Samsung Launches Omnia Smartphone

Samsung's i900 Omnia smartphone boasts a 3.2-inch display, up to 16 GB of flash memory, video and music playback, Windows Mobile 6.1...and a passing resemblances to the iPhone.

We suspect Samsung’s announcement today might be a little overshadowed by pending news from Cupertino, but the company has officially taken the wraps off its 1900 Omnia smartphone, a Windows Mobile 6.1-device boasting a 3.2-inch display covering almost its entire front surface, and up to 16 GB of RAM for carting around music, video, documents, and other media.

The i900 Omnia’s display offers a 400 by 240 pixel resolution (meaning it’s got less display than the current iPhone or competitors like the HTC Touch Diamond), but packs a five megapixel video-capable camera to make sure users don’t have any trouble filling out the built-in memory (8 and 16 GB configurations will be available. The quad-band phone will operate on both WCDMA and GMS networks, and supports HSDAP and EDGE connectivity. Users will also be able to via a variety of media formats supported by Windows Media Player, including DivX, XviD, H.263, H.264, and MPEG4.

Samsung is expected to show the phone at the Communicasia trade show in Singapore next week, and begin offering the handset for sale in Europe in July. Pricing and carrier partners have not been announced.