Samsung adds Omnia M to Windows OS range, to take on Nokia Lumia series

Samsung has further expanded its Windows phone range by unveiling the next in line Omnia smartphone called Omnia M (the company already has Omnia W). Considering its specifications, the mobile phone will be targeted at the mid-price range segment and will compete with Nokia's range of Windows phones. Let's have a look at its specifications.

The mobile phone has a 4 inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display (480x800 pixel resolution) with 233 pixels per inch (ppi) and runs on Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.5 Mango operating system (OS). It is powered by a 1 GHz processor and has 384MB of RAM. Although the internal memory of the device is only 4GB and that too not expandable, users will get an additional 25GB of free online storage (for photos, videos notes, docs etc) courtesy Windows Live SkyDrive.

Omnia M comes with a 5 mega pixel (MP) rear camera with LED flash that can also record videos (although not HD) and a front facing VGA camera for video calling. On the connectivity front, the device has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (with Wi-Fi hotspot) and 3G and it also has a microUSB port.

The dimensions of the device are 121.6mm x 64.1mm x 10.5 mm and its weight it 119 grams. The company has provided a 1500 mAh Li-on battery in the device that should provide average battery life. The mobile phone will have A-GPS support and will be available in black colour.

The mobile phone's prime competitors will be Nokia's Lumia 710 (for Rs 15,300) and the soon to be launched Lumia 610 (considering that Lumia 800 and 900 are way better in terms of specifications). In comparison to Omnia's 1GHz processor, Lumia 610 has an 800MHz processor while Lumia 710 has a 1.4GHz processor. And while all three handsets run on the same OS, Lumia 610 comes with 256MB of RAM while Lumia 710 has double that RAM (512MB). Both Lumia handsets have double the amount of internal memory (8GB) compared to Omnia M.

The camera in both the Lumia devices are better than the one being offered in Omnia M considering that it is a 5MP camera but it can also record high definition videos (720p) at 30 frames per second (fps). But the biggest drawback of the Lumia handsets is that they don't have a front facing secondary camera, so video calling becomes a pain. At the same time they score over Omnia series as the Lumia handsets are available in many colour variants besides also having stereo FM with RDS.

If we are to give a verdict, we would say that while Omnia M is definitely better than Lumia 610, the Lumia 710 handset wins over the Samsung offering. But since the most important parameter of comparison is missing, which is the price of the Samsung handset (since the company is yet to reveal an exact India price and launch date); we will hold our judgement for now.