In
a nutshell: Released in September 2008, the Samsung i8510 is
Europe's first 8 megapixel camera phone. It uses the same Symbian
operating system and Series 60 user interface as the Nokia N95 and
has almost identical features, including GPS satellite positioning,
a music player and FM radio, WiFi, 8 GB of built-in memory and up
to 16 GB of external memory. This phone raises the bar in mobile
performance. However, it is let down by poor battery life and the
usual Symbian problems - slow UI and freezing / software errors. Best buy: *Free* with half-price line rental from Mobiles.co.uk
(Clearance) or direct from Three.
Review:
September 2008. Updated May 2009.
Samsung are certainly venturing into new territory
in 2008 with the i8510 (also known as the Samsung Innov8.) Not only
is this Europe's first 8 megapixel camera phone, but it marks a
change for Samsung, with the release of their first mainstream Symbian
smartphone.
Let's talk about the camera first. At 8 megapixels,
it pushes decisively beyond the 5 megapixel resolution of its nearest
competitors. But megapixels aren't everything when it comes to digital
cameras. Fortunately, Samsung are one of the world's leaders in
digital cameras and they know what they're doing here. The i8510
moves camera phones closer to the kind of user interface that dedicated
camera have. A dedicated button activates the camera, opening the
lens cover, and toggles between camera, video and the gallery. There
are plenty of settings for advanced users to play with, such as
panorama, smile-detection autofocus and blink detection. The basics
include a 9x digital zoom (no optical zoom sadly - see the Samsung
G800 for that) and a dual power LED flash. This flash is good
enough at close range, but cannot match the brightness of the xenon
flash used in the Sony Ericsson
K850i (although the K850i comes with a host of problems as discussed
in our K850i review!) It's
debatable which camera phone is truly the best, but the i8510 must
surely rank in the top 5 currently. The video camera is also noteworthy,
as it records in high resolution and at up to 120 frames per second,
which means that you can play back in slow motion if you like.
The other most interesting thing about the i8510
is the fact that it runs Symbian 9.3 with the Nokia Series 60 user
interface. This makes the phone's UI remarkably similar to the Nokia
N95 (although the i8510 runs the latest version 3.2 instead
of the buggy 3.1 version used by the N95.) Samsung have tweaked
some options of course, but this is essentially a phone that any
Nokia Nseries user could pick up and use without a second thought.
It looks like N95 users will have a real choice when they come to
upgrade - should they choose the Nokia N96 or the Samsung i8510?
It isn't only the UI that looks very much like
that of the Nokia N95. The whole phone does! It's a chunky slide
phone that weighs even more than the N95, but is several millimetres
thinner. It'll be too heavy for some, but if you like solid phones,
we think you'll like the feel of the i8510. The slide is smooth
and the keypad feels good too, although the touch-sensitive navigation
key is bound to annoy some users (although its sensitivity is adjustable.)
One of the benefits of a large phone is that it can fit a large
LCD display, and Samsung have definitely made the most of the available
space with a high-resolution QVGA display measuring 2.8 inches across,
and displaying 16 million colours. Once again, it matches the capabilities
of the N95.
The Samsung holds its own when it comes to music
playback too. Its music player handles all popular formats (MP3,
AAC, WMA) and includes OMA digital rights management 2.0. Equipped
with an FM radio RDS and 3D surround sound DNSe 2.0 technology -
Samsung's proprietary digital natural sound engine technology used
in its MP3 players - the music capabilities live up to our expectations
for a high-end phone. The media player supports DivX playback too,
which is just as well since the huge 8GB of built-in memory is enough
to store several full length movies! Alternatively it will hold
2,000 songs in MP3 format (more if compressed.) If that's not enough,
you can add a 16 GB microSD memory card to expand the total memory
to 24 GB - enough for 6,000 songs! The i8510 also has a standard
3.5mm headphone jack, so you can plug in your own high-quality headphones.
Like the N95, the i8510 features A-GPS satellite
navigation, with mapping software from Route 66. You can also download
free software such as Google Maps. The GPS supports geo-tagging
of photos.
The i8510 is a good platform for accessing the
web. It's equipped with a HTML browser and uses intelligent zoom
and switching between landscape and portrait modes to display web
pages optimally. The touch-sensitive scroll pad works very well
when browsing the web. With HSDPA enabling download speeds of up
to 3.6 Mbps, you can access web pages rapidly, and download music
and video directly to your mobile. In addition to web access, the
phone is able to connect via USB 2.0 or wirelessly via Bluetooth
and WiFi. You can use the TV-Out connection to view photos and video
directly on your TV. It's also possible to stream content wirelessly
to a compatible PC or laptop using WiFi.
The i8510 also has a 3D graphics accelerator card
making it into a mini-Xbox! We haven't played the games, but there
are two free embedded games - FIFA'08 and Asphalt. You'll find more
Symbian applications pre-installed, or available for download.
Battery life is not brilliant. Although the phone
is equipped with a heavy duty battery (the phone's size and weight
are there for a reason!), with so many gadgets to play with, you
may find you need to recharge every day if you're a heavy user.
The i8510 is clearly designed to go head to head
with the Nokia N95 8GB and the Nokia
N96. Does it make the grade? We think so! Apart from its weight
and the issue of the touch-sensitive navigation key, the Samsung
i8510 matches or beats the N95 8GB. The Samsung has a better camera
and a better video camera. Does it beat the N96? Well, the N96 has
more memory, but the i8510 has a better camera. W'd choose the Samsung,
but the N96 comes very, very close! But be aware - all three of
these phones use the Symbian operating system, and all three suffer
from typical Symbian problems - slow UI, random freezing, shutting
down and software glitches.
Features of the Samsung i8510 include:
8 megapixel camera phone with 9x digital zoom,
autofocus and dual LED flash
Video camera with built-in video editing, DivX
playback
3G video calling
Display: TFT, 16 million colours, 320 x 240
pixels (2.8 inches)
MP3 player (MP3, MIDI, AAC, AAC+, WMA, WAV formats),
OMA DRM 2.0
Memory: 8 Gbytes plus microSD memory card slot
(up to 16 GB)
Internet: HTML web browser, WAP 2.0, GPRS
Class 10, EDGE, 3G HSDPA (3.6 Mbps)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, WiFi,
TV-Out
Quadband GSM plus dual band 3G HSDPA
Size: 107 x 54 x 17 mm
Weight: 136g
Talktime: 5 hours (3G) - 8.5 hours (2G)
Battery standby: 310 (3G) - 330 hours (2G)
Samsung i8510
Consumer Reviews
Love
your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other
people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review
this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a
forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear
words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!
Reviewed by Mark from UK on 4th
May 2009
I purchased the i8510 from mobiles.co.uk in March 09. First impressions
it's a great phone with lots of useful apps etc. However my phone
is currently away for repair. A long story cut very short.....orginal
problem was the phone wasn't charging, so i returned it too the
Carphone Warehouse for repair, it returned a week later damaged
and with a new problem!! So i politley asked the manager to explain
this......he was smug, obnoxious, arrogant & about as much use as
a chocolate fireguard!! Its now with Samsung being repaired apparently.......
I wait with baited breath for its return!!! I will never shop with
the Carphone Warehouse ever again!!!!!! Ohh and i had dust under
the screen! Rating:
Reviewed by Dave from Country on
29th Apr 2009
Nice looking phone on paper but having lived with one of these for
6 months I'm regretting my purchase. First of all it started operating
painfully slow - too slow to write a text message or even look for
a contact. Managed to reset it and then three weeks later it started
to constantly reboot and I couldn't even switch it on. Took it back
to the shop I bought it from and they "repaired" it only for the
same problem to occur 5 minutes after getting it back. It's back
being repaired again now and I'm not holding out too much hope.
