In a nutshell: The
Samsung i8910HD is a milestone in mobile technology. It's the first
mobile to be able to record high-definition video. It's probably
the highest-spec phone currently available, with an 8 megapixel
camera, huge OLED touchscreen, MP3 player, FM radio, GPS, WiFi,
HSDPA/HSUPA and up to 48GB of memory. If you want to be at the cutting
edge, this is the phone for you in 2009. Check out the top 10 independent
deals for the i8910 HD below, or click to read
the full review and user reviews.
Top 10 internet deals
Samsung
i8910 HD Review
Review:
May 2009.
Fwooar! The Samsung i8910HD (originally known as
the Omnia HD) is one heck of a sexy phone. It's the first mobile
to feature a high-definition camcorder (hence it's name) and it
has the world's largest OLED display - 3.7 inches across. It's a
Symbian smartphone with an 8 megapixel camera, touchscreen UI, WiFi
and A-GPS. Is there nothing this beast cannot do?
If you are looking for the highest-spec, most capable
phone in existence, you've probably come to the right place. The
guys at Samsung have wowed everyone with an impressive leap forward
in technology. This phone has the biggest and best of everything.
And it certainly is big. It's not fair to call it a brick, as it's
rather slim - just 12.9mm - but it's about the same size and weight
as the iPhone 3G. But as millions
of iPhone owners have proved, that's not a problem, and in fact
the i8910 HD is narrower than the iPhone and hence fits in the palm
rather better. The phone's front face is filled with the enormous
screen, plus three conventional buttons below (call, end and home.)
The screen really is a beauty. OLED is a new technology that offers
greater colour definition and more brightness than a conventional
TFT screen. This makes a real difference when using the phone outdoors,
especially when the user interface is touchscreen-driven. The screen
on the i8910 HD is the biggest OLED screen ever to appear on a mobile
and has a very high resolution too (640 x 360 pixels, 3.7 inches
diagonal.) It's a gorgeous screen and makes a real difference when
watching videos or using the onscreen menus. But Samsung have played
safe by using a tried and tested user interface - the TouchWiz UI
will be familiar to users of previous Samsung phones such as the
Omnia.
TouchWiz uses
intuitive touch controls, e.g. tap, sweep, drag and drop operations
as well as an on-screen qwerty keyboard with tactile feedback. The
feel of the phone in the hand is one of quality, thanks to the use
of metal, glossy black plastic and hardened glass.
The
choice of Symbian S60 5.0 operating system makes the i8910 HD more
of a mainstream product than the Samsung Omnia, which uses Windows
Mobile. Personally we prefer the power and robustness of the latest
release of Windows Mobile, but Symbian is a more familiar operating
system to many. In any case, the TouchWiz
UI is the main interface that users have to deal with, and the operating
system is to some extent hidden from day to day use.
It's hard to know what to talk about next - there
are so many goodies to describe. Let's talk about the camera, as
it's the video recording that gives the HD its name. For still photography
the i8910 HD uses an 8 megapixel camera with autofocus, 4x digital
zoom and LED flash. The camera is equipped with advanced functions
such as face detection, smile shot, blink shot and panorama shot.
These help to close the gap between camera phones and dedicated
digicams - in functionality at least. In terms of image quality,
the camera can't beat a dedicated camera, but it can match the kinds
of digital cameras that were on sale just a couple of years ago.
The point is that the camera is good enough to take print-quality
still photos under a range of lighting conditions, so you can rely
on it on occasions when your "proper" camera has been
left at home. The only complaint that we have is that the flash
is LED-based, rather than the xenon flash found on just a handful
of camera phones, such as the Sony
Ericsson C905. The video camera is a worldbeater, in terms of
resolution. It can record in HD format, which means 1280 x 720 pixels
(0.9 megapixels.) At this resolution, the frame rate drops to 24
frames per second, so you might actually prefer to shoot in a lower
resolution and use a higher frame rate. Bear in mind that if you
record in HD, the resolution of the video will actually exceed the
screen resolution! Still, the capability is there if you want it.
It is possible, if you are technically minded, to view your HD videos
on a HD TV. There's no HDMI cable socket, but you can use the WiFi
connection to send video directly to a DLNA-compatible TV or PS3/XBOX
360. We can't imagine many people having the technical know-how
and the necessary equipment to pull this off though. A better option
is to upload your videos to Facebook or YouTube.
