsung's Windows Mobile OS froze due to lack of memory what impressed me is it has Microsoft's Mobile Office installed for not just reading word, excel, etc documents but the ability to edit them too. It to bad Microsoft didn't port Mac Office for the iPhone. I'd settle even for a mobile version of Open Office. Other things missing which I would find useful is the ability to record video and copy/paste which is available on competitor smartphones.

imagine-engine

@extremer: Any next generation iPhone, i presume?

diabolusunknownTheSecond

Jesus Diaz, What is a iPhone killer according to you?

extremer

Or, we can piss off the one blogger here who didn't go on vacation and stare at the same page until after the holidays :(

robpruitt

Jesus Diaz responded to criticism. How many other writers here do that to this extent? Honestly, I think some slack is on order.

robpruitt

TBH, ive seen this phone run much better than what i saw on video. Every other review ive seen has stated this phone is very quick. You just saw a shit version that was destroyed by leaving many background tasks running.

Every review stated this phone was really nice and fast, save for the low resolution on the screen (which is a killer for me).

I wouldnt make a judgement call, Jesus, until you get your hands on a fresh version. That one clearly had issues.

Also, you hartred for the front end drag and drop interface would have been easily rectified by selecting one of the 3 other home screens available. There is a more traditional home screen. TBH, that front end screen was never that great to begin with, but the other two are fantastic.

Here it is vs. the Touch Diamond:
[www.gsmarena.com]

You just got a shit Omnia to look at, Jesus.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

I can imagine Jesus as a food critic, reviewing a premium Sushi restaurant, but eventually coming to the conclusion that the one on the Mac campus is far better, therefore everyone should avoid all other Sushi stores like the plague.

As per lag, I'll be honest. The iPhone 3G is starting to get to me, especially the delay in the keyboard and spelling errors which ensue. BB Bold is looking far more tempting, especially as a productivity device.

Zugzwang

It runs Windows Mobile, and at the end of the day, Windows Mobile is Windows Mobile. So I didn't have high hopes at all. I'm disappointed that it's so far on the awful side, but oh well. Thanks for the video.

@Jesus Diaz: But it mentions iPhone 3 times with such strong bias in the title. Come on guys. You mention iPhone in 2/3rds of your posts. Can we cut it down? I don't care if this is an iPhone killer. I care if it's a good phone. Your reputation for being so biased towards Apple and Steve Jobs is earned by things exactly like this. Or the tv's looking like giant iphones.. Or the Blackberry Bold review mentioning iPhone 12 times.

Can we tone it down?

jonathan.

I would but gizmodo doesn't put the author at the top of the article. When it comes up in my rss feed I have no idea who wrote it until after I've already read it.

Geoff

Giz seems to have be the only one so far with such a huge hate of the Omnia... most of the other mags seem okay with it.

Ypoknons

Wow, nice objective analysis of a phone. Sorry you had a bad experience Jesus, but this write-up is, in my opinion, entirely uncalled for. Way to give us the opportunity to see this sluggishness you're talking about by cropping the video every 5 seconds or so. The stretch from :40 to :50 seemed very smooth to me.

I know I'm just one person, but I'd be remiss to say I'm pretty disappointed by this review. There are more objective ways to go about expressing your opinion. This was a very low class post, an something I would expect from a 15 year old.

Halorin

@shorty6049: I had the first Gen iphone and just 2 days ago got the new 3G model, don't agree with you though cause although the new one is a bit thicker it looks and feels thinner, your right about the software being buggy, but hey windows mobile been buggy for years and looks like they're not even trying to fix issues anymore, at least Apple is trying, one more thing, although it's buggy, it's still more stable then windows mobile to me

snitch29

The new title is far more appropriate. Thanks for caring.

jonathan.

@diabolusunknownTheSecond: Doesnt matter. She is still a whore. But if that works for you...

cylonite

Love the new title

timp123

The phone does look pretty bad. And objectively speaking it looks less pleasant to use than an iPhone, unless you are the masochistic type.

Lay off the whole melodrama about Apple fanboyism or whatever. I don't think it's entirely biased to compare this to the iPhone, since a lot of Omnia's design features and marketing decisions are clearly targeted at Steve Job's favourite door stop. And it fails at it too.