The guy in the shop said they have had a lot of problems with these
and now no longer stock them. Rating:
Reviewed by Ed from England on
25th Apr 2009
IF only i could rate this phone 0 for very very poor i would cuz
that what it is!!!.16GB MEMORY lol,lost count of the times its told
me the memory is full even when my files are stored on the E:MASS
memory.could someone tell me how to check the memory status its
like having a car with no fuel gauge!!.Great for taking photos of
statues! but its impossible to get a person or worse a group to
pose for the 10 seconds required to take a pic!!.Everything is MEGA
SLOW on this phone and yes my screen is full of dust aswell .I wish
it had some redeeming features but i can't think of one!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by James from England on
21st Apr 2009
Amazing features, camera is so good and videos are really good quality.
Unfortunately (like it seems with all phones that use Symbian),
after a few weeks it became riddled with problems: Text messages
not being received (even though senders received delivery reports)
Text messages not delivering and just sitting in the outbox Poor
microphone quality REALLY REALLY slow and locking up Slide the phone
open to pick up a call and nothing, just carries on vibrating and
won't let you answer And today it finally gave up, woke up this
morning and it just won't turn on! Apart from all the bugs it is
an amazing phone (when it works!) Rating:
Reviewed by Charmaine Fegan from South
Africa on 14th Apr 2009
I love my phone, but I used to receive reception quite easily with
all my other Samsung phones (Samsung D900 & Samsung E250), I now
find that when I am home I struggle for reception. Has anybody else
had the same problem, as it is really a serious problem for me. Rating:
Reviewed by zoe from england on
27th Mar 2009
when i got this phone i looked everywhere for it and eventually
got the last one in the country by changing 2 o2 and getting a reali
not very good contract, now i have it 2 days later the buttons do
what they feel like n i can no longer play music...... im starting
to think it was 2 good to be true. and they have added things to
this phone that it just cant handle!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by sade from scotland on
25th Mar 2009
To begin with i loved this phone & the camera is a great feature
but all I'm starting to have now is problems within i few months
of me getting it like a lot of people i couldn't send text messages
they kept sitting in the outbox saying it would resend in a few
minutes & it never would now so it ended up having to be reset 3
times.NIGHTMARE!!! Now I'm getting issues with the phone itself
charging, its not the charger or the battery as it's been changed
its the phone & the screen keeps playing up,so now i'll have to
wait yet again for this to be fixed, this just makes me want to
cancel my contract but I've only had my phone for less than 5 months!!!
The only thing thats Ok is the camera. Rating:
Reviewed by chris from AUS on
21st Mar 2009
dan from england & drak from mexico.... lies lies lies.... ok dan
either your just spamming or you got a faulty battery/ phone as
i get 3-4day EASY!!! drak from mexico... ive seen the exact same
quotes from you on other sites talkin about different samsung mobiles
and i think this site also...LOL!!!!!!!!! please kids stop spamming,
thanks. Rating:
Reviewed by melvin from india on
16th Mar 2009
sexy mobile!!!!!!!!!its beyond my imagination111111111 Rating:
Reviewed by samantha from sunderland
on 1st Mar 2009
i love my samsung i8510 but have had a lot of problems with it the
lens on the camera keeps getting stuck it has a lot of dust under
the screen and the phone is very very sloww also the battery only
lasts half a day .but i do like it Rating:
Reviewed by Jim Roberts from Scotland
on 26th Feb 2009
A lot of people are talking about the poor battery life and dust
under the screen. Having used a Nokia N95 for a long time, I tried
the N96 but found it far too plasticky. As the Samsung felt pretty
solid and I wanted to stay with a smartphone using the Symbian S60
platform. I opted for the i8510. It feels substantial and although
the battery life initially was less than one day, I experimented
with different themes and the battery life has improved dramatically
to between 4 and 4.5 days. after 3 months the build up of dust under
the screen became annoying and the Carphone Warehouse fixed it within
24 hours. All in all, it's a reliable phone with an excellent camera.
I would rate the phone as 4 out of 5. Rating:
Reviewed by Dan from England on
20th Feb 2009
Great Phone - easy to use, nice big keypad to txt with, bright screen,
okish camera, easy to use internet and great features! However,
i hardly get to use the features because the battery life is shocking.
This morning i went kayaking for about 2 hours. The phone was fully
charged when i left. The phone stayed at home whilst i took my nokia
n95 with me. the n95 had the gps on the whole 2 hours kayaking and
i took about 20 pics and a quick phone call. I got home and the
n95 battery - still full! The I8510 - battery had decreased by 3
bars! The phone hadnt done anything! If you need a phone that will
last more than 12 hours then dont buy this phone!!! Rating:
Reviewed by sam kent from England on
19th Feb 2009
i'v had this phone about a week now and it is amazing, the camera
is awesome the internet is so fast and clear everything on the phone
is brilliant, the sound quality is the best i have heard on a mobile
phone. the battery life is extremely good considering everything
the phone can do, i charged it for around 16hours the first time
and it lasts me a couple days under quite heavy use. it looks stunning
aswell, it is quite big but has a proffesional look to it. this
is by far the best phone around Rating:
Reviewed by e91 from uk on 15th
Feb 2009
i have had this phone since october and after 3 months it stopped
letting me send text messages.have had it fixed twice however the
evening after the day i got it fixed for the first time it stopped
letting me send text messages and this has happened for the second
time,got it fixed and the same thing happened Rating:
Reviewed by ed1979 from uk on
12th Feb 2009
Had exactly the same problem with this phone with the charging socket.
had it repaired 3 times and now replaced with a reconditioned phone....not
a new one!!!!! arguing the toss with carphone warehouse for 2 months
to get an n96. phone is ok now it's working. I'll never use carphone
warehouse again! shoulda waited and got an N96! Rating:
Reviewed by john from uk on 9th
Feb 2009
this phone is ok the camera is really good the battery life wasn't
that good. go for the c905 it has a better camera better mp3 and
better battery life. also c905 its a much better phone. Rating:
Reviewed by JT from UK on 6th
Feb 2009
I have had this phone 3 months and loved it. Especially great camera
& video, wifi and could play music though internal speakers. Unfortunately
the charger/usb port stopped working and told not under warranty
by CPW so have 15 mths contract left and a bust phone therefore
going to have to mark phone down and wish I stayed with Nokia. Rating:
Reviewed by Sab1875 from UK on
4th Feb 2009
Hi rachel. I have had the messaging problem too this is my second
i8510. Carphone replaced my 1st one after too much hassle to mention.
Now I am in the process of having the current handset 'repaired'
by their team. The engineers say they have flashed the software
but keep putting an old version on (08/2008...check yours). If there
are none in stock, I am also shocked to hear I won't even be offered
the N96 as a replacement as it's not in the same 'band'!! Shocking.
