Samsung Omnia CDMA Review

Introduction:

The Samsung Omnia i910 for Verizon Wireless is almost an exact clone of the GSM variant we reviewed earlier this summer.  It is an impressive device, combining a large 3.2” touch-sensitive display and 5MP autofocus camera with the Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system.  But it also comes with a few additional extras, such as the Opera 9.5 mobile browser, VZ Navigator, 8GB of internal storage, and the ability to playback DivX and XviD videos.  It is positioned to those individuals who prefer Windows Mobile instead of the BlackBerry OS, but are looking for an equivalent to the Storm, in terms of price and features.

The retail package includes the Omnia phone, 1440mAh battery with cover, wall charger, stylus, 3.5mm headset adapter with FM antenna, 2.5mm 3-way adapter, USB data cable, software CDs, and user manual.  Missing are the set of earbuds that comes included with the GSM model.  Our only complaint is that Samsung is still using their own proprietary port and cables, instead of adopting the more common microUSB standard.

Design:

The overall size of the Omnia is pleasing to hold, as it doesn’t feel too big or heavy, and since it’s not as thick as the Touch Pro, it can be placed indiscriminately in your pants' pocket.  It has a very simplistic appearance, where less is more, with only black plastic and shiny chrome used on the exterior.



You can compare the Samsung Omnia CDMA with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The impressive 3.2” display dominates the front, with a resolution of 240x400 pixels and 65K color support.  Despite its large size, we would like to see a higher-resolution WVGA display utilized, similar to the one on the Touch Pro or the Xperia X1.  Regardless, the screen offers good color representation with automatic and manual backlight adjustments, but it still can be difficult to view while in direct sunlight, just like the GSM model.  It also is pressure sensitive, like most Windows Mobile smartphones, where you can use your finger or a stylus to navigate through the OS.  It doesn’t require a hard press, but it is not as sensitive as the capacitive screens used on the iPhone and Motorola Krave.  Despite this, we had no issue using our finger for navigating through the phone’s software.

The only buttons occupying front are the rectangular Send and End keys, and an optical mouse that can be used as a virtual cursor or like a d-pad with 5-way navigation.  However, we didn’t have any use for it, since inputting directly with the touchscreen works best.  The only button on the top is for the Power, with the remainder located on the right side: Main Menu, Volume Rocker, and Camera.  Most of them have multiple functions when held down, activating the Voice Commands, Zoom, Flashlight, and Photo Slides.  On the opposite side is a protruding hook for attaching the stylus, which we didn’t  use, and the power/data port.  Located on the back is the 5MP camera with flash and the microSDHC slot, which supports 16GB cards, but requires the battery to be completely removed, thus eliminating the ability to hot-swap memory cards.

Interface:

By default, the Omnia comes with the Widget today screen activated, which we previously saw on the Samsung F480. It shows a column on the left side of the screen with icons for the clock, date, alerts, time zones, games, phonebook, music player, FM radio, sound profiles, wallpapers, web, wireless manager, and help. You can drag any of those icons directly to the desktop for one-click access, as well as changing their order in the column. Due to the accelerometer, it can be customize differently when the phone is in portrait and landscape modes.


Another useful software customization is the Main Menu screen, which shows 12 icons at a time on a 3x4 grid. Pressing the down arrow will show the seconds set of 12 icons. This is an easy way of finding commonly used programs and features, without the need to look through the “Start menu tree”. The Shortcuts menu allows for user customization, by placing up to 11 icons (out of a list of 43) in any order.


Since this is a Windows Mobile device, it naturally comes with the standard themes and customizations: Guava Bubbles, Samsung Theme 1 and 2, Verizon, Windows Default, Windows Mobile 6.1 and Green. If you’re not a fan of the Widget today screen, you can also choose from the Samsung Today screen, or a list of 10 others.


Phonebook:

The Phonebook on the CDMA Omnia is slightly different from its GSM cousin, as it doesn’t offer same “letter column” on the right side of the screen to quickly jump to a desired letter. Instead, you have to scroll through the list of names, or perform a search. Once the contact is selected, it shows icons for call mobile, call work, call home, and send message. Another way of viewing the same information is by going to the traditional Contact program, which does show tabbed letters across the top. When storing a contact, you can enter in several phone numbers, physical address, E-Mail, ringtone, and picture. Searching is done for both first and last name, but you cannot search by dialing in a phone number. For this, you have to go to the main dial pad and begin dialing a number (area code first) to display matching results.



