It’s a tough job being a phone these days. Gone are the days you could fit in some fancy piece of kit, push in one of the many standard smartphone platforms, and expect it to sell. Not any more, phones these days are increasingly expected to not only top the hardware charts, but wear their finest platform livery as well. Samsung’s new releases — the Omnia and the Innov8 — too offer a new take on the Windows Mobile and Symbian mobile platforms. Is the beauty merely skin deep? Let’s find out.

Design elements of the Omnia follow a now industry standard — full touchscreen, no keyboard, you know the drill by now, people. Looks rather like the iPhone, full touchscreen with minimal buttons — no surprises there — and it’s only slightly smaller. Specs read well — 3G ready, 5 megapixel auto focus camera, 3.2-inch capacitive WQVGA touchscreen, GPS, Windows Mobile 6.1, WiFi, and 8 or 16GB of Flash with microSD expansion, all wrapped in a sturdy and premium-looking brushed metal case.

Fancy a built-in accelerator that mutes incoming calls simply by placing the phone face down on a table? I like! I didn’t particularly like the position of the additional memory slot though — it’s embedded under the battery slot, which makes hot swapping the card to quickly transfer data a pain.

Where the Omnia is getting all the attention is the makeover it has given the plain ol’ Windows Mobile. Displayed on a 3.2-in screen that’s just a shade smaller than the iPhone’s, the TouchWiz interface makes an appearance on the Windows Mobile scene in the Omnia. Used previously in the F480 as well, the interface lets you pretty up the standard Windows Mobile interface by dragging and dropping mini- applications, called widgets, onto the Home screen.

Take your pick — a digital or analog clock, a world-time clock, a birthday reminder list, a photo browser, ringing profile selector, a music player, an FM radio, a Notes widget, and a calendar, plus several shortcuts to Windows applications such as Notes, Games, etc.

Or if you tire of this, a less fancy tabbed set of screens more suited to everyday use. Where this scores over some other Windows Mobile phones is the inclusion of some custom applications (such as the Phonebook or Calls Log and custom keyboards), which are far more ‘thumbable’ than their Windows equivalents.

Samsung has bet big on using the touchscreen alone, so much so that they didn’t put in a stylus slot on the Omnia’s body — you can only hang it like a dongle from the handset. Having said that, even with the usability touches they have added in Windows Mobile, you still need the stylus from time to time.

Barring a screen that’s less responsive and less legible in sunlight than the iPhone (we’re spoiled, I know!), the Omnia is a very good attempt at an all-in-one device, hence the name (Omnia means everything in Latin). It is questionable whether it is worth the money though, even if you compare it to the pricey iPhone. Sure, it gives you memory expandability, a ton of extra features, and a raft of Windows Mobile business applications — but for Rs 40,000? I thought not.

The Innov8, on the other hand, proffers a fresh look at the Symbian Operating System (v9.3) and a Series 60 (rel. 3.2) UI. Samsung’s refreshed the icons, added DivX and XviD video format support, but largely it still has the heart of a Symbian S60 device, so Nokia users will find switching easy. It’s got reasonably good looks, nothing stellar though. The hardware is up to par with current phones, and a large 2.8-in (240 x 320) TFT display adorns the front of this slider.

Flip it over, and it resembles a regular point-and-shoot camera more than phone, with protective lens cover which opens automatically once the software is started. And then you notice a dual LED flash. Are you kidding me — a high-end camera phone, and you skip on the Xenon flash?

Granted, this camera comes along with an excellent face recognition feature (accompanied with smile and blink recognition) and image stabilisation is pretty good as well. The 8 megapixels count contributes towards relatively good images — great detail, good colour accuracy and lower levels of noise than the current top-tier cameraphone.

The Innov8 would be a great phone, one that could be compared favorably with the N-series, but for one horrendous detail. It costs Rs 46,000! Okay, so you’ve got contemporary hardware, current platform, decent feature set, and one heckuva inexplicable price! At this price, I’d expect it to drive my car and do the laundry!

Quick Specs:

Omnia

Platform: Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS

Screen: 3.2in, 400 x 240, 65K TFT WQVGA

Camera: 5 megapixel Autofocus with 2x Digital zoom and Dual Power LED

Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB, Wifi, GPS/A-GPS, TV-Out

Battery (Talk/Standby time): Upto 5.8 hours/Upto 500 hours

Dimensions (H x W x D)/Weight: 112.0 x 56.9 x 12.5mm /122gm

Rating: 8/10

Price: Rs 39,999 (32 GB Memory) and Rs 37,999 (24 GB memory)

URL: http://www.samsung.com/in/consumer/detail/detail.do?
group=mobilephones&type=mobilephones&subtype=gsm&model_cd=SGH-I900XKMINU

Innov8

Platform: Symbian Series 60

Screen: 2.8in, 240 x 320, 16M TFT QVGA

Camera: 8 Megapixel Autofocus with 9x Digital zoom and Dual Power LED

Connectivity: Bluetooth, USB, Wifi, GPS/A-GPS, TV-Out

Battery (Talk/Standby time): Upto 7.5 hours/Upto 330 hours

Dimensions (H x W x D)/Weight: 106.5 x 55.4 x 16.9mm /140gm

Rating: 7/10

Price: Rs 45,999 (32 GB)

URL: http://www.samsung.com/in/consumer/detail/detail.do?group=mobilephones&type=mobilephones&subtype=gsm&model_cd=GT-I8510RKJINU

Pocket projector

The N70 from Lanye looks like one in a long line of Chinese phones with a 2.4 inch touchscreen, 1 GB memory and a user interface that just so happens to perfectly

mirror the iPhone’s. Did I mention it has a built-in projector as well, which can project the cell phone screen or any external source (640 x 480 pixels) onto any nearby wall? Imagine having the power of a projector in your pocket! At its price, this is a bargain any which way you look at it!

URL: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.17069

Price: $345

Small is smart

Billed as the smallest and most energy-efficient PC in the world, the fit-PC Slim weighs a mere 370gm and draws a measly 6 watts of power. It’s impressive then that this itty-bitty PC comes with a full complement of ports, such as a 100 Mbps Ethernet, three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA port, a mini serial port and audio ports. An integrated 802.11b/g WiFi option is also available, making the system an excellent choice for places where you can’t pull in a wire.

URL: http://www.fit-pc.com/new/

Price: $295 (Linux) or $335 (Windows XP)