Samsung Omnia Pro with landscape QWERTY coming this summer?

This is totally unsubstantiated, but also totally plausible -- likely, even -- so we wanted to pass along a hot rumor out of Italian site hdblog.it claiming that there'll be a QWERTY-equipped Omnia Pro hitting the market in the coming months, and they've even crafted a mockup looking like the offspring of an F700 and an original Omnia to illustrate their point. Specifically, the rumor suggests that the Omnia Pro will run Windows Mobile 6.1 upgradeable to 6.5 -- which might explain Sammy's decision to back off the OmniaHD branding for the Symbian-powered i8910 -- along with a 5 megapixel cam and sweet 3.5-inch WVGA AMOLED display. Considering that the old Omnia is widely considered to be one of the company's better (and more successful) smartphones in recent memory, it certainly stands to reason that they'd want to carry on the legacy -- and slapping on a sliding landscape keyboard seems like a no-brainer way to do it. To top things off, gossip has this sucker launching this summer for something in the range of €500 ($662), which throws it face-first into this summer's superphone smackdown alongside the N97, the GSM Pre, and whatever Apple has up its sleeves. Fun time to be alive, isn't it?

[Via Slashphone]

[Patrick @ Apr 26th 2009 9:17PM]

that is one SEXAY phone
just sayin

[Dean Merchant @ Apr 27th 2009 1:36PM]

if it had Android, this would be a winner for me

[MED @ Apr 27th 2009 3:10PM]

Indeed it is. but is it just me or does that look like a very zune like interface?

[CJ @ Apr 28th 2009 1:29AM]

MED:

Er... It's WinMo 6.5.

[Quantumphysics @ Apr 26th 2009 9:18PM]

I see Samsung is still hard at work trying to make a viable solution to an iPhone-clone with an underslung keyboard.

Sorry - till Apple makes it, you'll just have to keep trying.

[iDavey @ Apr 27th 2009 9:06AM]

Swine flu...
Cliff...
You...

[dkokin @ Apr 26th 2009 9:23PM]

I love the keyboard

[Kavit Kumar @ Apr 27th 2009 1:56AM]

I concur.

[Brando @ Apr 26th 2009 10:09PM]

Been waiting for this. An Omnia with qwerty. I'll be ditching the i760 for sure.

[John @ Apr 26th 2009 9:21PM]

Er.. They should stop making OMNIA, it really sucks. It's slowwwww and screen is not very responsive. Stylus is kept separately from the phone and it looks just like a mini mascara... ew. Plus it's WinMo 6.1. Probably the worst WinMo version ever. Crashes ever so often, especially with this OMNIA

My suggestion, stay off this phone at all cost! Samsung makes crappy phones!

[John Cavanagh @ Apr 28th 2009 6:26PM]

That's funny, my Omnia works beautifully. Even with it's resistive touch screen it's still very responsive. WinMo 6.1 has yet to crash on me, even running a beta rom. As for the stylus, attached it to my leather belt pouch and it's always close at hand even though I rarely use it.

[atm @ Apr 26th 2009 9:21PM]

I would definitely pick this over the touch pro 2. Oh well I'm probably getting a palm pre.

[??? @ Apr 26th 2009 9:22PM]

"Fun time to be alive, isn't it?"

Not really...:\

[Thunda Chunky @ Apr 26th 2009 9:29PM]

GO get the Swine Flu and kill yourself then. Anyway a QWERTY Omnia would be nice, but I'm still thinking either the GSM Pre or Touch Pro2 get my money

[strider_mt2k @ Apr 26th 2009 9:28PM]

Sexamagraphical!

[brie @ Apr 26th 2009 9:28PM]

This is actually the form I wish the G1 with android was, large touch screen with qwerty. And Android 1.5 of course.

[aeth @ Apr 27th 2009 2:26AM]

the chin gives off mixed reactions. For me, it hindered typing too much so I got a very sexy Xperia. Starting to wish I waited...

[Derek @ Apr 26th 2009 9:31PM]

Haha, that is a custom skin off XDA Developers.

[iono @ Apr 27th 2009 12:56PM]

Nah, I believe that's WinMo 6.5's new default skin, Titanium (which of course, has been carried over to 6.5 beta roms @ xda/ppcgeeks/etc...). part of the conspiracy theorists is that it mimics the Zune interface too much (paving way for Zune Marketplace access on WinMo)

[Level 5 @ Apr 26th 2009 9:34PM]

See, I think that phone is sexy; but the 5-Row QWERTY from my Touch Pro has me REALLY spoiled. We'll see though.

[Fernando @ Apr 26th 2009 9:35PM]

It's a follow up to the Omnia HD? No Symbian, no buy. (I always wanted to say this)

[maxdamage728 @ Apr 26th 2009 10:02PM]

"Fun time to be alive, isn't it?"

Not if you got an Omnia less than a month ago :(

[TareX @ Apr 26th 2009 10:37PM]

That huge AMOLED screen + gorgeous keyboard = WIN.WIN.WIN.

Fails on OS.... unless it's got Tegra inside.

[Michael @ Apr 26th 2009 10:39PM]

Doesn't Windows Mobile 6.5 require a dedicated hardware Start key? That would rule out this mockup, and makes me think that an Omnia Pro would just run 6.1 and NOT be upgradeable to 6.5.