DarkMirage

did you try another? might of been a bad phone

ZetaCrossfire

@Jesus Diaz: and, you making a final judgement call on this phone at a public event is like making a judgement call on a girl right after a 20 man bukake session. Let her take a shower first and clean herself up before you judge.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

The video makes the Omnia look clunky and buggy. Seems like Jesus is pretty accurate in his assessment. I'm wondering why you have to drag the widgets off the bar to use them? Can't you just tap them to make them active?

ObtuseGoose

I would bet the Omnia does not take 5-6hrs to sync. That's a plus!

Almost everything Jesus reports in this review is contradictory to almost everything I have read about this phone. Folks that have spent more than a few minutes fiddling with it seem to like it.

It's always considered a good idea to get at least three or four sources when you are reading a news story (or a review) to eliminate an "obvious" bias.

Apples and oranges never really mix either ; - )

thumper305

Had to get my frustrations out. Sovvy. :(

baandoptager

Agree... but Samsung just generally doesnt get it. They spit out phones like they were making candy, hoping the kids are hungry for more of what they just had.

Samsung sucks because they just wanna sell their shit no matter what. And firmware, fixes, support.... dude they never even heard of that stuff.

But most importantly for Iphone lookalikes. I wish it would just stop. Because the Iphone itself isnt a pretty rolemodel, its as fugly as the next Louis Vitton bag or the Dolce Gabbana buckle no. 1320. It reeks of snob design, just silver frame on the front (which theyve kept on the 3g for who knows what reasons), reminds me so much of marble table and chrome legs on coffeetables in the 90´s, or pretty burger model posters at burgerplaces. Its done... over with.

The Omnia- Was dead before it even entered. Touchwiz, Qbowl, Omnia, Soul, Instinct..... its really ridiculous.

Why wont the major companies just take the challenge seriously and just make a great phone, that looks good (or atleast simple), works (atleast welltested or tried out just once). Seriously its not that hard to kick apples ass if you really wanna. They just gotta stop imitating apples design, mistakes and mistreatment of their buyers. It can only be that hard if ones company consist of destructive idiots. Ohh shit, i think i made my point.

"Phone makers today are morrons, only difference is that Apple has artdirection".

baandoptager

I love biased arcticles, they really piss people off. I'm glad we're REALLY putting our own opinions into news articles nowadays, or maybe it's just....
I'll write my own article how about istuff won't beat Sony stuff because I said so, period. But whatever.

cowpop

Remind me never to piss off Apple people. Your a militant 3 percent of the market. You made him change the post name.

robpruitt

The iphone gets treated like a god among phones because it was innovative and kicked ass. There were other great phones when it came out, but none of them were like it. I wish companies would stop playing catchup to apple (or whoever is the farthest ahead in their field) and try to innovate on their own. That would be sweet.

iwishiwasamime

"After 45 minutes poking and getting frustrated by it, my verdict is to avoid it like the pest."

Whatever you say Grandpa!

Crow

Why is everyone jumping in Jesus's sh*t?

He had an opinion of the phone and he didn't like it. He explained why and it's his opinion. You can take it for what it is and hopefully have the common sense to check the phone out for yourself! Damn. Why would you not want to?

I prefer to give things a hands on myself. I'll listen to the opinion, but ultimately it's up to the gadget and my experience with it to lead to my final judgment.

All he said was:

"...poor interface"
I THINK TO MYSELF: I have to say that I'm not scared of an interface. I'd like to think I'm a pretty smart guy and can LEARN TO USE IT. That's where the gadget's functionality happens. Give me the ability and I'll exploit it to fulfill MY needs. Looks like I'll have to compare this to other phones I'm considering.

"...poor response time"
I THINK TO MYSELF: He used the phone for 45 minutes. Did you all expect an unedited 45 minute vid of Jesus fumbling around with the phone?

"...buggy software"
I THINK TO MYSELF: It crashed at the end so... Yep, looks like that was justified.

"...it felt cheap and fat on my hand."
I THINK TO MYSELF: Hey, that's completely his opinion... Looks like I'd better verify that with my own hands on because I have big ass hands and everything feels cheap and tiny to me.

There... Was that so hard to do?

No matter what's being reviewed there will be those who like it and those who don't. Everyone doesn't have to like the same thing (Yes, I'm looking at you, iPhone). Just keep in mind that every review ends with the same unwritten caveat...

YOUR MILAGE MAY VARY.

DustyButt

For everybody that is saying that Jesus got a bad omnia phone Samsung was showing off the phone at the show, so you would think they would have their best phone out there not a lemon. And it is totally appropriate to compare the Omnia to the Iphone since Samsung developed the phone as a direct competition to the iphone. Just my two cents.

chefsami

@cylonite: Missing the point much?

