N97 or Omnia or Xperia X1 Suggestion Required

E

N97 or Omnia or Xperia X1 or 5800 XM Suggestion Required

Hi geeks,
I've been looking for a great mobile for few months (quite long period) . . .
But I'm not able to make a decision. Thought you guys at Digit will help me make a better choice as you did for Z5500 & Dell SP2208WFP.

My requirements:

-->Touchscreen ( I'm not sure abt the responsiveness, as of now the only touch phone I've handled is P1i and I feel its quite responsive and good).

-->Music Player(I need something like SE Walkman phones as they are the best, but neither they come with touchscreen nor with a good camera with flash).

-->Camera (I can't be specific here, as I don't know much about cameras - but I need the best camera phone like Nokia N95)

--> WiFi, EDGE, 3G (I'm not sure abt this), Long Battery Hours (atleast for music),

No limit on budget.

The models that I've shortlisted so far,

Samsung Omnia i900 (I like every bit of this phone except for its from Samsung (not so popular in India) and some sites say its performance is not so good, even touch sensitivity is low - Digit slammed this model in this month's issue)

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 (Gr8 - but 3.2 MP camera, I've seen some videos and I feel the touch is somewhat slow, but I'm not sure)

Nokia N97 (Discovered it few days back, GR88 but Symbian not Windows Mobile)

Which one shall I choose? If you have a better option let me know ( Like that of HTC touchHD and HTC touch diamond - but are they as good as Nokia's and Sony Ericsson's ???)

Thanks in advance.

EDIT 1: Nokia 5800 Xpress Music included. - I dunno why I left out this model. It has everything that I require. If only the camera quality is on par with Omnia.

G

Do you really need a QWERTY keypad? If you think you're gonna be banging out messages all day, get the Touch Pro (HTC Raphael).
If you need a sleek touch based music player that also doubles up a phone, check out the Nokia 5800XM.
However, if the budget is not a limitation, get the Touch HD. It's the best phone the market right now, bar none. The 3.8" screen is a joy to use and it's HTC's first 5MP sharp shooter.
Of the three that you've listed: Omnia > X1 > N97 simply because the X1 is essentially a Touch Pro in disguise while the N97 suffers from critical design flaws.

Of your choices.i suggest you go for the XPERIA.The XPERIA is much faster than the Touch Pro, has 128 mb of dedicated graphics memory and has a better implementation of software and cam than what the Touch Pro has to offer.Also, the build quality and looks are way better in the X1.

The Omnia has serious software issues and is slow as hell, also support for WM in Samsung is far from top notch.
The N97 is a viable choice, but it will be available in May. Now, if you want to wait for that do so.

Also there are Android devices from HTC and SE to be announced in February and SF devices and also Win 6.5 devices coming up.

Also bear in mind that the cameras in the HTC models are below par and the 5 mp ones are worse than what the X1 has to offer. Also, sound quality in the X1 is top notch, you wont find a better sounding WM phone in the market.

N97 no doubt but you won't be getting it that's the prob better off with xperia it is better than omnia......

G

dreamcatcher said:
Of your choices.i suggest you go for the XPERIA.The XPERIA is much faster than the Touch Pro, has 128 mb of dedicated graphics memory and has a better implementation of software and cam than what the Touch Pro has to offer.Also, the build quality and looks are way better in the X1.

Have you ever used the X1? The initial build quality was absolutely terrible and the device is as laggy as my P1i. And I'd like to know how you could ever type faster on the X1's 4-row QWERTY than on the better designed 5-row keyboard of the Touch Pro. It has hopeless tactility, the buttons are too far wide apart and it lacks basic buttons like the arrow keys.

FWIW, the Touch Pro outguns the X1 in usable RAM for apps (288megs vs 256megs). The 128MB of RAM for the graphics is almost entirely wasted as OpenGL is not accessible to applications, it has to be hard coded. Can you give me an example of the "better implementation" of software on the X1 when compared with the Touch Pro? Heck FWIW, 99.99% of the X1 owners on XDAdevs are absolutely fed up of the craptastic panels and have switched to TF3D/Manila from the Touch HD and Diamond. Until 3rd party developers create some useful panels, it's just a farce. I'd also like you to prove that the camera implementation on the X1 is better than on the Touch Pro.

Also bear in mind that the cameras in the HTC models are below par and the 5 mp ones are worse than what the X1 has to offer. Also, sound quality in the X1 is top notch, you wont find a better sounding WM phone in the market.

Wow! When GSMArena and a multitude of other review web sites have praised the 5MP cam in the Touch HD, here is someone on ThinkDigit who claims otherwise. From GSMArena: "Still, the camera performance of the Touch HD is a huge leap forward for the HTC. We are quite positive that this is the best camera on a Windows Mobile PocketPC we have seen so far. The Touch HD has confidently closed the gap between the very best in business. " (referring to the N82)
The same goes for SQ. Having a 3.5mm jack is good, but do you have any stats for THD, crossover, pink noise etc. to back up your claim?

I'd be happy to be proven wrong but but this is just blind fanboyism on your part. I'm not bashing the X1 by any measure (heck, I've been using SE phones since the first T68i) but having lived with it for a couple of days, it just seems like a run off the mill handset with an average feature set but good looks and a very good (but small-ish for its res) screen.

E

Here I go again - 3 replies - 3 different opinions.

But No Omnia in any of them - the only thing I regret about Omnia is - its from Samsung - Is that a problem? Or its poor sunlight legibility/touch sensitivity will pose any problem? Please shed some light on this.