Avoid CPW at all costs. I hope you get yours sorted as it is an
otherwise really good phone for camera, vid and same as Nokia software. Rating:
Reviewed by Tony Stewart from Scotland
on 31st Jan 2009
This is a very good phone with extras going through the roof. I
only have two down sides. the screen seems to let dust into it quite
easily as both me and my pal [the only other person i no with this
phone] have noticed. the dust doesn't reslly affect the view in
dull or dark lighting but in direct sunlight it becomes a problem
and their's no way of cleaning it out. the other problem was a bit
more serious as the phone had to get sent away to get fixed. the
charging point inside the handset is quite easily broken as i only
tripped over the wire when on charge and it was enough to break
the solder inside. That is my only two hicups to what i think is
a brilliant phone. I cant wait for the Nokia N97 tho as thats next
on my purchase list Rating:
Reviewed by Cathy from England on
30th Jan 2009
I love the phone but I hate the way it keeps stopping sending text
messages (anyone else had this?) I've had it fixed once before and
its in the process of being fixed again now. However, I'm thinking
of cutting my losses and selling it. What's the point in having
such a high spec phone when you can't even send a simple text message? Rating:
Reviewed by Charlotte from London, UK
on 29th Jan 2009
Don't get me wrong, I love the phone and all the features. I have
had the phone since it's release and I have had a good 2 months
before the problems. Yes the battery life isn't great and it's not
the smallest of phones but I have found it does what it says on
the box. I have had various problems with the screen freezing, flickering,
fading in and out whenever I slide it open, during sendng texts
and whilst trying to take pictures. I have had it fixed 3 times
because i love it so but I finally give up. Today will be the 4th
time I take it back to the shop, I am thinking I may leave it in
the shop for good! Rating:
Reviewed by Terry from Canada on
28th Jan 2009
I've had the i8510 for 10 days now. Great phone, but the software
is a bit flaky. I've had the phone freeze up twice in the last week,
both times I was trying to get the camera started. When it freezes
up, there is no equivalent of a hard restart button. I had to take
the battery out and restart the phone. The newest version of the
PC Suite software has a "software update" button. I've updated the
phone once with this, but I'm wondering if this is an actual firmware
upgrade or not. I bought this phone because it had the best reviews
for it's type. I've got mixed feelings. If the phone would do what
it's designed to do, with no problems, it would be fabulous. Right
now, I don't trust it. Rating:
Reviewed by Drak from Mexico-UK on
27th Jan 2009
8 megapixel camera phone with 9x digital zoom, autofocus and dual
LED flash bad quality. The pictures are not as good as a nokia's
5MPX cameras, even a 3.2MPX. WHY? Megapixels are not only feature
in a camera, also need to consider resolution in terms of DPI (dots
per Inch)most common known for printers. Samsung has a 72 DPI meanwhile
Nokis has 300DPI that makes a big difference in term of quality
in night shots and pics definition. If you look for a camera choose
any Nokia 5MPX. As well batery is varu poor performance and need
to recharge on a daily basis. Rating:
Reviewed by rachel from UK on
25th Jan 2009
I Have had this phone since xmas (it was my xmas present =D) ..
generally its good. The main downside is that the battery runs out
very very quickly. if u dont mind charging it every other night.
and keeping your charger with u wherever you go. The camera is amazing.
I previously had the G600 and i wasnt too impressed with its camera
and was a bit hesitant to get this fone but there was no dissapointment
in that area. Personally i prefer my G600. The i8510 doesnt have
that many options as to the g600. eg. IT DOESNT HAVE A PRIVACY OPTION.
So if the phone is unlockd anyone can see your texts or use ur phone.
Its a pain keeping my phone away from my parents now. It has a front
camera to use for video calls.. but i cannot use it and there is
no option just to use the camera without doing a video call.. wich
is annoying if you wana look in the mirror!!! :) Music is good and
so is the quality of videos. Ive been having problems with messaging.
I can recieve texts and call and recieve calls But some times i
cant send a text. It goes to the outbox and says "resend at .."
which is frustratin when u cant send a text urgently!!!! has anyone
else had this problem???? overall there are mixed feelings about
this fone. 1.ITs very expensive (im on a O2 contract with O2 but
to buy its around £500) 2.its fairly big compared to its ancestors
3.some find it very slow 4.Battery life aint so good again comparing
to its ancestors (g600,d600,u600) so i wouldnt recommend this phone.
Rating:
Reviewed by Flic from UK on 23rd
Jan 2009
I have recently bought an i8510 and I love it. It is easy to use
and has great features. Battery life is good, I charge it every
couple of days but generally do that with my phones. I don't have
a problem with scratches on the screen and as yet have had no problems
with dust, it may be because I keep it in a sock to help protect
it. There are mixed reviews about this phone but the only way you
will really know is to buy one. Rating:
Reviewed by quentin from Australia on
22nd Jan 2009
Al from the UK.... umm LOL...bro the pausing in music is a feature
of the phone. Etiquette mode.. youve turned it on at some point...
facing the phone face down will pause the mp3 player and will act
as the snooze option when the alarm is on. lol.. cheers mate Rating:
Reviewed by Mike from Yorkshire on
21st Jan 2009
Ok lets give my two pennies worth. 1st, yeah the dust is a problem,
and it's a known issue, samsung have been replacing phones ( slide
open the phone and look down the back you will see a small breather
hole where the dust is getting in ) however use your common sense,
you know dust is an issue SO BUY A SOCK FOR PITY SAKE. 2nd Battery
life, yeah, yeah we know its bad but then this phone does more than
just make calls using hspda speeds to surf the net and satnav and
using a 8meg camera, music and video playing will drain most devices,
until we all see a 3000mah battery for these kind of phones we have
to accept that a nightly charge maybe required heck my n95 was EXACTLY
the same. 3rd I was one of the first ones to get this phone approx
4 or 5 months ago and I have had no scratches ANYWHERE, but then
I dont throw my phone on the floor and keep my keys in the same
pocket and generally throw the phone on the desk after a long day
at work. It is a more sturdy phone than my n95 which I have still
got by the way. 4th I agree with the previous person saying about
wi-fi it's an absolute piece of cake access web, select wifi connection
and connect... how easy is that, and as previously stated it remembers
the connection.... 5th MP3's HOW GOOD ARE THESE!!! especially with
the surround sound headphones plugged with surround sound selected...
try that Mr Sony!!. 6th Right enough kissing a**e this phone isnt
perfect, the symbian os is the new version using feature pack 2
so dont expect all your nokia symbian apps to work... they just
wont ok.... get newer versions if possible. Also HOW ANNOYING IS
THAT TOUCH SENSITIVE BUTTON!!!! good job it can be turned off. Finally
is there any reason samsung DIDNT include a xenon flash with this...
WHY PROMOTE A 8MEGAPIXEL CAMERA AND GIVE IT A WEEDY FLASH!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyway enough of this, GO OUT AND GET ONE and in 18months time buy
an IPHONE 4 with video and a decent camera and one that CAN run
third party apps without being jail broken.... Rating:
Reviewed by Al from UK on 20th
Jan 2009
All in All, generally v. good fone with tonnes of features & toys
+ general S60 software will work... i call it 'my brick' so be warned,
it is sizable lol The battery does need a good 24 hours initial
charge or the battery will run out in a day, it now lasts 2-2.5
days (save battery power by turning off the on-board GPS, not looking
for Wi-fi connection every x minutes & turning off 3G until you
need it) Has developed faults in its 1st month of use which is why
i markin it down... pressing up on the D-Pad 50% doesnt respond
& it pauses music when i put it screen-down & continues resumes
playing when i pick it up !! PS no dust problem with mine... but
then, i did buy a rubber case to put the phone in.. only cost £2.50
on-line, bargain :) Rating:
Reviewed by Bluejay from Australia on
16th Jan 2009
So far this phone has the best reviews I've seen for any phone,
anywhere on the internet. The one thing that keeps cropping up majorly
though (apart from dust) is that the battery life is poor. At the
moment I have an interim, boring, run-of-the-mill sony ericsson
thing and when I use "blutooth to send/receive and/or doing any
intense application, like using the camera for a long time " it
REALLY drains my battery life. In fact, EVERY phone I've ever had
loses battery life when it gets used. That's the point, guys! The
battery is being USED! It's like everybody is expecting a battery
that stays charged no matter what you do with it. I charge my battery
every night. Sometimes I actually get 2 days out of it. But like
I said, I'm just using a no frills model without the mod cons so
what would one expect from something as feature packed as this?