Unlike a whore, you can restart a WM phone and get it fast again. Unlike another phone, WM actually allows you to run multiple programs at the same time. If its your own phone, you tend to be good at keeping the number of programs running to a minimum. If its a "whore" phone, it just keeps adding up.

diabolusunknownTheSecond

"Criticism is prejudice made plausible." H. L. Mencken

thumper305

These videos provide a more unbiased view of how the phone performs:

+ Watch video

+ Watch video

Siouxperman

Wow, I've never seen the Omnia crash like that. But I guess that's what happens when you try to rush a device when its clearly not ready for consumers. And Jesus, I know you were just stating the truth about your first impressions of it within the 45 mins you had. People are going to call you an Apple fanboy no matter what you do. That just proves that Apple is doing great. Am I an Apple fanboy? I have an iPhone and a Dell XPS 420 with Windows Vista on it... LOL.

mr. HiDefinition

I have seen other reviews and they were not anywhere as bad. I usually go to dedicated phone review sites before making a phone decision. Gizmodo reviews really aren't comprehensive enough to make a decision; just take it as another opinion, especially a short hands-on like this. The iphone comparison is justified here, but it's quite tiring to have the obvious iphone bias all the time. Quite a horrible crash though, wonder how many applications were open in the background.

stopcrazypp

@chefsami: Exactly.

Jesus Diaz

@Siouxperman: How can my video be unbiased?

Unbiased because after 45 minutes of use the thing stopped working, period?

Unbiased because the Samsung rep explained to me that it had too many tasks open and that's why it froze?

Unbiased because it gave errors?

Unbiased because the widget user interface is re-tar-ded and gimmicky?

Unbiased because it lags a lot sometimes?

Unbiased because it feels like a flimsy, plasticy unit?

I'm just reporting what I experienced in 45 minutes, no more, no less. Condensed in that video. There are no excuses for a cellphone behaving like this in the first 45 minutes of use, specially when every single time someone touched a demo unit, the Samsung rep came by and RESETED it, then cleaned it.

So how about this: what if maybe YOUR videos are biased and trying to portrait the Omnia under a positive light?

Jesus Diaz

@aKed: You can't believe this is true for EVERY WM phone. I recently updated my Tilt to the latest WM6 rom (not 6.1) and it performs great.

Phones are like a computers. Computers will run differently depending on hardware and OS, and the OS will perform differently from computer to computer depending on what's currently running.

To say WM phones are clunky and slow is a generalization.

miro

Hrm...I read Giz a lot and Engadget, both sites got lots of Apple "Fanboy" stuff going on the past 2+ years. I don't own an iPhone, but played with both 1st gen n 3G. Wanted to get 3G, but glad I waited. From this video, it doesn't look all that biased. I'm impartial to brand, just want whatever works the best. WinMo does seem slower compared to iPhones. This particular video showed it is slower to the likes of Diamond and Touch Pro it seems. And worst, it crashed on him.

If the iPhone during its incarnation had issues such as this with a better competitor already on the market, people probably wouldn't accept the iPhone in that way either.

Bottom line, don't think he was really biased, harsh, but not biased.

gh0stb0y

So many other reviews love the Omnia even though it gets its fair share of knocks. Not sure why this particular Omnia was crashing so much, but videos from other reviews have shown the phone perform great. Jesus clearly hates WinMo phones. I thought reviewers are supposed to be unbiased? You can tell by the tone of the review that he's not even interested in looking at the phone. If you go into something with the wrong attitude, that's going to affect how you feel about what you're doing. The iPhone isn't the end-all be-all of cell phones.

miro

No one can possibly be giving jesus shit for this...anyone that has used a windows mobile phone knows that its clunky and slow. Imagine adding a bunch of frivolous extra features (widget bar, etc) to an already slow and clunky platform...it's likely gonna be even slower and clunkier. I think the only legitimate competition the iphone is gonna have will be from any upcoming android phones like the dream(although definitely not in the looks department..the dream is ugglly).

aKed

That stylus is definitely what's cool in 2008!

theogcasey

@miro:
fair enough, maybe not all...i havent used all WM phones. But the ones i've used have been slower than most phones.

aKed

It's not out yet. Maybe you could e-mail the samsung designers Jesus and notify them of the problems you encountered. Then maybe they will get fixed. Just saying, you have some power, why not use it?

