Samsung Omnia II (aka Omnia2) Rated 3.75 out of 5 by Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews
The Samsung Omnia II is a Windows Mobile 6.5-powered smartphone, packed with software, GPS, Wi-Fi and a brilliantly gorgeous AMOLED display. But sometimes a relationship with a beauty can get complicated and then becomes frustrating.
Reviewers all raved about the display. Most thought the multimedia functions such as audio, radio and video were good to excellent. Battery life and call quality are good. The processor and hardware speeds were very well-rated. The camera and video work well.
However, in order to get all that power under one roof, the Samsung Omnia II gained weight making it bulky with one reviewer calling it a chubster and fatty.
The new Swype touchscreen keyboard with auto-typing of words was loved by some reviewers while others took time to learn it.
Although, the Samsung Omnia II comes with a lot of software, it became overwhelming and frustrating for many of the reviewers. The voice commands and ability to record FM radio as MP3 are nice features. The Opera browser is great. The email functionality was not easy for one reviewer who suggested the Omnia II not be used for people who are addicted to email.
The Samsung Omnia II is the kind of the smatrphone that will work for some and be overwhelming for others. If you love beauty and power, don't get overloaded by lots of bells and whistles, then Samsung Omnia II could become your next BFF.
The Samsung Omnia II is available from Verizon for $199 with a contract after mail-in rebate. If you don't want to wait for the mail-in rebate use the Wireless and Mobile News' coupon-link for Instant Phone Rebate Only Available with Online Purchase.
Bonnie Cha at CNET rated the Samsung Omnia II 4 out 5 for its AMOLED screen, TouchWiz, and excellent multimedia features. She didn’t like its bulkiness, sluggishness and the new Swype touch keyboard. The TouchWiz interface makes this Windows Mobile 6.5 phone easier to use. The display is gorgeous and has a sharper brighter brighter picture. The stylus is on the right spine. The Swype keyboard works by dragging your fingers across the board and auto-type suggestions appear. It amazingly came up with the right words. SWYPE claims users can type 30 words per minute with their technology. It comes with My Phone backup service, Internet Explorer Mobile and Microsot Mobile Suite. She recommends Opera over IE for browsing. Multimedia worked well with many formats with stunning video and it has an FM Radio. The Samsung communities app accesses Facebook, MySpace, Flickr and Photobucket. Photo quality and spearker phone were decent.
Sascha Segan at PCMag.com rated the Samsung Omnia II 3 out 5 for bloated frustrating overwhelming software, chunkiness and unattractive maroon plastic body. The AMOLED display is bright and beautiful but since it is resistive, it takes force to press. The processor runs Windows Mobile quickly. The best software is the Opera browser and the FM radio lets you record radio to play as MP3s. They Swype is brilliant but requires training and for non-auto type words is frustrating. Call quality was excellent. The media was excellent when it didn’t crash. The Samsung Omnia II may be bearable for a super-geek or Windows fanatic but her prefers the Droid Eris which is cheaper.
Eric M. Zeman at Phone Scoop called the Samsung Omnia II a chubster and fatty that weighs a ton. It’s put together well and mostly works. The screen is spectacular and call quality was good. It has five pages of applications. The camera works well and takes good photos and videos. The web browsing was decent. With all the extra software it could be “too much bang for some.”
Ed Hardy at Brighthand called the Samsung Omnia II “sexy” and the screen gorgeous. He ws pleasantly surprised with Swype typing. Performance was nice and fast. Call quality was O.K. Voice recognition worked well and was a joy to use. The Opera browser worked great. Email was frustrating and he couldn’t read full emails or search easily. It produced really good quality photos and videos. Battery was a stand-out.He did find the menu system confusing.