One day's battery life sounds brilliant to me! Rating:
Reviewed by Jackdawbob from UK on
14th Jan 2009
Great phone really, it is big and the touch sensitive direction
pad is annoying anywhere other than web browsing, but the positives
are there- the camera is fantastic. Before this I had the LG Renoir,
which was a customer service nightmare and the camera was worse,
and the INNOV8 definitely would be a better phone- if it didn't
let dust get in and sit behind the screen! It is a nightmare, and
makes the phone unfit for purpose- any photos etc you try to take
always has this dust in the way, which you have to try to see beyond.
I have an 8 week old baby, and I bought the phone specifically to
be able to take quality pics and vids of her- sadly this dust (and
there is a lot of it now, 2 months old phone) really detracts from
the phone and from the picture taking. Other positives are the GPRS
(although again the dust detracts)the smartphone capabilities are
awesome. If I could stop the dust I would love this phone, I am
now trying to get Samsung to change the phone as it isn't fit for
purpose in my opinion. I am sure that the nice folks at Samsung
will tell me exactly where to go...! Rating:
Reviewed by Rajdip from Australia(India)
on 13th Jan 2009
Well , on first site , off-cource is a great camera , deadly 8 megapixel
camera shoots far better than n-95 as well as it's loaded with massive
8 gb as well 16 gb internal memory , so you will never take care
about your memory. The only thing that disappoints is a battery
life(though that's common in all symbian phones) and the price range
of this phone.. i paid $999 for this phone , though the converted
movie quality of this phone is awesome !! i converted 2-4 movies
for this phone and it works amazingly !! Divx in this phone is works
amaizingly.. the another problem with this phone is - in tutorial
it says u got free navigator software inside - says route 66 something,
but i checked everywhere in my phone , there is no route 66 app
and when i asked route66 customer service about this thing , What
they say ??? that you have to pay $ 179 USD for that software !!!!
we can get better GPS for car in that price.. Freak Cheters of Route
66 ... Rating:
Reviewed by Rob from England on
11th Jan 2009
Simply stunning phone. Well built, and on first impressions a tad
large, but you soon get used to the size of this beauty, and compared
to most mobiles the phone is the same height as most candy bar designs,
but just slightly wider but you're compensated with a huge screen.
Photos of this phone do not do it justice, it is far more attractive
in real-life. Had this phone for a few days now, no dust or battery
issues as mentioned below. Some simply excellent features, and I
keep on unearthing more and more new features on this phone every
day. Camera doesn't dissapoint either, it won't replace a decent
digital camera if you're into photography, but it still packs in
some decent features, like face detection and multi shot feature.
It also takes good photos in dark situations. Music player is far
superior than my I-Pod Nano as you can listen to your music with
or without headphones, and with the extra memory slot, you can download
plenty of music. Only dissapointment with phone was the sensitive
touch pad, and I just deactivated this feature. Recommend that you
download full user manual on-line as the manual supplied with phone
is for quick-start and doesn't mention most the features or benefits.
5/5... Top marks Samsung Rating:
Reviewed by ryan from plymouth england
on 11th Jan 2009
iive had this phone for about a month and cant wait to see rid of
it. everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. this is not a
cheap phone but feels cheap WARNING ITS NOT WORHTH THE MONEY!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Lez from uk on 11th
Jan 2009
I have had this phone for around 2 month now, i use a phone often
as ataxi driver, both voice and text message and checking my email.
I wont bother to tell you how many good points this has, the stores
and websites will do that, what i will do is point out whats wrong
with it.... battery life is only 'ok' but if i use it for navigation,
the battery is dead in about 6 hours, and i work an 8 hour shift...
The video playback is better than most but the codecs need an update
for later divx etc, and it needs mpg support, i know mpg is old,
but some videos are still in it and its a pain to convert things
just to watch them. the backlight is not always friendly with other
software and goes out when you need it, ie on navigation software
etc, sometimes it gets confused and then wont come on, or comes
on but the keyboard is locked needing a reboot if you have it on
media player and lay it face down so the speakers are logically
pointing up from your desk, the music pauses...... If you shake
it around like say jogging, it pauses... biggst pain, its sooo slooowwww,
its like having a phone from 5 years ago! when you reply to a text
if you type fast it loses the first few letters and you have to
start your reply again. dont think i wll be keeping mine that long
unless it gets some new firmware soon to fix the sped issue. camera
5/5 but manual focus would be nice and a option to take time lapse
audio quality, 5/5 build quality 5/5 firmware 1/5 Rating:
Reviewed by ABRAM from SOUTH AFRICA
on 6th Jan 2009
VERY CLEVER FONE I THINK I'M FALLING FOR IT!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by EmirHan from TURKEY on
4th Jan 2009
This phone is amazing.I offer this phone for everyone.Especially
the camera is perfect. I'd love it..:)) Rating:
Reviewed by Jim Roberts from UK on
4th Jan 2009
My first and last Samsung. I had an N95 which I gave to my wife
and I would love to have it back but I aint that brave. I had an
N96 for 2 days and exchanged it for the i8510 'cos the Nokia felt
tinny and plasticky compared to my excellent. I'm well used to symbian
phones but this is the first one that needs daily charging, even
with minimal use. I got it in december and daily I am counting the
new bits of dust under the screen. The phone seems solid enough
and works the way I want a symbian phone to work but the battery
and dust problems have got to me and meantime I'm using an old N70
instead. At the first opportunity I will go for another Nokia maybe
the N85. Anyone considering this phone should take a look at the
comments on the various forums. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Rating:
Reviewed by Liz from Uk on 4th
Jan 2009
Great Phone. Love This. Just Like The Nokia N96 But Better. Camera
is Ace Rating:
Reviewed by Shahram from Iran on
1st Jan 2009
I've had this phone for a couple of weeks.It takes very good photos.It's
a little heavy.Battery consumption is a bit high but if you adjust
(reduce) the Contrast,keep your bluetooth and WLAN turned off,put
your phone on Off-Line before going to bed every night,your battery
life will improve gradually.So far no dust has got into the earpiece
of my phone.And I recommend you to use an LCD Protector the moment
you buy it,but it doesn't mean that the LCD is easily scratchable.Web-Surfing
is a pleasant and music player is enjoyable.It's a Symbian phone
so you can find a lot of applications in it.The only problem I'm
facing with is that I don't how to remove the Auto-Lock process
set by the factory.Anyway the most important thing for me is that
I am always having a good camera-phone with me to hunt the moments. Rating:
Reviewed by Hooded Assassin from England
on 30th Dec 2008
I came to this website to read the reviews from people that own
this phone before going to purchase it myself. i have now brought
the handset and want to clear up some of the myths that maybe putting
people off getting this phone like it nearly did me. Dust under
the screen - I asked the guy in carphone warehouse about this and
he said that some handsets had been returned with this problem.
I brought the phone anyway and have now had it for 3 months. For
the first 2 weeks i didn't dare put it in my pocket, or have it
in the dashboard of my car for fear that i would fall victim like
so many of the reviewers on this site. Then i thought "fudge it!".
