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Omnia posts

Samsung's Application Store scrambles to life for some Omnia i900 owners

by Thomas Ricker posted Sep 14th 2009 at 4:41AM

If you have an Omnia i900 and you live in the UK, Italy, or France then listen up, Samsung's Application Store just went live. A quick .CAB file download installs the new Application Store client onto your WinMo handset. From there you have access to about 300 paid (payable by credit card, phone billing "coming soon") and free apps via WiFi or Cellular data connections. Samsung plans to have over "over 2,000" apps in the store by the end of 2009 with support added for the Omnia II I8000 and OmniaLITE B7300 from more than 30 countries planned on an indeterminate timeline. A quick glance through the top paid apps reveals the £3.50 Guitar Hero World Tour and free apps like Evernote and the Skyfire browser -- otherwise, the so-called "Hot" game-heavy, apps look pretty lackluster for the moment. It's also interesting (read: odd) that Skyfire is tagged with an "OS Cetified" (Samsung's misspelling) badge for Windows Mobile while the heavily promoted Guitar Hero remains badge-less. Ah well, it is launch day and we expect these things will get ironed-out soon enough. Pics and highly conceptualized App Store experience demonstration after the break.

Read -- Press release
Read -- Download

Continue reading Samsung's Application Store scrambles to life for some Omnia i900 owners

Samsung Omnia 2 pre-order page now live, tempting you with debt

by Ross Miller posted Sep 2nd 2009 at 12:47AM

Here's the good news: the unlocked version of Samsung's I8000 Omnia 2 is now available for pre-order on Amazon, sporting quad-band GSM and HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100. Soaked that in? Great, let's move on to the bad news: it's currently listed for $999.99. Ouch. At least it'll be subsidized when bought through a carrier (hear us, Verizon?). If this is on your must-have list regardless of costs, go ahead and reserve your copy -- no release date listed, so be prepared to endure.

[Via Slashgear]

Samsung Application Store announced, the mobile mall gets a little more crowded

by Tim Stevens posted Aug 31st 2009 at 7:23AM

Oh, look, it's another place to buy bite-sized mobile apps, this one courtesy of Samsung. The company isn't exactly new to the whole application store thing, launching a little outlet for Nokia users earlier this year, but piggy-backing on someone else's platform and boldly blazing a trail of iFart knockoffs on your own hardware are two very different things. The imaginatively named Samsung Application Store launches on September 14 for British, French, and Italian Omnia and I8910 HD handsets, later coming to the Omnia II and OmniaLITE as well as users in various other nations. Samsung is pledging "over 300" apps to start, while partners like Electronic Arts, Capcom, Gameloft, and TAITO have signed on for the fun. Omnia BUST-A-MOVE, anyone?

[Via NewsWire]

LG Chocolate Touch and Samsung Omnia 2 slated for August 23rd, according to supposed Best Buy leak

by Ross Miller posted Aug 8th 2009 at 3:41PM

If this screen capture to be believed, August 23rd is gearing up to be one helluva day for phone lovers. According to this snapshot from Best Buy's computers, that's when LG's desirable BL40 Chocolate Touch will be making its way into the consumer world, alongside a red Xenon and a bevy of Samsung phones including Omnia 2, Rogue, and Solstice. No clue on what the Tour is doing up there dated for the 23rd, since it's already out on both Verizon and Sprint, but perhaps a major shipment is in the works. As for that M330 for September 8th? Yeah, we're not sure. Surrounding that tantalizing list from the top and bottom, respectively, are Samsung's eco-conscious Reclaim -- presumably listed for August 16th, although the date is obscured -- and a red and black "G2" from august 5th, which would undoubtedly be referring to T-Mobile's sophomore Android device, the myTouch 3G. Two weeks seem awfully close, but if this pans out, we certainly won't be arguing.

Samsung's retail Omnia II smartphone gets hands-on treatment

by Darren Murph posted Aug 3rd 2009 at 6:28AM

Oh sure, we've seen Samsung's WinMo-powered Omnia II a time or two before, but this looks to be the first instance of it waltzing in front of a camera after leaving its retail packaging. Not much seems to have changed from those pre-release versions we peeked, and we have to say, that 3.7-inch AMOLED display looks awfully inviting. Of course, you'll have a hard time procuring one of these critters here in North America without a solid importer over in Singapore, but if you can somehow steal some patience from underneath that couch cushion, you'll be just fine. Give the read link some love for a few more high-res shots.