MosesMonster

*which

takashimiike Ultimate

@Jesus Diaz: Thanks man. I understand what you went through in those 45 minutes. It's sort of like that cranky windows dude that had a bad experiance with the iPhone 3G, with prevented him from switching to a mac.

takashimiike Ultimate

"Samsung Omnia isn't Going to kill iAnything" ... I think it is!... itself and the instinct :-)

xoticlad

@stopcrazypp: I totally agree !00% percent with you on this! Was this really a review people? I think Jesus meant the article more as a "hands on", I mean, how can anyone be expected to review any gizmo in 45 mins?... Go to GSM Arena or Mobile Burn if you want a REAL review on any phone in the future. This was just purely a opinion piece by Jesus, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Ambiguous Blob 2.0

As an owner of an ipod touch, the thing crashes a lot.

techni

"Unbiased because the Samsung rep explained to me that it had too many tasks open and that's why it froze?"

Better than iPhone's ability to do one and only one task at a time.

I'm sorry but this, like most other articles on this site and all her sister sites (engadget/joystiq) reeks of fanboyism. Maybe it's time they fire EVERYONE and get people who can actually do the job.

techni

@Geoff: I don't think you can say bias when you have the video proof.

VakeroRokero

@xoticlad: Oh snap, but neither really need any help.

The Magnificen7

It's so true. I've tried a bunch of other touchscreen phones, but I'll keep coming back to the iPhone because the interface is so damn intuitive. The iPhone isn't perfect, but it still dazzles people I show when I can simply flick and scroll. They love it, and so do I. It's good to have this kind of competition though, it should help keep Apple on their toes.

The Magnificen7

what do alot of the commenters here think bias actually is?
saying that you think one thing is better than the other is not biased if you've used all the products in question (in this case an iphone and an omnia) would it be called bias if they said that the omnia were better than the iphone? i doubt it

mr_bigglesworth

@Jesus Diaz:

@Jesus Diaz:

I'm not saying that's not your experience with the phone at the IFA. But if you did your job, you'd have done some research and noticed that around the middle of the month Samsung released a ROM update that makes the Omnia run even better than it already did at release. Videos I've seen of the phone before and after the ROM update were night and day different than what you're trying to claim here which says to me:

For whatever reason, Samsung had some garbage Omnias at the IFA because the vast majority of other video evidence is entirely different than your assessment, and if you had done that kind of research, I believe it would have/should have been evidenced in your post.

But there's nothing like that in there. I'm just one reader of thousands to this website, but this posts says that I should take anything you say with a grain of salt, because if you make a conclusion to avoid a phone like the pest over one bad experience without researching to conduct a proper review and analysis, then I don't have much interest in what you have to say.

Halorin

@Jesus Diaz: I know what you are saying but I didn't actually get the feeling that either of the videos I posted had bias but with your video it was edited and shortened and seemed to only point out the Omnia's bad features like making it look stupid when it froze up. If it froze up every time you used it that is one thing but you said you spent 45 minutes with it so you obviously could've used other video? It didn't seem like the Samsung rep was very comfortable with the phone either?

What I like about the pocketnow.com video vs the one you posted is that it was obvious the guy talking understands the phones features and how to use them. One interesting feature that wasn't even mentioned in your video was the touchpad mouse feature on the Omnia. This is a pretty cool feature but if I relied on your review and video I wouldn't even know this feature existed.

Maybe if the Samsung rep you were talking to was better versed on the Omnia your experience may have been different. This isn't your fault.

Siouxperman

I agree by the video posted and even the other ones of the Omnia that it is slow by comparison to other touchscreen alternatives. But with that said I think people me included are trying to find articles that are in depth and focus on the phone at hand instead of off the bat slamming it before even explaining anything.

Foodstamp

@ustna: no, by a reviewer on either here or engadget. I just remembered one writer say that it admittedly felt cheaper because it was plastic instead of metal now, someone else said it was buggy, and MANY people have complained about the slow keyboard responce.