I would recommend waiting for HTC Touch HD. I have seen some of the camera samples and they are excellent.

emmarbee said:
Here I go again - 3 replies - 3 different opinions.

But No Omnia in any of them - the only thing I regret about Omnia is - its from Samsung - Is that a problem? Or its poor sunlight legibility/touch sensitivity will pose any problem? Please shed some light on this.

Omnia is somewat costly i guess n its not worth 4 money..
hey emmarbee read d review about omria n xperia in tis months DIGIT..
i dont have any idea abt n97..

n97 is nowhere in sight it will be only released after 5-6 months from now and at that point nobody knows how the market will be as new phones keep coming every week.

so if you really want to buy you have choices from xperia(too costly you can get a dell in that price),
omina(overall nice package,bit costly)
5800(good balance of price and feature)
htc touch various models

so if you want to buy, buy one as phone price will now decrease in dec or keep waiting for couple of months....

How about Blackberry Storm???

among the three that you picked, I would vote for Omnia.

blackberry storm has good spec but it is meant mainly for bussiness executives ceos etc

G

desiibond said:
How about Blackberry Storm???

among the three that you picked, I would vote for Omnia.

It isn't available in India if I'm not mistaken.

As found on newer SE phone, the music player interface is clean and of a similar layout philosophy as an iPod; anyone who has used the PS3 or Sony TV menus will recognize it. With our own headphones Sony earbuds the sound was excellent; highs were crisp and the bass was rich. It recognized all of our ID3 tags just fine, though only one of the six albums properly displayed the art. The now playing screen has all the essential information, though is a bit crowded for our tastes. These are all minor gripes, however, and what really matters is that the player is easy to use and the audio sounded great.

*www.phonearena.com/htmls/Sony-Ericsson-Xperia-X1-Review-review-r_2072-p_5.html

Well, couldnt find any graphs to root my claim though. But, I have used the X1 and it really sounds and looks great.Its a differenct story that its totally out of my budget.

As for panels, I am sure, with the SDKs released and people acclamatizing themselves to the Panel system, there will be more panels on the run. Btw, if you in for a bigger screen get the Touch HD, else the XPERIA is the way to go.Will find multiple references in youtube that hold the Touch Pro slower than the XPERIA.

E

Good to see you back Desii Ji - your opinion on DellSP2208WFP and Z5500 was worth it !

But blackberry is way out of my choice. And I'm happy that you've voted for omnia.

But could you be more elaborate - i mean, what are the negatives in Omnia.
I have to see wehther I can getr over with that.

QuadCore & Dreamcatcher,
If you are going to consider the reviews from phonearena - then Samsung Omnia Rulez (along with Xperia X1).
If you are going to consider Digit's review - Omnia sucks!
But why am I starting a thread in this gr8 forum - to get the links for other web site's reviews ? - NO, To get public opinion.

I do know that Digit has mortified Omnia in this month's issue - but the reviews from Digit and phonesarena are contrary - I can't come to a conclusion.

Thanks for your suggestions though - I'm in really need of it.

If you really are you WM, forget OMNIA.Its not bad though, has a good enough cam and is one of the better looking devices in the market.But its very gimmicky when it comes to the software front.Samsung is not known for its WM implementationa and that clearly shows here.

You should either go for an HTC or an SE(HTC as its ODM) if you consider getting any positive support.I also suggest you take a trip down to the XDA forums and then shot your claim. I personally found the Xperia good on the music front with nifty softwares provided by SE, with the Walkman player 3 and other stuff ported from its Axxx siblings.

So if its between the Touch Pro and the XPERIA, i suggest you go for the XPERIA, or wait till FEB 09 and check out the devices that SE and HTC have to offer.

Also in india, HTC's after sales support is not that great. SE has service centres all over ad you will rarely face a problem with either of them.

There are quite a few Touch HD camera samples here. As I said the camera pics are excellent.

XEPERIA X1 The most powerfull phone than N97 , fast in all operations , still no hanging problem great user opinions on X1

E

dreamcatcher, I saw sevaral videos of Xperia X1 and in all videos the performance seems to be slow -I'm not talking about the touch sensitivity but the process speed.
But samsung Omnia looks pretty fast when compared to that of both HTC Touch Diamond(not sure about touchHD and touchPRO) and Xperia.
And when I say videos, they are video reviews from site like - "phonedog", "mobilereview","pocketnow".
The reason why I considered reviews from other sites is that they are VIDEO REVIEWS - I can actually see what's happening - I don't think that these reviews are biased on any means . . .
Actually there was only one thing that was bugging about Xperia earlier and it was the camera - but now I highly doubt on the interface speed.
There was only one advantage in HTC - its awesome TouchFLO3D interface - but later I came to know something called "SPB" similar to that of touchflo3d which can be installed on Omnia and in Xperia the touchflo3d itself can be installed.
So I don't think I should consider HTC as an option anymore, unless there is any unique strength.

G

emmarbee said:
dreamcatcher, I saw sevaral videos of Xperia X1 and in all videos the performance seems to be slow -I'm not talking about the touch sensitivity but the process speed.

The Xperia's panel interface is quite slow, I can vouch for that after having borrowed one from a friend for 3-4 days. You could probably head down to the nearest cell phone store and check it out yourself.
The panels as a whole is a great concept but it still needs a lot of tweaking if its to stand up to the benchmark shell in the WinMo world. Anyhow, the crazy guys at XDADev have already ported almost all aspects of Manila/TF3D from the Diamond and Touch HD to Xperia. It replaces the default Xperia today panel.

E

Saw some neat reviews on a site - copy pasting the content.

