Samsung i8910 Omnia HD
HD recording camphone, anyone?
Review The Samsung i8910 Omnia HD comes with a weight of expectation upon it. As the first cameraphone claiming to be capable of recording HD video, it sets itself up to be challenged. Fortunately, for the most part it comes through. With its stonking 8Mp camera and huge OLED screen, this smartphone has what it takes to be an iPhone alternative that can really deliver on media.
Samsung's i8910 Omnia HD
When it comes to watching video, big is generally better, and the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD makes it clear that watching video is very much what it's all about. A large slab of a handset, at 123 x 58 x 13mm and 144g, it feels absurdly wide at first, until you realise that 13mm isn't all that thick – we could get used to it.
Undoubtedly, the 3.7in OLED touch screen is a stunner, with 16m colours and a resolution of 640 x 360 pixels. The pixel resolution doesn't sound particularly impressive for a screen this size, but the screen technology it’s based on means it looks strikingly vibrant. The Omnia HD uses an Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) display that delivers a faster pixel switching response than standard OLED.
The screen's touch sensitivity took a bit of getting used to, and we found that we often had to double tap to access functions. Once we'd got used to it though, this wasn't much of an issue. After all, it's always worse when an over-sensitive screen has you accessing functions you’d not meant to.
The capacitive touch screen is however a smudge magnet, and it regularly needed to be wiped while browsing. In fact, the thought of having a stylus seemed like a preferable alternative at times.
Despite a touch screen, there are dedicated buttons too
The screen is surrounded by a metallic frame that includes three buttons at the bottom for call start, stop and the menu/task manager. Above the screen is a 0.3Mp camera for video calls and a proximity sensor, so you don't activate the screen while the phone's pressed to your ear. Around the sides are a volume rocker, Micro SD slot, micro USB slot, screen lock button and camera shutter button, with a 3.5mm headphone jack plug covered by a cheap and flimsy plastic cover on top.
COMMENTS
original samsung firmware
You can however remove the orange firmware and put the origonal samsung firmware on, as if you was to purchase it sim free. You can also sim unlock the hadset now too using a code that you enter on the phone.
There is video tutorials on how to do both here : http://www.debrandi8910.com
Hope this helps.
media phone?
To echo a previous poster, that huge 8MP camera is just going to fill up the memory with cack overexposed shaky looking pictures. The aberration is terrible and a pointless waste of time. Plus if it is selling itself as a media phone then why no xenon flash? I dont think i'll be swapping my i900 for it.
Youtube app
There is only no YouTube application because you are using the Orange firmware, with the original samsung firmware (that's a doddle to flash), it's available.
@AC: Great phone #
Reg Readers might not blink at having to install Google Maps, but most people (normobs) wouldn't know that it exists, let alone how to download and install it (no fancy on-device app stores in sight for samsung).
So installing nice bits of software on devices before shipping them is actually very important in selling the idea of what a smartphone can do.
Horrendous Photo and Video Quality
It might have an 8MP camera, but those sample shots were horrendous - bad light balance and incredibly poor noise levels. It all goes to show that putting a big sensor behind a crap lens is a complete waste of time!
In addition, the video sample was a complete joke - jerky and poor quality
The screen might be gorgeous but anyone buying this hoping to actually make use of the video and camera beyond the normal crappy cell-phone use is going to be sorely disappointed