I'm not saying that the Omnia is any good, but it just seems like if its apple, people are more forgiving...

shorty6049

@MrHaroHaro: The Instinct is doing really well on Sprint, it's their best selling phone ever. This phone isn't on Sprint. Samsung isn't really the one trying to fight Apple and the iPhone (or else they'd just make 1 touch phone and market the hell out of it), Sprint is the one trying to steal iPhone pie. Samsung will be happy if these sell as much as other popular phones. It doesn't have to sell as well as the iPhone or Instinct to be a success for them.

jonathan.

xoticlad brought up an interesting point in the Instinct. How are they (Samsung) hoping to compete with the iPhone when they have two similar phones with two different OSs essentially competing for the same market and mindshare as the iPhone? Part of me thinks they should focus on one touch screen phone and really put a lot of effort into it to top the iPhone.
As to Jesus' supposed bias, I can take up issue with his critics on a number of points. On one hand, you really can't look at the Omnia and most other touchscreen phones (well the ones that use the touch screen as their main gimmick, I mean, input method) and not compare them to an iPhone. As much as you may not want to admit it, the iPhone has brought that interface to the forefront of the industry and in the minds of consumers. On another note, we can't really accept this idea of an unbiased comparison to the iPhone. It seems you either love it or hate it, and that can include Jesus' love for it and the possible hate for it by other reviewers.
Also, how can most people who've only read the specs on the damned thing know that Jesus is just having a bias view on it? He used it for 45-minutes, 45 minutes more than most of his critics had with the phone, and it crapped out on him and felt cheap to top it off. Specs are one thing but look, feel and the user interface are just as important than what it says on the manual and I think this was the point of Jesus review.

MrHaroHaro

That was ... sad.

Rain-man

@Halorin: Are you serious or just babbling words because you don't have anything else to do?

This Omnia was at SAMSUNG BOOTH at the biggest consumer electronic show IN THE PLANET. What the hell are you talking about not doing research? This phone had the latest EVERYTHING, and had a person in charge of taking care of it, resetting it after every single person used it. I took the phone, tried it, it was slow, it was buggy, it felt bad, it felt cheap, and to finish it off crapped on this person after 45 minutes of use.

How many other ways do you want me to say this? There is no excuse or apologies for a phone to behave this badly at its own manufacturer booth in the biggest electronics fair of the year. Period.

Jesus Diaz

@Jesus Diaz: From what I can see of the video I'm not terribly impressed either.

I don't know why everyone is piling up on ya man.

strider_mt2k

@mricyfire: Did you even watch the video?

Pablos102030

I have the 16gb Omnia with another 8gb micro sdhc card and I have not found it slow or buggy or even hard to get around. It has thing the iPhone will never have like a 5mp camera bluetooth that works for more then just a head set. More programs that you need. It bet the instinct hands down, now that slow and buggy!!!

deadphotomac

@Jesus Diaz: not an iphone comparison? it's in your damn title!, i use to enjoy Giz until it became the iphone shrine. every single phone review here has become very biased.

Im not for any particular manufacture, but pretty much every single review has brought up Apple in some way shape or form, and I hardly ever hear anything good about the phone (too busy looking at the app store I guess), I hardly take anything this site has to say about phones seriously anymore. Even engadget seems a little more fair and they seem very anti-apple.

I won't argue that you had a bad experience with the phone, but this is in no way a review in any way. It's a bashing, and that's the fate of everyone phone in this site that isn't an iPhone

PilotHead

Wow, crankypants thread here.

first of all, the Samsung people themselves have made the comparison to the iphone. Second of all, both JD and I agree that you don't have to make a comparison to an iPhone every single time you mention another phone.

And this isn't a review, it's a few minutes spent with a phone at a trade show. Take it or leave it, and if you feel that strongly, maybe you want to buy this phone and email us a review. I can't promise I'll run it, but I'll read it.

Brian Lam

@Jesus Diaz:

I'm quite serious. I'm not saying that Samsung dropped a major ball having the Omnia in that state at a convention as big as it is. What I'm saying is that a statement like saying not to touch an Omnia in a million years with a 2 minute video from 45 minutes that is cropped so much that nothing can really be discerned from it. Especially in the face of the myriad of ther reputable websites and video footage on the internet that have positive things to say about it.

You're in the significant minority is all I'm saying.

Halorin

@Pablos102030:

video wasnt up at time of post...look at the time Jesus said the video was up and then look at the time of my post...my post 10:24am his post starting with FWIW was at 11:15am.

so you sir can just hop off my dick. thank you.

mricyfire

LEAVE JESUS ALONE!!!!

(Im sorry, I had to.)

SomeoneUKno

@DustyButt:

Why is everyone jumping in Jesus's sh*t?

Step666

same ol' windows mobile

superduperadam

Kill the comment system, just post opinions/reviews & everyone can take it for what it is and like it or not, all Gizmodo is turning into is just a huge flame war blog. LAME! Not fun anymore!

