Opinion: Omnia vs Current Verizon WM Devices

[hop2000]

I've been following the release of the Omnia for the last few weeks and was impressed with the initial reviews of the device. However, after reading the latest reviews of people who have lived with the device for a month, they have been not nearly as positive. The main issues I've been seeing is that the phone is "buggy" (this could just be a WM thing), the screen resolution sucks (compared to the HTC Touch Pro and BB Storm), and the 128mb of memory is not nearly enough to push this device to it's full potential.

I have been using the XV6900 since it came out last April and overall am not happy with the device. I can't stand that I have to use the stylus when closing apps and at other random times (I have large fingers). I also hate that I am constantly entering wrong buttons because the keyboards are so cramped. I can't tell you how many times I have sent a text with nothing in it because I hit send by accident when trying to shift between the XT9 default. I would love to just delete XT9 from the device all together, but so far have not found an easy solution to do so.

I am up for an upgrade in a few weeks and have been leaning towards the Omnia or the Storm. I would prefer to stay with a WM device as my office does not support BB devices. Only two people in my office use BB devices and when something goes wrong they are basically SOL and need to figure it out on their own.

I have seen numerous post on this site and others comparing the Omnia to the iPhone and BB Storm (which I think is unfair as they are running different OS and they have different "core" users than most WM devices. I would like to see some comparisons and opinions of the Omnia compared to other current Verizon WM devices (i.e. XV6800, XV6900, Touch Pro, Samsung Saga).

If anyone currently owns the Omnia and has used any of the other Verizon WM devices, please post your thoughts here.

[Adrynalyne]

I wouldn't mind an HTC device, if they weren't so horrendously overpriced.

HTC TP, I was quoted 420.00 from Verizon. Omnia: 199.00.

The only thing the HTC had over the Omnia was resolution and a slide out keyboard, which I don't need, because soft keyboards work fine for me.

I've owned my Omnia for one month, and have not had any crashes to date, that I didn't bring upon myself. It is fast, and stable for me. But I have it nicely tweaked and maintained, as well.

I will never go so far to say it is better than an HTC device, but when it comes to bang for your buck, HTC loses.

Only point of reference I have on the smartphone front is the Treo 700W and 700P. The Omnia slaps them around.

At the end of the day, I am saddened that the Omnia resolution isn't VGA, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, is double the price worth the extra resolution? Thats the real question, imo. Under no circumstance will video quality on any VGA phone device oust my laptop, and with my laptop, I don't have to squint to see a little picture. Video aside, I see no serious problem running at non-VGA resolution, on a phone.

[devinc]

I used the XV 6800 for Verizon before going to the Omnia. Frankly, I quite loved my XV 6800. I had WM 6.1 running on it and all of the finger-friendly apps you can get from XDA and the like. Had the today screen tweaked using SPB Pocket Plus and had the GPS unlocked using the Valhalla AGPS system.

The problem was that the RAM was so anemic on the XV 6800 that I started to have problems with even the simplest things like having Live Search open and playing WMP underneath it. I would run out of RAM and then the music would start skipping and Live Search maps would take forever to update on the screen.

Meh!

So when I saw that you could essentially try out a new phone from Verison for 30 days for a $35 restocking fee, I did an amazing amount of research between the Touch Pro and the Omnia, and ultimately I tried the Omnia, thinking that if I didn't like it I could then return it and try the TP and if that failed just go back to my XV 6800.

Having had my Omnia for 27 days, I can say for certain I am keeping it, selling my XV 6800, and not even bothering trying the Touch Pro.

Don't get me wrong, I like the XV 6800 aside from the RAM and the camera. I could have lived with the latter, but the RAM was the deal breaker.

The XV 6800 is great for several reasons:

1. It has a hard keyboard. I have big fingers and I despised using soft keyboards when I tried them on the Iphone or even on my XV 6800 using 3rd party keyboard apps.

2. The XV 6800 has the best collection of hard buttons EVER! Twelve of them. In all sorts of places and configurations. You have a scroll wheel that also presses for an Enter key. You have 5 other buttons on the sides, two on top (mail and IE) and several on the front bottom. Each of these buttons was configurable using SPB Pocket Plus to use long holds so that you could practically run your entire OS from the hard buttons, which was great when on the go or in the car.

