Question on Mobile Phones:

I was planning to buy the Omnia HD after it was announced. But soon after, Samsung released the Omnia II which comes with Windows Mobile (WM) 6.5, a 480 x 800-pixel resolution screen and 800MHz processor. I'm torn between the two, can you help me in my decision?

Submitted by Suresh, via email (India)

Answer:

Just to make sure we're on the same page, you're asking about the Samsung i8910 HD and the Omnia II. Sometime back, Samsung dropped the Omnia branding from the Omnia HD and now the device is simply known as the i8910 HD. Now, you'd probably already know that both the i8910 HD and Omnia II have an extensive list of features, so I won't go into details on that. You can compare the specifications of the two devices from our product database.

The key difference between the devices is the operating system. The i8910 HD runs on Symbian S60 5th Edition software while the Omnia II runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. Recently, Samsung released the update for the Omnia II, so existing users can upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional.

I'll just break down some key points about the two smartphones to help you along. To find out more, you'll have to read our reviews. The S60 platform is known to be very stable, but failed to catch up with the times with the touchscreen implementation. The inconsistent user interface with the 5th Edition version can also be annoying at times. However, the i8910 HD brings HD video capture on a mobile phone and that's a feature which no other device has yet, at least not that we are aware of. So if you're into video recording or an avid photographer, the i8910 HD may be a better option.

The Omnia II, on the other hand, when it was first launched was great value-for-money. We reviewed the Omnia II with Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and found certain parts of the custom user interface can be slow at times, but that could be improved already with the new WM 6.5 software. I think ultimately, it's the price point of the two phones that you should consider. Both are great devices (which is why you're probably agonizing over it), so you're safe with either choice.