Some_F-in-ShiT_Ass

Giz sucks and is full of whiny bitches!!!! Shutup already, it's personal preference....your egos are WAY over-inflated!!!

Engadget Rules!!!!

Some_F-in-ShiT_Ass

@Jesus Diaz:
the biggest consumer electronic show IN THE PLANET?
CES anyone???

k2001

@Brian Lam: Sorry for the double post, but thanks Lam, the voice of reason. Sometimes they get a little riled up. Just need an extra dose of common sense.

The Magnificen7

Guys, for the iPhone's faults, it is probably still the best phone on the planet. That means a lot of things. Jesus' post made some good points, and the Omnia looks bad. He's allowed to compare it to the current 'king' of cell phones. This was a usability video, and it showed that the iPhone absolutely smokes the Omnia.

The Magnificen7

Windows Mobile sux. I wonder if symbian is ever going to achieve the iphone UI.

ProSeven

So, why is everyone yelling at Jesus? After watching a variety of videos of the device, I'm not seeing the good everyone else seems to see. It looks to me like Jesus' impression, although bad, isn't... too far off from the truth. The thing looks clunky, the way you drag things off the widget bar and on to the area looks sloppy, and the menus look unfriendly and plain. The touch mouse thing looks like an interesting idea, although the surface area looks pretty small. Just from my impressions from videos, the thing looks really, really poorly designed and clunky- not something I'd want to try navigating at a moment's notice.

And don't try to go out calling me an Apple fanboy or some crap. I don't own an iAnything, as Jesus puts it. This just looks poorly designed. It looks like someone tried to take an entire PC interface and cram it on to a phone.

Also, wasn't Jesus the one who JUST did this kind of harsh article about the iPhone's password security flaw? I'm not sure where you people are all seeing this fanboyism. It seems like to me that he's just pointing out all the flaws in everything, regardless of what corporation makes it. Get off his back about things that aren't there to begin with.

TehGwan

From the look of the Video I'd say he was right in his criticism. Some people just don't to believe that it's not an iPhone killer. Get over it and enjoy the holiday weekend.

paja

@The Magnificen7:

Guys, for the iPhone's faults, it is probably still the best phone on the planet.

Step666

I'll take a subjective review any day over so-called "objective" reviews that never say anything bad about products. 90% of everything is crap, right?

fpn1010

@Step666: Usability, interface, cool factor, advanced technologies, easy to use etc. I know it doesn't have everything, but it's pretty damn good.

The Magnificen7

@utube2007:

Amen, bunch of whiny dickheads here anymore, I wish they'd kill the comment system and have it just a blog to read only and take it for what it's worth, people will argue everything!!!!!

Some_F-in-ShiT_Ass

@The Magnificen7: four out of your five points are highly subjective and the fifth one is an area where the iPhone lags behind a number of other handsets, so I fail to see quite how it can be declared the best phone in the world.

Step666

It's Windows Mobile, what do you expect? The only thing that makes it worse is that they tried to adapt it for a touch interface. It's bad enough with buttons.

videoCWK

Any windows mobile OS user/owner who is intellectually honest will realize it is a steaming pile of doo compared to the other smartphone OS's out there. It just plain does NOT work correctly, the problem is with the OS itself, not the hardware running it. The build quality of the samsung phones is second to none in my opinion. I have owned the samsung i730 and i760 and loved those phones just cause the hardware is so damn good. But at the end of the day, the OS needs to be good too and WinMo is sadly still light years behind the other vendors in terms of stability and ease of use.

In the case of this review, there is not much to review regarding the hardware because there are not many hard buttons to talk about.

People please start posting something useful other than bashing the messenger.

mrbelvedr

Ok Jesus heres the problem, you were using a crapped up demo version that had been man-handled by a lot of people.
Every pro phone review site has given it top marks, my father-in-law just got one and it suffers from none of the problems you describe.

"Samsung designers should learn that a telephone is not a desktop computer, and replicating the Mac OS X Dashboard doesn't work in a tiny screen at all."

HAHAHA you silly fanboy ! it is actually a copy of Vista's sidebar and before you interupt DASHBOARD RIPPED OFF KONFABULATOR (now Yahoo Widgets)
When will mactards learn apple steals easily as much as it "innovates"

Fourthletter

@k2001, FYI, the IFA is the largest consumer electronics show in the world, almost twice as big as the CES. And yes, I've also seen the Omnia live and up close; yes, I own a 3G iPhone and had it with me and compared the two side by side, and yes, the Omnia is NO iPhone killer, at least from a UI standpoint. That is not so-called fanboy-ism; that is a fact. Sorry if you guys can't take that, but it's the truth. Jesus' analysis is spot on. Deal with it.

