Oh look, something other than a Pre or iPhone... it's Samsung's
GT-I8000, or Omnia II / Omnia 2 as it's expected to be known by the time it launches. Spec-counters will want to listen in close 'cause the GT-I8000 comes packing a 3.7-inch WVGA (800 x 480 pixel) AMOLED display (presumably the same display just
revealed by Samsung last week) with an 8.1 megapixel camera lit by dual-LEDs capable of recording VGA video at 30fps. The Lithuanian on-line retailer responsible for leaking the specs (which have now been removed) says we'll see a 1500mAh battery powering HSDPA data with a custom "cubic" UI (looking very similar to the UI on the
S8000 Jet) riding atop Windows Mobile. With a superior spec-sheet it has to be a superior phone right?
posted Jun 9th 2009 4:36AM
Guys, I miss iPhone news :(
PSYKE :D
How much this thing gonna cost? ... $700.... What OS is it running? .... WinMo 6.X .... Next.
This this has got some of the greatest hardware features that money can buy and will be loved by every living tech-nerd under the sun who'll be cooing and drooling over it's specs and pixel count until the next model comes out. Will this model even be offered in the U.S? If Samsung can sell even 50,000 of these babies they will be fortunate. With those specs it will be an impressive phone, just not impressive in sales. It should do well in Korea and Japan, though.
iPhonerulz: None of the major phone manufacturers have to rely on six figure sales from one model alone (Although that'd be neat).
Didn't LG and Samsung both sold about 20m smartphones each? that's smartphones only and that's only 2 companies.
Selling phones in the U.S is not a benchmark of anything, considering how poor US mobile conditions are, only new age americans will bind themself to contracts and accept being charged for INCOMING calls and msgs...
Somewhere along the 90's the American turned from a smart consumer into a corporate drone.
@ Beastage: Minor correction: most people get free incoming calls, but you're correct that American cell companies do charge for both outgoing and incoming messages. I myself have never understood how that can be legal, but that's the way it is.
Samsung.. Samsung.... Please I want only one thing from you. Fluidity and smoothness of OS. It should be smooth and responsive while i use it. You had like what 2 years ? After iPhone came out.
\CAPS
\RANT
Ha, I re-read that first reply about 3 times trying to understand why it was low-ranked, other than the anti-WinMo comment, until I saw iphonerulez' username. Heh.
Phone looks beautiful, specs sound great -- though I doubt that the sensor and lens are nearly good enough to support 8MP; seems like on such a tiny sensor you'd be better off going 4-5MP because the low-light sensitivity would be better.
Can't say I disagree about the OS though. I know I've said it before, but I was given a WinMo phone for free and ditched it after 1 week to go back to my old Samsung 'dumbphone'. WinMo is an absolute dealbreaker. iPhone, BB, Android, anything is better. Hell I've never used Symbian, but I'd take a Symbian-based Nokia sight-unseen before I'd ever use WinMo again. 6.x didn't improve things. I'll take another look when WinMo 7 comes out, but my hopes aren't high -- MS just doesn't seem to understand that trying cram a desktop OS onto a tiny screen is not the way to make a good mobile OS -- Task Manager included. (frankly, the existence of the Task Manager on a PHONE is the only clue you need that MS doesn't get it).
Google, RIM, Apple, they all understand that a phone's UI needs to be tailored to the device.
Global Market Share (Cell Phones):
Nokia - 38.6%
Samsung - 16.2%
LG / Motorola - 8.3% ea
...
Apple - 1%
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/01/29/apple-crosses-the-magical-1-mark-in-global-phone-market-share/
you know, just for reference :o)
@UnixSystemsEngineer
Just to being, I am not a fanboy of anyone, but I have been running desktop and server versions of Windows forever, and am a .NET developer.
I used Windows mobile for a shortime after switching from PalmOS and am still scarred by that experience. My WinMo-running Treo 700 was painful to use even compared to the ancient PalmOS Garnet. WinMo was slow as molasses at times and would freeze and crash constantly, requiring a full battery-removal reboot on average twice a day or more if I didn't anything other than talk on the phone. I couldn't believe that the OS had hardly gotten any better since I owned one of the original HP Jornada "PocketPCs" from way back in the day.
