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By now you probably already know that Samsung's response to iPhone was the Omnia. Samsung Omnia is a remarkable phone, with excellent features and a great specs list. Unfortunately for Omnia, it was created by Samsung, which is known for having products with a short life time. If you are wondering what else can Samsung do to improve the Omnia, then you are going to be happy to know that the upgraded Omnia is on its way. Samsung is re marketing the Omnia 2.0 to leave behind the competition with the Apple devices (iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS), and to step in another level of competition. Omnia was branded as a nice multimedia phone, with an excellent digital camera, good touch screen, and large internal memory.

The next Omnia, simply named Omnia II (or if you enjoy value names Omnia 2.0), is grabbing a bite out of the business range. This shouldn't surprise you if you are watching the ongoing evolution of Samsung mobile phones lines. Samsung provides for the 2009 line up, PIXON for the camera phones, Jet for the middle to high end touch screen multimedia phones, Corby for the entry level touch screen mobile phones, and Omnia for the multimedia meets business touch screen phones. The first competitor for the Omnia II is HTC Touch Diamond 2.

Unfortunately for the HTC model, Omnia II will win in a direct competition because of all the excellent features it packs. Don't hurry, I will present step by step this excellent features, but before we get going with all the praises let's see the main disadvantages found onboard the Samsung Omni II. Not many at number, but enough to make you think if you want to buy the Omnia II. First of all the camera lacks xenon flash (this was expected since the Omnia II is not a camera phone orientated); the digital camera found on Omnia II also lacks lens cover.

The display sports only 65000 colors (small value for its 3.7 inches diagonal), relatively bad browser which lacks flash support, and the micro SD card slot embedded under the battery cover. The Omnia II is in matter of size close to iPhone, and a lot smaller than Omnia HD. Omnia II is still a Samsung product. Therefore, expect excellent quality build and design. Ssmsung included the Omnia II in the stylish phone lines, thanks to the design bored from Samsung S8000 Jet.

Actually the only difference between this two models (with a similarity even in their names, S8000 Jet and i8000 Omnia), is the value of the dimensions. On the front cover, you get a nice black glass (with the purpose of framing the display). Under the display you get the call key, and the end call key, and in the middle of those two keys you can find the "diamond" key (or "cube" key, as some prefer to call it). All these buttons are framed within a metallic look like material, in order to improve the overall quality design. The front cover is dominated by the 3.7 inches touch screen, with the same features like the touch screen found on the S8000.

Above the giant screen you het the second camera for video calls, the earpiece, and both ambient light and proximity sensors. On the bottom of the i8000 Omnia II you can only find the microphone. On the left side of the phone you will get the volume controls, while on the right side you can find the back key, shutter button, and the switch off key for the display. On the top of the Omnia II you het the two important ports on a multimedia & business phone, the 3.5 mm audio jack for the multimedia part of the Omnia II, and the micro USB port for the business part of the Omnia II. Because the Samsung model charges using the micro USB port, there is no need for a special charger port. The back cover of the Omnia II sports a matte plastic look, on the upper left corner on the Omnia II back you can find the 5 megapixel camera lens with a LED flash, while the loudspeaker is found on the bottom left corner.

By placing the loudspeaker on the back cover, Samsung accepts the possibility of you missing some phone calls (especially if the phone stands with the back on your desk or a table). Then again if you place your Omnia II with the display down, you might just get some annoying scratches on that great touch screen provided. A bad feature is the memory card slot, included not only under the back cover, but also under the battery itself. Therefore, you need to switch off your phone every time you need access to the memory card.

The Samsung phone has a height of 118 mm, wide of 59.6 mm, deep of 11.9 mm, Omnia II weight about 129 g. therefore, Omnia II is not the lightest phone out there, and is not going to fit any pocket, but then again you have to compromise somewhere if you want a large touch screen. Overall, Omnia II sports an excellent design, very Samsung of it, and the built quality is remarkable. Omnia II not only feels solid, but it is as solid as a touch screen phone can get. Samsung included in the Omnia II an AMOLED resistive touch screen, with a 3.7 inches diagonal, and a WVGA resolution - 480 x 800 pixels. The display sports only 65000 colors, which do not offer the best user experience. However, thanks to the light sensor, the screen performs quite well in broad daylight, making the overall touch screen experience good enough.

The 3.7 inches Omnia II display also sports an accelerometer sensor for auto rotate (this is a must feature not only for the touch screen devices but also for the modern phones, in order to provide the ultimate user experience in maneuverability)., and the handwriting recognition which is really nice to use on such a large display. If you are an amateur Samsung fan, then the Omnia II operating system might just fool you. The Omnia II is shipped with the latest version of the Windows Mobile operating system (the latest one is 6.5; however on the market you can find some Omnia II phones running the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system).

Even with the Windows Mobile 6.5 on your Omnia II, the user interface looks exactly like the Touch Wiz 2.0 Samsung branded operating system. This is by far a bad feature. Basically you get an extraordinary mobile operating system with the excellent design of the Touch Wiz operating system. By know, you already guessed that the menu (and overall function of the Omnia II) is fully customizable, to make itself liked by all the users. And yes, you still get all the widgets you would like to have on your mobile phone. Since Apple changed the perspective of how a multimedia phone menu should look like, Samsung tried to create its own multimedia menu. Partially, it succeeded by introducing the new 3D media gate with its own keys. This sub menu if it can be called so, is quite good looking, and works well on the Omnia II (because of the high end hardware specifications Samsung included). Beside the Touch Wiz menu, and the multimedia menu, you also get the improved Windows Mobile menu (which is rather dull compared with the other two).

Omnia II provides with solid business features, such as excellent organizer, good email client, customizable phone book, and other. Samsung Omnia II runs in the 2G network (GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900) and in the 3G network (HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100).  Omnia II runs the latest Microsoft mobile operating system with the help of the Samsung S3 C6410 800 MHz processor, and a dedicated graphic accelerator. Also the phone comes with 256 MB random access memory. The internal storage divides the Omnia II in three categories: the 2 GB Omnia II, 8 GB Omnia II, and the 16 GB Omnia II. As mentioned before, the Omnia II internal memory can be expanded using the micro SD cards with 32 GB.

Samsung ensures the connectivity in the Omnia II by embedding GPRS Class 10 (with the common by now 4+1 / 3+2 slots) 32 - 48 Kb per second, HSCSD, HSDPA with 7.2 MB per second, HSUPA with 5.76 MB per second, EDGE with Class 20 at 236.8 Kb per second, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g with DLNA, micro USB version 2.0, and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP. Another excellent feature found onboard the Omnia II is the 5 megapixel digital camera with 2592 x 1944 pixels, auto focus, and a dual power LED flash. Some of the extra features provided in the camera sub menu are the geo tagging, mobile blogging, smile and face detection. Also, the 5 megapixel digital camera is able to video record in 720 x 480 pixels with 30 frames per second (really good video recording for a 5 megapixel camera). Samsung ships the Omnia II with a standard 1440 mAh Lithium Ion battery (on some models you might even find 1500 mAh), with a standby value in 2G network up to 430 hours, while in 3G network the standby value remains the same (430 hours).

The talk time in both 2G network and 3G networks is about 10 hours. Samsung ships in the containing box, beside the Omnia II and battery, a micro USB cable, a charger (which is quite strange, since it could have just included an extra adaptor for the USB cable), and a two piece wired headset with remote, instruction manual, CD software, and a case to keep the Omnia II safe. Overall, the Samsung Omnia II is an excellent phone, combining both multimedia features and business features with no problem whatsoever. If you are looking for a solid phone with a large touch screen then Samsung Omnia II is just what you are looking for.