I’ve just added all the Samsung Omnia Pro specs into the UMPCPortal product database. We’ve already got some high-end phones in there like the N97, HTC Touch Pro2 and others so it’s interesting to compare them side-by-side.
In terms of specs we’re looking at a top-end smartphone with a fast CPU (not the most powerful mobile CPU core though) and a big 3.5″ 800×480 screen. It’s head to head with the Nokia N97, HTC Touch Pro2, Sony Xperia X1, Nokia E90, Acer M900 and Sidekick LX.
Screen.
At 800×480 with AMOLED technology (sharper colors, lower power in some scenarios, can be difficult in bright sunlight) the screen will have a huge 266 pixels per inch. That’s really tight and on a standard browser setting it’s going to be difficult to read the text without zooming. Image and video playback should be sweet (assuming the CPU and GPU can handle the high-bitrate video files required) It’s a touchscreen but I haven’t been able to work out if its capacitive or resistive yet. Multitouch isn’t supported on WM6.1 or 6.5 (as far as I know) so there’ll be no pinching on this one.
CPU
The iPhone and Palm Pre have moved the target when it comes to processing power. The Cortex A8 core from ARM is, per clock, much more powerful. Up to 2x more powerful. The 800Mhz clock of the Omnia Pro will help though. One of the first things i’ll be trying will be Opera Mobile. I’m guestimating a 20 second average page load time but the Opera Turbo feature will be really interesting to test out. (Pre and iPhone 3GS are about 15 seconds. Intel MIDs can push that down below 10s)
Camera
This was one of the deciding factors for me. Being a Nokia N82 owner I have the privilege of being able to use one of the highest quality mobile phone cameras available. For daylight photography I’m hoping that the Omnia Pro will match the quality. It’s possible that it will be a more sensitive camera module too so there will be less need for flash. Dual LEDs on the Pro will help with the occasional low-light video shoot but won’t match the Xenon flash for low-light photography.
Keyboard
I’ve heard many people talk about the keyboard on the Touch Pro 2. It’s clearly a high quality keyboard. I have my fingers crossed that the Omnia Pro will have a good keyboard too because it’s another reason I’m buying it. Email, IM, Twitter, tagging and general microblogging won’t be easy if the keyboard isn’t good quality. So far I haven’t really seen any detailed comments from those that have had hands-on but I’ll be watching carefully.
OS and Software
Windows 6.1 doesn’t realy excite me at all but it has to be said that it’s got good third party software support. It’s not the number 1 choice for mobile software developers (iPhone, Symbian, Pre and Android probably come higher up the list) but as we move towards Window 6.5 (the Omnia will get a free upgrade) I’m hoping that the promise of an app store will re-ignite interest.
It’s been a long time since I’ve owned a Windows Mobile device too. The last one I had was based on PocketPC 2003!
Other Specs
No compass. It sounds silly to moan about a compass. Since when did you ever take a compass with you? I, however, am interested in a compass because of the idea of augmented reality. As users create metadata, images and location information the possibility of a phone recognising your location and overlaying meta data on a live image becomes possible. We might be 3-5 years away from that but I love the idea and want to be in a position to test it. The Omnia Pro won’t let me do that.
Battery life. I’m going to kill that battery very quickly! 5.5Wh is nothing when doing background internet and gps tasks while listening to music and doing the occasional web browsing session. When I test out the Omnia Pro I want it to last and I I don’t think that battery is going to be enough.
Style. The Omnia Pro looks OK but it’s not as smart looking as the Touch Pro 2 or the N97 or even the M900. I’ll just have to suffer with people pointing and laughing 
If I think of anything else i’ll add it later but for the time being, I think that’s covered the main points. If you’ve got any thoughts on the specifications, drop a note in the comments below. I’d love to hear them.
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