Omio News Blog

Samsung W7900 ‘Show’ Projector Phone Up In Lights

This latest handset from Samsung may look like a Pixon on steroids, but the W7900 Show is so much more…

A 5 megapixel camera, 3.2″ touchscreen display and TV tuner sounds pretty impressive, but the must-have feature is the 50 inch DLP projector courtesy of Texas Instruments lodged in the top!

The video below shows off the Show, starting off showing an interface which seems like a progression of the one found on the Samsung F480 Tocco / Samsung Omnia, but he soon kicks it up a gear when the lights get dim…

The potential for this is immense. Imagine projecting your mate’s baby pictures on the side of a house to get your own back on a cruel joke he played at the pub on you last night when you went to the toilet and everyone thought it was really funny when you came back but it really wasn’t, Dave!

The W7900 Show is looking for a Korean release later in the year, and it is safe to assume we will never see it in the UK unless as a network exclusive, missing half the functionality in a fetching chartreuse colour.

Source: Gizmodo UK / PopSci

T-Mobile January Sales: Even Cheaper G1 Deals Coming!

T-Mobile UK are planning to reduce the cost of the T-Mobile G1 for the second time since the Android-powered handset’s October release.

T-Mobile’s January sale (the first of its kind, credit crunch maybe?) will see the G1′s Combi 30 monthly charge reduced from £35 month to just £31.50.

That’s a free G1 with an 8GB memory card, 700 cross network minutes and unlimited texts for only £31.50, pretty impressive!

Only last month T-Mobile announced their first set of G1 price cuts and freebies, and this new reduction must be a last ditch effort to drive sales before the new batch of Android handsets from Sony Ericsson, HTC and Australian entrepeneurs come along…

The G1 isn’t the only handset to reach bargain status on T-Mobile, there are other mobile phone deals coming our way in January:

• Samsung i900 Omnia – down from £90 to FREE on Combi 30 tariff
• Samsung U900 Soul – down from £69.99 to FREE ON Combi 30 tariff
• Sony Ericsson C902 – down from £107.65 to FREE ON Combi 20 tariff

Source: IntoMobile

BBC iPlayer For Samsung Omnia, Sony Ericsson C905 And Xperia X1 Coming Soon!

The roaring success of the BBC’s online portal continues unabated as they announce the expansion of the iPlayer to even more mobile devices.

Now the Samsung Omnia and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 can be expected to receive the iPlayer, which will now also offer live television and radio broadcasts alongside the original ‘catch-up’ service.

The Sony Ericsson C905 Cybershot phone will also be added to the roster of supported handsets by the end of the week. Of cource, the current service offered to the Apple iPhone and the Nokia N96 will continue, with the N85 also getting its first taste of TV On Demand action.

Jon Billings, head of the BBC’s mobile technology, said of the development of the iPlayer to cater for the Xperia et al:

“These phones have been selected as they hit our requirements of Wi-Fi and 3G support with great browsing and media playback experience, and its also great to broaden our platform support out to Windows Mobile smartphones as well as our first feature phone offering on the C905″.

All of this is amidst the one year anniversary of BBC’s iPlayer service on 12th December, where the festivities will be huge Q&A sessions will all those involved in its development and success, as well as some kind of Flickr party! Sounds nice.

All this leaves ITV’s clunkier Catch Up service playing, well, catch up! A brand change to ‘ITV Player’ is on the cards…wonder why?

Source: Pocket Lint

Apple iPhone 3G Outsells All Windows Mobile Phones In Q3 2008

Okay. We’re as surprised at this as you all are.

Apple with their single handset, the iPhone 3G, has managed to outsell all of the Windows Mobile powered mobile telephony machines during the third quarter of 2008. Worldwide. Globally. Everywhere.

Just…take a moment to let that sink in. All those touted iPhone killers. The Samsung Omnia. The HTC Touch Pro. The Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. Put together. Outsold by the iPhone.

Other interesting changes in the smartphone landscape have been witnessed, including Nokia experiencing their first year-on-year sales decline, and BlackBerry shifting 81.7% more mobiles than this time in 2007. Well, the holy trinity of the BlackBerry Storm 9500, Pearl Flip 8220 and Bold all in Q3 must have had a great deal to do with that increase in sales.

What is also intriguing is the shift in operating systems, seeing Symbian’s share of the pie dipping below 50% of the market. Could it be because they were relatively late to the touchscreen party, forcing many to switch to WinMo or go it alone? Either way, the double whammy of the touch Symbian-rocking 5800 XpressMusic and the Nokia N97 will go some way to redressing the OS balance in 2009!

Love Hate to say it, but I was right about the iPhone’s software strategy for the 3G! From that announcement of the new iPhone in tandem with 2.0 and the App Store, it was clear that it wasn’t about megapixels or CPU speed but rather simple usability, freedom of choice and customer satisfaction.

Now the sales speak for themselves.

Samsung Tocco Gets Suited And Booted With Hugo Boss Edition

With the LG Prada II getting all the A-List attention as far as designer phones go, Samsung had a fashion disaster with the Night Effect, but is trying to exude a little more style and elegance with this restyled Samsung Tocco.

The Samsung F480 Hugo Boss is based very much in Tocco territory, with a 2.8″ touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera, 3G connectivity, Bluetooth and USB support.

As user interfaces go, it will be using the TouchWiz interface shared by the Samsung Omnia, and according to Softpedia may well have a special ‘fashion’ widget also. Direct line to your milliner? Concierge for emergency cufflinks? Who can say what this mystery widget will do?

The iconic Hugo Boss branding is just below the screen, and there is also a limited edition Bluetooth headset to go with it.

