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Korean mobile giants Samsung have just launched a brand new Windows Phone in the form of the Omnia M, aimed at those who want something a little different to the heavily advertised Lumia range from Nokia.
Joining the Windows Phone launch device, the Omnia 7, Samsung’s new Omnia M isn’t bursting at the seams with the latest mobile tech as its Android brother, the Galaxy S3 is, but it also won’t break the bank.
It runs Windows Phone 7.5 – the latest software from Microsoft – and features a good quality 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, with an ample 1GHz processor inside to keep things ticking over smoothly.
Design-wise the phone looks like a mashup of the Omnia 7 and the Galaxy Ace or the original Galaxy S. It features a glossy black front with the three standard touch buttons for Windows Phone and a contoured, smooth grey back. It’s a sleek 10.5mm in thickness too, which is a fraction slimmer than its predecessor, the Omnia 7.
Slap-bang in the middle of the phone’s back you’ll find a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, while on the front Samsung has sneaked in a VGA front-facing camera for video calling with apps such as Skype (beta) and Viber (also beta).
As we saw with the Galaxy S3, Samsung is making a move to marry hardware with a great software ecosystem, and this is also happening with its Windows Phones. Aimed at the socialite, the Omnia M will come with Samsung’s chatON cross-platform messaging app, which is like BBM but works on Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Android and iPhone.
You’ll also be able to download Samsung’s Family Story app, which allows you to communicate easily with other Samsung device users via a cloud network.
You’ll also get 25GB of internet storage thanks to Microsoft’s SkyDrive service, along with wireless file sharing to laptops and TVs using Samsung’s AllShare app.
Unfortunately storage comes at a premium, with just 4GB of internal storage available and no micro SD card slot either. You do still have that 25GB of SkyDrive space though, which can be accessed either via Wi-Fi or 3G (HSDPA) to view your files.
The Omnia M will launch in Europe before anywhere else, although we’re still waiting on a launch date and price. Stay tuned!
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