Organizer:

The Calendar is standard on all Windows Mobile devices and is where you can enter your appointments. You can enter the subject, location, start and end date/time, all days, occurs, reminder, categories, attendees, status, sensitivity, and notes. Viewing the calendar can be done by day, week, month, year, and agenda, as well as setting the week to 5, 6, or 7 days. The appointments for the day are clearly shown in their time fields, so you can see them at a glance. Separate from the calendar is the ability to set Alarms and Anniversary days. There is also a World Clock where you can view 3 times at once. Pressing on the map will show a larger view that you can scroll through, highlight time zones, and save it as Home, Visiting, or Clock 1.


Under the Tasks menu you can add to-do items. For a given task you can set the subject, priority (normal, low, and high), start/due date, reminder, category, and write a note. Each task can have different recurrences and sensitivities. When examining the tasks in a list, you can easily see which of them are finished and which are not. The tasks options can be sort by (status, priority, subject, start date, due date) or filter (all, recent, no categories, active, completed).

The calculator has been redesigned and adds scientific mode, which is displayed in landscape screen orientation. You also have a unit converter (called Smart Converter), which can be used for length, weight, area, volume, and temperature.

The Notes program is simply notes, in which you can input text via the keyboard or by writing by hand. They can be synchronized with outlook.


Search is an application for locating files stored the phone. You can specify certain types of files (calendar/contacts/excel/messaging/notes/etc), but the best option is All Data, which will look through everything that is stored.

File Explorer is the mobile alternative of Windows Explorer. It can be used to view all the files located in the phone’s memory, including the system folders, and the memory card. You can also copy and paste files from one location to another, just like with a PC.

Messaging:

Both CDMA and GSM versions of the Omnia offer the same Messaging program, allowing you to send and receive Text, MMS, and regular E-Mail. Composing a new message can be done while the phone is in portrait or landscape mode, with the latter being our preferred method. There are also 7 available modes of inputting text: Block Recognizer, Keyboard, Letter Recognizer, Samsung Keyboard, Samsung Keypad, Samsung Phonepad, and Transcriber. Each one is different and offers their own advantages. However, we found the easiest way of typing a message is with the phone in landscape mode while using the Samsung Keyboard. This provides a full virtual QWERTY keyboard on the screen, which is easy use with your thumbs. It also allows for T9 predictive text entry, so that you don’t have to type out every letter for each word, but instead can select a word from a list after a few letters are entered. Being a Windows Mobile device means that you can also view HTML E-Mails with pictures and can save (or send) attachments.



The program allows you to add your POP3 and IMAP e-mail accounts in only a few steps. One nice feature is that it will automatically try to setup the account (configuring the server address) after your username and password are entered. While this works most of the time, we found that with some accounts you will have to manually enter the incoming and outgoing mail server address. There is also the option for it to be synchronized with your company’s Exchange Server.

For people who use Instant Messaging, the phone also comes preloaded with Verizon’s Mobile IM, which can connect you to AIM, Windows Live, and Yahoo. After logging-in, you can view your buddy list and send and receive messages, but they will count agents your Text Messaging plan.



Connectivity:

The Omnia is dual-band CDMA phone that operates on Verizon’s 800/1900MHz network. Unfortunately, it lacks quad-band GSM support; unlike the Samsung Saga and BlackBerry Storm, which can be used overseas. For data, the Omnia uses Verizon’s EVDO Rev A network, which can offer downloads up to 1.2Mbps, but most of our downloads speeds were between 600-800Kbps. The device comes with Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) that can be used in areas that offer Wi-Fi access, and Bluetooth 2.0 is also supported.

For web browsing, most people will opt to use Opera Mobile 9.5 instead of the slower Internet Explorer. While using Opera, you can flawlessly view complex HTML pages with ease. Panning around is fluid and simple, full-screen mode is automatic, and tabbed browsing is supported. To zoom in or out on a page, you can move your finger up and down the right side of the screen, or you can tap twice on an area of the page to zoom directly to it. Tapping twice again will zoom out. While panning around the page, there is a “minimap” – a small thumbnail shown in the top-left corner, displaying what area of the page you are viewing.