OprahMacula

More like samsung enema...(chirp,chirp,chirp)

SirNirian

Wow apparently this is the hate thread!

I don't see why people are piling up on this post. Obviously it is intended to be minor and expose the reviewer's first thoughts on the Omnia.

Facts: he used to phone for a rather nice amount of time (45 minutes!) and it felt lame and slow.

How is that hard to believe? Windows Mobile 6.1 is just plain bad to begin with. If that was not true, manufacturers would not try to hide it behind awkward interfaces (TouchFlo, Xperia's tiles, the Omnia's vista style sidebar).
WinMo is a nightmare for anyone that isn't a geek: its slow, its ugly, complicated, unreliable and while the media functions can be augmented they are usually badly implemented with abysmal sound quality (though the Omnia is not that bad).

The iPhone is not only a Fanboy phenomenon. It is the first phone that is easily used to its full potential by people. Not because it has the most features, but because its well thought. I mean, look at the other devices out there: the Instinct's interface is pretty good too, and Android seems promising in this regard. However the Omnia's interface, is clearly not well thought out.

@Fourthletter: yes the Omnia's home screen is a copy of Vista's sidebar, inspired by the Dashboard which is a copy of Konfabulator. How the hell is that a good thing? Vista's sidebar is one of the crappiest features of the OS. Why should anyone copy that?

Also, Jesus Diaz has been here a long time. I'm pretty sure he knows that Dashboard ripped off Konfabulator. Except today everyone knows what is Dashboard, and most don't know Yahoo Widgets.

Turbostraw

These crappy gimicking touch screen phones have to be compared to the iPhone because that's what they're make to compete against. All these companies make decent smart phones that aren't touch screen centric, and their quick half assed attempted at touch screen focused phones is really pissing me off. These companies should stick to what they can do best until they have enough R&D put into making a more competitive touch screen phone. This is what, the 4th crappy touch screen phone Samsung has come up with since the iPhone release?

bobvilla

@robpruitt: You said it man, nobody f**x with the Jesus.

dlhuss

I know Jesus is a fanboy, but damn why is it every single post he makes you stalkers come out the wood work and attack him. One thing I enjoy about giz is the comments in the respect that if you are wondering how something works in detail there is usually a guy that has expertise and can give some clarity.

However this is just ridiculous, if any of you were awake in High school government then you would know that any journalist or media does have a specific bias. For example, The news you generally watch has a liberal biased. Jesus's article isnt the only place to get a review on a product as someone pointed out earlier, so if your tired of his fan boy attitude then don't read his reviews just google the product and look it up else where. Sorry for the ranting, but this just started to get really irritating and childish.

Alex2643

OTOH, have you ever been to any Apple store and handled a display iPhone? Those things have been messed around with so much that half of them are frozen. The Omnia may not run on the most stable platform, but in everyday use, it's not handled by 60 people/hour, each of whom try to open as many apps as possible and use it to try calling their friends.

ventivent

@Alex2643: "I know Jesus is a fanboy, but damn why is it every single post he makes you stalkers come out the wood work and attack him." So true, and SO SO SO funny. LMAO!

Ambiguous Blob 2.0

@gamecrazychris: They did good with the instinct.
I dont understand they want to get more done on worse hardware. If they finally got the atom to work in a phone and it have decent battery life or atleast enough to last all day when being used not too much but not too little then they'd have a winner on their hands. They also need more ram into these phones. Then they can start thinking about making phones more like desktop's and even then they shouldn't have a fully functional OS on a phone because it'll bring too many problems.

SneakerFiend

You can't make an iPhone killer with Windows mobile. WM is crap.

hagrun

lets be frank about all this, obviously there was something wrong with that phone. I am with at&t and I've checked the iphone a million times and still find it hard to believe that apple would produce such an expensive phone with so little features, yes its smooth but no video recording, stereo bluetooth no, mms no, flash on browser no. one question would you buy a beautiful watch that doesn't tell time? I like its smoothness but I think the omnia is a little better because it gives you all you want. Check out reviews on youtube and tell me you don't like it.

rtimi

WOW. How didn't you not catch this Jesus?