Seriously, WTF has Microsoft been doing for the last decade with Windows Mobile/CE? From the stability, performance, user interface design, and usability of Windows mobile 6, it appears they have been sitting on their asses doing absolutely nothing of value. The only thing I can think of is that all of their development resources have been busy developing a secret completely new version of Windows mobile in parallel for the past 5 years. What else makes since? How can so little progress be made by such an enormous company?
I'll tell you what, the first time I played with an iPhone I was completely floored. It was like something from the future. Obviously the Palm Pre and new high-end Android devices are catching up to the iPhone, but what the hell is Microsoft doing. How ANYONE can end up buying a new smartphone running Windows Mobile after experiencing a Palm Pre, iPhone, or even the G1 is beyond me.
@teej
Yeah overall marketshare is low because the majority of cellphones sold are cheap, budget models, particularly in the developing world.
If you look at only the United States smartphone market in particular, Apple has ~30% marketshare.
"With a superior spec-sheet it has to be a superior phone right?"
Sour grape much?
well, when it starts with "Oh look, something other than a Pre or iPhone..."
you know her wittle feewing got hewrt... probably has something to do with people who *wanted* to hear about the new iphone (-ahem-) getting fed up with the beating-of-the-dead-horse needless posts.
*her was on purpose.
i read that with a question mark.. "a superior phone, right?"
i don't know if it is a superior phone, but it is definitely half a decade ahead of the iPhone.
Gosh! What is with fanbois?!
It's your fault that he writes with this wording.
Anyway, who gives a shit about a new WinMo phone now when the Pre and iPhone 3GS is out? Seriously. Nobody sane does.
I give a shit, because I want a phone with all the current features, not a phone that only has some of them.
And this is a proper high end phone, which means it can go all the way, as it's not out to please the big masses.
Boom, this is what I am talking about. This hardware is what the failphone release yesterday should have been all about. I do hope it gets Windows Mobile 6.5, I was pretty meh about t when it was revealed, but now I am really looking forward to is. As for the interface not being quite there, you could always install TouchFlo, Panels or even SPB Mobile Shell to make this thing a superb.
@Lundmark
I'm going to take a wild guess at the three to five million more people who bought WinMo phones than bought iPhones last year.
Sweet !!!
Can't wait for the Marketplace and WinMo 6.5 to launch, this baby looks great !
looks nice!
and cool with the AMOLED
Try an HTC Touch Pro HD alongside the new iphone, and tell me what the superior phone is.
For 90% of you kids that don't have the opportunity; the answer is the iphone
Superior at what?
Making idiots sound smug, apparently.
It is a superior phone, with superior apps (quanlity > quantity), superior specs, and far more capable than either the iPhone or the Pre.
The Pre is understandably limited in terms of what it can do, since its new to the market and needs time to mature.
However, the iPhone has had 2+ years, and it's still playing catchup and just now adding features that should have been standard since day 1...what a joke.
And yet, it will fail miserably. (Not that I agreed with anything you said in the first place.)
Hey Dr., go back to masturbating over the iPhone posts
Dr. Spaceman,
Did you disagree with the part about this having superior specs than the iPhone (arguing with facts are you)
or
Did you disagree with WM as a platform having superior apps than Mobile OSX (really again arguing with facts, why don't you STILL have Tom Tom or any of the other dozen or so true GPS navigation softwares? Why don't you have SoftMaker Office or Microsoft Office? Why don't you have any Photoshop compatible apps? Why don't you have WiFi Router apps? Why don't you have voice control apps?
Most of iPhones apps are novelties, that's why 70+ % of them are NEVER used beyond the first day of downloading, and that's it.
That's not a statistic I pulled out of thin air, that too is a fact: http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/24/app-store-stats-suggest-humans-have-attention-span-of-gnats/1#comments
or
Perhaps you disagree with the fact that the iPhone is still ever-so-slowly playing catchup with the rest of the market in terms of features.