Omnia

Pros

All-in-one
DivX/XviD support
5-megapixel camera and good image quality
Excellent music sound quality
Nice earphones with a 3.5 mm adapter
Very good Internet browser

Cons

Cannot be used in direct sunlight
Not very useful Widgets
Limited accelerometer use
Not very user-friendly and personalized interface

Design 8.5
Build Quality
8.5
Look
8.5

Display 9
Quality
7
Resolution
9
Size
10

Camera 10
Resolution
10
Quality
8
Features, Comfort
10

Sound Quality 8
Incoming
8.5
Outgoing
8.5
Ringing
7.5

Battery 8.5
Talk time
8.5
Stand-by time
8.5

Connectivity 9
Local
9
Internet
9
Data
9.5

Multimedia 9
Interface Comfort, Options
9
Quality
8
Supported formats
10
Connectors (3.5/A2DP)
7

Organizer 10
PIM
10
Phonebook
10
Messaging
10

Excellent 9 out of 10

XPERIA X1

Pros

Sexy design, solid construction
Large, high resolution display
Panel interface is useful
We liked the keyboard, but those with big fingers may disagree
Snappy performance within Windows environment

Cons

Some might find it a bit heavy, but others will like the weight
We would have liked to see a dedicated Back key
Video player needs a bit of work

Design 9
Keyboard
8
Build Quality
10
Look
8

Display 10
Quality
10
Resolution
10
Size
10

Camera 7
Resolution
8
Quality
6.5
Features, Comfort
8

Sound Quality 9
Incoming
9
Outgoing
9
Ringing
9
Signal Reception
10

Battery 10
Talk time
10
Stand-by time
10

Connectivity 9.5
Local
10
Internet
9
Data
9

Multimedia 8
Interface Comfort, Options
7
Quality
9
Supported formats
7
Connectors (3.5/A2DP)
10

Organizer 10
PIM
10
Phonebook
10
Messaging
10

Excellent 9 out of 10

HTC TouchHD

Pros

3.8” WVGA display
Very good size and construction
This is the phone for document viewing

Cons

Currently, it cannot play quality videos
Weak display performance in direct sunlight
More lag in the menu compared to Touch Diamond

Design 9
Build Quality
9
Look
9

Display 9
Quality
8
Resolution
10
Size
10

Camera 5.5
Resolution
8
Quality
3

Sound Quality 8
Incoming
9
Outgoing
8

Battery 8
Talk time
6
Stand-by time
10

Connectivity 10
Local
10
Internet
10
Data
10

Multimedia 8
Interface Comfort, Options
8
Quality
7
Supported formats
6
Connectors (3.5/A2DP)
10

Organizer 10
PIM
10
Phonebook
10
Messaging
10

Excellent 8.5 out of 10

Does anyone find the above information contrary with your opinion? If so, please let me know.

G

Some of the important stuff that the review seems to have overlooked or missed out on:
Omnia:
DivX/Xvid support cannot be classified as a pro. There are quite literally dozens of WinMo apps that can play the same on any phone.
The lack of a stylus is a major (or minor) cons, depending on your perspective.

Xperia:
The review has no mention of the fact that the X1 does not have an accelerometer at all. You'll need to slide out the keyboard or create a shortcut key to (settings->buttons) to turn the screen to landscape mode.
The keyboard is more like a cons than a pro for all.

Touch HD:
I'm not sure what the reviewers were smoking but the camera quality has been unanimously voted as class leading in the WinMo category.
The 3.8" screen makes it easy to navigate using your fingers, much like the iPhone. Not sure why they gave it an 8 in the interface category. Lag's almost non-existent during interaction, so that's another point of surprise. I used to own a Diamond in the past and that was slightly laggy with 192MB RAM and it's almost unimaginable that the THD would be slower with 288MB RAM. From GSMArena: "Still the TouchFLO 3D UI is in its most responsive shape and once you learn to control it properly it's a real pleasure to use."
Video recording at CIF is quite poor really, I'll be honest about that.

I haven't used the Omnia and Touch HD yet but the latter is definitely on my shopping list for early next year. But if you have any questions about the X1, I'd be more than happy to help.

Shifting panels from landscape to portrait is a bit laggy, thats coz you have 9 running applications actually changing its orientation. Other than that, I did not find any other bottlenecks.I suggest you watch some videos that are made after 15th of September coz it was then that the retail version of the XPERIA was formulated and available for reviews.

Touch HD is a good option, but don't expect it to be available in India anytime soon.It is an exclusive Orange product till December and then will be ported to the US and other carriers, after which it shall be available here.

E

Thanks a lottt gforce23 - had been looking for some opinion like this.

Actually I've got many doubts regarding Omnia, but as you are saying you don't know much about it. I'll leave it.

Does X1 comes along with an in-ear phones(walkman quality)? Can you please tell something about the audio(music player) quality of the phone WITH & WITHOUT BUNDLED EARPHONES?
Right now I'm using Creative EP630 with some crap sandisk player. And i'm thinking of upgrading to EP830. Will EP830 (or other pro earphones) be better than bundled SE?

I never liked the HTC Touch series phones that much.

AFAIK, The touch FLO interface has always been slow. I think HTC Touch Diamond is much much better than Touch Pro when it comes to doing-what-it-is doing.

SPB menu, I think is very good and my friend installed it on HTC P3450.

The only things that is good in HTC Touch pro is the screen size.

