Hands on with Samsung's Omnia II

Special thanks to Negri Elecgtronics for providing us with this review unit, check them out for the hottest imported handsets!

Samsung took on the WinMo skinning game with the Omnia, and by all accounts it was relatively successful.  Their TouchWiz is arguably the best overlay this side of TouchFLO, and with customizable widgets it offers the user more control.  TouchWiz 2.0 is now here; we first saw it on the OmniaPRO and it also powers the Samsung Omnia II.  Its a fine UI, and we applaud Samsung for going deeper into the OS than HTC has, but it suffers from lag.  The 3.7" 480x800 AMOLED screen is downright gorgeous, and if it had 16m colors like the Pre or iPhone it would probably be the best display we've ever seen.  Instead we're stuck with a paltry 65k colors.  The plastic screen gives it a cheaper feel than the panel deserves.  The size is still good given the massive display, and it's thin enough to comfortably slip into your pocket.  Other features are as high end as you'd expect: 7.2 HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Opera Mobile, GPS, 5 megapixel camera with DVD quality video recording, DivX and XviD support and 8GB of internal storage with microSDHC expansion.  Overall a pretty solid package, but how will it stand up against the other super offerings of today's market?  Stay tuned for our full review soon!

Samsung Omnia II Specifications
Samsung Omnia II Review