Comparing the Samsung Omnia Over the IPhone

When it comes to touchscreen phones, let's face it, the Apple iPhone is considered THE phone. Because of the iPhone's success, a lot of manufacturers have introduced their own touchscreen phone, but my favorite amongst iPhone's competitors is the Samsung Omnia.

The Design

Both mobile phones look strikingly similar though the iPhone is a bit wider. In terms of sexiness, I'm a bit torn between the two. Yes, the iPhone makes use of of high quality materials and is made of steel and glass but Samsung did a good job of designing the Omnia too, though it's made of plastic materials. The Omnia is more solid to hold and I'm more comfortable with one hand text typing on it.

The Interface

First round definitely goes to the iPhone. Until now, nobody is able to come close to the iPhone's smooth, fluid, multitouch interface. A lot of manufacturers have tried, most notable is HTC and LG, both companies already released their own touchscreen phones before the iPhone's arrival, but they both just can't get it right. The Samsung Omnia's interface is decades away from the iPhones. The iPhone's capacitive touchscreen overshadows the Omnia's resistive one but compared with other windows mobile based device, the Omnia has a better interface over the others.

Features and Performance

Now here's the part where the Omnia scores, and almost left the iPhone in the dust. Camera-wise, the Omnia's 5 megapixel camera with face detection, smile detection, and autofocus outperforms the iPhone's measly 2 megapixel camera which can't even take decent pictures. The Samsung Omnia's camera is also better when compared with other windows mobile devices.

Music wise, audio quality is almost comparible on both devices. The only problem is that the Omnia doesn't have a 3.5mm headset jack on the phone itself, you have to use Samsung's proprietary adaptor to connect your own headset which makes the iPhone a better music phone.

As for surfing the web, the browsers on both devices don't support YouTube though you can download Skyfire, a third party web browser for the Omnia, and of course, the iPhone already has a built-in YouTube app. Both devices can surf the web pretty fast but the Safari browser on the iPhone is still faster.

Connectivity wise, both offer the same connectivity options: Bluetooth, WiFi, and 3G, though the Omnia that I got is imported so it doesn't support the 3G networks here in the States, however, it does have a TV Out function which lets you connect your phone to your TV and view your pictures and downloaded videos.

As for the call quality, the Omnia gets better reception in my area compared with the iPhone. For business users, the Samsung Omnia, like all windows mobile devices, has a built-in office application which means you can view and edit your word and excel documents as well as view powerpoint presentations. The Omnia also has a built-in GPS which is capable of turn by turn directions using a third party software. I don't know whether you can get turn by turn directions with the iPhone.

Conclusion

iPhone fanatics will probably diss me for even thinking about comparing their precious mobile phone with the likes of Samsung but for those of us average users, you can't help but compare the two. Now as to which mobile phone is better, I'll probably put myself on the safe side and say: it depends. If you want a mobile phone mainly for its user friendliness and for its multimedia playback capabilities, then go for the iPhone. If you're a businessman and a poweruser at that, then the Omnia is the better choice.