Since then i have used the phone as normal and it has even spent
time in a dust filled room where i am currently decorating my house.
No dust under the screen, nor usb port. Poor Battery life - this
makes me laugh, mostly due to the fact that i went from owning a
HTC touch diamond to this phone so i REALLY know poor battery life.
My average day with my I8510 goes something like this: Alarm to
wake me up - Music player hooked up to car to take me to work -
Approx 10 texts, 10 minutes calls - Music home - Approx 10 minutes
calls in the evening. This usage would give me 2 days of battery
life. However, if i use my music player, whilst driving using my
satnav at the same time and then recieve a phone call, and then
go back to satnav and music, this would rinse my battery in about
half a day. Unfortunatly whilst mobile phone technology has advanced
no end, batteries have not. This phone has very very good battery
life in comparison to equivilant handsets, and that's all the matters.
Scratches easily - The build quality of this phone is immense and
i've dropped it a few times now with no drama. The phone has a small
scratch on the side of it (not the screen) where it was in my coat
pocket with keys. My phone always seems to find the pocket with
my keys in and yet this is the only damage. Difficulty connecting
WiFi - LOL! You go to 'Web', Select 'search for WiFi', click the
connection, Job done! It even remembers that connection and has
it available automatically next time you go to 'Web'! I reliterate,
this phone is awesome. The music player is incredible (i have now
sold my ipod), the sat nav is yet to let me down (only downside
is having to pay for the UK map), It has buttons (Touch screen is
the worst thing ever to happen to mobile phones), it is built on
a very stable operating system (Symbian). I understand peoples poor
experiences but my experience of this phone has been incredible.
Well done Samsung! Rating:
Reviewed by Lucy Edwards from Uk on
29th Dec 2008
I cant see why people are moaning as i can go 4 days without charging
my phone its the first charge that the phone gets dictates how long
the battery life lasts for. I may be on my second one because of
my battery last time i started to use the phone straight away without
charging it my boyfriend and his brother told me that . People need
to learn to look after the batterys first. Where were you all when
brains were being handed out or did u just totally miss this stage
of evouluation??? Rating:
Reviewed by Ohdear from United Kingdom
on 28th Dec 2008
Right, to settle all this arguing, This phone is the best phone
released and its even better than the Nokia N96, Okay, to start
with, people who are having "dust in the screen" problems, don't
leave it anywhere where it will gather dust, its simple plus alot
of phones gather dust, its just the way you look after it and secondary,
the battery life, yeah, stop moaning, all phones actually have rubbish
battery life cause its the way you use it, 3G runs it down quicker
too, its your fault, don't blame Carphone Warehouse and Samsung
for your mistakes and one more thing, you having problems with Scratches
? DON'T DROP IT OR LEAVE IT IN AREAS WHERE ITS GUNNA GET SCRATCH!
Where were you moaners when Brains were given out?? This Phones
Great SOO STOP MOANING ABOUT DUST, BATTERY LIFE AND SCRATCHES, ITS
HOW YOU LOOK AFTER IT, DEAL WITH IT. Rating:
Reviewed by quentin from Australia on
24th Dec 2008
again the dust thing???? what are you guys doing with you phones!!!
u dont live in the desert by any chance do yas? Rating:
Reviewed by ben from england on
21st Dec 2008
got this phone a week ago and was very disappointed the battery
life is terrible mountains of dust gets under the screen and the
usb port and has already stopped working. Definitely swapping it
for a different phone. p.s dont buy this phone Rating:
Reviewed by Hannah from UK on
20th Dec 2008
i got my 8Gb i8510 about a month ago it scraches very easily and
the battery isnt very good i have to charge it every night. i havent
had any problems with it yet other than that a good phone! Rating:
Reviewed by quentin from Australia on
20th Dec 2008
dont understand people problems with battery life and dust... ive
had this phone for about 8weeks now and i get 3days EASY with moderate
use..i think im on my 4th day at the moment.. same goes with the
dust factor... none... I do have the same phone as you guys right???
i dont get how 1 person can have HUGE amounts of dust and then the
next person,absolutely nothing. yeah sometimes apps can take a sec
or two to start up but dam for the specs this phone has I can live
with that!!!!!! Ive owned alot of phones, and this is by far the
best ive owned.. people thinking about buyin this phone... read
the reviews...enough said. Rating:
Reviewed by nes from Philippines on
17th Dec 2008
I think, it was a bad decision for me to jump to this 16Gb i8510.
Actually at stanby mode batt lasted only for 20 hours, the HSDPA
7.2Mbps as advertised is 460Kbps only in PC suite, Dust accumolates
faster under the screen, menu button cases are very sluggish. For
a traveller like me this phone is very disppointing. Rating:
Reviewed by Dan Smith from England on
16th Dec 2008
Viki Jones all the quality phones I've had, have had that E in the
top right corner of the screen, From the S-E K800i to the Samsung
I8510. I'm use to be very impressed with the time it takes for things
to be bluetoothed fro the computer but now I find this phone asolute
rubbish. I've had it since October and all it seems to do is brake.
If I close the phone too hard it turns off. If I leave the phone
off for more then an hour it turns on. If the phones in my pocket
it turns off. Worst phone I've had since the Nokia 3210. Rating:
Reviewed by aaron from untied kingdom
on 14th Dec 2008
i have had this phone for about 2weeks now.. my first impressions
were WOW!the phone looks a LOT nicer in person than over the internet
and the dummies in the store,as the dumies dont have shiny gloss
ect. this phone is amazing! everything you could wont from a phone
and a camera , the slow motion is so funny,but goes incredibly darker
when recording. the sound speakers are GOOD! better than i thought
when you change the equaliser! the dust thing is a load of rubbish..
not experienced it yet. AMAZING PHONE!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Jane from England on
12th Dec 2008
I like the phone but I just find it a bit sluggish. It is slow to
start the camera, slow to get through to other phones when dialing.
. . just slow. Rating:
Reviewed by Alessandro from Italia on
4th Dec 2008
this phone is wonderful it join the quality of symbian with the
nice samsung style (and top performances like camera, memory and
a lot of compatibility) the best if you are bored of usuals nokia Rating:
Reviewed by Viki Jones from England
on 3rd Dec 2008
Had 2 months and for some reason will not let me send text messages.
Another woman experienced similar problems in shop, has been given
FIVE new handsets all done the same. Has a small E under the network
gage on the top left hand screen where the 3G should be. Not amused
at all Rating:
Reviewed by abdo from egypt on
2nd Dec 2008
wooooooooooow Rating:
Reviewed by kabir from bangladesh on
29th Nov 2008
samsung i8510 vary nice and great camera phone Rating:
Reviewed by Duncan from UK on
22nd Nov 2008
I've had my i8510 for 6 weeks now and have no problems at all with
it. I got it through Carphone Warehouse on Orange upgrading from
a U600 so I was familiar with Samsung operations from day 1. The
camera is amazing, take time to set it up first and you'll be rewarded
with some quality pics. As a pro photographer I'm fussy about pictures
and while the phone may lack any form of manual override for speed
and aperture, it's great for catching shots when you're out and
about that you'd otherwise miss out on. If you import them onto
a computer and have Photoshop, it's possible to produce pictures
that can be blown up to poster size without any loss of quality.
The big screen makes web browsing possible even if your eyesight
is poor and being able to pick up WiFi makes it an inexpensive option.
I agree with the review about Route 66 - complete waste of time!