3. The unlocked GPS rocked. I could use Google Maps, Live Search, Amaze, and many other neat apps for free. I always got 6+ sats outside.

But having had the Omnia now...I would never go back.

1. The WQVGA screen allows me to cram more stuff on my today screen (read plug-ins) without invoking the scroll bars. That's a big deal for me. Now I can have my weatherbug direct, my email notifications, two days worth of appointments in Today Agenda 1.5, my tabs from SPB Pocket Plus, my battery and mem indicators, and a host of icons on the front screen and still have room for that stupid Intellisync icon at the bottom that I cannot seem to get rid of.

2. The WQVGA screen means when I use the soft keyboard of the Omnia in landscape, I have extra room for the keys to be bigger and even my meaty fingers can type pretty darn well on it...especially with the aid of the haptic feedback, which I didn't thing I would like...but now love it!

3. The WQVGA screen does mean some apps won't function. You can get around this by downloading the free WVGA/WQVGAfix application that can be found on XDA. Even so, some apps won't function. Mainly older games (like the RPG LEGACY by Redshift). A small price to pay to be sure.

4. The camera is really REALLY good. Will it replace a dedicated 8 MP digital camera? Nope. But compared to the crappy camera and video on the XV 6800 it rocks. The flash is decent, and the 5 Mp resolution is excellent. I happen to like the gadgets in the camera, such as the smile function where then camera automatically focuses on a face and then snaps the shot (automatically) when it sees the subject smile. That feature alone has got to be able to get you laid at a bar if you show it off

5. The RAM is excellent. I have everything I had on my XV 6800 and more and I have about 60 MB of RAM to spare for apps. That spare RAM equals the entire RAm built into the VX 6800.

6. Storage is also excellent, with two caveats. I really enjoy having 8 GB of storage built in and then I can plop in another 16 GB into the micro SD slot. Try that on any other WM device. That's 24 GB. I can have every piece of music I own and over 30 hours of videos and still have room for my apps and snapshots and everything else (including PDFs of every D&D 3.5 rulebook I own!).

Caveat #1 - the micro sd slot requires you open the battery cover and , worse, take out the battery. This means you have to shut down to switch out cards. For most people, this will never matter. When I travel I like to have all my movies available to me, and that means I have several 16 GB cards. It is a slight pain to swap cards in that you cannot hot swap like you can on the XV 6800. It's not a huge deal...it takes literally 10 seconds to swap, but restarting the phone is a small pain.

Caveat #2 - While storage space is excellent, device space is anemic. RAM is great, but ROM sorta sucks. After you account for the OMNIA ROMs, you don't have a lot of device storage left. This shouldn't be a massive issue, but it does mean you have to put most of your apps on the built in storage card (8 GB). Some apps, however, require or work better installed on your device. I have lots of apps on my device, but I did have to only leave the really device important ones (like S2u2) on the device and move the others to the storage. Not a massive issue, but there nonetheless. That said, I still have over 10 MB free on my device for device storage.

7. The Omnia does not have the hard buttons of the XV 6800. If hard buttons are your thing, you won't like the Omnia. It has basically two configurable hard buttons on the edges and a volume rocker that can ne quasi configured to work the flashlight.

8. The Omnia does not have a stylus holder. At first this puzzled me. Then I tied it to the device using the stylus and string that comes with the stylus. It looks a bit feminine and I always felt like I was opening lipstick. It also just looks icky having a tube dangling from your phone. Then a funny thing happened on the way to the forum...I found I just didn't use my stylus for anything except when I needed to soft-reset. So I chucked it. I do everything finger friendly and it works fine.

9. Omnia comes with Touch Player, which IMO is much better than WMP.

Not sure what else to say. Hope that helps. I love my Omnia and will love it even more when Verizon unlocks GPS this quarter (I use VZnavigator...but it really sucks compared to Google Maps and Live Search). About the only thing that would ever take me away would be if a US company came out with the Touch HD with a hard keyboard. And even then I'd have to consider very hard if I wanted to go with that.

