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So, after three years, I decided I had reached my limit with the Palm OS Treo - I wanted an iPhone, but am on a Verizon contract, and the switch to AT&T was just not happening, so I mulled over my alternatives. In December I played with a Blackberry Storm (yech!) and a Samsung Omnia i900; the new phone that Verizon just got. While it did not have a qwerty keyboard, I was impressed.

And it stayed in the back of my mind as an alternative... last week I decided to take advantage of my wife's "new every 2" discount (she is happy with her treo, and does not want a new phone), so I applied it to my line, and took the leap to the Omnia.

after a week, I must say I really love this phone. It is light; has basically the same footprint as my ipod touch, and has a ton of great features including:

1) a 5MP camera, which has very good software, includes multiple photo settings, includes a flash, and can take video at 640x480, and at two lower settings as well.

2) An FM radio - haven't tried it yet.

3) A GPS receiver that can work with google maps [corrected: Verizon has not unlocked this yet, so its still a future enhancement... Thanks stuart ]

4) Windows Mobile 6.1 - ok, this isn't a "great feature," but its the first time I have used the old "pocket pc" OS since having a compaq ipaq years ago - and unlike 7 years ago, I was very impressed with how smooth the OS has become. Plus it includes Word, Powerpoint, One Note, and Excel. and Active Sync seems so much better than it was.

5) 8Gb of internal memory, with the ability to expand with up to a 16gb microsdhc card. (I put a 8gb card in it, so I have 16GB of storage).

6) the touch keyboard is easy to use, one I learned to turn off the xt9 auto-suggest features (which are horrible), but the phone has the ability, like the iPhone, to reorient to all four orientations - and in a landscape mode, the keyboard is very big and easy enough to use with the fingers. However, the device has a stylus as well - and I find that I use the stylus all the time. Makes it much less error prone, and even though the stylus doesn't slide into the device, and hangs from the side (which is weird), it is functional.

7) speed. The 600+MHZ ARM processor is generally zippy, and the EVDO broadband seems to be quite good. It supports EVDO Rev. A, which I haven't been able to get (or if I do, I am not sure, as I haven't noticed any distinction between the two.

8) Internet - includes IE and Opera. I like IE better. Not sure why, but Opera has a tendency to shrink a web page to view it, making it necessary to zoom in. IE has worked great.

9) Messaging - which is Outlook Mobile, works great with gmail and with my university's imap account. Set it up very quickly, and very happy with it. The neat thing is both email accounts and text messaging are accommodated by the one application.

10) Multimedia and Music. I was able to easily sync some stuff from Windows Media Player, and today took a m4a file from itunes and dragged it to the external storage, and the media player played it without issue. I also installed the Audible player, and it works great.

I really like that the phone's speaker can be used for music/video/audible... and it sounds clear. Of course, I suspect it kills battery, but it works.



Ok, those are the positives. The negatives:

1) the screen is very sensitive with the stylus - and I think easily scratchable. I immediately went out and got a Zagg invisible shield. For $20 its an essential add-on. And with it, the rubberized screen protector really makes it un-scratchable. So not really a negative, just a wise move.

2) Windows Mobile 6.1 still looks largely like the Pocket PC OS of years past. Its functional, just not fun. Samsung includes a menu program that makes for a decent alternative, but its still not great. Maybe the forthcoming WM 6.5 will have some improvements.

3) No native Facebook application. Sorry but I use FB almost as much as SatelliteGuys. It should have an application. (Its coming in WM6.5, but come on Microsoft).

4) No gmail app -- well there is an app, but it requires a java client running, and is difficult to install.

5) Samsung at a slidable qwerty keyboard like the way overpriced HTC Pro, and this would be the iPhone killer.


In the end, if you can't have an iphone - this is a very cool phone. It is definitely the best that Verizon has out there. And I am very happy with my choice. It has made my cell phone fun. I love it.