STILL NO definitive word on MMS, other than it being offered sometime this summer, REALLY?
STILL NO definitive word on tethering, or how much it will cost, or when it will be available?
Hmmm, would suck if I were an iPhone user now, because I would not have been able to type this message on my computer, since I am tethering right now using my 3G (EV-DO) Touch Pro...which is Windows Mobile by the way, and has all of the feature and then some of the 3G S.
@Dr. Spaceman
Do you even know how much the first omnia sold?? Outside of the United States of Apple the Omnia sold bucket loads so please show me why this will fail? It should get WinMo 6.5 and marketplace
Stupid uninformed comments by stupid people.
Sorry, but what, precisely, is your criteria for comparing the quality of applications available for Platform A over those for Platform B? Do you in-depth knowledge of all the applications available for both platforms such that you can make an informed decision?
The irony here is that this the same argument that Mac users have made about the Mac platform compared to Windows for years.
Ultimately you have to consider that no one who own an iPhone, or is contemplating buying one, is going to be interested in what you have to say. Put another way, you are wasting your time and you'd do better to talk about what is good about this particular phone.
I believe Apple added these standard features like MMS, Bluetooth support and video recording now because it focused on more important things first: ease of use.
Adding these regular features now doesn't neglect the innovations that were present from the beginning, like multi-touch, flick scrolling, a slick UI and a lot of other new stuff, essentially making up the first usefull finger-touch screen phone.
Put the other way around, the HTCs, Nokias and Samsungs have all had video recording and MMS for ages, but they still aren't easy to use or very innovative in terms of software. I really don't see the point of bashing a product for being late with standard features, while at the same time being great at innovation. Just look at what you got instead of MMS and video recording.
Yup all that and its still going to be a POS beast to use, that will never get updates and only a serious geek with a lot of free time will love. Oh and you can take your ridiculous smugness and shove it, with your "superior" apps.
Keep screaming winmo bloody mary all you want, but if you sat this phone down in front of an actual consumer that matters, not some geek, next to an iphone and a pre NOBODY would walk away with this piece of shit.
Specs are great, but functionality and usability rule the tech world(of course this argument is at the heart of all the pc vs mac debates also). That’s where you winmo guys are failing to keep up with the times, you want to make a successful platform, make something that works, is fun to use, and that will advance via free updates like the pre/g1/iPhone, not something so packed with half ass "features" it does nothing fully right. Oh and quit talking about hacked roms and custom UI's 99% of people who get this phone couldn’t install windows by themselves if they absolutely had to, these people are not going to be installing hacked roms and touchflo.
@ Lundmark: HTC not easy to use or innovative? BS.
TouchFLO is the best mobile interface I've used, and improves over time as HTC adds functionality I haven't seen on other devices. The Apple Springboard is nothing more than a finger friendly version of the classic Palm interface of yesteryear. Pages of icons stopped being innovative in 2001.
There are great things about the iPhone, but the Springboard is NOT one of them. Hell, even a couple of my iPhone using friends agree, and wish there was a way to have the TouchFLO UI on the iPhone, relegating the Springboard to where the "Programs" tab is in TouchFlo.
@Alan:
That wasn't my point at all. The problem with your argument is that you compare TouchFlo, a skin for WinMo, with a launcher for iPhone OS. Digging deeper within TouchFlo pretty soon reveals WinMo's ugly 1998ish face which sure isn't easy to use. And mind you, I think grids of icons can be quite cluttered too and I also think that TouchFlo has begun looking really nice.
But the problem is that HTC is taking a shortcut by just skinning the utterly useless and oldschool Windows Mobile, instead of developing a unique OS like Apple and Palm has done with their phones. Digging deeper within the Pre or iPhone doesn't present you with a shitty interface, but instead presents you with a streamlined experience.
So I'd agree HTC phones are useful in the beginning, but unfortunately it needs to try harder when developing software for its phones. Much like Nokia which is dressing up Symbian S60 to behave like a touch UI. Doesn't work very well...