But then when would you ever use it? It's a solid robust phone with
a quality feel to it - just hope it stays that way for the next
17 months. Rating:
Reviewed by Annie from UK on
22nd Nov 2008
Only got one gripe with this phone so far. Even if it was wired
to the national grid the battery would still want more juice. I
really like this phone but I need it be more mobile. Does anyone
actually get more than a day out of it, I close down all the big
apps I can...its so annoying! Rating:
Reviewed by Richard from UK on
20th Nov 2008
was very impressed with the phone apart from minor faults until
2 months in. This is when the usb type port on the phone stopped
working, meaning that the phone could not charge or link up to the
pc. so not good in terms of reliability Rating:
Reviewed by graham from uk on
19th Nov 2008
what is the point of this route 66 i tried to load uk map but no
you have to pay so ok £5.00 maybe £10 at most no 59 euros what a
rip off so i tried to download it started then timed out so try
again went bed got up no download timed out then looked at my 02
bill what the @@@@ £459.42 data download thank 02 for wipping this
bill route 66 help dont no anything about it rip off dont bother
with map the phone cool route 66 is a load of @@@@ Rating:
Reviewed by simon gatty saunt from UK
on 18th Nov 2008
I have had 2 i8510's go back to vodafone for the same problem. The
phone locks up on re-boot and will not start. Reading other forums,
I am not the only person to have this go wrong. Awaiting my 3rd
i8510 - last chance, or I will exchange for N96. I really want this
phone to work for me, as it has such grt applications and features.
But it has to be reliable as i use it for a business tool for emailing,
satnav, etc. My curretn n95 had bugs to start with, but Nokia ironed
them out over time with regular firmware uploads and it is now very
stable. Lets hope Samsung do the same. Rating:
Reviewed by westside from USA on
15th Nov 2008
this phone is not worth buying soo please don't buy it.. its piece
of junk!!!.. Rating:
Reviewed by Ben from UK on 14th
Nov 2008
Contrary to most - I think the battery usage on the i8510 is really
good. Any 3G phone is going to drink the battery anyway [cos of
the linear amps], where Ive had mine for about a week and its certainly
been much better than my old 3G Razr so far. Camera is v. good,
as to is OCR and GPS. The WiFi was tricky to setup. Needed to get
the MAC from the phone [*#62209526#] and the MAC that my router
saw [which was different] and add them BOTH into my routers MAC
access list before comms would go. Havent had a prob with dust yet
as I took heed to others comments and taped over the phone socket
till I get a plug! Will update if I do still get dust. My real gripe
is theres little online info on the phone. Best stick with forums! Rating:
Reviewed by chris jericho from england
on 11th Nov 2008
this phone rules Rating:
Reviewed by Chris from U.K on
7th Nov 2008
had the phone 2 months really good phone apart from the dust under
the screen i've taken it back to the cpw 4 times an had a brand
new i8510 each time but with evey phone dust keeps getting in an
now because the 28 day return are up they wont do anything about
the problem because samsung wont recognize the problem, STAY AWAY
FROM THE I8510!! and the carphone warehouse. Rating:
Reviewed by aaron from england on
2nd Nov 2008
it is a excellent phone even better then the n96 Rating:
Reviewed by Matt from UK on 1st
Nov 2008
Exchanged my first one at the carphone warehouse without any problems,
battery life seems better now, but using blutooth to send/receive
and/or doing any intense application, like using the camera for
a long time will really drain battery life. Again im starting to
get the dust on the screen, which is really disapointing but i'm
just gonna put up with it because i really like the phone! Does
anybody know what the Power Saver actually does in the personalisation? Rating:
Reviewed by Serge from UK on
29th Oct 2008
Matt, I read somewhere that if you have the autopivot on that can
be a massive battery drain. Check your settings for that. I like
the phone otherwise though, apart from the dust problem! Rating:
Reviewed by Phill from England on
28th Oct 2008
I'd have to say that this review is incorrect about the phones memory.
If y'all haven't noticed the INNOV8 gives you a choice of 8GB or
16GB of internal memory and in both cases you still have the SD
card slot which allows you to expand your capacity by another 16GB.
This totally gives the phone the ability to surpass the N96....
[Editor's reply: Yes, there is a 16GB version but it's very hard
to find in the shops. Most of the i8510's sold are the 8GB, and
that is the phone that we reviewed.] Rating:
Reviewed by Adam from UK on 27th
Oct 2008
I am on my 3rd i8510 after reading this review I upgraded to this
phone but dust is a massive problem it takes just a matter of hours
to start. If you can put up with a lot of white and black dots all
over the screen then this is a great phone. Rating:
Reviewed by Matt from UK on 25th
Oct 2008
I got this phone last week, upgraded from an n82, at first i thought
this phone was fantastic! screen qualitys great, speaker quality
was great, keyboard was ok, bit on the slugist side when texting,
which was odd... But after keeping it in my pocket, using quite
a lot, the battery seemed to be terrible, it lasted for almost 9
hours, full screen brightness, but use wasnt even too heavy! i spend
about 5 minutes watchig the preloaded trailers for kung fu panda
and transformers (seems a bit of a waste putting them on...) about
10 minutes on the phone and sent about 7-8 texts. this really disapointed
me, after a full 20 hour charge the night before. Firstly dust started
coming through somewhere in the top right of the screen, dont know
how, but its spreading all over, and its really disapointing me.
I'm taking it back tomorrow for probably the same one, but if it
happens again then i will get the n96. These are the only 2 problems
i have with the phone, but they are pretty serious ones! Rating:
Reviewed by Errol from Jamaica on
24th Oct 2008
This phone is the best in cellular technology. I have to get me
one of these!! Rating:
Reviewed by wendy from uk on
23rd Oct 2008
i got this phone on tues and am taking it back tomorrow i am having
to charge it day and night and i dont even use it that much couldnt
get the satnav to work either after several calls to samsung i give
up Rating:
Reviewed by andy from uk on 16th
Oct 2008
I have found a HUGE problem with this phone, when it gets anywhere
near a pocket dust will get in behind the screen through the earpiece
and is impossible to remove. i have had for 7 days and am now returning
to carphone warehouse for a new phone, they say it is a recorded
issue with the handset. Real shame that such a simple problem ruins
an otherwise excellent phone Rating:
Reviewed by ogungbemi from uk on
16th Oct 2008
its nice Rating:
Reviewed by Graeme from Scotland on
12th Oct 2008
'you may find you need to recharge every couple of days if you're
a heavy user' Nonsense. Heavy use depletes the battery within a
matter of hours. Rating:
Reviewed by Dave from UK on 11th
Oct 2008
2nd i8510 in 2 weeks now and the same fault keeps appearing. Every
time I open the music app it constantly performs a search and there
is no way to cancel it except for removing the battery. But the
phone is awesome so I will give it one more chance. Rating:
Reviewed by Andy from Uk on 10th
Oct 2008
Had this phone for a couple of days now, gotta say so far so good.
