Samsung just pulled a bit of a "Samsung" and completely blew out its Omnia lineup. We just got some face time with the new Omnia II, Omnia Pro, Omnia Lite and the Omnia-inspired Jet, along with the Pixon 12 -- which runs the same in-house Samsung OS as the Jet, but packs a 12 megapixel camera. It's hard not to notice the stunning AMOLED screens on these phones, especially up against the dull-by-comparison Omnia Lite with its petty LCD. Unfortunately, while the build quality is good and the specs are certainly all there, all the phones were fairly slow in regular operation. The Jet and Pixon were passable (and the Jet certainly ought to be, with an 800MHz "application processor"), but we can't imagine anybody finding any pleasure in the molasses Windows Mobile 6.1 experiences on the Omnia trio. The Jet has a fun little 3D UI "cube" gimmick, which involves the pointless spinning of a cube to access different media apps, but most of what we saw was pretty standard TouchWiz. We did like the speed of Pixon's camera, which does a Pre-style trick of sending photo processing duties to the background so you can snap another photo with little delay in between -- it's also pretty good at auto focus and color accuracy for a phone, but we won't be trading in our regular point and shoot in the near term. None of the phones we looked at had network access, so we weren't able to test out the WebKit browsers, but it sounds like a major win for the Jet and Pixon. Let's just work on that Omnia responsiveness a bit, yeah Samsung? Perhaps Windows Mobile 6.5 (the Omnia II and Omnia Pro are 6.5-ready) will help.

Samsung's busy launching a bunch of handsets across even more timezones right now, and in addition to all the Omnia updates, there's also the Jet, which is an interesting hybrid: it's got an 800MHz processor, five megapixel camera, 3.1-inch AMOLED screen, WebKit-based Dolfin browser and a host of media features including DivX support, but it's running TouchWiz 2.0, so it's not a proper smartphone. Yeah, it's weird, but we're sort of into it -- we'll see what's it's like in person.

Say what you will about S60 5th Edition, but here's the thing -- of the smartphones in the news today, only one has a massive AMOLED display. Samsung's i8910 HD is almost irrefutably the baddest-ass S60 device ever produced and one of the most heavily-spec'd smartphones ever made for any platform, featuring the aforementioned 3.7-inch 640 x 360 capacitive touchscreen, an 8 megapixel camera, an S60-specific implementation of TouchWiz with 3D enhancements, and HSUPA. Bottom line is that if this phone can't get you worked into a lather, S60 definitely isn't for you -- and lucky Brits now have the opportunity to make that gut check thanks to Orange's retail launch. You can grab it for a totally reasonable £97.50 (about $151) on a £35 per month plan, which seems like a pittance to pay for one of the monster handsets of 2009.

[Via All About Symbian]

It's easy to pass off the rumored Cubic as just another of the seemingly countless Sammy full-touch dumbphones and Windows Mobile smartphones, but hold up a second, there, partner -- rumor has it that this might end up being one of the company's first Android devices. If you're wondering how the S8000 model number morphed into Cubic, the answer lies not in the cutely cubic d-pad (at least, we hope it doesn't) but rather in the interface, which could sport the usual TouchWiz with 3D enhancements like we've seen on the OmniaHD. Add in HSDPA, WiFi, AGPS, FM with RDS, a 3.5mm headphone jack, 2GB of internal storage with microSDHC expansion, and a WVGA AMOLED display clocking in at 3.1 inches, and you've got yourself a bona fide superphone here -- only questions are when it'll launch, and how much brutally excessive financial stress we'll need to endure to get it.

It's always nice to get an update on one of our favorite KIRFs as of late. Lenvo's Android-powered OPhone has popped up in a hands-on video, showing off its mock-iPhone OS interface and all the doppelganger apps / features -- weather, stock, calculator and even a near-identical push notification window. Surprisingly, it's actually pretty well put together and includes some things we wish our legit Apple phone would do, like on-screen widgets and an option to change backgrounds. It'll be a cold day in Hell before we see this serial patent infringer outside of China, so for now you'll have to get your OPhone kicks by checking out the video after the break.

[Thanks, Neerhaj]

Not even two days after getting official on MetroPCS, Samsung's Finesse has already been captured in the wild. As expected, there's nothing here too shocking for those that have laid eyes upon the Samsung Behold, but the branding is definitely hard to miss. Hit the read link for a few more low-grade shots -- just go in with low expectations and you'll be fine.

