Tonight I attended the official launching of the Samsung Omnia 2 in Malaysia in the heart of KL. What a nightmare it was trying to fight my way through rush hour traffic to get to Jalan Sultan Ismail at 630pm, only to discover the event only started at 740pm due to typical Malaysian tardiness. Sorry, no pictures this time, wasn’t in the mood to snap any.
Based on my discussions with Samsung representatives, here are the major points:
- Omnia 2s shipping from the end of this month will come pre-installed with Windows Mobile 6.5; the current stock on the market only comes with WinMo 6.1, but all Omnia 2s will enjoy free upgrades to WinMo 6.5. No precise timeframe was given for the “second batch with WinMo 6.5″ though.
- the reason for the delay is that Samsung is still finalising the custom firmware. It’s “custom” because of the TouchWiz user interface enhancement that Samsung has slapped on top of the stock Windows Mobile. It is still currently only in beta.
- Samsung Malaysia is currently “preparing” a website for firmware upgrade where users can download the Windows Mobile 6.5 firmware when it is released. There will be no “controls” in that the user will not have to enter a valid IMEI to download the firmware. The firmware file will be self-contained, in an executable (EXE) file, and the user need only run the file to ugprade the firmware on the Omnia 2 when it is connected by USB cable to the computer.
- for those who are not comfortable uprading the firmware themselves, they can bring it into the Samsung service centre to get it done. Depending on the workload, the phone can be flashed with the new firmware in as little as one hour. If the workload is heavy, the user may need to leave it overnight.
- firmware upgrades will not preserve user data – these will have to be backup up before the firmware upgrade.
- the “lagginess” of TouchWiz on Windows Mobile 6.5 (beta) is still there. Not really pronounced, but noticeable. Compared to the iPhone, most, if not all other phones fall short in the touch sensitivity department.
- although the Omnia 2′s screen is only 65000 colours, the screen was bright and produced crisp, vivid colours, hardly noticeable from the Samsung i8910 HD’s capacitive AMOLED screen with millions of colours.
- I’m not sure whether WinMo 6.1 with TouchWiz supported kinetic scrolling or not, but it is present in the Omnia 2 with Windows Mobile 6.5. However, just like the screen transitions, it is not as smooth as the iPhone.
- there was no product showcase that I could see, but the demo unit I played with could be operated with fingers alone; there is no need to use a stylus to operate the phone unless the user chooses to use one.
If you have any additional queries, post them here in the comments and I shall try my best to find the answers for you.
Hi,i do have queries.Did you try out the video playback?Can it play 720p without stuttering?Since i8910 HD which sports 600mhz can play 720p smoothly(symbian S60v5 platform),what about omnia 2(WinMo 6.1 platform)?Secondly,is it confirmed,that WinMo 6.5 still stuck in 65000 colours and not 16.7 million colours as earlier reported?Thirdly,how’s the loudness and the sound quality of the speaker?Can it be passed off as a music phone too?Is it loud enough to watch a movie in a public place,say at the bus station?Thank you,and hope to hear your answers…
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
@Ken77, sorry can’t answer any of your queries since I don’t have an Omnia 2 to play with. The review unit with WinMo 6.5 is only coming at the beginning of next month, at the earliest. Remind me again later, OK?
The only thing I can say is that yes, the screen is still 65000 colours. WinMo limitation. But the screen looks really good when I played with it briefly last night. And I don’t think it can play 720p video, it needs to be “downsampled” first due to the resolution. The i8910 HD is a different story, as it can record in standard 720pixel.
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Ken77 Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
@Alpha dog,sure i’ll ask again,when you have the demo unit or better still,please provide us a through review of this great phone,o.k?Thanks.
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Hhhmmm… looks like no definite date of availability for the 6.5 update. Hopefully it will be around the end of the month or early next month.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
@Jack, yep, that’s what I was told.
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Re point 8 of your roundup, just for interest sake, yes, there is kinetic scrolling on the Omnia 2s running 6.1.
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Da Alpha Dog Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
@Jack, ooo…that’s nice. Pity not as smooth as the iPhone though, when I tested the Omnia 2 with WinMo 6.5…
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Jack Lee Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Yeah, not as smooth as the Ipod Touch too…. unfortunately.
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Ken77 Reply:
October 9th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Maybe,that’s the best Omnia 2 can do(kinetic scroll) due to the limitation of resistive screen.Well,at least,Samsung did experiment on it,can’t ask for more.(better than nothing)
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