I would consider Omnia and SE Xperia

Advantages that Omnia has over Xperia:

1) 3.2" display. Xperia has 3"
2) Audio quality in Omnia is much better than that in Xperia
3) 5mp camera. Xperia has 3.2mp
4) Ligher and thinner than Xperia
5) 8GB or 16GB inbuild memory. Xperia has 400GB. BOth support SD cards
6) 624MHz processor with a 128MB of RAM. Xperia has 528MHz processor with a 256MB RAM.
7) 11k less in price I think.
8) Divx support out of the box
9) TV Out

SE Xperia has the following advantages over Omnia.

1) 800x480 pixels resolution display. Omnia has 240x400 pixel resolution resolution display.
2) 10hr talktime. Omnia has 6hr talktime
3) Full Qwerty keypad. Omnia has touch keypad
4) Optical trackpad (like laptop's touchpad)
5) 3.5mm audio jack on the body. Omnia has 3.5mm jack on the adaptor.
6) Display of Xperia looks crispy, thanks to it's high resolution screen.

Due to the better processor, which is full 100MHz+ faster than that in Xperia, Omnia will be definitely faster than Xperia.

If you can go for Symbian platform, N97 will be a good option to consider too.

But before coming to conclusion, go to a showroom and try to use the phone.

I have Motorokr E6 with full touch and no keypad (excpet for navigation and taking calls). My friend has Imate JAQ. We exchanged our phones once for a week. I couldn't use the JAQ as I prefer phones that aren't bulky and having thinner fingers, I was able to use the onscreen keypad of motorokr without stylus. My friend couldn't live without the full qwerty keypad on his JAQ. I know that Motorokr has lot more in it than the ugly looking JAQ and is compact smartphone. But still when it comes to usage, it's totally different. You may not like what I like and I may not like what you like.

In the end, you shouldn't feel why you took others advice (or relied on internet review) without actually testing the product.

PS: Don't consider things like Xperia panel or touchFLO as their clones will be designed in no time for winmobile platforms.

E

desiibond said:
I never liked the HTC Touch series phones that much.

AFAIK, The touch FLO interface has always been slow. I think HTC Touch Diamond is much much better than Touch Pro when it comes to doing-what-it-is doing.

SPB menu, I think is very good and my friend installed it on HTC P3450.

The only things that is good in HTC Touch pro is the screen size.

I would consider Omnia and SE Xperia

Advantages that Omnia has over Xperia:

1) 3.2" display. Xperia has 3"
2) Audio quality in Omnia is much better than that in Xperia
3) 5mp camera. Xperia has 3.2mp
4) Ligher and thinner than Xperia
5) 8GB or 16GB inbuild memory. Xperia has 400GB. BOth support SD cards
6) 624MHz processor with a 128MB of RAM. Xperia has 528MHz processor with a 256MB RAM.
7) 11k less in price I think.
8) Divx support out of the box
9) TV Out

SE Xperia has the following advantages over Omnia.

1) 800x480 pixels resolution display. Omnia has 240x400 pixel resolution resolution display.
2) 10hr talktime. Omnia has 6hr talktime
3) Full Qwerty keypad. Omnia has touch keypad
4) Optical trackpad (like laptop's touchpad)
5) 3.5mm audio jack on the body. Omnia has 3.5mm jack on the adaptor.
6) Display of Xperia looks crispy, thanks to it's high resolution screen.

Due to the better processor, which is full 100MHz+ faster than that in Xperia, Omnia will be definitely faster than Xperia.

If you can go for Symbian platform, N97 will be a good option to consider too.

But before coming to conclusion, go to a showroom and try to use the phone.

I have Motorokr E6 with full touch and no keypad (excpet for navigation and taking calls). My friend has Imate JAQ. We exchanged our phones once for a week. I couldn't use the JAQ as I prefer phones that aren't bulky and having thinner fingers, I was able to use the onscreen keypad of motorokr without stylus. My friend couldn't live without the full qwerty keypad on his JAQ. I know that Motorokr has lot more in it than the ugly looking JAQ and is compact smartphone. But still when it comes to usage, it's totally different. You may not like what I like and I may not like what you like.

In the end, you shouldn't feel why you took others advice (or relied on internet review) without actually testing the product.

PS: Don't consider things like Xperia panel or touchFLO as their clones will be designed in no time for winmobile platforms.

@dreamcatcher
Even I thought the same - cause I couldn't digest the fact that being a flagship model and with a price that could leave you to bankruptancy the X1 would be slower. But the menus were slow even after the retails version - not some trial piece. If you any of you need to watch that, I can upload it to RS - i've got that from youtube can't remember the link.

@desiibond
Will I be annoyed by the low resolution of Omnia??? I've been using 1108 for past 4 yrs (ya, just like Inspire 5200 -> Z5500) - even if I had some chance to operate high end models, I can borrow it only for few mins from my friends not like 1/2 weeks.

I won't be able to get a chance to operate the phone and then buy it - the outlets here don't allow that - they have some crap plastic model - will allow us to see that. Thats why I'm relying on video reviews not even text. So that I can see them.

What I can do?
See Video reviews for Performance (Interface speed, Touch sensitivty etc)
See Camera Picture Samples and Video Samples
But I can't hear audio quality. Thanks for your information on that.

Can you please tell this - will touch player + bundled earphones be better than my sandisk mp3 player (or other mp3 players <3k)+ creative EP630 combo??

G

dreamcatcher said:
Shifting panels from landscape to portrait is a bit laggy, thats coz you have 9 running applications actually changing its orientation. Other than that, I did not find any other bottlenecks.I suggest you watch some videos that are made after 15th of September coz it was then that the retail version of the XPERIA was formulated and available for reviews.

