indyjones

Hi all,

I am now an owner of a shiny new windows mobile device; this is the Samsung Omnia i900. This device is fully loaded:

• WM6.1 Professional
• 5mp camera with flash
• A-GPS
• Bluetooth
• Wifi
• 3G
• 8 gig internal memory (with a free mico sd card to take another 16gig!)
• Accelerometer
• Automatic dimmer (for screen)
• Optical mouse
• Long battery life
• Quick processor
• Plenty of memory
• WQVGA screen -
• Heptactic feedback (emulates a tactile feed back on keyboard ext)

Now the phone is really nice, BUT I am having second thoughts. Firstly I am still not that keen on having to have a contract to have the phone (cheapest way), secondly I still feel that WM is stylus based and in my opinion a stylus is not ideal for a phone.
The other problem is that it does not do that much more than my PDA, yes the GPS is built in and yes it’s nice to have an all in one but am I just after a new gadget?

So do I

• Return the phone and cancel my contract (I think I can under my 14 days ‘cool – off’ period (it would be nice if somebody could confirm that is true with Vodafone) – I would then wait to see what WM7 and Android brings to the table
• Or do I try and embrace a WM smartphone and use different apps to cover the parts of the interface that is dated (with programs such as the excellent SPB mobile shell)

Sorry for the long post, can’t make my mind up and its annoying me now. Your opinions will be much appreciated

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madmatt

You don't need to have a contract to use a phone. Swap the SIM and be happy. I have two HTC branded phones that I use on AT&T. I did not purchase these phones through AT&T. I just swap the SIM when I want to use the other one.

Give the touch interface a shot. I didn't think I would like it either, but I bought the Touch Dual to see if I would like it before moving onto the Touch Diamond (not available in a US flavor yet). It is easy to use.

It shouldn't be about a dated appearance, it should be more about functionality. WM might have a dated interface, but it is functional. Tried, tested, and true.

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fitz

the omnia is a very nice WM phone - almost on par with the HTC devices. If they had a version that worked on the US 3G network, I would be looking very hard and picking one up for myself.

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indyjones

madmatt,
I got the phone on contract (cheapest way) but I do not intend to use that contract (it's unlocked) I will either use it with my work contract or my pay as you go card. (the contract can be used by my partner and she offered to pay towards that which basically means I get the phone for the cheapest possible price).
I am an experianced WM user as I have an HP IPAQ so its nothing new there I am just struggling a bit without a physical keyboard and that WM is designed for a stylus which I would prefer not to use.

Fitz
I have used a few htc devices before and they are always nice and solidly built, and they really have thought about the design and interface on the latest models. I did choose the omnia of the diomond touch due to the much larger (and expanable mem) plus it had a better camera etc. As for 3G its a rom limitation apparently not hardware so there may shortly be a solution.

Thank you both for your input, it is certainly food for thought.
Keep the opionions coming

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indyjones

Hmmmm spent some time 'playing' with it this evening and getting frustrated now, the wifi does not seem to work properly and I can not get the gps to work either. I think i will have to try a hard-reset tomorrow if that does not work then its going back ....

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indyjones

Well tried tomtom, googlemaps, and also the built in "geo-tagging" it appears along with a flaky wifi connect (as in it drops to nothing) GPS does not work at all. Looks like unless a hard reset magically makes it all just work it will be going back tomorrow. I guess the question is do I get a replacement or not......

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indyjones

Well its going back today due to the gps and wifi issues, will pick another up if I can. Will then give the new one a couple of days and see how I get on....

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