Samsung Omnia II (i8000) and Omnia PRO (B7320) Availability Date and Price Revealed!

Thanks to PPCSG, I attended a preview on Samsung Omnia II and Omnia PRO B7320. It was organised by PPCSG for the forum people, first come first serve. Was glad that I could attend. The highlight of the Preview is of course the Omnia II and I guess everyone will be asking about the price and availability. Information after the break.

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Truthfully speaking, this event attracted quite a big turn out. I think everyone is there for the Omnia II. Without further ado, here is the information that everyone is waiting for: –

Availability of Samsung Omnia II: 18th July 2009 (no exclusiveness means any telcos)(Only BLACK, NO SILVER)

Pricing: Recommended Retail Price is S$898 (no contract with GST)

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For us from PPCSG, we could get an instant discount of S$100. I did not take that offer 🙂

Here are the highlights of the preview event (at Vivocity Samsung Showroom)  with more pictures of Omnia II and Omnia PRO B7320 and some questions that normally Samsung would choose not to answer. 🙂

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The event started with introducing of Mr. Winston Goh of Samsung Product Marketing, Mobile Phones.

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The best part of the evening in the Agenda is the Lucky Draw with one winner for Omnia PRO and one for Omnia II.

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There are also finger food for hungry techies..

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Here is the highlights of Omnia PRO B7320

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Highlights

  • It has Team Manager where you can send email/SMS to your team of people easily. Traditional method requires you to add one recipients at a time.
  • It has a customizable home screen.
  • The Omnia PRO will be available in 1st first of August 2009 at a retail price of under S$550 (with GST and no contract). Final pricing is NOT fixed.
  • It will NOT bundle with any navigation software (according to Winston, this is to shave down the cost of the set).
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Now, some pictures of Omnia PRO B7320

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Now, when the focus is on Samsung Omnia II, I can see the sudden interest from the crowd.

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Here are some of the specs which I think many already know.

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During the presentation, Winston revealed that the current OS is Windows Mobile 6.1. However, it will be upgraded free once Windows Mobile 6.5 is ready (Probably around end of the year).

Winston clarified the definition of RTM (Release To Manufacturer) of Windows Mobile 6.5. He mentioned that many people thinks that the manufacturers are withholding the release of Windows Mobile 6.5 although RTM had been issued by Microsoft.

According to Winston, RTM  means Microsoft releases the code to Manufacturers (in this case Windows Mobile 6.5) but the Manufacturers would need to test the software integration with their Software (in this case TouchWiz 2.0) to ensure that there is no compatibility issues. So, release date will be roughly half a year after RTM.

Highlights of Omnia II

  • HSPUA (Upload link) is 5.76Mbps which is very fast.
  • Processor is 800MHz
  • Internal storage is 8 GB (at this moment, Samsung is not making any 16GB model. However, that will depends on the market demand).
  • External Storage card: MicroSD Card up to 32 GB (tested) but the set will NOT come with any card will come with a 1GB MicroSD card that is stored with Agis NavFone application.
  • AMOLED 3.7-inch Screen with 480 pixels  x 800 pixels resolution
  • Video recordng format: H.264 and MP4 at 720 pixels x 480 pixels resolution.
  • DLNA
  • 1 finger browsing
  • Supports many video formats including RMVB
  • 3.5mm jack for earpiece.
  • Will have Group Manager Function (similar to Team Manager for Omnia PRO)
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Lowlights

  • No threaded SMS (no toggle to turn on or off). However, maybe able to upgrade in future (no date).
  • TouchWiz 2.0 does not cover all the Windows Mobile 6.1 menus. It is already better than previous TouchWiz but still not able to remove the trace of Windows Mobile 6.1. That means some screen will still be the plain old Windows Mobile 6.1 look.
  • No auto check of names in SMS. In the “TO” row, if you type some names, the Omnia II will NOT prompt you for the names of the person you are looking for.
  • Email Setups is messier. Difficult to explain but seems that the software steps need to be refined.
  • No digital Compass
  • No Team Manager (as in OmniaPRO as explained above)

Here are some pictures of Omnia II

BTW, if you have seen some Omnia II with silver trimming, that means they are the pre-production models such as this one below.

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This is the look of the final product with black trimming.

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That is it! Hope you enjoy it. I wish I have more time with Omnia II (only 5 minutes) and Omnia Pro (10 minutes). Nevertheless, I have to thanks the team from PPCSG and Samsung for bringing us this preview event.

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