Musically, the i8910 HD offers high quality audio
via its twin speakers, which are loud! The speakers are placed at
the top and bottom of the phone, which seems strange until you realise
that they are ideally placed for use when watching video in landscape
mode! We're also delighted to see the presence of a 3.5mm audio
jack, which enables you to plug in any headphones with a standard
connection.
Web browsing on the i8910 is an excellent experience.
The huge touchscreen in combination with fast data downloads using
HSDPA or WiFi is just what is needed for a satisfying mobile internet
experience. The Symbian S60 web browser is optimised for this kind
of environment, and is an excellent browser.
The phone is very generously equipped with memory,
which is just as well considering the power of the device. It's
available with either 8GB or 16GB of flash memory, with a microSD
card slot that will accept cards up to a massive 32GB, giving a
potential maximum memory of 48GB! There's also plenty of internal
RAM available to the operating system for playing videos, etc. The
device also uses a new type of superfast chipset, and these two
factors mean that the phone is fast to react, even when running
applications quite intensively. Nevertheless, a wise user will remember
to shut down apps that are not needed, in order to avoid the inevitable
Symbian system crashes.
The i8910 HD also comes with a built-in GPS receiver,
which can be used for geo-tagging of photos and for mapping. When
used with the map application, the device also displays a digital
compass.
The phone comes with a number of preloaded touch-driven
games that use the built-in motion sensor to good effect. The quality
of the graphics is quite exceptional, and closing in on console
quality. The motion sensor is also used to automatically flip the
screen between portrait and landscape modes when you rotate the
phone. It's worth also mentioning the light sensor that automatically
dims the screen to save power, and the proximity sensor that prevents
your face accidentally brushing the touchscreen when making a call.
One final innovation: the guys at Samsung obviously
thought the phone was rather under-specified, as they also decided
to add in support for the new HSUPA technology. HSUPA is a relative
of HSDPA and enables fast uploads - 10 or more times faster than
3G - in addition to fast downloads. The U stands for uplink; the
D stands for downlink. Simple!
The battery life of this phone is quoted as a ludicrously
high 600 hours on standby. Whilst the 1500mAH
battery is definitely a powerful one, no normal
user is going to get anything like 600 hours use out of one charge.
The power of this device means that daily charging will be in order
for many users.
To conclude, the Samsung i8910 HD is a truly impressive
device. Although its the HD video recording that gives the phone
its name, the phone has so many other impressive capabilities that
it's definitely not a one-trick wonder. For us, it's the fact that
it excels in all areas that makes it an absolutely outstanding device.
If you regard yourself as a power user, you should definitely have
the i8910 at the top of your shopping list this year.
Features of the Samsung i8910 HD include:
8 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, autofocus
and power LED flash
HD video camera with power LED video light,
DivX playback
3G video calling with secondary VGA camera
Display: AMOLED, 16 million colours, 640 x 360
pixels (3.7 inches)
Memory: 8/16 Gbytes plus microSD memory card
slot (up to 32 GB)
Internet: HTML web browser, WAP 2.0, GPRS
Class 12, EDGE, 3G HSDPA (7.2 Mbps),
HSUPA (5.76 Mbps)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, WiFi,
3.5mm audio jack
Quadband GSM plus triband 3G HSDPA/HSUPA
Size: 123 x 58 x 12.9 mm
Weight: 144g
Talktime: up to 13.5 hours
Battery standby: 600 hours
Samsung i8910
HD 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
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Average
rating from 89 reviews:
Reviewed by inico from England on
17th Feb 2010
This phone is amazing in terms of detail the touch screen is great
compared to the nokia express in terms of responsiveness. the 8mega
pixel is great the HD recording is top notch the sound however with
the hd recording isn’t the best but there are certain things
you can do to tweet the sound to make it sound more clearly the
updates are coming slowly but surely and new firmware has been released
with the introduction of kentic scrolling and slight improvements
to the video recording. I’ve added a free navigation system
to applications which can be found on the Samsungs i8910 forum so
there is no need for a sat nav, when comparing the internet browsing
to other phones I would say this phone is up there with best, there
