Verizon drops Omnia to $199, hopes you'll pay attention now
By Tim Stevens 
posted December 1st 2008 9:24AM
posted December 1st 2008 9:24AM
posted December 1st 2008 9:24AM
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Makes sense to drop the price.
Question for everyone. I'm up for a new phone in January on Verizon. Omnia, Touch Pro or Storm? I'm leaning Touch Pro.
Touch pro is getting bad reviews here in the uk. I'd think about getting the storm. Or may be look further there are better phones out there for a reasonable price.
I am loving my Storm. I would definitely consider one if I were you. Don't get one if picture taking is a must. Your target will grow old waiting for the camera to snap.
I seriously thought that said obama.
Touch Pro if you want a physical keyboard... Omnia if you don't mind touch keyboard.
I honestly advice you to buy the Omnia, the thing is incredibly amazing, in every way possible! I keep smiling ever single day I use this phone and find out something new; it is what every smartphone seeker must have.
By the way, Omnia in Latin means: "Everything", and in Arabic it means: "Wish".
Omnia is everything you wish for in a mobile device.
I think most of those phone have reviewed pretty poorly.
I have the Storm and I'm extremely disappionted with it. Most people have already read the laundry list of complaints about the phone and I'm not going to repeat them. I'm sure if I did, there would be another person saying they're not expriencing any of those problems.
I really like the Verizon network, but this years batch of phones hasn't been that stellar. Hopefully in Februray they'll announce some kind of Android phone that has WiFi unlike the Storm.
I was choosing between HTC Touch, Omnia and iPhone (and considered Storm) this Black Friday and this is my short review:
Touch Pro Pros:
+Accelerometer and Tilt sensor
+QWERTY
+High screen resolution
Touch Pro Cons:
-Very small screen
-Very hard to "Touch" because of small screen
-Bad responsiveness
-Too easy to slide the keyboard out when you speak
-Too thick
Omnia Pros:
+Accelerometer and tilt sensor
+Big screen
+8GB memory
+Thin (and smaller than BlackJack II, BTW)
+Huge resolution camera (5 MP)
+The phone is $269 WITH ONE YEAR CONTRACT!!!
Omnia Cons:
-Taps are not responsive (like HTC Touch Pro), this is WinMo problem, need to tweak the registry
-On-screen keyboard is... well, slightly worse than iPhone's, and is very uncomfortable to use after you got used to real QWERTY.
So Omnia is like an iPhone in functionality, minus MultiTouch, plus SDHC card support, copy-paste, repleaceable battery and 5MP camera. Finally, the ONE YEAR contract with $269 phone price made me switch from AT&T to Verizon and get Omnia.
I was thinking of Blackberry Storm, but the fact that Omnia is very similar but is slightly beefier (more memory, tilt sensor, better camera), and it has WinMo (which I am very familiar with) made my decision.
Bottom line suggestion: if you type a lot, get HTC touch, otherwise Omnia (or Storm if you have experience with Blackberries) will feel much better in your hands and for your eyes.
My 2 cents.
I would go Omnia - unless of course you're willing to go AT&T..in which case an iPhone :)
http://www.woopid.com/
Most of the qualms that people have mentioned about the Storm are BS. And that includes Engadget and a bit of the stuff mentioned by Boy Genius Report.
Boy Genius mentioned something about seeing some sort of grid of dots on top of the screen and how that ruined the image. WTF? I have tried to find that and can not for the life of me find it.
Engadget went to town on the Storm if you listened to their blog they even talked about how the Storm won't correct "fo" to "to" when you mistype. Well maybe that's because the letters F and T are so far apart on the storm that you won't be making that mistake.
Essentially the damn phone was reviewed by Crackberry addicts and power users that are using to cranking out e-mails at light speed on their physical keyboard and unfortunately typing on a screen < typing on a keyboard.
That being said I do feel like the phone does have a learning curve. But like all things new that's expected. I'm pretty sure all iPhone owners didn't just hit the ground running when it came to typing on that thing. It takes getting used to.
Let me put it to you this way. My cousin has an iPhone, I type WAY faster than him on my BB 8100. On the storm in SureType I can match my 8100 speed, however I'm still getting used to the full QWERTY.
Needs better styling and some sort of touch flo thing adding but better.
If you paid $249 for this, I don't have any sympathy.
LOL this phone is great for what it has, 5 mpx camera, 8 gig storage, full html browser.. I feel pretty stupid buying a krzr a year ago for fifty bucks less, that phone didn't have anything, plus i was garbage. The Omnia is a very nice phone, sure at your defense it doesn't have the app store but there is a whole bucketload of programs you can use since its windows mobile, and yes, even though they aren't as clean and elegant, many of them work very well, and are used in many industries.. unlike the 5 different flashlight apps I downloaded, and they all don't do what I want... raise the backlight... a restriction from the app store.
The "rebate" is, I believe, in the form of a debit card...you know the ones, the kind you have to remember how much is left, not every store knows how to use...those.
if the g1 is $179 then this should be worth about $150 at best
TITS. That is all.
Those are my favorite handsets. I really love the touch interface and the 2 dials on the front of each. Very fun to twist.
marry me.
I wonder if the dozens of early adopters will be demanding a refund.