Touch HD is a good option, but don't expect it to be available in India anytime soon.It is an exclusive Orange product till December and then will be ported to the US and other carriers, after which it shall be available here.

Replying to your posts is quite entertaining, really.

The latest factory ROM dates back to the 29th of August (check any screen shots) and performance on all handsets has been the same since then. Of course, if you're talking about cooked ROMs, then anything's possible.
It's already available in HK out here and in Dubai out here with absolutely no sign of Orange anywhere in or on the handset.
The Touch HD won't be available in the U.S. at all. HTC announced that many, many months ago.

emmarbee said:
Does X1 comes along with an in-ear phones(walkman quality)? Can you please tell something about the audio(music player) quality of the phone WITH & WITHOUT BUNDLED EARPHONES?
Right now I'm using Creative EP630 with some crap sandisk player. And i'm thinking of upgrading to EP830. Will EP830 (or other pro earphones) be better than bundled SE?

The X1 does come with a pair of earphones but they are a bit worse than the HPM77s that seem to be current benchmark for Walkman branded headsets. I don't have a pair of EP630s right now (mine went bust last year) but the sound quality seemsto be on the same level as Walkman handsets (W810 modded, W300 modded, W890 etc.) when used with a quality set (Senn PX100, Shure e3c etc.). The SQ from the on-board speaker is a bit on the lower side. I'm pretty sure I had the volume turned all the way up, so I'm guessing the speaker itself is slightly weak.
I might have a couple of snaps taken from the Xperia's cam lying around on my laptop. I'll see if I can dig them up for ya.

@desibond:
Nice comparative review there. Couple of things though: Since when did the Xperia have 400GB of memory?

Talktime values quoted by most manufacturers are BS really.
The panels interface has already been ported to the Touch HD while the Xperia has inherited HTC's TF3D system. Hacking these CABs to make them run on another WinMo phone is pretty easy these days.

E

Just now enquired the price of Omnia here at chennai - 8 GB costs around 33k and 16gb around 35k.
Any chance of reduction in price within a short span of time???

sorry. My bad. it's 400meg.

Will I be annoyed by the low resolution of Omnia???

Not at all. it's just that Xperia's display will be more crispy when you compare it to Omnia's.

Can you please tell this - will touch player + bundled earphones be better than my sandisk mp3 player (or other mp3 players <3k)+ creative EP630 combo??

For me, never. A dedicated player has always been a dedicated player. It can come close but never be the same or better. I find lot of difference between a dedicated music player like Zenvision:W and Samsung i450 (has amplifier designed by Bang & Olufsen, termed as one of the best music phones in the market).

For other's I can't say.

I think Omnia too comes with in-ear headphones like Xperia. Not sure how good they are.

E

@desiibond
hmmm . . .
But anyways, I'm not willing to carry a phone + mp3 player + camera along with me all the time. Better be a single smartphone.

ALso you've not mentioned anything about price drop??? Will there be any significant price drop - if so, i'll wait some more time . . .

G

Prices are going to drop all the time. In this day and age, no manufacturer can afford to sit on their ass. I'm sure Samsung, SE, HTC and even Nokia are preparing the next set of flagships to announce at the upcoming MWC '09.
In any case, the Omnia is significantly cheaper than the Xperia by almost 8 grand. If I'm not mistaken, the Xperia's box includes a 4gig mSD, so you'll have to spend another grand or two for an 8 or 16GB card.
Oh, and another thing - the Omnia's PQ from the camera does not seem very sharp, so you may want to check that out.

Wait till Christmas, i guess there will be price cut. I would wait till January.i myself am waiting till January to get my C905.

@gforce-Sorry for that, Touch HD is UK exclusive for Orange, did not know that it was already available in other places. But, India will take some time for sure.The Touch Pro was launched in November.

@threadstarter-What would you use the phone for basically?? Can you list your tasks so that we can specify accordingly??

emmarbee said:
@desiibond
hmmm . . .
But anyways, I'm not willing to carry a phone + mp3 player + camera along with me all the time. Better be a single smartphone.

ALso you've not mentioned anything about price drop??? Will there be any significant price drop - if so, i'll wait some more time . . .

Xperia's introductory price was 44k and now it's 40. After a year it will be avialble for some 30k. I don't think it's price will go down below 25k.

Omnia, yes. At one point, you might find it for 17k-20k. Reason is that it's manufacuring costs are not as high as that for Xperia (due to the sliding qwerty) keypad.

Omnia price: 31k
Xperia price: 40k + 2k for 8Gig microSD. (8gig of microSD full of content will definitely slowdown the interface even more)

Omnia has a fast interface. Xperia kind of phones are head turners and difficult to find on the road. (How many slide-sideways full qwerty phone have you noticed in India?). It's your choice to make.

But do you really need Windows Mobile? Except for Exchange push, I don't find anything else that it does when compared to Blackberry OS or Symbian OS. And certainly, BBOS and Symbian OS are much much more user friendly than Windows Mobile 6.1

The reason why I am saying this is that if you forget about WinMo, there are many mobile phones in the market that does exactly what you need. Like XpressMusic for music, SE C series for camera, N82 for a powerful smartphone, N71 for business class phone.

G

dreamcatcher said:
Wait till Christmas, i guess there will be price cut. I would wait till January.i myself am waiting till January to get my C905.

@gforce-Sorry for that, Touch HD is UK exclusive for Orange, did not know that it was already available in other places. But, India will take some time for sure.The Touch Pro was launched in November.

Available for free on an 18-month, 40quid pm contract with Vodafone UK out here. Man where do you get your info from?

