Samsung SGH I900 OMNIA

The first five megapixel Windows Mobile cameraphone has inspired quite a following.

Key features:

* Quad-band GSM support
* 3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
* Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS
* 624MHz Marvell PXA312 CPU and 128 MB RAM
* 3.2" 65K-color touchscreen with resolution of 240 x 400 pixels
* 5 megapixel autofocus camera with wide dynamic range mode, face tracking, smile detection, geotagging
* 8 to 16 GB of storage memory, microSD expansion
* Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS
* Wi-Fi
* Stereo Bluetooth and USB connectivity
* FM radio with RDS
* Optical joystick with virtual mouse functionality
* Built-in accelerometer for auto screen rotation and call muting
* TV-out
* Solid build and great finish
* Slick design and slim body
* Nice battery life
* Fast response and performance
* Excellent thumb-optimized software package
* Thumbable virtual QWERTY keyboard with optional landscape mode
* TouchWiz UI
* DivX video support right out of the box
* Above average audio quality
* Headset comes with a 3.5mm audio jack

Main disadvantages:

* No stylus slot
* Poor sunlight legibility
* Memory card not hot-swappable
* Non-standard display resolution
* No dedicated 3D accelerator
* Non-standard USB port
* Web browser lacks real Flash support

Everything about the device speaks "high-tech" - from the innovative touch interface through the rich connectivity and multimedia capabilities to the exclusive hardware characteristics such as the optical touchpad or the 5 megapixel camera.

It's probably the first time that a Windows Mobile PocketPC turns out as a fully-fledged multimedia device. Samsung have made sure that the i900 Omnia is equally fit for both business and entertainment.

Of course there are a few downers - some things are not up to the expected high standards (such as the sunlight legibility of display) while other stuff will benefit from some tweaking or software updating (such as the camera performance and the Flash support).

But overall the Samsung Omnia is a well-balanced product that seems in for some major success on the market. We think that "balanced" is the key word here as the major competitors - the HTC Touch Diamond and the iPhone 3G - seem to offer more in some respects but severely fall behind in others.

The Samsung i900 Omnia is also a good value for money as this kind of cash would hardly buy you a more complete feature pack than that.