Devin

[Phantom27]

I had a xv6900. While I loved the phone I started having problems with it and ended up with the Omnia. While in a lot of ways they are simiular I can't really think of anything that the 6900 does that the Omnia doesn't. Except maybe the GPS hack (but GPS unlock is coming for the Omnia). I would say that I love the extra screen size. It makes WM way better!! Just more room all around.

Like any WM device it takes some tweaking and setup to get it working 'right'. Of course this is different for every user.

I would caution you about VGA devices. They seem to SUCK the battery power right out of the device!! They look pretty but at a cost. This was the biggest reason I didn't get the TP.

The keyboard is still software. It's better than the 6900 but if you HATE the keyboard on the 6900 then maybe a touch keyboard isn't for you. I personally love it but maybe not for you.

I would say that it is a much better device than the 6900.

[aleis]

from my post in HOFO:

-samsung i910

This phone is the best out! imo
its winmo so unlimited customizing.
the processor is the second best out (i believe the 800(824?)mhz is the best) at 624mhz marvel.
the camera is amazing if your into that.
typing is easy..though you have to get adjusted to it.
my hand is small but my fingers are fat an im (using anology) typing about 60-70wmps with 1-2 errors.
youtube is easy to do, surfing is...sometimes i use my phone instead of the pc...i mean its right in my face so its very easy to see.
and with this opera browser!
it has a scroll feature if you scroll off to the right of the page...
iphone/gphone owners are so jealous of that!
its like safari on steroids in my opinion
add that to microsoft stating flash will be on winmo by march!
plus its sexy!
i normally go about 3 months in a relationship until i want another girl....
but i been single and happy with my sexy omnia for the past month not even thinking about meeting someone
my battery last about 2 days. sometimes at 100% an entire day!
with surfing, playing pandora and push email every 5mins for two accounts.
i average about 30mins on calls a day.
but...i ran tons of updates and programs and reg tweaks and crap!
that its no way this battery should be lasting this long!
hope this helps...i been racking my brain trying to learn c# to make ANY kind of app all day. writing this was a little release!

[mogulrudy]

bottomline do you want a faster phone? 624mhz-omnia 524mhz-touch pro. omnia is gonnabe a great device once we start hacking it

[JonV]

Originally Posted by devinc

. The Omnia does not have a stylus holder. At first this puzzled me. Then I tied it to the device using the stylus and string that comes with the stylus. It looks a bit feminine and I always felt like I was opening lipstick. It also just looks icky having a tube dangling from your phone. Then a funny thing happened on the way to the forum...I found I just didn't use my stylus for anything except when I needed to soft-reset. So I chucked it. I do everything finger friendly and it works fine.

I can't add more to what everyone has said so far. The Omnia has been a godsend after a couple of Treos and a Samsung i760.

Just to touch on the stylus issue, besides using finger friendly apps the use of the optical mouse (invoked via the mouse toggle application assigned to a button press) is the equivalent of having to pull out the stylus on my old devices. What I can't do with my finger, I whip out the mouse to do then put it back away. Better than a stylus in my book.

[hop2000]

To everyone that replied. Thanks for the input. I have one question about the screen resolution. Is it really as bad as everyone says it is? I don't really care how it stacks up against the BB Storm or HTC Touch Pro (I know their screens are higher res), but will I be dissapointed with the quality coming from the XV6900? Let me know.

[Adrynalyne]

You have my full attention. Did you assign it to a hard key or a soft key (the mouse)?

If a hard key...how?

[hop2000]

Originally Posted by JonV

I can't add more to what everyone has said so far. The Omnia has been a godsend after a couple of Treos and a Samsung i760.

Just to touch on the stylus issue, besides using finger friendly apps the use of the optical mouse (invoked via the mouse toggle application assigned to a button press) is the equivalent of having to pull out the stylus on my old devices. What I can't do with my finger, I whip out the mouse to do then put it back away. Better than a stylus in my book.

I think I could definitly get used to the optical mouse. I just hate having to pull out the stylus all the time. How is the sensitivity on the mouse?