I'll agree with your last statement though. I think we won't see an official Touch HD in India for another month or two. Hope they don't play spoil sport and remove 3G or do something crazy like that.
What's the expected price cut on the C905 btw? Under 25k by any chance?

dreamcatcher said:
@threadstarter-What would you use the phone for basically?? Can you list your tasks so that we can specify accordingly??

Yep, I'm with you on that. I'm kinda getting the feeling that emmarbee isn't really sure about what he (or she) wants from a mobile phone.

WTF!!! I am out with Touch HD for now,seem to have all the wrong info. :lol:

C905 retailing at 28k here.

G

dreamcatcher said:
WTF!!! I am out with Touch HD for now,seem to have all the wrong info.

C905 retailing at 28k here.

Hmm. it's still a tad overpriced, I think. The price in Dubai has fallen to circa Rs. 22k, so a decrease of 3K from the current price is quite plausible.

E

@gforce & dreamcatcher
I've clearly mentioned my requirements in the very first post.
Anyways, here it is.

TouchScreen + Music > Long battery Hrs* > Camera > Wifi

* Long batter hrs especially when I watch videos. It shouldn't drain up. I heard somewhere that Omnia has 3 hrs battery life when videos are watched in it. WTF - if I watch a full movie when I'm going outta station - then I'll end up with drained battery??? HS! Guess I have to be contained with Prison Break / Heroes. or some stupid video songs.

@Desiibond
I don't give a damn about WinMo - cause I dunno what it is. I THOUGHT WinMo is better than Symbian which is better than other crap. Cause I really want to use word + excel + pdf etc - and if its gonna be MS Office 2007 - then wow! (i've heard winmo 6.1 comes with office 2007 - if its then it will be great!) I've never seen blackberry - I've never read about blackberry - I've just heard about it.
The next time, I will read about this blackberry and come to you.

And ya, you can tell me other good models also that carries Symbian OS as long as it meets my requirements. I'm looking forward for it.

@dreamcatcher
C905 is not as revolutionary as K790i in this era. Please check out the 8MP shoout out from various sites like gsmarena + phonearea etc. Once again Samsung's 8MP is rocking!
Except for night mode - the SE's flash is a PRO.

C

As a cell phone unlocker...Omania is a **** phone..wen i read the Phone thru a special phone software... i found a lotta bugs in it..i wud rather suggest u go in for..nokia they are best and stable

BR
clifford

I think 5800xm will be best for you.
Long battery life, nice touchscreen, loud speakers, wifi etc. ANd you can also edit MS Office 2007 files in symbian via 3rd party apps.

E

Nokia 5800 Xpress Music is gonna be a strong contender - I forgot that. Have to get few camera samples of this phone and see whether I can live up with the quality of camera.
Also I'll wait for sevaral sites to review this phone and should see the price of this phone in India. . .

hmm. okay. In that case, you better wait for the 5800XM and N97 to stabilize. Then you can think about the purchase.

G

The lack of apps custom built to take advantage of the S60v5 platform that powers the 5800XM is a sore point at the moment. Not all apps that were built for S60v3 are compatible with it right now. Anyhow, I'm expecting my package to arrive later this week. Stay tuned for a review.

The N97 is still a few months away. Keep an eye out for MWC '09 if you intend on waiting until spring/summer. I'm sure Nokia are preparing a non-QWERTY touchscreen equipped flagship.

Don't get the Blackberry if you intend to use your phone as a multimedia and gaming device. I can literally count the # of apps available on the BB OS platform. The Bold and Curve have the best keyboards but that's where the fun of a BB ends. Customization is quite limited. The availability of cracked apps is another issue, depending on how you view it.

Go with HTC TOUCH HD.
Has an excellent battery life of 2 days under intensive usage. Has good music + good 5 MP AF camera which fares closely with N82.

E

Has anybody here actually used these devices - Omnia / HTC Touch HD / HTC TOuch Diamond / 5800 Xpress Music??

Of the devices, XPERIA has the best Battery life. By your requirements, i suggest you wait for MWC coz SE will be coming up with some really great phones. Name SF60 touch devices and their next WM.Also, SE's first Android is due.

Btw, Have you considered the Renoir??8 mp cam with xenon flash and a 3.2 inch screen.think about it.It will be the best choice going by your specifications.

As for the C905, I am waiting for a few modded drivers.The pics are good enough, a better cam driver will better it.

E

No L.G.
C905 not a touch phone - so not needed.
As for as as the waiting is concerned, I don't see any good mobiles coming soon except for N97.

Samsung Pixon???

It doesnt have Wifi tho.But is a good touch Phone.Btw, LG is not that bad.Sure, it has its gripes, but its the 5th largest cellphone manufacturer.

Check this link : *www.mobile-review.com/review/nokia-n97-en.shtml

Xperia and touch HD looks tiny before the N97. Am surprised!!!

After looking at this review, I now think it's worthy to wait for this phone to enter Indian market.

And am also surprised by this:

GPS-navigation – 5 hours
Video playback – 4 hours 15 minutes
WEB-surfing (EDGE) – 4.5 hours
Music (in earphones) – 32 hours
WiFi – the N97 is rated for 166 hours of standby, and 6 hours of data upload

Wow n97 looks good but a little bulky. I personally think that xperia is not a good value for money phone , if the price falls to atleast about 30k then it is ok otherwise touch hd is the way to go if you cant wait for the n97 . Of all the above phones mentioned above i have personally experienced only nokia 5800 and the xperia . In multimedia department the 5800 xm is better then xperia . Checked the xperia and the responce time was not that good even when there were no applications running in the background , and also it does not look as good as it is shown in the ads (my personal opinion) . Screen resolution in experia is excellent but due to slightly smaller screen watching videos is not that fun , also videos do not use full screen , i mean 2 say that some black boundary lines remain on both sides .

