Samsung has decided to go head-to-head with HTC and its HTC HD2 smartphone by launching its Windows Mobile 6.5 device at the same time. What’s more, the 3.7-inch screen comes with a skin over the base OS in the same way as the HD2. So, check out our Samsung Omnia 2 review and find out whether it lives up to expectations…
The first time you pick up the Samsung Omnia 2 you’ll be forgiven for thinking that the handset is treading water. After all, it takes many of its design cues from the Samsung Jet, with its AMOLED touchscreen, 3G and Wi-Fi combo and even the ‘Cube’ centre button.
Sure, the screen is now bigger and pictures and video look better than ever. However, the screen isn’t as responsive as we would have liked and you’ll find yourself having to give the screen a solid poke at times to get it to respond.
Samsung thought it had played clever by placing the TouchWhiz 2.0 interface on top of the Mobile Windows 6.5 OS. After all, everyone who has owned a Samsung phone will naturally want to gravitate towards it. Sadly, this is not the case as we found it slow to respond and a little more than confusing to get to grips with.
The only benefit of opting for the current interface on the Samsung Omnia 2 is that there are now a whole host of widgets and apps you can download and getting the Omni 2 to work the way you want it to. Even then we found it something of a chore to get the best from it.
There are decent features on offer. Support for DivX playback is a good addition – something we’d like to see more of – and the 5-Megapixel camera is reasonable quality.
Verdict
Overall, the Samsung Omnia 2 isn’t really the smartphone we were hoping it would be. Sure, it makes the most of the Windows Mobile OS but the Samsung interface is simply the wrong fit to make it work seamlessly. Then there is the less than responsive screen, which makes moving around something of a chore.
Best features
Big screen
Nice build quality
Windows Mobile 6.5
Not so good
Poor interface
Sluggish screen
Poor battery life
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