NICE, LOVIN IT, This i want, has all the features I need, I recommend everyone get it.
ive been using this for 3 months and some of the things I don't like:
1. onscreen portrait qwerty keyboard, the keys have little to no space, so sometimes the letter next to the key you are trying to press registers instead. this can be solved with alternate keyboard like touchpal, which is free, or use landscape mode
2. firmware development, the firmware have been buggy for the 1st 2 months, but samsung fixed it and so far the latest firmwares have been stable.
3. Touch Player, the one samsung provided is a crappy media player, you'd have to look for alternative media player like conduit pocket player, kinoma player or core player.
4. Touchscreen sensitivity is something I want to improve, some interface are not finger friendly, had to use my fingernails a couple of times because my thumb press wouldnt register..
I am on the phone with Verizon Def getting money back for this, I still didnt even get it in the mail. There lucky I bought this last wednesday.
I've used the 3g iphone for last 4 months and I just picked up samsung omnia last week as my new work phone.
I've been a apple fan boy for very long time and it hurts me to say this but I can't say I like the iphone better than the samsung omnia...
I really like the UI on this phone and it has 5mp camera....
being on verizon network is def. plus(can't even make a call with my iphone at my house or my office)
it's easier to carry around
I have a UK Omnia and it's better for me than the iPhone 3G. No, the UI isn't as good and, yes, the lack of a 3.5mm jack is annoying but it's so damn versatile it's a solid win on every other point.
Don't like the set up on it? Fine; install a new ROM or cook your own. Then choose which one of the UI screens you want to use or download SPB shell and have an infinite degree of choice. Expand the memory up to 32GB. Whatever.
Plus you don't have to use Safari which is a definite bonus. Sure, it's pretty but I kind of like my browsers to browse rather than fall over like a wine soaked tramp.
@Engadget
You guys forgot to add that Omnia had this price on Verizon since Black Friday, and that it had another price: only $269 after $70 rebates with ONE YEAR CONTRACT.
This made me switch to Verizon (from AT&T) immediately. Imagine one year from now, the next Black Friday, new phones, and your contract is over right at this time! And this deal is just for $70 more!
Plus, though you will wait for hi-res Omnia, I think the current Omnia's resulution is very adequate for the price.
Wow! Yeah I practically missed this steal because of Engadget's long lived anti-Verizon sentiment has this article buried... Now I know how to use my New Every Two year upgrade!!
I wasn't sure which phone to get...but i found a good youtube video that reviews and compares each phone side by side. Hopefully that will help you decide which to get. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0
I ordered up my Verizon Omnia on Friday. $269 - $70 rebate, minus $100 equipment credit (new every two), and my equipment price was $99. Of course, you pay tax on the full retail amount, so i was $205 out the door, minus the $70 rebate = $135 total price.
On Tuesday night, the equipment credit was only $50 - i guess VZW got into the Black Friday craziness as well.
SHould be delivered any minute now. =)
Also, I was deciding between the Omnia, Storm, HTC Touch Pro, and even iPhone.
Features, WinMo, bad Storm reviews (online and in-person), and the fact that Verizon didn't cripple this Omnia all factored in. The final price made it a quick decision.
By the way, did you ever notice in all the phone reviews on youtube of these wonderful new devices, that very little attention is placed to actually making and receiving phone calls?
Can I get one without signing up for a data plan?
Yeah, that's what I'm wondering too. I think verizon only requires data on blackberries, but I could be completely wrong.
What is this article talking about? The Omnia has always been listed at this price since it was first available. At least under my zip code it was. Some people even got it for $199-$70, so if anything Verizon has RAISED the price, not lowered it.
I also was waiting for this phone on at&t. now I'm hoping for the T*Omnia, bigger WVGA screen and some other enhancments.
If this is still available when it comes time for my 2-year upgrade I might consider it, although I am somewhat particular to LG (because BitPim works with most LG phones). Would anyone recommend this over the LG Dare or LG Voyager?
You can easily switch between the Touch Flo 3D interface on the Touch Pro and install the Omnia VGA interface side by side, as a today plug in, so if you want the best of both worlds, I'd say the hTc Touch Pro is where the real work gets done
Ok, so maybe I am a complete idiot, but absolutely hate this phone. Nothing on it works - I can't get to the browser address bar when I touch it on the screen; I have to hit a key 8 to 10 times in order for it to register, and half the time, it goes to a completely different screen. It won't sync with my bluetooth (a Motorola, so quite standard), and don't even get me started on the contacts list. Did I just get a junk phone? Or am I doing something wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Well, obviously, the phone should not act as you described. My Omnia doesn't. So I would recommend you go to Verizon and exchange/fix it.
If the problem persists with a new Omnia phone, try HTC Fuze at AT&T store. If you have the same/worse problem, then get any QWERTY phone instead (or try iPhone).
Electromodo, thanks for your response. I did go get a new Omnia from Verizon and, in general, I do like it. However, I think the phone has an absolutely abysmal battery life. I do not have what I would call heavy usage - pushed email from Outlook, maybe a dozen texts and probably 2 or 3 very short phone calls. If I do that, my phone battery will not even last through the day - MAYBE 12 hours, absolutely tops. Is anyone else having this issue? Or did I just get phones from a bad batch?
thanks much!