E

Desii ji,
The given link is not a review for N97 - its just "hands on" - much will differ after the original release I guess. Something will get better and because of that it might change some of the advantages . . . (like for example battery hours . . .)

In that review, it has been mentioned that it will be released no sooner than May '09. Is that so? If it so, then I won't be getting it... Cause I'll buy before April(Max),I guess . . .

And is there any possibility that Omnia's price will come down soon? Like around 22-23k(16gb) before April?

And when is Nokia XpressMusic 5800 is being released in India??? I saw it's price in univercell (not only for that, but also for N97 (this is crazy)). And I guess, the price of Nokia remains stagnate as it had happened in N95 (it was STILL)

G

emmarbee said:
Desii ji,
And when is Nokia XpressMusic 5800 is being released in India??? I saw it's price in univercell (not only for that, but also for N97 (this is crazy)). And I guess, the price of Nokia remains stagnate as it had happened in N95 (it was STILL)

It has been out in other markets for months now, so its arrival in India is imminent.

emmarbee said:
Has anybody here actually used these devices - Omnia / HTC Touch HD / HTC TOuch Diamond / 5800 Xpress Music??

I used to own a tricked out Diamond and just got the tracking # for my 5800XM. Whaddya wanna know?

Yes. it will be out in first half of 2009 and it's not mentioned when. After looking at that hands-on, I am tempted. My motorokr will be out of warranty in 5 months from now and I might go for N97. You might ask why I didn't prefer Omnia. I prefer symbian over windows mobile.

Yes. You will definitely see a price drop for Omnia or it might even go out of picture like many samsung and LG mobile do. They shine in windows for few weeks and then poof, they disappear.

Anyways, better wait till April. CES is about to start and we will find what's next for the brands.

R

why dont u go in for
samsung i8510 innov8 here's the link its gor 8mp camera with auto focus at zioom level looks awesom.........

*www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i8510_innov8-2471.php

it's not a touch phone.and it's cpu is 330MHz (omnia has 650MHz)

D

Go for Xperia dude.
It Rocks! u won't regret.

E

GForce23, What do you mean by tracking number? You've order for it and waiting for it to be delivered??

Desiiji, even my friend told the same thing - "Omnia or other samsung mobiles will go out of picture in a few months" - But what's wrong in that? Is there any disadvantage of the model going out of focus? And thanks for replying to rohanisbusy.

Latest Update:

I saw 5800 Xpressmusic video review by Mobileburn - 4 parts. The phone looks gr8, works gr8 and I guess it even sounds gr8. Also the price will be gr8, I hope.
But I took around 33 camera samples from mobilereview, if it was a year ago, I'd said the camera samples looks stunning. But after seeing the camera quality of Omnia - I'm stunned.

If anyone wants to see some stunning (really stunning) camera samples of Omnia. I can upload it for them or can give the gsmarena link of it. Desiibond have you seen the camera samples available in the Omnia Review at GSMArena(especially the one in macro mdoes)??

hey, there is nothing wrong when the model phases out. But, when it comes to aftersales support, it can hurt sometimes when the support does not have spare parts or knowledge on the phone.

if you take phones like Nokia N series, they are widely used, distributed and stay in the market for really long time. best example is N73.

Of course, it's the least thing to thing while buying a phone as you won't go to the support center often. But still.....

Do you mean that sunflower and the orchid macro photos? They look really good, lot lot better than many cameras in phones.

gforce, how much did it cost you? in INR?

E

Ya, The sunflower,white flower(with violet veins - File name gsmarena_010), Violet flower(File name - gsmarena_011) and Rose flower(with green leaves backround File name gsmarena_012) I'm not sure about the flower names..
The reason why I'm insisting on those specific files is that - the PQ of the file makes me go crazy as K790i photos made me once. ( when it was released years back).

For this one reason we can buy this phone. Not that I use camera a lot - but PQ like these makes me engage in camera full time. Like COD4 makes anyone not interested in FPS to fall in love with the same.

G

emmarbee said:
GForce23, What do you mean by tracking number? You've order for it and waiting for it to be delivered??

Yep. Ordered one through eBay a week ago but they couldn't fulfill my order since they had exhausted their stock of blue & black 5800s. I think luck was on my side since I scored a 5800 from the UAE where Nokia have it on sale.

pathik said:
gforce, how much did it cost you? in INR?

AED1459+AED155 = Rs. 21,014 (@13.02) for phone and shipping.

Since production is ramping up, the prices have crashed from $900 to a low of $489 on eBay at the moment. Anyhow, Dubai is the cheapest place on the planet right now and the current price (verified today) is $380 (or Rs. 17,830).

E

I can't get you GForce23. Where do you reside?
And from wher you are getting it? Ebay.XX? Dubai/UAE/US??
And is it possible for one to get shipment from U.S/Dubai/UAE to India (no matter whatever the shipment costs - I just want the possbility)
Waiting eagerly for your reply . . .

Update: Guys, what do you think about HTC MAX 4G - If this thread can talk about something(N97) that's gonna be released only during the 2Q of '09, then I guess there is nothing wrong in having a discussion about 4Q of '09 I guess.
Of course, I'm not considering my self here (cause I wont be waiting more than april) - but it may be useful for those who visits this thread few months later . . .

Some of you had mentioned that, Installing a touchFLO3D in a WinMo wont be a problem. Are you sure? If not is SPBShell just like TouchFLO3D?

