But the Samsung Omnia II is a heavyweight when it comes to functionality & customisation
GOOD things come in big packages. And it’s even better if it weighs less than it looks.
By Tan Mae Lynn
24 September 2009

GOOD things come in big packages. And it’s even better if it weighs less than it looks.

That’s the Samsung Omnia II.

Although it measures 118mm by 60mm and is 11.9mm thick, this device weighs just 129g. This is slightly lighter than the iPhone.

Except to keep it light, the phone has a plastic glossy finish. The plastic look and feel cheapens the Omnia II somewhat.

The phone runs on Windows Mobile 6.1, but most of the time, you can’t really tell. That’s because the Samsung user interface hides most of the traditional Windows look.

As with most smartphones, you can customise the homescreen and add widgets for your most commonly used applications.

A widget menu sits on the side of the screen, and you can add or replace widget apps by clicking and dragging it.

Alternatively, when you press the hexagon button at the bottom centre of the handset, you’ll get to a programme launcher listed by icons.

The four main categories are productivity, multimedia, Internet and office.

A variety of applications are housed here, and you can also customise the screens.

Cube

At the bottom of the programme launcher screen, hit on ‘Cube’ and a 3D cube appears on screen with each side being a shortcut to an application.

But I don’t really see the need for it, especially since the cube doesn’t always respond accurately to the touch. (Although, this could be peculiar to the review unit.)

Which brings me to the touchscreen factor of the Omnia II.

I felt that the screen responded more to the fingertips than to the touch.

Perhaps that why the handset comes with a stylus, but you’ll have to carry that separately as there’s no place to store the stylus on the handset.

Despite a respectable 800mhz processor, I found the Omnia II a tad slow to start up when you turned the screen on. Running applications was fine for the most part.

All in, the Samsung Omnia II is a respectable smartphone. It comes ‘fully-loaded’, giving users all the functions expected of a smartphone in this class, plus many customisation options for accessing these functions, which is important in a market that demands instant gratification.

The Samsung Omnia II comes with a price tag of $898.