Pressing on the small arrow at the bottom of the browser will turn off the full-screen mode and show the address bar across the top, and icons for Back, Bookmarks, Tabs, Home, and Menu across the bottom. Naturally, you can enter in web addressing using the Samsung Keyboard. Our only complaint about the browser is that embedded flash files in pages are not shown, despite the Advanced menu having an option for enabling “Flash plug-ins” and “Java Script”. Thankfully, the browser does support the Mobile YouTube site and can stream videos, which are played in Windows Media Player and can be viewed in full-screen mode.


The phone synchronizes with a PC via ActiveSync (XP) or Mobile Device Center (Vista). Users can choose to sync any number of items, such as contacts, calendar, tasks, favorites, notes, media and more. We tested it with ActiveSync and had no issues syncing with our existing Outlook database. Officially there is no Mac support, but programs such as Missing Sync can remedy this. There is also a Mass Storage option when connected via USB, which turns the device into a USB drive, allowing you to transfer files to and from the 8GB of internal memory.

Camera:

The Omnia is the currently the only phone available from Verizon with an integrated 5MP autofocus camera and flash. The first thing that impressed us was its operating speed. The interface starts somewhat sluggish (about 3 seconds), but focusing and saving is very quick (2 seconds each). It is optimized for working entirely with fingers and has large icons with clearly marked functions. All main options (flash, resolution, focus, exposure, shooting mode and scenes) are visible on the screen. Thanks to them, after just couple of taps you can choose an option without having to go through complicated menus, to scroll or confirm. There also are shortcuts to the gallery and the camcorder.

The rest of the settings are separated in two tabs with a few pages each. The first one lets you change the quality (compression), the white balance, to add effects, to change the ISO sensitivity (up to 800), contrast, sharpness, color saturation and focusing mode (center, in a point or matrix). By using some of the options (like the Color swap for example), you can achieve very artistic results. The Face Detection also works well and shows a large green square that tracks the movement of a person’s face. This is to ensure that the person is in-focus. The only option we found missing was the ability to tag photos with the GPS location, which the GSM Omnia is capable of.

Regardless of how many features and options the camera has, the most important aspect is how well the pictures look. Since OMNIA is the first 5-megapixel phone offered by Verizon, we were rather excited about its performance. When we took our test pictures, we compared them with shots, taken with the other Verizon camera phones. Next to the HTC Touch Pro and the LG Dare, which are equipped with 3MP cameras, OMNIA stands well, taking slightly better pictures in natural, as well as in artificial light. The details level is above average, but colors are sometimes too saturated and the image is overexposured, so brighter objects burn out. The LED flash on the Omnia is brighter than the one on the Touch Pro, and has a large distance of 15 feet, but the downside is that if it’s used take a picture of a person up close (within 5 feet), their face is washed out. The only work-around it to change the Autofocus to Macro Mode, which reduces the intensity of the flash. There aren’t any significant differences between the Verizon and the GSM versions, but compared to the other 5MP phones on the market, it scores just above the middle.



When recording a video, you can use a majority of the effects and settings that are accessible in the picture mode. The maximum resolution is 640х480, but is limited to only 15 fps just like the LG Dare. For 30 fps recording, you have to drop down to 320x240 resolution. Videos are recorded in the 3gp format instead of MP4, which is used on the GSM Omnia. Unfortunately, the videos are choppy when viewed.

Multimedia:

Saved images can be viewed in either the Media Album or Photo Slides program. The Media Album is the best method as you can view images full screen, zoom in and out, and slide you finger from one side to another to go to the next image. The Photo Slides program is not as user-friendly, as you have to use arrows on the bottom of the screen to move forward and back.


For music and video playback, the Touch Player is used instead of the standard Windows Media Player. Music files are categorized into All Music, Albums, and Artists. When selecting Album, it shows all the cover art on the screen so you can easily see and select the one you want to listen to. The player controls are large, so that you can use your finger instead of a stylus. The quality of playback is good, considering there is only one speaker located on the back. You can also connect your own 3.5mm earbuds using the FM cable, or a Stereo Bluetooth headset.