G

I'm in Bombay right now. I was supposed to get it via eBay but ended up getting one from the UAE.
Yep, you can get pretty much anything within reasonable limits via shipping. I've ordered a couple of Seiko & Wenger dive watches in the past as well as tons of gadgets without a problem whatsoever, although I suppose that ordering an LCD panel from overseas would certainly attract unwanted attention.

In fact, I just received a brand new set of 2 Panasonic cordless phones equipped with answering machines. The other way around works as well. I frequently sell used cell phones to folks residing in England, Qatar and elsewhere.

The HTC Max 4G is a Yota Mobile exclusive and doesn't offer anything significant over the Touch HD except for licensed WiMax that you can't really use at the moment.

TF3D/Manila has been installed on the Xperia as the default today panel with no problems whatsoever. Devices that run on slower processors can run TF2D (the first iteration that can be found on the HTC Elf/Elfin).

^ You had no problems with customs yet? Or are you getting it through some friend / relative?

E

Oops! I didn't mean WinMo when I said about TF3D. In fact I've seen myself xperia with TF3D.
I want to know whether it is possible to install something like TF3D/ipod touch music player software(the cool 3D album arts) in OMNIA? If not now, atleast in the future. If not for free atleast at some cost?

After seeing few iPhone 3G videos I really started liking it. But iPhone is completely different and has got many disadvantages.

**If only a WinMo has the same 3D effects as in iPhone3G and is AS RESPONSIVE as iphone 3G with hard glass, it'd turn out to be the best phone in market**

aaaargh - why can't I get a phone with good performance + features. None of the brand's Flagship model meets my REQ

G

Pathik said:
^ You had no problems with customs yet? Or are you getting it through some friend / relative?

Not the slightest bit of problem yet. *touches wood* I would've stopped purchasing stuff off eBay if that were the case.

I get all my things shipped straight to my current address, although I'll admit that I've ordered the 5800XM through a friend who lives in Dubai. He bought the phone and sent it my way after I had paypal'ed him.

emmarbee said:
Oops! I didn't mean WinMo when I said about TF3D. In fact I've seen myself xperia with TF3D.
I want to know whether it is possible to install something like TF3D/ipod touch music player software(the cool 3D album arts) in OMNIA? If not now, atleast in the future. If not for free atleast at some cost?

Nay. Samsung have their own skin on top of MSFT's shitty WinMo, something called TouchWiz or similar. Since the Omnia isn't manufactured by HTC (unlike the X1), the folks on xda-devs seem to have a callous attitude toward modding it.

Coverflow on the iPhone is already available for WinMo devices. Is this what you're talking about?
*www.fashionfunky.com/upload/2008/03/31/wm_face_contact_app_1.jpg

The iPhone is nice but everything besides multimedia is where the fun stops. It's horrendous for typing out long texts. I had the 2G version in late '07 but sold it after a month. It just wasn't good enough as a daily device. The Touch HD matches the iPhone in a lot of departments and then smacks it into oblivion in others.

E

Ya, something like the one you showed in the screenshot. You can even flick through the covers right?

This was the one I mentioned.

*i42.tinypic.com/35bdqg5.jpg

And about the XDA - Only yesterday I got registered in that forum - beleiving I can do something about Omnia. Now I see, why Omnia cant get those good looks.

It would've been nice if there were some other developers to get good design for Omnia.

But do you think Omnia H/W has the capability to handle those 3D graphicss?

E

Atlast - I've found a way to make Omnia look great.
These are the three required softwares.
S2U2 - Unlock the phone like in iPhone
S2P - Music Player just like in iPhone
S2V - Enahnced Image Viewer with cool swipes

The above three apps make Omnia way better than HTC now. Also figured out that Omnia is quite faster when comapred to HTC though it has dedicated 64mb video memory and the battery life of Omnia is double to that of HTC because of 1400mAh battery.

I've devided - I'm gonna get Omnia i900 for sure (99%). I'll wait till Dec 25th / Jan01 / Jan 16 for any big price drops.
But if any new models arrive before that of i900 - I might get into dilemma again.

But AFAIK, the only Touchscreen/HighMP Camera phones that's gonna be releasd soon are

--> HTC MAX 4G (No Flash, only 8 GB)
--> Nokia N97 (Has K/B - which I don't like) - so Omnia is the best soln FOR ME until next Nov, If no newer models are announced to be released sooner than this (of course, many better models will be announced but I dont think they'll be rleasd sooner than the above mentioned models)

I'm looking out to buy a phone soon. My earlier phone: the class leading N95 8GB
What can replace it?
I was looking for a high-end... slim, large screen high capacity all rounder.
Samsung Omnia fits my bill smack on... 16GB for 36k
Touch HD(with 8GB microsd free) was my other lov... would have been first love... if it wasn't 7k costlier than the 16GB omnia. 7k for .5mm thinner profile, larger & slightly(almost negligible) crispier screen, 8GB loss, no inbuilt xvid/divx play... all this just pulls me to the omnia.
The only thing i didnt like with the omnia is not its fault too... it's mine

Well, I "influenced" a friend to purchase the 16GB omnia as it was the best phone i found in market.. and now i just cannot bear that he bought it earlier than me. I WAS THE GADGET FREAK... THE ONE WITH THE BEST GADGETS FIRST.

What should I buy?
Spend 7k more for my uneasiness @ my friend having my year-long-lust!

And.. I believe Samsung will have a better camera than HD,Xperia. Xperia was bulky... tiny screen as compared to the Omnia. I want a size-zero model now