@Lundmark
Stockholm Syndrome, much?
@Alan I do agree about the sprinboard, i would gladly just take folders for apps or categories, it was awesome and fine at first but with 8 pages of apps (yeah i know i don't need 8 pages of apps, but im a geek) i can definitely say that i would love a new way of sorting.
The one saving grace will be spotlight, which should prevent me from having to search all pages of apps and just start typing.
@hamstersex:
I don't get it. Please explain :-X
"it will fail miserably"
Yep.
Cause Samsung didn't sell its soul to the Devil, i.e. restrictive, binding, long term AT&T contract in order for it to have a huge marketing budget.
Let's face it, marketing works in the phone business. Flash some cool music, some skin here and there and a nice silhouette of a hot bod, polish it all up in post, and you'll sell at least 50K phones in a month. The movie companies spend nearly the same budget on marketing vs. the movie itself, and it works-- proof: they've perfected "the movie trailer".
@Lundmark
I think this is why HTC is slowly developing more Android based smart phones. I've had the MPX220, HTC 8125, 8525, 8925, and had the option to early upgrade to the Touch Pro because of software issues in the 8925. Unfortunately, I knew off the bat upgrading would run me into the same problems I faced already because of the same OS 6.1, regardless of the TouchFLO. Needless to say, I still have the 8925, and am waiting until September to upgrade to the iPhone 3GS.
And whoever said the selection of "Quality" apps for WinMo is better than the iPhone's is full of shit! I bet only 1 out of 20 people with a WinMo phone even know how to get them in the first place. Apple implements quality checks for their phone, so you know it works. I can't tell you how many times I've tried installing an app on my 8925 only to tell me it doesn't work.
And what about the IE WinMo phones use? GARBAGE!!! I've been using Skyfire since the beginning beta testing, and even at it's first beta release, it's better than IE will ever be.
Unless WinMo 7 is revolutionary, I'll be a loyal iPhone/Android user. WinMo 6.5 doesn't look promising...
I can only imagine what MS is doing with Windows 7... probably going to make Apple even more money when people start ringing in with complaints from the get go.
I know I'm jinxing myself but the only good thing MS has released since XP has been the Xbox 360, and even it has problems with it's stability. I've been fortunate enough to not witness the ring of death yet.
You'd think after 20+ years of development, they'd have a pretty stable OS up and running?
Same goes for the WinMo OS, with nearly a decade of development under it's belt, why isn't it up to par with even the first firmware release of Palm Pre's? It only took Apple one firmware as well to become more reliable than WinMo. And on top of that, they've offered numerous updates as well as firmware upgrades to a phone released over 2 years ago, the original iPhone. Compare that the the 1 half assed update MS offers to only SOME of the phones, an update FULL of bugs, which you are then left with until you purchase a new phone...
MS is making it extremely easy to gain a market share no a days.
Android is the only thing missing from this device.
Oh SWEET! There you are! Everyone look! It's the awesome guy that mentions that every windows mobile phone would be better off if Android was on it. Thank GOD you made it...
damn, he beat me to it
patriots nailed it !
i'd like to see webOS running on this kind of hardware personally...
@patriotsn1
Sweet, the guy who calls out the guy who earnestly wants to see android running on a device! I was worried you wouldn't make it. Ok, where's the guy who calls out the guy who calls out the guy who called out the guy?
i wholly agree with this statement.
Call me about Android when its battery life isn't ass.
Soon to come:
1. A new Samsung device with more power than Omnia HD. Capacitive touch and OLED screen.
2. Samsung introducing "Samsung OS". It is a custom made OS, not Windows Mobile and not Symbian based.
3. Coming out in 6 days.
4. It has a cool 3D interface, very smooth and buttery.
;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTeuHFG3Pv0
Here is a video of the cubic interface running on WinMo. I have to say that it does look pretty nightmarish to use. Hopefully what is portrayed in the video is just a development build.
Wow! That is even worse than the original Omnia, responsiveness-wise! But the specs are enticing.
I'd say its better than the original Omia, responsive-wise.