Samsung Omnia II and the case of the musical guided tour

by Ross Miller posted Jul 5th 2009 at 8:58PM

Samsung's Omnia II and its gorgeous 3.7-inch AMOLED screen is still without a Verizon release date, but don't let that stop you from enjoying Italian site HDBlog's ten-minute guided tour of the device. Hard to tell exactly how crisp is from the footage, and we also couldn't help but note a good bit of interface lag, especially when using the new cube menu. We're hopeful that'll get remedied before launch, and all in all, it's looking good, and the hardware definitely has some style. Grab some popcorn, video is after the break.

[Via Slashgear]

Continue reading Samsung Omnia II and the case of the musical guided tour

Samsung's Omnia family hands-on, Samsung Jet and Pixon 12 come along for the ride

by Paul Miller posted Jun 15th 2009 at 1:28PM

Samsung just pulled a bit of a "Samsung" and completely blew out its Omnia lineup. We just got some face time with the new Omnia II, Omnia Pro, Omnia Lite and the Omnia-inspired Jet, along with the Pixon 12 -- which runs the same in-house Samsung OS as the Jet, but packs a 12 megapixel camera. It's hard not to notice the stunning AMOLED screens on these phones, especially up against the dull-by-comparison Omnia Lite with its petty LCD. Unfortunately, while the build quality is good and the specs are certainly all there, all the phones were fairly slow in regular operation. The Jet and Pixon were passable (and the Jet certainly ought to be, with an 800MHz "application processor"), but we can't imagine anybody finding any pleasure in the molasses Windows Mobile 6.1 experiences on the Omnia trio. The Jet has a fun little 3D UI "cube" gimmick, which involves the pointless spinning of a cube to access different media apps, but most of what we saw was pretty standard TouchWiz. We did like the speed of Pixon's camera, which does a Pre-style trick of sending photo processing duties to the background so you can snap another photo with little delay in between -- it's also pretty good at auto focus and color accuracy for a phone, but we won't be trading in our regular point and shoot in the near term. None of the phones we looked at had network access, so we weren't able to test out the WebKit browsers, but it sounds like a major win for the Jet and Pixon. Let's just work on that Omnia responsiveness a bit, yeah Samsung? Perhaps Windows Mobile 6.5 (the Omnia II and Omnia Pro are 6.5-ready) will help.

Update: we added a video of the Omnia II and Omnia Pro after the break!

Gallery: Samsung's Omnia family hands-on, Samsung Jet and Pixon 12 come along for the ride

Continue reading Samsung's Omnia family hands-on, Samsung Jet and Pixon 12 come along for the ride

Samsung Omnia II now official: AMOLED touchscreen with TouchWiz 2.0 destined for Verizon

by Ross Miller posted Jun 15th 2009 at 12:05PM

Although not exactly the best kept secret (we first caught wind last week), Samsung's Verizon-bound Omnia II / I8000 is now one hundred percent official, along with even more official US confirmations for the Omnia Pro B760 (Louvre) slider, Omnia Pro B7320 candybar, and the Omnia Lite B7300. Specs for the Omnia II are just a little different than what we previously heard: 3.7-inch AMOLED resistive touchscreen with WVGA (480 x 800) resolution, 7.2Mbps HSPA (or EV-DO Rev. A for Verizon's version), 5 megapixel camera, 720 x 480 at 30fps video recording, 2GB to 16GB internal storage with microSD expansion slot, Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi, AGPS, and TouchWiz 2.0 UI. As for the Lite, we're looking at HSDPA, WiFi, 3 megapixel camera, AGPS, and just as the name suggests, a good likelihood it'll be overshadowed by its more feature-rich brother.

Update: We can't say it's unexpected, but just to be clear, Omnia II buyers shouldn't worry about living in the past. Yahoo! Tech reports its WinMo 6.1 underbelly will be later upgradeable to 6.5.