Very subtle.

The F480 Hugo Boss will be released in December, and will be available at Hugo Boss retailers across Europe. The price, however is as sharp as the lines of their suits, coming in at a cool €479 (£405).

The Mobile Phone Keyboard Olympics

Apparently there’s something going on in London in 2012 that’s costing a whole bunch of money and has got a lot of people all excited.

Alas, the Omio budget doesn’t stretch to Olympic sponsorship, let-alone building our own velodrome. Anyhow, who wants to watch a bunch of men chase each other round-and-round on bicycles, when you could stay in and watch our own Ernest Doku go thumb-to-button with greatest phones on the planet?

We lined up 6 of the best smartphones: the Apple iphone; the Samsung Omnia; the T-Mobile G1; the HTC Touch HD; the HTC Touch Pro (win this in our Touch Pro give-away) and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1. We gave Ernest a set text to type – twice on each handset – so that we could take an average time.

Want to see what happened when Ernest got typing? Check out the video…

More details of the contest after the jump

Read more…

Samsung Omnia Video Review

Everyone seems to be gunning for the iPhone by launching rival touchscreen handsets. So far, they’ve all fallen short of the mark. Can Samsung do any better?

Find out in our in-depth video review of the Samsung Omnia.

Samsung i7110 Announced, Is It A Nokia N96 Slayer?

“Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown.”

Shakespeare put it best, when you’re number one, there is always some whippersnapper at your heels, eager to snatch the glory away from you.

The Nokia N96 has barely gotten comfy in the multimedia smartphone throne when Samsung comes out with a lithe new handset ready to claim dominance!

The i7110 is a sleek little handset (literally, it looks the spitting image of the U800 Sleek!), boasting a 5 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, a massive 2.6″ QVGA screen, and wi-fi connectivity. It also runs those videos you downloaded legitimately purchased from the internet without any trouble, as it runs DivX and XviD format material with ease.

It even has GPS and 3G support, making the i7110 an embarrassment of riches on the specs front! The real question is, will the user experience be a nice enough one to drag the Nokia N96 from clutches of Symbian lovers everywhere?

Probably not, but you have to hand it to Samsung, they are not putting a foot wrong at the moment. With a line up of handsets to suit all pockets this Xmas, it will be interesting to see whether Nokia’s Comes With Music and a promise of the 5800 touchphone in 2009 can stave off the Samsung onslaught of the high end i8510, the higher end M8800 Pixon, and the touchy feely Omnia.

That’s not to mention the barrage of phones on the way from LG, BlackBerry, even T-Mobile’s own puppy.

The crown is certainly slipping…

T-Mobile G1 vs. Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 Review : Battle of the Text Machines!

We at Omio are more likely to get raw footage of a unicorn fighting a dragon, but lucky Dutch folks at Jouw Mobiel have managed to get their hands on the new Sony Ericsson Xperia X1! It’s a pretty detailed Xperia review (translated via Google), frequently comparing it to the similarly specced HTC Touch Pro.

They came away fairly impressed with the head-turning form factor and sturdy construction, but think that the keyboard hasn’t enough give on it, and that the panel interface is underwhelming after the sexy TouchFLO offered on the HTC device. Could the delays to the Xperia’s release date make it seem dated when compared to the LG Renoir and Windows Mobile brother-in-arms Samsung Omnia?

Thankfully not, as the phone is far more luxurious, more like a fancy PC than merely a mobile. It does have a lot of flashing lights and gimmicks to distract…but underneath is a very powerful machine, more than capable for either business or pleasure.

As if that wasn’t enough, they decide to chuck in a quick T-Mobile G1 and Xperia X1 comparison! Hardly a fair fight, but they focus on the internet and e-mail capabilities to see the best phone for surfing on the go. Our favourite translation? “The Xperia X1 is a true piece of art in comparison to the dusty look of the T-Mobile G1.” Dusty? That’s a bit harsh, but we know what you mean!

Just seeing two awesome forthcoming handsets occupying the same space is enough to excite us immensely!

Source: CoolSmartPhone

Apple iPhone: Over 10 Million Served…Three Months Early

At an Apple conference early last year, when Steve Jobs announced their new entry into the mobile phone market and a lofty goal of 10 million sales in 2008, many were very sceptical.

This was an industry with established titans like Nokia and Samsung, dedicated sellers who would not let such an unconventional device go unchallenged for long.

Despite the legions of iPhone killers, the flood of touch-based challengers that have been released or announced like the Samsung Tocco, the Samsung Omnia, the HTC Touch Diamond, the LG Viewty, the LG Renoir, the Samsung Pixon…none have had close to the same impact.

Even Nokia and BlackBerry have reluctantly entered the touchscreen domain, and whilst the 5800 and Storm 9500 seem like the most well equipped to dethrone the champ, is it too late to stop the charge?

With help from the revamped iPhone 3G, Apple have managed the unthinkable and reached their goal…three months early.

Looking at individual IMEI codes (a unique 15-digit handset identifier given to every single mobile phone made), the Apple Finance Board have tracked and logged 8 million handsets manufactured by early September, and all of those and many more have since been sold through. Wow.

The double whammy of the iPhone 3G and the new firmware and App Store (which I correctly predicted to be a game changer, thank you!) has worked wonders for the iPhone, breathing new life into what was considered a fad and technologically underwhelming device.

Apple performed what can now be officically coined as “doing a Nintendo,” perplexing the industry and consumers alike whilst selling lots of units through innovative ideas and application, despite what many would consider to be an inferior product. Wii Golf, anyone?

Champagne and cigars all round for Apple, methinks! As impressed as we all are with their success the big question, as ever, is “What next?”