Samsung Omnia CDMA Review

Interface:

By default, the Omnia comes with the Widget today screen activated, which we previously saw on the Samsung F480. It shows a column on the left side of the screen with icons for the clock, date, alerts, time zones, games, phonebook, music player, FM radio, sound profiles, wallpapers, web, wireless manager, and help. You can drag any of those icons directly to the desktop for one-click access, as well as changing their order in the column. Due to the accelerometer, it can be customize differently when the phone is in portrait and landscape modes.


Another useful software customization is the Main Menu screen, which shows 12 icons at a time on a 3x4 grid. Pressing the down arrow will show the seconds set of 12 icons. This is an easy way of finding commonly used programs and features, without the need to look through the “Start menu tree”. The Shortcuts menu allows for user customization, by placing up to 11 icons (out of a list of 43) in any order.


Since this is a Windows Mobile device, it naturally comes with the standard themes and customizations: Guava Bubbles, Samsung Theme 1 and 2, Verizon, Windows Default, Windows Mobile 6.1 and Green. If you’re not a fan of the Widget today screen, you can also choose from the Samsung Today screen, or a list of 10 others.


Phonebook:

The Phonebook on the CDMA Omnia is slightly different from its GSM cousin, as it doesn’t offer same “letter column” on the right side of the screen to quickly jump to a desired letter. Instead, you have to scroll through the list of names, or perform a search. Once the contact is selected, it shows icons for call mobile, call work, call home, and send message. Another way of viewing the same information is by going to the traditional Contact program, which does show tabbed letters across the top. When storing a contact, you can enter in several phone numbers, physical address, E-Mail, ringtone, and picture. Searching is done for both first and last name, but you cannot search by dialing in a phone number. For this, you have to go to the main dial pad and begin dialing a number (area code first) to display matching results.



Organizer:

The Calendar is standard on all Windows Mobile devices and is where you can enter your appointments. You can enter the subject, location, start and end date/time, all days, occurs, reminder, categories, attendees, status, sensitivity, and notes. Viewing the calendar can be done by day, week, month, year, and agenda, as well as setting the week to 5, 6, or 7 days. The appointments for the day are clearly shown in their time fields, so you can see them at a glance. Separate from the calendar is the ability to set Alarms and Anniversary days. There is also a World Clock where you can view 3 times at once. Pressing on the map will show a larger view that you can scroll through, highlight time zones, and save it as Home, Visiting, or Clock 1.


Under the Tasks menu you can add to-do items. For a given task you can set the subject, priority (normal, low, and high), start/due date, reminder, category, and write a note. Each task can have different recurrences and sensitivities. When examining the tasks in a list, you can easily see which of them are finished and which are not. The tasks options can be sort by (status, priority, subject, start date, due date) or filter (all, recent, no categories, active, completed).

The calculator has been redesigned and adds scientific mode, which is displayed in landscape screen orientation. You also have a unit converter (called Smart Converter), which can be used for length, weight, area, volume, and temperature.

The Notes program is simply notes, in which you can input text via the keyboard or by writing by hand. They can be synchronized with outlook.


Search is an application for locating files stored the phone. You can specify certain types of files (calendar/contacts/excel/messaging/notes/etc), but the best option is All Data, which will look through everything that is stored.

File Explorer is the mobile alternative of Windows Explorer. It can be used to view all the files located in the phone’s memory, including the system folders, and the memory card. You can also copy and paste files from one location to another, just like with a PC.