The forgotten smartphone: Samsung i900 Omnia

The Samsung i900 Omnia, a popular device that you are unlikely to recognize. Supplied with a stylus and extensive capabilities. We discuss the device today in our section ‘The forgotten smartphone’.

Samsung i900 Omnia

We go back to the year 2008, the year in which Samsung presented the new Samsung i900 Omnia. The manufacturer launched the device for those looking for a versatile phone with a sleek and stylish design. The i900 Omnia was fully equipped and was equipped with Windows Mobile 6.1. This was covered by Samsung’s own TouchWiz interface. The size was not comparable to the size of the Galaxy S22+ for example. With the dimensions 112.0 x 56.9 x 12.5 millimeters, the Omnia was easy to operate with one hand. Furthermore, the phone weighed less than 130 grams.

On board the Samsung i900 Omnia was a 3.2 inch TFT display with a resolution of 400 x 240 pixels. The smartphone was powered by a single-core Marvell chipset that delivered a computing power of 624 MHz. Present was 128MB of RAM, along with 8GB or 16GB of storage space. This could be expanded with a memory card.

stylus

The most striking thing is the stylus, which is included with the device. This looks like a lipstick and you can attach it to the string on the device itself. Since the Samsung i900 Omnia had a resistive touchscreen, a stylus was also indispensable. Nowadays, smartphones have a capacitive screen that reacts to the touch of fingers. Resistive screens only worked with a pin, or possibly on contact with the nail. A downside of the device was the moderate brightness of the screen.

Below the screen is a so-called optical mouse, which you can use to navigate through the menus and the like. The camera of the Samsung i900 Omnia offers a 5 megapixel main lens. You could also film with it. The front camera only had a VGA resolution with which you can make video calls, for example.

Apps and capabilities

The Samsung came with several applications that came in handy in everyday use. An example was Picture Frame. This allowed the Omnia to be used as a digital photo frame. Google Maps was also installed, but navigation was not yet possible at the time. You could, however, request directions. There was also a video editor that you could use. A task manager was also present with which you can keep track of things related to memory usage and the like.

Samsung managed to score high with the i900 Omnia. The phone was well received. Not only for the business user, but also for the user who uses the device for entertainment. The Omnia also had a number of competitors right away. For example, the HTC Touch Diamond and the iPhone 3G. The smartphone appeared with a price tag of 500 euros, but could of course also be concluded with a subscription.

Samsung i900 Omnia summarized in 3 points:

• 3.2 inch resistive touchscreen
• Windows Mobile 6.1
• Comes with a stylus