Samsung Announces i900 Omnia, Picks a Horrible Day

Look! Look! Apple announced the new iPhone ahead of schedule! Huh? Wait a minute, is that a decent camera? Ok ok, that’s not an iPhone at all. Samsung appears to be doing their best imitation of the dumb kid that used to copy all of your test answers over your shoulder back in elementary school. Remember what happened to that kid when he got caught? Samsung won’t have to stand in any corners but we’ll venture a guess that sales figures well under target will be punishment enough. The handset itself is very solid but it will undoubtedly be overshadowed a bit. Timing, as they say, is everything. Specs:

• 3.2-inch 240 x 400 WQBGA display
• Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz)
• 7.2Mbps HSDPA (presumably not US), EDGE, WiFi
• Samsung TouchWiz UI over Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
  
• 5 megapixel CMOS camera with auto-focus, face and smile detection, geotagging and panorama mode
• Integrated accelerometer
• FM Radio
  
• 8 GB and 16 GB versions
  

Pricing will be in the $600 – $700 range when the i900 Omnia launches next week, initially in the Asian market. It will then go on sale in Europe next month. The Omnia looks sweet and certainly seems to pack specs to match but two hours from now, all eyes will be elsewhere. Hey, it was fun while it lasted.

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Tags: handset, launch, Omnia, Professional, Samsung, Windows Mobile 6.1

Zach Epstein