It has everything you could ever want in a phone. Rating:
Reviewed by colin from UK on
8th Oct 2008
Had this phone a week now. does everything you need. However you
have to download and pay for the sat nav maps, i think for the price
this should of been included. The camera is excellent and the menu
is easy to navigate. I cannot find anything i do not like about
the phone. Rating:
Reviewed by Tina from UK on 8th
Oct 2008
Had this phone for less than a week, love everything about it EXCEPT
the battery life!! I am going to be taking it back to CPW and exchanging
it for the same (this time) in the hope its just a fault on this
phone. Fingers crossed. Rating:
Reviewed by Gareth from UK on
7th Oct 2008
Had this as an upgrade from CPW. Its main selling point being the
8mp camera so was very dissapointed to discover that the camera
on my phone did'nt work. Returned it to CPW the shop assistant said
it was the fourth i8510 they had had back for the same fault, maybe
a recall is looming? The build quality was not great either, it
did'nt feel like a £500 phone. The amount of things that are on
this phone is impressive and if Samsung can improve there Quality
inspection etc then it could be an iphone beater. For now though
I'll wait for the SE C905 Rating:
Reviewed by tia from uk on 6th
Oct 2008
i love my samsung i8510!! its mega awesome!!!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Mareile from UK on
4th Oct 2008
Had this for a few days and find it excellent in every way. Haven't
needed the user manual so far as everything was self explanatory.
Very easy to use phone, excellent camera and call quality. Connected
to my wireless for file transfer - excellent phone backup and file
management on Samsung PC Studio 7, btw. Am not missing the QWERTY
at all - I type fluently on laptops and typewriters but could never
get used to those tiny QWERTY keypads on the blackberry type phones
- I prefer texting mode. The predictive text is easy to use and
you can add to it. Connectivity and reception is very good and so
is the battery life. Rating:
Reviewed by Dominic from London on
4th Oct 2008
This phone is really good but i think my n95 8gb is better though
but i love the camera and video on this this phone has to be in
the top 3 Rating:
Reviewed by Paul from UK on 2nd
Oct 2008
I've just taken my i8510 back to CPW after a week's ownership. Gorgeous
phone on paper, nightmare phone in reality. I'd press the answer
button to receive a call - nothing would happen. And again and again.
I've lost so many calls and of course incurred charges in calling
people back. It freezez, it's slooooooooow. Out of the box it seemed
responsive but when I sync'd with my PC and loaded up lots of music
it ground to a halt. The GPS was very flakey, you have to pay extra
for the route 66 UK maps, pay extra for Quick office. I so wanted
to love this phobe, the build quality is great it looks good and
feels good. Texting is not so easy and predictive texting requires
you press * to go through the various words based on the key sequence
you pressed, there is no drop down menu as there is on other phones.
CPW replaced the phone with another i8510 but forgot to include
the battery, so I have to go back. I am not optimistic as I believe
the issues are in the software design not the manufacturing. Writing
real time software that is interrupt driven (i.e. that has to react
to every key press, accelerometer input, phone input, email and
text input or incoming call), whilst playing music/watching a video
is no small thing to do. I wonder if the software engineers have
got it right. OPerating the camera ... mmmm there's a thing. Press
the silver button and wait. And wait. It took upto 10 seconds for
the camera mode to engage and there be an image on the screen, by
which time I'd missed the moment. The whole operation of the phone
is just too sluggish when the memory is part loaded with appointments,
contacts, music etc. Disappointed as it has the potential to be
fab! Rating:
Reviewed by Andrew from UK on
30th Sep 2008
I have had this phone for a week now and am quite amazed how well
thought out it is, how well built it is and its performance is the
best I have ever seen. I am responsible for mobiles within a large
UK business and am almost constantly reviewing hand sets as I am
currently reviewing the Omnia i900, the Blackberry 8310 Curve and
the Samsung i1850 of which I paid £399 for SIM free as a hopeful
replacement for my fairly new Nokia N95 8GB. Bit mad you may think
well yes I am a self confessed gadget freak and love new technology.
The main attactions to me about the i1850 are the 8mb camera, 2.8"
screen, simple efficient texting (unlike the stone age N95), build
quality, Built in and hot pluggable memory, you can easily transfer
music from Media Player, Sound quality and the facility to use ANY
normal haed set (this is a massive improvement as you normally have
to keep the bespoke samsung with you so inevitably you never get
to use the music facility), speed of internet connectivity and interaction
with Flikr etc which I have tested and works, the wireless LAN connectivity
works perfectly unlike the N95, the camera is faster than any other
mobile phone I have used before and I have even played with the
clever 'panoramic' setting which is amazing. However I find it quite
heavy and a little challenging to set simple screen wallpapers from
photos as the orientation is a little tricky? One major issue which
admittedly is cosmetic is that Samsung claim and this is proved
on their website if you select the video tutorial for this handset,
that you can install and use 'Yahoo Widgets' on its screen / desktop.
This video shows an auto hide side bar that you can select and drag
widgets like a nice clock, a calendar and other nice visuals to
the desktop but having spent 3 days solid trying to research this
I finally relented and called Samsung. So for all of you who also
noticed this, Samsung UK have escalated this issue to the 'Head
Office' and will come back to me as soon as a solution is found
e.g. this may well be a firmware upgrade or operating system patch
of some sort. I wanted to change from the N95 mainly due to the
texting as the Nokia text engine just does not live up to the device
as it still inserts words that simply do not exist and gets confused
with the basics. Other than that I also found the N95 slow, buggy
and the camera was so slow to start it was irritating. The N95 camera
when started was excellent and the screen made it more pleasurable,
however the Samsung i1850 camera is almost instant as long as the
button is pressed firmly and will take pictures almost immediately.
It also has a speedy recover time so is usually ready for another
photo pretty quickly, unlike the N95. It is also capable of multi-shot
which if you try it actually works which is no mean feat for a combination
device like this!! All in all so far this is a great device, I love
the Omnia for its instant appeal but find it irritating to use,
the N95 is a great phone but does not hold a light to this one,
if there was one real area of dissappointment it would be the LED
flash, this slows the photo procedure and isn't really effective
but if you alter the ISO and make sure you keep it still, you can
actually take good photos in low light. Another area of concern
at the monet is signal strength but I know as well as some others
that this has a heavy dependancy on the operator e.g. Vodafone although
up to know this phone seems weaker than the N95 for receiving signal.
My N95 has a great in car holder and it just sits in there and the
charger pin just slips into the phone when inseted which is fantastic,
unfortunately Samsung use side mounted chargers and this will make
mounting the phone much more difficult e.g. on long journeys in
a generic screen phone holder? The micro USB plug also seems quite
loose when using the charger? I am just pleased that they have opted
for the standard jack for the head phones which works really well.
Mad to buy outright but I have to say worth every penny!!!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by urfan from uk on
26th Sep 2008
i have always had a samsung, d900, u600, u700 g600 ,however recently
got the f480 tocco and very bad desighn dust kept getting into screen
. so sold it and purchased a i8510 fone. same problem the dust factor?
the n95 is way better as it has no probs with dust getting in Rating:
Reviewed by Kevin from United Kingdom
on 26th Sep 2008
Lets get the record straight this is not a Nokia this is a Samsung
made by Samsung Mobile got this phone and it is sooooo much better
than the Nokia N95 as it is not full of bugs it does'nt reset itself
and in my opinion the camera is awesome on this phone the clarity
of the pictures is as good as any 8mp camera currently on the market
this phone has everything you could ever want or need from a phone
i don't like touch screen i fond it fiddly. this phone is 5/5 Rating:
Reviewed by Matthew from UK on
26th Sep 2008
Incredible phone. My first smartphone but it really doesn't disappoint!
Camera quality is fantastic (yes, no xenon flash but not a big problem
as LED works well in dark situations) - you can even adjust ISO
settings. Compared photos with SE 902 and the photos are much better.