[slamEVIL @ Apr 27th 2009 2:05AM]

yeah, wmexperts say the same thing.
http://www.wmexperts.com/samsung-omnia-pro-rumored-%E2%80%93-very-rumored

fake

[giuliop @ Apr 27th 2009 5:20AM]

A crafted mock-up is a crafted mock-up is a crafted mock-up.

[D @ Apr 27th 2009 2:47PM]

key could be on the side.

[digitallysick @ Apr 26th 2009 10:40PM]

How about no winmo and we have a deal?

[Jacob @ Apr 26th 2009 11:38PM]

How about no?

[aznbensonboy @ Apr 26th 2009 10:41PM]

Sorry America, your going to have to wait another 5 years.

[Adam @ Apr 26th 2009 10:49PM]

So this rumor doesn't include a US release?? I hope it does looks awsome. But, how can it be upgradable to windows mobile 6.5? Didn't they say that all 6.5 devices will have to have a dedicated windows button?

[ripslymemc @ Apr 26th 2009 11:06PM]

so, according to the title and the picture, I'll have to tilt my head everytime I want ot use the keyboard?

[poematik14 @ Apr 26th 2009 11:36PM]

Attention all phone hardware companies:

If you do not have your device subsidized, it will fade into obscurity. Nobody, especially in this economy, will plunk down 700 bucks for a cell phone.

[TareX @ Apr 26th 2009 11:45PM]

I dropped $600 for my cellphone 4 years ago, simply because it was unlocked, works in all 3 continents I've been, and was worth every penny.

I use it for calling, organizing, as a gameboy advance, camera, navigation...everything.

I expect my next phone to have the same viability. Which is why I would drop $700 for a phone, only it has to be top of the line hardware (Tegra+qwerty+VGA screen) with a top of the line OS (not win-mo, esp not 6.1).

That, or a Pre.

[GroovDude @ Apr 27th 2009 2:03AM]

Word to yo mama ^_^

[Al @ Apr 27th 2009 12:40AM]

Hack this and put android on it

[dannyboy414 @ Apr 27th 2009 1:12AM]

pruttiest winmo phone i've seen so far for this summer. hopefully the OS will be fluid, then i can say, "i smell a winner."

[Mike @ Apr 27th 2009 1:27AM]

this just proves that [almost] everything looks good in black. microsoft really needs to stop the colourful backgrounds when showing off and make it officially black like this.

[GroovDude @ Apr 27th 2009 2:05AM]

Well buckle up buddy, I bet I can google a all black theme for Windows Mobile ^_^

[drunknight @ Apr 27th 2009 2:18AM]

Looks sexy. But until this lovely fapable machine have epic WIN inside, it still delivers FAIL.

[ButtmanBegins @ Apr 27th 2009 2:53AM]

Wake me up when Insomnia HD arrives

[nowayman @ Apr 27th 2009 5:35AM]

looks nice.

[cr0ft @ Apr 27th 2009 6:21AM]

So nobody has hard data and nobody knows if this will ever exist and it is a total fabrication by some super nerd with more time than sense... so let's post it on Engadget just cause there is, like, a pretty picture. Whee.

Well, here's 3 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

[Kwikit @ Apr 27th 2009 7:01AM]

How about a ship date and price for the Omnia HD?

This looks nice enough. But the 3.5" screen will not work for me, I need bigger due to my eye sight.

[iKurt4 @ Apr 27th 2009 10:59AM]

Has anyone here that downrank Apple comments actually use Windows Mobile OS 6.1, like for real? Because I did and it is horrendously slow, compared to OSX on the iPhone. It's not finger friendly either. Downrank me all you want, but I've given up on Windows Mobile due to it's sluggishness. That's why I prefer OSX.

[cr0ft @ Apr 27th 2009 3:13PM]

I use a HTC Touch HD which has WinMo 6.1 on it and I agree, it is not finger friendly in many respects and it is slow to do certain things. The iPhone OS is superior to it in many ways.

However, the HD has 800x480 resolution which makes a huge difference for what I do with it, and I'm not tied to any extortionate contract either, and there is a lot of really cool third party software available that isn't on the iPhone - like real turn-by-turn GPS from TomTom or WMWifiRouter to use the phone as a 3G-to-Wifi device to name just a few you won't get on the iPhone anytime soon.

It's all about what you can do with the device. While the iPhone is very impressive in many respects, it also has huge glaring faults still.

[-Tj- @ Apr 27th 2009 11:06AM]

While this looks like a nice phone, that keyboard isn't jiving with me. With the Fn and number keys both on the left side of the keypad, how are you supposed to efficiently type in multiple numbers? I've had both top row and right side cluster numbers (fn-accessed), and I prefer the right cluster type, so this just doesn't seem efficient.

[foxdude0486 @ Apr 27th 2009 11:22AM]

Looks like I may have found an upgrade from my E-Ten Glofiish m700

[Eric @ Apr 27th 2009 5:20PM]

it definitely looks like they took a Samsung Glyde and Samsung Omnia and fused them together

[hojx93 @ May 3rd 2009 3:32AM]

If it's WinMo 6.1 upgradeable to 6.5, where's the compulsory 'Windows' button for 6.5?