The new Samsung i900 is the most desirable phone of 2008, a bold statement, but on merit this is most certainly true. This beauty hailed an iPhone wannabe, really has got it all. After a few attempts at producing the best touchscreen phone (namely the Armani and Tocco), it seems Samsung may have finally cracked the code with the i900 Omnia. In fact the Samsung Omnia is so good that you could say it makes its Apple counterpart look mediocre. An iPhone wannabe you say then? Far from it!

So what is it that makes the Samsung i900 Omnia so good, well many things. Firstly, this is designed to perfection. They say first impressions last; well then Samsung knew exactly what they were doing. Here you have a large WQVGA 3.2 inch screen with a 16:9 widescreen aspect, only fractionally smaller than the iPhone. It is just as user-friendly as it looks and with a sleek sexy look and a platinum finish, it is bound to turn heads. The Samsung Omnia is also rather slim and fits nicely into the hands.

But what use is a good-looking phone without substance? Right and that is exactly why Samsung have packed this gem with countless quality features that puts it up there among the best of phones. Firstly, it is important to note that this runs on Windows Mobile 6.1, something that will certainly please Windows users who will see similarities. As such you can also edit documents such as those made in Word and Excel. However as this is essentially a smartphone, the response time may not always be great to some users.

The Samsung i900 Omnia is a 3G phone, which is great for anyone wanting better internet connection and wanting to make video calls. Web browsing is excellent, using the Opera browser, which is incredibly easy to use, and a more suitable option that Internet Explorer. Combine this with the very fast HSDPA downloads, and you have a mobile phone that will provide a great web experience. The i900 Omnia also has Wi-Fi, and comes equipped with some handy extras such as a GPS receiver. Essentials like Bluetooth and USB connectivity are all here too.

Among the best features on the Samsung Omnia is the 5-megapixel camera. Not only does it have face detection, it even includes smile detection! Another excellent feature associated with the camera is that using the GPS photos can be geotagged. Intrigued? That means the exact location, date and time of where the picture was taken can be saved too! The Samsung i900 Omnia also has an LED flash and digital zoom for good measure. It also has a very good video camera. Overall it is up there among the best camera phones, and a lot better than the iPhone.

The Samsung i900 Omnia really does score points on the multimedia forefront. The i900 has fantastic media playback capability, you have an FM radio and the MP3 player supports countless formats. This was expected since it is a rival to the iPhone, but the i900 really does deliver. An outstanding feature is the massive memory to save all your videos, tracks and photos to. It is available in both 8 and 16 GB, both more than adequate for the average user. Finally, there is no point having so much to enjoy if the battery life will let you down. With the Samsung Omnia, this will never be an issue, the battery life is very good.

It is safe to say then that based on merit, the Samsung i900 is the best phone of 2008 (at least so far). It really does deliver in many respects, with fantastic features, a great look and ease of use, the i900 will be a popular choice. Most of all, it is very affordable which may give it the edge over the iPhone as a better all-round choice.

By: Kaamran Malik