Samsung's Omnia smartphone seems to have been designed as the Windows Mobile answer to the iPhone. But, while it has a touch-driven display, the Omnia just cannot match the simplicity of Apple's user interface.

We took a brief look at the SGH-i900 Omnia, which adds a custom user interface called TouchWiz on top of Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.1 platform. However, we found this simply adds another layer of complexity rather than making the handset easier to use.

The 'main menu' has user-friendly icons linking to common functions, but tapping on any of these simply takes you back to the standard function with the normal Windows Mobile look and feel.

The handset also features 'haptic' feedback, which largely seems to mean that the device vibrates annoyingly every time you touch the screen. This can at least be turned off.

However, we also found the Omnia unresponsive, often taking several seconds to react when we tapped the screen.

Like the iPhone, Samsung's Omnia has a relatively large display (3.2in, 240 x 400 pixels) that makes the most of the handset's fascia at the expense of a keypad. The Omnia is actually slightly smaller than its rival, and also weighs slightly less at about 128g.

Because the Omnia runs Windows Mobile, most of the on-screen controls are too small to hit accurately with a finger. However, unlike other Windows Mobile devices, there is no slot on the Omnia to store a stylus. Instead, Samsung supplies a separate stylus, almost guaranteeing that the user will lose it.

In another nod to the iPhone, Samsung has replaced the Internet Explorer browser with Opera, which is able to fully render standard web pages as can Apple's Safari browser.

Users double-tap the screen to zoom into the part of the page they want to read, and can drag the page around using the stylus.

The Omnia supports HSDPA up to 7.2Mbit/s with Wi-Fi and built-in GPS. As with many other handsets, Google Maps is the default navigation software.

For consumers, the Omnia has FM radio capability and a TV output (using an adapter cable) for playing video.

The Samsung Omnia is available now through several mobile operators, with price depending on tariff.