In a bid to steal some of the anticipated 3G iPhone's glory - Apple's expected to announce it today - Samsung has launched Ominia, its Windows Mobile 6.1-based touchscreen handset.

Samsung's Omnia: 3G iPhone rival

Based around a 3.2in, 240 x 400 display, the Omnia also packs in GPS, and FM radio, A2DP wireless stereo, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi and a choice of either 8GB or 16GB on-board storage. Users can up that capacity with Micro SDHC cards.

The handset uses increasingly popular haptic feedback technology to help users interract with the flat touchscreen more efficiently, Samsung said.

Full-feature 5Mp camera on the back

On the back is a five-megapixel camera with image stabilisation, autofocus, and photography flavours of the month face and smile detection.

Omnia - aka the SGH-i900 - has quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge connectivity plus 3G HSDPA for data downloads of up to 7.2Mb/s.

Samsung first demo'd the Omnia at a European trade fair back in April.

Stylish

Related stories

• Apple out to trump gadget warranty fraudsters
• 3G iPhone packs in $100 of hardware - analyst
• European release date inked for Samsung Omnia
• Microsoft chases satnav market
• Samsung unveils eco handset duo
• Apple takes the operator's shilling
• O2 prices up the latest iPhone
• Apple's 3G iPhone to launch 11 July
• Apple under the gun to master the iPhone's 'second album'
• Samsung retracts Safari phone claim
• Samsung redesigns Soul handset
• Samsung hammers out stylish Steel slider
• Samsung Glyde touches down in US
• Samsung slips out skinny phone
• Samsung leaks handset trio at trade fair

The handset was launched this morning in Korea. As yet, there's no word on exactly when Samsung will bring its little beauty to the West.

The company did say that Omnia will ship initially in South-East Asia during Q3, with a global roll-out to follow.

Related Reviews
Samsung Soul SGH-U900
Samsung SGH-F490 cameraphone
Samsung Adidas F110 miCoach personal trainer phone
Samsung M110 Solid rugged phone

More comments…