omnia

Mango may have been bitten by its first big bug.

Users who have upgraded to the version 7.5 of Microsoft's Windows Phone are complaining that their keyboards randomly disappear or fail to appear when needed. Both Twitter and the XDA Developers forum have received a swarm of messages from Mango users reporting the glitch.

Apparently, people will either touch the input field only to find that the keyboard fails to pop up or be typing an e-mail or IM or other text, and the keyboard will suddenly vanish. The issue appears to be affecting a fair number of … Read more

Samsung Electronics today unveiled the Omnia W, its first smartphone running on the updated Mango version of Windows Phone.

Samsung plans to launch the Omnia W in Italy starting late next month, and eventually through Europe, Latin America, Southeast, and Southwest Asia. The company didn't provide any date for a U.S. arrival.

Samsung was among the early supporters of Microsoft's Windows Phone platform, which has only seen moderate success during the first go-around. The Mango update of the software, however, has won critical praise, although it's unclear if that will translate to commercial success.

Based on its specifications and hardware, the phone is more of a mass-market device.

The Omnia W has a 1.4GHz processor, 512MB of memory, 8GB of storage, and a 3.7-inch Super AMOLED display.

It has a 5-megapixel auto-focus camera with LED flash in the rear, and a front-facing VGA camera for video calls. It also allows for 720p video recording and playback. Other features that are standard in smartphones now are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth capabilities, an accelerometer, and light, proximity, magnetometer, and gyroscope sensors.

While the specs are solid, they still fall short of the Galaxy S II, Samsung's flagship smartphone that runs on Google's Android platform. … Read more

Users of Windows Phone 7 handsets must have had high hopes when Microsoft released a patch yesterday that updated the operating system to improve the process of installing a forthcoming OS update. But some users, notably those with Samsung's Omnia 7, are reporting that the patch is bricking their phones, making them useless.

It's not all Omnias, and we can't confirm if its happening on other Windows Phones, but there are reports on Web sites like WinRumors and Twitter that some users say the update is making their phones unusable. In response, Microsoft, via the Windows Phone support Twitter feed, recommends that affected users return to the store where they purchased them and exchange it for a new handset. … Read more

Qualcomm's Snapdragon silicon made a sweep of all of the Windows Phone 7 smartphones announced today, rendering the hardware from various manufacturers relatively homogeneous inside.

Against a backdrop of phone announcements from companies such as Samsung, HTC, and Dell, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer posted a video today discussing the relationship between the two companies.

"Qualcomm and Microsoft have a long history of working together to optimize the mobile operating system for Qualcomm chips and platforms...We're excited to bring a new generation of Windows phones exclusively featuring Snapdragon mobile processors," Ballmer said.

"This really shows...what can happen when people bring together great software and great hardware," said Jacobs in the video.

But this collaboration also brings Windows PC-like hardware uniformity. Just as the PC world has the Windows operating system and Intel processors, this first crop of Windows Phone 7 smartphones feature a Microsoft OS and Qualcomm silicon.

"If all of them feature the same hardware (internal) and same operating system, what happens to the differentiation?" asked Ashok Kumar, managing director and analyst at Rodman & Renshaw. Other smartphone processor suppliers include Texas Instruments, Marvell Technology, and Samsung, who provide chips for Android and BlackBerry phones, among others.

And it remains to be seen if Windows Phone 7 devices can find a place in a very crowded market. "I think one of the biggest questions is what are the prospects of Windows Phone 7," said Kumar. "Most of the resources are targeted toward Apple and Android and then you have RIM and the QNX (operating system). There are many questions here, not least of which is what will the receptivity of the consumer be?" Kumar said.

Windows Phone 7 smartphones include the Dell Venue, HTC 7 Mozart, HTC 7 Trophy, HTC HD7, HTC Surround, HTC 7 Pro, LG Quantum, LG Optimus 7, Samsung Focus, and Samsung Omnia 7. Inside these products is Qualcomm's 1GHz application processor, a 3D graphics function, support for high-megapixel cameras, and the requisite 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity, among other functions..… Read more

The Samsung Focus isn't the only Samsung handset announced today to feature the Windows Phone 7 operating system. The Samsung Omnia 7, which joins the Omnia family populated by the Omnia HD and Omnia II, will hop on over to Europe.

The quad-band GSM Omnia 7 world phone packs a 4-inch Super AMOLED display that we found brilliant on all the Samsung Galaxy S phones. The screen's WVGA configuration supports 800x480 pixels.

The Omnia 7 has a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and HD video recording (720p) and supports H.246 HD video playback. It has a digital music … Read more

SINGAPORE--Samsung announced a slew of new handsets at this year's CommunicAsia trade show in Singapore. In addition to the Galaxy 3 and Galaxy 5 Android entrants, the company expanded its Omnia and Wave portfolios with new Windows Mobile and Bada devices.

When it first announced its Bada mobile platform last November, Samsung said it was meant for low- to midrange devices. However, there seemed to be some contradiction as its first Bada phone, the Wave, came with a fast 1GHz processor and the Sammy's best Super AMOLED display. With the new Wave 2 (S5250) and Wave2 Pro (S5330), the company will be realizing that plan. The two handsets come with a 3.2-inch WQVGA screen and 2.5G connectivity. High-speed Internet is still possible, as they feature Wi-Fi, though you'll need to be within range of a hotspot for that to work.

A year back, Samsung greatly expanded its Omnia (Windows Phone) lineup with multiple products bearing different form factors. This time, the two new Omnia Pro 4 (B7350) and Omnia Pro 5 (B6520) are simply updates of the non-touch-screen B7330 smartphone. They come with pretty standard features, including a QVGA display (Pro 5) or 320 x 320-pixel screen (Pro 4) and HSDPA connectivity.

Here are the details of the new phones. For more of the action in Singapore, check out CNET Asia's full CommuniAsia coverage. … Read more

On Monday, Verizon Wireless announced that it will offer the Samsung Omnia II starting December 2 for $199.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

First introduced in early June, the Omnia II will take over for its predecessor, the Samsung Omnia, and brings a number of enhancements and new features, such as a 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touch screen and Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional Edition.

The Omnia II will sport Samsung's TouchWiz interface, allowing you to customize the home screen with various widgets and shortcuts and includes a similar 3D cube interface like … Read more

With the announcement of its new Bada operating system, Samsung promises to shake up the mobile OS market in the next few years.

According to a Seoul-based brokerage firm, the cell phone giant plans to gradually abandon its use of Microsoft Windows Mobile OS and increase the number of devices running Android and Bada.

While Windows Mobile accounted for nearly 90 percent of Samsung' smart phone line in 2008, it's estimated to drop to 50 percent in 2010 and 20 percent in 2011. This move echoes a recent HTC decision to devote over half of their 2010 product line … Read more

The Samsung Omnia 2 was announced for Verizon Wireless back in June, but an official release date and pricing were not disclosed at that time. Unfortunately, CTIA Fall 2009 didn't reveal any new information, but we did finally get some hands-on time with the device.

Both Samsung and Microsoft had the Omnia successor displayed on the show floor, but a Microsoft employee was kind enough to part with his personal GSM version of the Omnia 2 so we could check it out. The smartphone was running Windows Mobile 6.5, but there's some question as to whether the … Read more