LAST month, I tested the 3G iPhone in the Apple store in downtown Sydney.

After just 45 minutes, I decided that no other phone was going to kill it.

Its sleek look and smooth touchscreen interface are, well, to die for.

Three weeks later, I tested the 3.5G Samsung Omnia i900. By now, you should have heard that it's one of a few phones in the market that has been touted to snuff the life out of the iPhone.

After using it for a week, I decided that while the Omnia makes a worthy nemesis, it does not have the chops to slaughter its Apple rival.

In terms of user-friendliness and the interface, the iPhone still beats its competition.

But the Omnia does come close in other departments.

For one thing, it looks almost as good as the iPhone. Two of my friends even mistook it for the iPhone at first glance.

Like the iPhone, the Omnia has a large screen (3.2 inch) but is 11g lighter at 122g.

What about user-friendliness?

I hate reading instruction manuals, so if a phone requires me to refer to one before I can use it, it's highly unlikely I will buy it.

My Omnia review set did not come with a manual. But I suspect I could figure out most of the functions as my current phone also uses the same Windows Mobile operating system as the Omnia.

But someone new to smartphones may find the interface too complex and that there are too many menus to sieve through.

But not everything is complex. I like that the SMS exchanges are listed as conversations, which means the phone won't be clogged up with more than one message from the same person.

Omnia's killer app may just be its 5-megapixel camera, which dwarfs the iPhone's 2-megapixel one, and is perfect for today's trigger-happy-with-phone-camera users.

The multimedia (video, songs and photos) functions are easy to use and the quality is good. Setting up a link to my e-mail account was a breeze. Internet connection, including using the built-in GPS, was pretty fast.

Having previously used two Samsung phones with short battery lives, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Omnia battery has a longer lifespan. Though I checked my e-mail, which uses up more power than basic functions like calling and SMSing, a few times in two days, I did not have to recharge the phone until the third day.

But I was let down by the keypad. Despite it being twice the size of that in my current phone, I found myself typing less accurately on the Omnia.

I thought of using the stylus provided but as there was no stylus slot, it was too troublesome for me to carry a stylus around. I also did not like that the expandable micro-SD memory slot is located under the battery cover. But these are just minor inconveniences.

Now, if the Omnia can just make its interface and navigation more user-friendly, it just might be able to strike a heavier blow to its Apple rival.

Available in 8GB and 16GB, the phone retails at $298 to $698 with a plan and $1,088 without a plan.

Rating: *** 1/2

This story was first published in The New Paper on 5 October 2008.