It'll be a little while yet before Samsung's latest touchphone for the masses hits the streets, but in the meantime, GSMArena's gone ahead and hooked itself up with an early preproduction unit for a hands-on preview. Some features -- most notably the camera -- weren't working, but what was functional seemed pretty well-equipped to take the midrange market head-on this year; the reviewers admit that the handset's pretty plain-looking, but the ergonomics work pretty well and the plastic seems to be of high quality. Interestingly, they found that the S5600's secretly equipped with GPS, despite Samsung's failure to make mention of it at the device's launch, so that's a nice little surprise -- and if you're into TouchWiz, you'll be delighted to know that the phone's equipped with the very latest incarnation. The site thinks that the S5600's media player is good enough to take on full-time duty, too, and the micro-USB port is a breath of fresh air coming from a company notorious for its proprietary connectors. Final verdict? If it can slide in under €250 (about $323), Sammy's got a winner.

The hits keep coming at MWC 09, and while we're racing around from liveblog to liveblog, the crew at Engadget Spanish managed to snag some quality time with Samsung's Ultra Touch S8300 slider. The refined Touch Wiz interface does a good job of transcending its terrible name -- it's not the prettiest thing we've ever seen, but it's fast, reasonably intuitive, and seems to get the job done. Spanish-language video after the break -- trust us, you'll know what's going on without subtitles.

While we've gotta wait until Barcelona to see Samsung's Ultra Touch S8300 slider for ourselves, a handful of outlets have already played around with a preview unit, complete with the TouchWiz UI makeover. It's not the slimmest of touch phones, measuring 110 x 51.5 x 12.7 mm, but props are given to the 8 megapixel camera and OLED touchscreen, unsurprisingly, as well as the simple drag-and-drop widget menu and three separate home screens for micro-app organization. Other than some of the icon graphics and the aforementioned menu updates, the UI is largely unchanged from its previous form. The lack of WiFi is gonna ruffle a few feathers, but the HSDPA will probably assuage some of that pain. Hit up the read links for impressions and video -- with any luck, we'll be getting our own hands-on time at next week's Mobile World Congress.

Read - Mobile-review
Read - GSMArena
Read - Stuff.tv

If it's a 5-megapixel cameraphone you're looking for, there are decidedly cheaper entries on the market -- but if only a 5-megapixel WinMo Professional set will do, the Omnia's just about the best (read: only) deal you'll find on an American carrier these days. The CDMA translation of the smartphone that Samsung's been selling in other parts of the world for much of 2008 in GSM form carries over most of its key features, namely Windows Mobile 6.1 with TouchWiz, WiFi, DivX certification, the love-it-or-hate-it optical directional pad, and that beefy cam with flash and autofocus. It also nabs VZ Navigator support, stereo Bluetooth, a 3.2-inch 400 x 240 display, and 8GB of internal memory. Gives pause to that imminent Touch Pro purchase, doesn't it? Look for it to be available for order this week -- a full retail launch is expected come December 8 -- for $249.99 after rebate on a two-year contract.

Now that Samsung's TouchWiz-enabled Behold is available for the taking on T-Mobile, wouldn't you like to know if it's the handset for you? The phone seemed positioned to be the carrier's entertainment mobile for folks not ready to make the G1 leap, boasting a 3G radio, expansive touchscreen and a 5MP camera. In testing, phonescoop found the handset to be a dash of good and a dash of bad, with the UI being deemed "decent, but not great," the camera quality to be less than awesome and the music player "capable" enough (despite the omission of a 2.5 / 3.5-millimeter headphone jack). In sum, critics determined that the Behold was worth considering if you're "in the market for a touch device that has a better-than-average feature set," but don't expect it to blow your mind or anything.

The TouchWiz onslaught is now officially in full force, with Samsung's SGH-a867 Eternity now starting to find its way into AT&T stores across the lands to match its Behold and Delve cousins. It's running $149.99 on contract after rebate, bringing MediaFLO, a full-face touchscreen, HSDPA, 3-megapixel cam, AT&T Navigator, and pretty much everything else you could hope for out of a high-end non-smartphone, so if the 6650 isn't pushing your buttons (nor the Vu), maybe this'll do something for ya.

As you very well know, we're within that all-important launch window for AT&T's Samsung Eternity, and we've got this strange, inexplicable feeling the release date will be sooner rather than later. Why? We're glad you asked! Because a plethora of user guide shots have already leaked, practically confirming what the handset looks like as well as its basic specifications. Speaking of, we're seeing quad-band GSM / dual-band HSDPA support, a 3-megapixel camera, GPS with AT&T Navigator, Media FLO, Bluetooth 2.0, a microSD expansion slot, Widgets and a Mobile TV player. Be sure and stroke your curiosity by browsing the slides in the read link below.