Both devices come with FM Radio support, 3.2MP camera, and Bluetooth. The Preston comes with a 2.8 inch screen while the Star comes with a slightly bigger 3 inch screen.

Both phones also utilize the Widget UI that has become popular among Samsung phones, allowing you to drag and drop widgets onto the main screen depending on what you need to access.

[photo c/o Samsung PH PR]

Post from: Cellphone9

Happy weekend folks. I’ve been looking for commercials from Samsung that spelled Olympics 2008 and found this one to be one of the most entertaining. This is a spot for the Samsung F480, their touch screen widget phone upon which the Samsung OMNIA is based on.

Ready? Ready!

Post from: Cellphone9

The Samsung OMNIA is Samsung’s latest Windows Mobile lifestyle phone. It runs beneath a combination of Windows Mobile 6.1 and its own proprietary user interface. Samsung’s own UI is divided into a (1) main menu and apps list and (2) the famous drag + drop widgets layout we’ve seen in the SGH F480.

The OMNIA also includes the touch sensitive trackpad mouse navigation seen in its “SamsungBerry” counterparts allowing mouse functions to roll into the UI. This function can be turned off anytime, thus converting the trackpad into a 5 way directional pad. The OMNIA comes with a built in accelerometer allowing for tilting between portrait and landscape modes for left and right handed people. It doesn’t tilt upside down. Samsung’s proprietary UI also adjusts to the tilts in a rather seamless fashion. Other Windows Mobile devices (like those from HTC) tilt with a certain lag. I think Samsung added the special effects to hide the delay. Absolutely brilliant!

The 5MP camera doesn’t have too many bragging rights. Blame it on Windows Mobile camera phones being so sub par. What may be considered as innovative is Samsung’s proprietary software for video editing and panorama mode which allows you to create panorama shots around you. A heed – since the camera isn’t very good, it would be best to practice this under daylight. The OMNIA’s flash isn’t impressive, as it really saturates. Not Samsung’s fault, I’d think. Again, a Windows Mobile issue.

All in all, the OMNIA is one of the prettier Windows Mobile smartphones in the market. It comes loaded with a hefty package of blogging and social networking software (i.e Twitter, blogging platforms). One reason why you’d want to get an OMNIA is if you find the widget interface interaction cool. It’s what truly separates OMNIA from the rest of the market. Widgets are developed in house by Samsung and it would be cool if one day these widgets were released by third party devs made available to the public. Methinks that the current deployment if widgets can only be downloaded from the Samsung online website.

The OMNIA, elegant as it is, does sport some semblance to the iPhone but it is in many ways different, and more affordable at roughly USD $600-$700.00.

Post from: Cellphone9

Proud to report we’ve gotten our hands on a Samsung OMNIA. Our first impression is that the OMNIA is akin to Samsung’s design philosophy, albeit with fingerprint magnet on the screen. The OMNIA runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 and boasts a 5MP camera. It has Bluetooth and WiFi. What’s interesting about the OMNIA is it’s custom UI and widget interface like the SGH F480.

We’ll be posting a hands on within the next few hours. In the meantime, here are the product tech specs

Samsung OMNIA (SGH-i900) Specifications
HSDPA (7.2 Mbps), EDGE / GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
3.2” WQVGA TFT LCD (240 x 400)
5 Megapixel CMOS Auto Focus, Image Stablizer, Geo-tagging, Auto-Panorama Shot, Wide Dynamic Range (WDR), Face Detection, Smile Detection
Support for DivX / XviD / H.263 / H.264 / WMV / MP4
Video recording and Video Editing: Trim video, Audio dubbing, Live dubbing, Add subtitle, Image capture
FM Radio with RDS
Support for MP3/ AAC / AAC+ / WMA / OGG / AMR
Bluetooth Stereo Headset (A2DP)
GPS
TouchWiz UI
MS Office Document Viewer, Advanced PIM Apps, Push Email,
Auto Rotation, TV Out
Bluetooth 2.0 / USB 2.0 / Wi-Fi
8GB / 16GB Flash + External Memory slot : microSDHC™
Size 112 x 56.9 x 12.5
1440 mAh battery

Post from: Cellphone9

Exactly a year ago, Samsung was working on releasing a mobile phone – the Samsung u740 that featured a dual-type keypad that exploited both numerical and QWERTY keypad in one sitting. A year later, Samsung took a different direction and offered dual SIMS in one phone, widgetized user interfaces, and even outsourcing a competitor’s operating system to come up with one of the most kick ass music mobile phones this year.

Post from: Cellphone9

The Samsung SGH F480 is IMHO the most attractive Samsung mobile phone to date. It comes bundled with innovative features such as smile detection, a feature that is quickly becoming popular with point and shoot digital cameras. But what makes the F480 truly shine is the support for drag and drop widgets.

The F480 capitalizes heavily on customization of the home screen and borrows the concept of having “widgets” … or “gadgets” … depending on what computer OS you run. I was easily able to drag and drop a calendar and clock in the two minutes that I spent with the device.

Features:

HSDPA Triband
Widgets
2.8” 240 x 320 TFT LCD (262k)
5Mp Camera with Smile Shot
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support
280MB internal memory with microSD support
RSS Reader
Full Music Support

Photos taken are my own shots from the 2008 Samsung Mobile Roadshow.

There are higher MP count offerings from Samsung, if you are interested. Take for example the Samsung i8510 Innov8, which boasts an 8MP camera.

Post from: Cellphone9