Samsung bringing 16GB Omnia to Mobile World Congress?
By Will Park on Monday, February 2nd, 2009 at 3:32 PM PST In Devices, Mobile World Congress 2009, Rumors, Samsung
Samsung is really bringing their “A” game to Barcelona this year. Following up speculation (now confirmed) that had Samsung launching a 12-megapixel cameraphone at Mobile World Congress 2009 (which actually followed a previous rumor about a new 8-megapixel cameraphone), a new rumor has Samsung revealing a new Samsung Omnia variant with 16GB of on-board storage. The Samsung Omnia, available from Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless in the US, has been a solid performer for Samsung, and a new Omnia variant with a bumped-up feature set is sure to give the touchscreen handset a nice little boost in sales.
The 16GB Samsung Omnia will apparently sport much the same specs as its 8GB-toting sibling. The new Omnia basically brings an extra 8GB of storage space to a table already filled with high-end features – 3.2-inch touchscreen display, a 624Mhz processor, 5-megapixel autofocus camera with flash, aGPS, WiFi, and a quad-band (850/900/1800/1900Mhz) GSM with single-band (2100Mhz) 3G (UMTS/HSPA) connectivity.
Samsung will be announcing something new for the US at Mobile World Congress, but the 16GB Omnia’s lack of support for 3G on the 850Mhz and 1900Mhz bands bodes badly for a US launch. A 12-megapixel cameraphone for the US? Now that would be cool.
[Via: UnwiredView]
It seems like just upping some minor specs on an existing phone is a desparate move on Samsung’s part while it is still working on its new lineup of Android and WinMo phones. It’s dubious that including a 12MP camera and/or increasing the storage to 16 GB will do much to increase sale. The 12MP camera is more a marketing gimmick because the image quality will not be great due to the physics of the optics on a small device. The 16 GB is useless if people don’t consume media on the phone.
Don’t get us wrong, we think Samsung is an awesome device maker. We just think it’s stuck in a little bit of a rut right now competing with Apple in the absence of a good operating system platform.
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