Preview: Samsung Omnia W, a real inexpensive Windows Mango Phone

Following the frenzy of Microsoft’s release of Windows Phone 7.5 dubbed ‘Mango’, Samsung announced a new Windows Phone handset named Samsung Omnia W which is the first smartphone coming from Samsung’s stable preloaded with Windows Phone ‘Mango’. Here, we are going to take a quick look at Samsung Omnia W including the handset’s specifications, latest version of Windows Phone and the competition from other vendors. This smartphone is one of its kinds because of direct availability of ‘Mango’ through the device. Let us take a brief look at the specifications of this phone here.

Samsung Omnia W

First look

Like newer breeds of Samsung smartphones, Samsung Omnia W is also going to be famous for its outer beauty and thinness. Though single core, a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with clock speed of 1.4 Ghz will give a good challenges to most of the dual core smartphones out there in terms of battery life and single threaded performance. As Microsoft does not allow multi core processors yet with phones running on its Windows Phone 7 devices, Omnia W is surely going to reign among Windows Phone 7 smartphones. Apart from the beefed up processor, Omnia W also has 512MB or RAM and 8GB of internal memory. The phone radio has a 14.4Mb/s Download and 5.76Mb/s Upload speeds based on HSDPA technology.

What's new

The phone packs a 3.7” SuperAMOLED screen with WVGA (800*480) display and that is packing a commendable 252 PPI on the display. The Samsung Galaxy S which actually contained SuperAMOLED screen is known for a brilliant picture quality and Omnia W is also not going to disappoint the users. Samsung also added a 5MP camera to the device, as per standard Microsoft guidelines for ‘Mango’ and it can shoot 720p HD videos with ease.

What's been refreshed

Continuing with the trends of recent thin and light phones from Samsung, Omnia W is not breaking the rules here. It's also slightly thinner at 10.9mm, and weighs in at just 115.3g.

Features walkthrough

Not only in terms of raw hardware specifications, Omnia W is a serious contender in smartphone war scene because of Windows Phone 7.5 'Mango'. Microsoft completely changed its ‘people hub’ with ‘Mango’. To make it easier to manage a huge number of contacts present in your ‘people hub’, Microsoft provides a way to create ‘groups’ inside this hub. ‘Groups’ is an excellent idea for a really big contact list which is unavoidable if you also sync your Twitter and Facebook account with Windows Phone. You can create a group for a certain number of people that fits into that specific group to search them faster and easily access their information stored on your phone. You can also switch between Windows Live Messenger, Facebook chat and good old texting within the same conversation. ‘Mango’ offers deeper social network integrations that includes built-in Facebook check-ins and a completely new face detecting software. You can also link multiple email accounts under a single account and access all of these conversations at your convenience. New built-in voice recognition and speech-to-text converters enable you to do hands free texting or chatting. App wise, Microsoft also brings improved multitasking and live tiles that can give real time information on live tiles more than ever before. Internet Explorer 9 is another valuable addition to the growing list of added features of ‘Mango’.

Addition of Samsung’s exclusive productivity apps are going to enhance the phone experience to end users. Samsung AllShare which can easily and seamlessly transfer contents from DLNA enabled devices like HDTVs, digital cameras and monitors, Mini Diary to capture user experiences and options for vBlogging and an upgraded Samsung eBook client are three most significant productivity applications provided by Samsung onboard the device.

In terms of immediate competition, Samsung Omnia W only has HTC Radar in vicinity which is already announced and the later offers almost similar features but includes a much slower processor and has heavier weight. Samsung Omnia W also looks marginally better than the HTC device which is caught in their design paradigm once again. LG also has a handset on the horizon running ‘Mango’ but there are no official announcement as of yet.

What's good

Surprisingly enough, Omnia W is going to have a rather considerable price tag at $498 without carrier subsidy (unlocked) which is at par with entry level Android phones. Most likely this step alone is going to make Omnia W a bestseller in the near future. Along with the phone's cutting edge fast 1.4 GHz processor and SuperAMOLED screen and inclusion of Windows Phone 7.5 will surely make the the phone soar.

What's not so good

Samsung is still primarily focusing on its Android business and lack of significant number of Windows Phone handsets from them can be disappointing for Microsoft. Omnia W's approach to a slightly smaller screen can also cause some stir in consumer market which is very familiar with 4" screens now.

Price and availability

Samsung Omnia W will be available around $498 in USA and €335 in European countries. Samsung officially did not announce a release date but the handset will be available from late October worldwide.

On a concluding note, considering the amazing feature set Windows Phone 7.5 ‘Mango’ is bringing, if you are looking forward to buy a Windows Phone device anytime soon, you are advised to look forward to Samsung Omnia W.