Samsung Omnia Pro B7610 slider gets official reveal

by Thomas Ricker posted Jun 15th 2009 at 5:30AM

Samsung's being tight-lipped with the details, but at least it did us the solid of making its Omnia Pro B7610 (aka, B7610 Louvre) QWERTY slider official today at CommunicAsia. The phone on the right is the Omnia Pro B7320, which, if we're not mistaken, is just the Jack candybar already available to AT&T customers. Unfortunately, Samsung isn't giving out any detail on the B7610 so we'll have to go on believing in the rumored 3.5-inch AMOLED display with 800x480 pixel resolution, 5.1 megapixel camera, 7.2Mbps HSDPA data, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, 1GB built-in with microSDHC expansion, and 800MHz processor driving Windows Mobile until they tell us something different.

[Via Akihabara News]

Samsung Omnia Pro to be the Louvre B7610?

by Nilay Patel posted Jun 14th 2009 at 5:38PM

We're actually surprised we didn't make the connection earlier, but word on the street today is the the rumored Samsung Omnia Pro will actually be a renamed Louvre B7610, a set that's been popping up a lot lately. Makes sense -- the Louvre's 3.5-inch WVGA AMOLED screen, 800MHz processor, and 5.1 megapixel camera match up nicely with the Omnia line. It's running Windows Mobile 6.1 right now, but we wouldn't be too surprised if the rumored August release date is held back to September or October to coincide with WinMo 6.5. One more pic after the break, couple more at the read links.

[Via Unwired View]

Read - Connect-UTB post
Read - Beyond3D forum post

Continue reading Samsung Omnia Pro to be the Louvre B7610?

Samsung's Omnia II / GT-I8000 leaks early?

by Thomas Ricker posted Jun 9th 2009 at 4:36AM

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?

Samsung Omnia HD i8910 reviewed in the glow of the AMOLED screen

by Ross Miller posted May 2nd 2009 at 5:44AM

Whether you call it OmniaHD, i8910 HD, or even "Timmy Tim" (hey, it could happen), Samsung's AMOLED--infused smartphone is a winner, if the fine lads at Phone Arena are to be believed. Points go to its HD video recording and playback, a surprisingly good battery life, and a form factor that's not too hard on the pocket, measuring in at just a wee bit taller and thicker than the HTC Touch HD. Not everything's sunshine and rainbows, though, as trying to use it in direct sunlight's a lost cause and the phone is a magnet for fingerprints. Still, those are pretty minor in comparison, and this is sounding more and more like a solid smartphone. Hit up the read link for a more thorough review, or after the break for the moving pictures version.

Continue reading Samsung Omnia HD i8910 reviewed in the glow of the AMOLED screen

Samsung Omnia Pro with landscape QWERTY coming this summer?

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 26th 2009 at 9:14PM

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]

Samsung WMG100 brings OmniaHD video to the television, via WiFi

by Richard Lawler posted Feb 18th 2009 at 2:27PM

Just how the Samsung OmniaHD's video could reach directly from phone to TV screen was a bit of a mystery until the Engadget Spanish crew spotted the WMG100. Don't already own one of Samsung's high end sets with WiFi and DLNA built in? This dongle bridges the gap with all the necessary tech built in, pushing a max 480p (whether HD streaming to other devices from the OmniaHD will work is unknown) from its mini HDMI or component outputs for around €160 ($200), and is already available in Korea with a European debut planned for this spring. The idea that we'd ever get tired of watching that sweet AMOLED display is a bit of a reach, but just in case check out the gallery for some hands on pics.

Gallery: Samsung WMG100 wireless DLNA device hands on

Samsung OmniaHD hands-on

by Chris Ziegler posted Feb 16th 2009 at 7:52AM

We're not sure if it's the 720p video or the simply breathtaking 3.5-inch display that does it for us, but one way or another, Samsung's ridiculously-spec'd OmniaHD is a sight to behold. The team at Engadget Spanish had a chance to swing by and check out the high-end handset's goodies today, and let's get right down to the point (and the main reason you'd buy this phone): the video that's getting shown off on the phone looks as good or better than anything we've ever seen before (it does have "HD" in its name, after all). Follow the break for the video!