are a number of internet application to use , here are the ones
that I use, opera mobile and skyfire ,they are both great for different
purposes but I tend to use sky fire the most they both have flash
so you will be able to see everything how it would look if you was
browsing through windows. When it comes to applications, there isn’t
a official Samsung apps store for this yet but there has been talk
they will be introducing one in the future, HOWEVER with a little
bit of searching about on the internet it is very easy to find apps
which work great with this phone so there is no need for a iphone
most Nokia symbian apps work on the Samsungs i8910 even stuff off
the Nokia's Ovi Store will work. I’ve even got free view channels
to work I just signed up for free to tvcatchup which is supposed
to be for the iphone but I found it works on this phone and hey
presto free channels on the phone through skyfire which is excellent
the quality is good as well. Battery life im gets about a day and
half but im using the phone a lot. Transferring movies from your
laptop to the mobile is extremely fast aswell. Downside to this
phone it takes time to adjust to the phone and how it works, quite
big but it’s a stylish big and not that bigger than the iphone,
Samsung support is somewhat nonexistent there have been a few petitions
done on the Samsungs forum and I think they seem to be listening
now., also it can be a dust magnet so I would advise on purchasing
some sort of cover.ive had no problems so far with the phone so
far so good. Rating:
Reviewed by Udayakiran from India on
10th Feb 2010
I almost bought this thing. I was drooling at this phone, looking
at all the hardware specs and reviews. But yesterday, my friend
told me about the Samsung Galaxy. I looked at the specs, reviews
and stuff and thought i have finally spotted my dream phone. Then
i happened to notice that the OS is still Android 1.5. I searched
online and found that a lot of users are irritated because Samsung
has refused to provide updates for the phone. (Yes, refused!) I
was totally shocked. Then on an inspiration, I googled for i8910
problems. And guess what? I stumbled upon the petition and the 25-page
report. When i had finished reading, I was appalled at the number
of bugs, and the attitude of Samsung Mobiles. Looks like Samsung
is doing the same thing for all their top-end mobiles. I've decided
to avoid Samsung mobiles like plague from now. A pity, because they
make such good, high spec phones. Rating:
Reviewed by logan from u.s.a. on
9th Feb 2010
i like this phone but in my opinion it don't compete with the iphone
and the htc hd2. both are more practical but the hd2 has a better
camera and processor. i have bought all 3 and this is my least favorite.
i got all 3 from gsmallover.com and had over 3 months to see what
i like best. i give it a b minus. but will definately keep it around
for a few more months. Rating:
Reviewed by SD from UAE on 7th
Feb 2010
i don't if all users here have used iphone as well. It would be
sinful to compare the two. it is too basic, a toy like features
on this phone. Don't even think of using the phone even if you get
it free!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Alan Gold from England on
26th Jan 2010
I love the i8910 but it is taking LOTS of getting used to.I am with
orange and their browser in WAP is very frustrating as everything
is too small or obscured if enlarged. I have now arrived at a strategy
of using that browser either through a google search or through
bookmarks ( this is the best and quickest). I love the two speakers
and the mp3 quality. I love the big screen. The orange email is
awful but now I use bookmarks through orange home to bring up my
y mail account and that is still difficultly small but at least
it is very quick and visually much better presented with thicker
darker text. The phone locks up on occasions which is annoying but
I have gotten used to just opening the back and undoing the battery
and starting again as the quickest solution. Things I can't abide.
Number one is there is only one alarm tone!!!!!! Has anyone any
suggestions. Previous basic samsung phones have had many choices
so I am surprised there is no option on this phone. The next thing
that really annoys me is the volume switch not being able to stay
set. ie. if it is knocked the volume of incoming phone calls might
be reduced or totally absent! Love the screen and I wish I could
do word documents but I shall get to that in time. Rating:
Reviewed by james from uk on
3rd Jan 2010
technically the phone is great but the combination of symbian o/s
and orange firmware totally ruin the experience. Testing against
the iphone shows how hardware is secondary to quality experience.