When the FM cable is connected, you can listen to local radio stations, and it allows you to store two groups of 6 stations for presets. It is also RDS capable, where it will show the name of the station and what song is being played. While having a built-in FM radio player is nice, we would have been more impressed if it offered XM Satellite radio instead.

As previously mention, the Touch Player can also be used for video playback. Supported formats are AVI, MP4, DivX, and XviD. We tested a total of 12 files using those formats, with different resolutions, bit rates, and fps. The best looking was DivX, with 720x306 resolution and 24 fps, as the video was smooth did not drop frames. When playing a video in MP4-H264 format with 720x306 resolution, the video began dropping a lot of frames, making it unwatchable. The only MP4-H264 video that playback properly was at 320x136 resolution. When trying a XviD file (at 720x306), the first 5 seconds of playback had a few dropped frames, but was then fine after that. Regardless of which format is used, the quality is held back by the fact 65K colors of the display. This is one area where the iPhone still reigns supreme.


Software:

Unlike the GSM Omnia that is available in both 8GB and 16GB models, the CDMA version only comes with 8GB of onboard memory. But you can add a microSDHC memory card up to 16GB in size, giving the device an amazing total of 24GB of storage capacity.

Thanks to the fast ARM920T PXA312 processor, operating at 642Mhz, there is little-to-no delay when opening most programs and going through the phone’s menus. You can also have several programs open at once without noticing any lag.

The device comes with Office Mobile, allowing for viewing and editing of Word and Excel files (including Office 2007), PowerPoint viewing, and a PDF reader. All of them visualize documents correctly and open them rather quick. Unfortunately, navigating though a PDF file is done only with the help of the small arrows at the top, instead of using your finger on the page itself. Fortunately, the zoom stays at the same level once you move on to the next page.

The Video Editor at your disposal, but it can only open 320x240 (or smaller) resolution videos in the 3gp format. It’s absurd that you can record videos at 640x480 resolution, but cannot edit them. Still, this function offers some interesting options like putting together a picture and video story. You can also add subtitles and apply various visual effects.

Instead of coming with Google Maps, the CDMA Omnia uses VZ Navigator for GPS guided directions, which of course is $10 per month if you choose to install it. It allows you to plan your trip and even will re-route you if there are traffic congestions while on the road. Other features include the ability to find local movie theaters and show times, restaurants, gas stations, ATMs, hotels, hospitals, travel (airports, bus, car rental), parking lot/garage, and Verizon stores. It is an excellent program and worth the price, but we whish the (free) Google Maps were also included.


An application that is unique to the CDMA Omnia is the VZAppZone, wherein you can access news and weather, and download a variety of other programs (entertainment, productivity, utilities, ringtones, games, security, and wallpaper). The ringtones and wallpapers are only a few dollars each, but games and utilities can cost $20-40 to download. This is supposed to be a Windows Mobile version of VCast Downloads, but it is poorly implemented, and doesn’t offer a lot of content. Naturally, you can use a microSDHC memory card and transfer pictures, videos, ringtones, wallpapers, and Windows Mobile applications directly.

Performance:

Due to the speed of the processor, the Omnia is one of the best performing Smartphones available from Verizon.

The call quality is good, with voices on both ends sounding clear and natural.  Unfortunately, the reception is somewhat disappointing, with only 1-2 bars showing in high coverage areas.  When traveling into fringe areas, several calls were dropped.  There was even times when using the browser we would get a message saying that there was low signal strength.

The 1440mAh battery is rated by Samsung to provide almost 6 hours of talk time or 19 days of standby time on a full charge.  We were able to achieve 7 hours of talk time by fully charging the battery, calling a landline, and keeping the phone connected until the battery was depleted.

We compared our SPB Benchmark results with the ones of the Samsung OMNIA and HTC Touch Pro CDMA for Verizon Wireless.

Conclusion:

We are pleased that the Omnia sold by Verizon is almost identical its GSM cousin, where often times the CDMA version ends up losing features.  It is truly one powerful device, combining a fast processor, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional operating system, 3.2” display, 5MP autofocus camera, EVDO Rev A, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, VZ Navigator, and 8GB of internal storage.  All of this combines to make one of the best Smartphones currently available from Verizon, even beating out the overly hyped BlackBerry Storm.