GPS is great! Bought the Route66 map of the UK for a mere £40 which
is very accurate and up-to-date. The built in music player is great
quality. The metallic body is awesome quality too. I expected the
battery life to be terrible and after a couple of days of etremely
heavy usage and as the battery built it's charge strength I'm now
finding it lasts for days! Well done Samsung! Best phone by a long
long way. Rating:
Reviewed by simon cordt from United
Kingdom on 22nd Sep 2008
In a nutshell it is a feature packed phone , you have just about
everything all in one phone with nothing missed out. One thing that
does stand out for me is the liking to the Nokia N95 it might as
well have been made by Nokia as it works in exactully the same way
features and feel are identical bar the new 8m camera and a few
other quirks.All of that said i got it on o2 but really wanted it
on T-Mobile but after ringing them up for an upgrade they told me
that they did not expect to be getting the phone (GREAT) so I have
had to move to 02 against my better judgment one issue I have had
is the ULTRA low signal no matter what part of Luton im in while
using the 3G setting i have found that the only way to improve matters
is switching the mode to GSM which I thought to be very odd? Rating:
Reviewed by John from UK on 22nd
Sep 2008
I experience missed key presses whilst typing a whole text message,
and not just at the start of a message. The missed key presses at
the start are because it takes a while for the "New Message" window
to open. Once its open, there is no excuse for them :(. Just a tip
for anyone, it doesn't come with a proper user manual, just a quick
start guide... You can, however, download the complete
manual for the i8510 from the Samsung site [Editor's reply:
Thanks for the URL, John. We've made it into a link here in case
anyone wants to download it.] Not coming with the full manual is
another minus point I suppose, but I bet most people won't read
it so its probably saving a few trees... [Reply by Lee from UK on
7th Nov 2008: Here is the
link for the English manual as the one listed no longer works.] Rating:
Reviewed by Tom from UK on 22nd
Sep 2008
I got this phone a few days ago after upgrading from the absolute
abysmal Sony Ericsoon K850i and i have to say this phone is fantastic
and completely flawless - easy to use, great applications, the navigation
button isn't as sensitive as reviews make out and the easiest pc
software i have come accross to name a few things. I would recommend
this phone to anyone, especially Nokia users looking to upgrade.
The only slight flaw i have found is that the back scratches slightly
easily but i can live with that. Also in relation to johns question
i have found that when i start text messages but only because it
takes a few seconds to load the text screen, and i text quicker
then that. Rating:
Reviewed by Sean from England on
22nd Sep 2008
I was coming to the end of my contract with my Samsung D900 and
was considering getting the Nokia N96 when it was released, I then
read about the i8510 and immediately wanted to get my hands on that
instead. A lot of people told me it wouldn't be very good because
it's a Samsung but I've never had any trouble with Samsung before
- my D900 has performed very well for the last 18 months and it's
a shame to have to stop using it! The i8510 spec is outstanding,
and it's only when you actually use it that you realise how good
it is. The camera and multimedia playing is fantastic and the navigation
is really easy to use. The keypad is also really good, slightly
different to what I have been used to but with anything new there
is always going to be a little "getting used to" time needed. There
isn't any touchscreen technology (to my knowledge!) but I was never
really interested in that anyway. There are so many other things
on the phone that I haven't even got round to exploring yet but
so far I've had no issues with the phone and I think it's brilliant. Rating:
Reviewed by John from UK on 21st
Sep 2008
Great phone, exactly what I wanted in all departments... Build Quality
is better than that of my old N95. As people have said, camera is
awesome, ...but I do have one issue with it. I text at a fairly
quick rate, and occasionally the phone will miss a key press. On
my old N95 I had no issues with key presses being missed, so its
a problem with this phone. I'm convinced its not hardware related,
because I can feel the button press down, and get the click feedback,
but the letter just doesn't appear. For example, typing Hi in predictive
text often leaves me with just "I". I'm hoping its a firmware problem
and can be fixed with a faster firmware release later on. Anyone
else having this problem? Rating:
Reviewed by Lewis from Yorkshire, England
on 21st Sep 2008
For anyone who owns a Samsung G600, this is an awsome upgrade, a
little bigger but great features including the best camera I've
seen on a phone yet. Music player is great (same as G600 really)
but you get a lot more internal memory. Very similar to the N95
but this isn't full of faults, top phone with great build quality,
and accessing the internet is very fast, go get one and show off
to ya mates! Rating:
Reviewed by Jules from UK on
21st Sep 2008
I love this phone..easy to use & so much on it! Camera is brilliant..top
quality pics! Sound quality is amazing. This is an 'all singing,
all dancing' phone that is well worth getting. It's not touch screen
but I don't care. Instruction book is naff but by at the end of
the day, who sits there with an instruction manual? I've got to
know the phone far better by playing with it than getting frustrated
following instructions. Well done Samsung, you've really given Nokia
a run for their money with this one!!! Rating:
Reviewed by danny from uk on
20th Sep 2008
when i first got it, had no problems. got playing with it, and after
a little while, the layout and all that was pretty easy to use.
the camera is top quality, but let down by the led flash. would
be so much better with a proper xenon flash. as for the rest of
the phone, there is a hell of a lot of features, some that seem
a little pointless, but still, very impressive. Then i got a problem.
the charger or the battery, or something doesnt work properly. the
connection is intermitent at the best of times, but if you put it
on charge, because it is on low battery, if the connection doesnt
work properly, it runs out of battery, then you get a symbol of
the screen, showing an empty battery and a sand timer, and it doesnt
charge. other than that, the phone is great! Rating:
Reviewed by Steven Murray from u.k on
20th Sep 2008
this is one of the best phones of 2008 as it has a whopping 8 megapixel
camera and face detection etc and thats not all coz it has 3g vide
calling and plenty more!!!The only downside is it is not touchscreen
enabled but apart from that its ok personally i recommend the tocco
or omnia!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Samantha from scotland on
16th Sep 2008
i really hope this comes out on pay as you go :) its a great phone!
Rating:
Reviewed by David from Bath UK on
14th Sep 2008
I have had this phone for almost a week, and I can almost say that
this phone is really amazing. I had the Nokia N95 8 GB and I will
say that the i8510 wins hands down, the camera is much better, and
accessing the web is faster too. The only draw back I have with
the i8510 is that the display doesn’t work that well in direct
sun light. As Mick from Scotland has mentioned the menu and the
look of the i8510 is very identical as the Nokia N95 8 GB. Also,
the build quality is far much better on the i8510, and it’s
a really nice phone to text with too. This is the first Samsung
phone I have ever had, and I am so happy with it. I would recommend
that anyone looking to up-grade or buy a phone on contract, consider
the i8510 it’s a must have phone. The music player is really
cool too, also, you can record from the built in radio on this phone,
and the recording quality is just like recording from a cd. Well
done Samsung !!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Courtz from Scot on
14th Sep 2008
GREAT PHONE GREAT CAMERA Rating:
Reviewed by Mick from Scotland on
5th Sep 2008
Got this yesterday and not spent too much time with it as it is
basically a nokia in disguise granted the camera is very good but
other than that all the menu's are the exact same as the N95,Nokia
6110 even down to the navigation,graphics for watching a film on
it are on par with any dvd player but other than that they should
have called it a SAMKIA i9510 Rating:
In
a nutshell: Released in September 2008, the Samsung i8510 is
Europe's first 8 megapixel camera phone. It uses the same Symbian
operating system and Series 60 user interface as the Nokia N95 and
has almost identical features, including GPS satellite positioning,
a music player and FM radio, WiFi, 8 GB of built-in memory and up
to 16 GB of external memory. This phone raises the bar in mobile
performance. However, it is let down by poor battery life and the
usual Symbian problems - slow UI and freezing / software errors.