The girl in the video is using a Stylus. If I am not mistaken the Omnia uses a capactive touch screen like the iphone. A capactive touch screen reacts to the warmth of your hand. The Omnia has not slot for a stylus. Even though Samsung includes one with the handset, which is weird.

Y.O.D.A.

jesus is right from top to bottom, samsung omnia sgh i900 is a toy mobile phone & a copycat.

alexramezees

which is better? iphone or N96?

alexramezees

the big difference;
iphone = 2 mega pixel
N96 = 5 mega pixel
iphone = no video call
N96 = with video call
iphone = touch screen
n96 = keypad
iphone = activated by single network company
N96 = you can use it in a diffferent network by switching your sim card from another sim card (unmonopolized networking)
iphone = no kick stand
n96 = with kick stand
iphone = no dual led flash & video flash
N96 = with dual led-flash & video light
iphone = no FM internet radio
N96 = with FM stereo or internet radio
iphone = not DBH - TV
N96 = with TV tuner DBH
iphone = no file data transfer via bluetooth
n96 = you can transfer file data to your PC and mobile phones
iphone = no 3D stereo speakers
n96 = with 3D speakers
exception: itune, nokia music, symbian, mac, ovi

alexramezees

First, as long as I have been following Giz, I have never seen a flurry of comments so fast like I have for this review.

Jesus did his REAL job. He has user participation furiously hacking away. Maybe he is becoming the Howard Stern of Giz... hate 'em, but he gets ratings.

On to the review, I am a Samsung Fanboy. NONE OF YOU CAN COME CLOSE. I have a 46" Samsung DLP, 42" Samsung LCD, 20" LCD... and are you ready??? A Samsung REFRIGERATOR, DISHWASHER, MICROWAVE, STOVE, WASHER, AND DRYER.

I have played with the Omnia... it comes up short. SORRY. I'm sure it will get polished though.

bornfreeid

You guys need to stop complaing about the iphone comparison. Like it or not the iPhone is a very popular phone that is a becoming a standard of the phone market. It has a responsive interface and many positive features, it may have its faults but its a good phone. When something makes money people want to get on the money train which is why we have all these new phones with touch screens and such. So just get over it. Apple made a phone that became popular your gonna hear about it. Grow up

Malink

This samsung isn't going to kill iphone because it's already dead, htc touch diamond killed it last month.

Actually, what i see in this movie is pretty normal, happens in iphone too, plus security and long sync problems.

Comparing the iphone, which is a simple 3g phone, with a samsung, which is a PDA a.k.a. pocketpc doesn't make any sense!

Wake up and see the reality, stop talking about iphone: it's to bad!

andrediaslopes

This samsung isn't going to kill iphone because it's already dead, htc touch diamond killed it last month.

Actually, what i see in this movie is pretty normal, happens in iphone too, plus security and long sync problems.

Comparing the iphone, which is a simple 3g phone, with a samsung, whick is a PDA a.k.a. pocketpc doesn't make any sense!

Wake up and see the reality, stop talking about iphone: it's to bad!

andrediaslopes

while i am a BB fanboy and tend to look at devices from the enterprise level, the iphone is the best consumer device in the market.
the thing is, giz' authors often pit apple vs _____ every chance they get... even when it wasnt warranted by the OEM.
maybe that increases hits/posts/profitability of the site, but i think it has gotten out of hand.
now i respect that articles will be written with some subjectivity, but the onus is on the writer to write with objectivity as much as possible. call a spade a spade yes, not "the worst spade ever", there is a difference. its kinda like being a moviestar and always complaining about paparazzi.
giz authors you now write for public view... you are not in kansas anymore.

all in all a good review sans the iphone stuff. if you have a device tete a tete, then create that article.

no offense to the author though, first impressions do last.

keysereble

You did a good review Jesus, don't worry about these clowns.

"The Good: It has Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, if that's your thing."

I didn't see that as biased, a lot of people use different mobile OS's

When a phone crashes during a demo, I wouldn't take that as a good sign either.

mynameisjoe

JesusPhone Diaz says: "I'm just reporting what I experienced in 45 minutes . . . specially when every single time someone touched a demo unit, the Samsung rep came by and RESETED it, then cleaned it."

What is RESETED?

Rustydog

Perhaps Windows M 7 will make it better?

Imakeholesinu

"It has a poor interface, poor response time, buggy software, and it felt cheap and fat on my hand."

So what's the difference?

Barth

@mricyfire: Oh no you instulted there review! Are you banned? That's what happened to me!

DJTripleRRR