Since I’ve bought my Samsung Omnia i900 it has been quite a ride. Although on the hardware side the Omnia is an amazing device, the truth is the software side leaves a lot to be desired. Its operating system is Windows Mobile, which has several flaws. And Samsung did try to make it a bit user-friendlier, but so much more can be done if you find the right Samsung Omnia applications. So I went looking for them.

If the bad thing about using Windows Mobile is its ugly, dated interface, the good thing is its popularity, meaning you’ll have literally thousands of applications to choose from. I’m going to guide you through some of the best ones.

The Quest for Finger-Friendliness

One of the problems with native Samsung Omnia applications is the fact that most of them are designed with the stylus in mind. Scrollbars, buttons, menus – everything is so small and narrow it makes it impossible to control your phone with a finger or thumb, which is a real shame, considering Omnia’s beautifully wide WQVGA touch screen. And to make things even worse, there is no hole to carry the stylus when you’re not using it.

So let’s cut to the chase: you need to replace some of the original Samsung Omnia’s applications with better ones in order to get the best out of your Pocket PC. The most important and, in my opinion, essential applications in any phone are texting, contact management and calendar and tasks.

Here are a few applications that will help you take your Samsung Omnia to another level, where it belongs!

• Calendar and task application for Samsung Omnia: ThumbCal

ThumbCal will replace Windows Mobile’s native calendar and task applications, but you won’t lose any of your previously added data, because it will use the original application’s infrastructure – so even the Outlook synchronization feature via ActiveSync will still be available. What’s so amazing about ThumbCal is its beautiful, intuitive, full screen finger-friendly interface – and several different skins. It’s easy and fast to slide through days, weeks, months and years, with simple vertical and horizontal finger gestures. Checking, adding and editing appointments and tasks is also a joy – you’ll be amazed at the amount of time you’ll start saving.

• Contact management application for Samsung Omnia: IconSoft PhonEx

Although Samsung has made some improvement on Windows Mobile’s default dialer / contact manager app, IconSoft PhonEx definitely takes it several steps further. Once again, the keywords are finger-friendliness, flick-scrolling and an intuitive interface. It will automatically assign itself to you Omnia’s start call button and provide you with easy access to favorites, call logs, contact list and phone pad. It will also replace the onscreen menu and incoming caller alert with a beautiful full screen photo id. Like ThumbCal, this app sits on top of the default Windows Mobile infrastructure, so you won’t lose any contacts when you install it.

• Text messaging application for Samsung Omnia: Vito SMS-Chat

The SMS texting application is probably one of the ugliest parts of Windows Mobile. Thank God the good people at Vito exist and dedicate themselves to developing great apps like SMS-Chat. Like ThumbCal and PhonEx, SMS-Chat acts as an interface on top of the Omnia’s native SMS app. It will provide you with a full screen, finger-friendly, skinable layout, with threaded conversations – a separate chat for every contact, like you’d have in an IM client. Its on-screen pop-up notification feature is also a plus, allowing you to immediately get a glimpse of the received text, which you can open or ignore. Also available is the possibility to send multiple texts and create templates, as well as clickable links within the text messages.

If you have another phone of the Samsung Omnia family and you’re wondering if these applications are compatible with it, I can tell you they probably are compatible with all except for the Samsung Omnia HD i8910, because it uses Symbian instead of Windows Mobile. Check out Samsung Omnia Software blog for more information. And enjoy your new and improved Samsung Omnia!