Iphone has a lower spec but still manager to browse faster, stream
you tube in much better quality (on the same connection) and has
an app store that actually places users at its heart. Nokia will
not let samsung users use ovi store which means the symbian app
market is very disjointed and resulting app numbers low. Reviewers
need to be focussing increasingly on what the phones can do once
in the users hands, rather than what phones are capable of doing
on account of tech spec. In principle, a great handset but in practice
i'm finding it no more functional than any other phone with reasonable
internet and email capabilities. Samsungs move to Android in 2010
appears to be a much justified snub on nokia's refusal to fully
support other manufacturers backing symbian. Its all about the app
store these days and nokia screwed up the possibility of increasing
ovi store's userbase. This in turn makes the i8910 all engine but
no forward drive. If you could get Android on the handset it would
be a winner i'm sure. Rating:
Reviewed by Andie Riley from England
on 16th Dec 2009
I am now on my third handset. All I have had is frozen screen after
frozen screen. I do however LOVE this phone, which is why I have
stuck with it. For my money it beats the iPhone in almost every
department, apart from the paltry number of apps availible for it.
there is no sign od Samsung offering up too many either as the phone
is already superceded on Orange. Rating:
Reviewed by Dave B from UK on
15th Dec 2009
Bought the phone 6 months ago sim free. Phone now back at Samsung
as has stopped responding to any of the keys. Great hardware (when
it works) but totaly let down by Samsungs lack of support.. Still
no official updates to fix audio recording or browser crash bug.
No App store, PC Suite does not work with Windows 7 and many of
the best applications (ie Internet radio) are digitally signed to
Nokia phones and won't install on the Omnia. Would not recommend
as Samsung may be cutting edge in terms of specifications but they
couldn't care less about supporting the phone once it's sold. Rating:
Reviewed by Paul Laters from UK on
15th Dec 2009
I have had my Samsung i8910hd for a week or 2 now and it is a superb
phone. I was concerned about the reports of poor battery life but
decided to buy one anyway. So far time between charges is 2 to 3
days & is on par with a couple of the other new phones I have owned.
The touch screen has to be used to beleive. I simply cant put how
different it is to the low end touch screens in its responce and
day to day use make it a winner in my book. Overall this is my samsung
phone but I can see it not being my last. Rating:
Reviewed by John from UK on 9th
Dec 2009
This is the best phone i have ever owned by a mile. The camera is
extremely good for a phone, nothing more to be said. The screen
blows every other phone out of the water, it is very high res, and
is considerably better than the iphone screen. I also find the screen
to be very responsive to my touches. Applications - Now then this
is where the phone sort of falls down a touch. Basically there is
no samsung app store for this phone, HOWEVER with a little bit of
digging about on the internet it is very easy to trick Nokia's Ovi
Store into thinking this phone is an N97 and so you can download
tons of apps off there and they'll work fine as they both run on
the same operating system. Software and OS - I like symbian, but
i do not like the orange branded Symbian version that comes on the
phone if you buy it in the UK. Seriously you HAVE to dig around
on the internet and flash this phone with the latest firmware from
wherever in the world (I'm currently running the Russian firmware
in English as its the latest firmware) and its substantially better
in every way. It removes the annoying audio issue that the orange
and other earlier firmwares had during 1080p HD recording, it adds
a 3D taskmanager, and it also substantially improves battery life.
Battery life on the Orange firmware was about a day of average usage
(30+ mins on the phone, 30+ mins on the internet + downloads, 20+
texts, watching a film and/or playing music, and being left on all
night), however with the new firmware battery life has increased
to 2 days. Sound - sound through headphones is good, and it has
5.1 channel surround sound if you're listening through headphones
which is pretty good. If you listening on the phones speakers then
sound quality is excellent as you get full stereo sound from the
2 speakers (1 at each end of the phone) which is great for watching
films and such. Memory - internal memory is pretty hefty 8GB (or
16GB depending on your phone model) and with up to 32GB microSD
cards which are swapable without having to turn the phone off (unlike
my last phone the LG viewty where you had to dismantle the phone
to change the microSD card) you can carry around as much media as
you like. Internet - Internet browsing speeds are extremely fast
and most web pages load within a few seconds. If you do get this
phone I would recommend the following free applications: Opera Mobile
10 beta and/or Opera Mini 5 beta as both are better for internet
browsing than the phones internal browser. Handy TaskMan is a task
manager for the phone which allows you to view available RAM and
other memory values aswell as the ability to kill running apps should
you need to. Palringo is a great app for using instant messaging
and it supports basically every IM client under the sun. Windows
Live messenger, facebook chat, etc. Free-iSMS is a great app which
displays your inbox and sent messages folder in a "conversation"
type format alot like the way the iphone does, and it looks great.
There are also a load of great free apps on the Ovi Store. I have
had this phone for several months now and can't really fault it
now i have a decent firmware version on it. I have had not a single
problem with this phone since i bought it. And finally look on youtube
for the i8910 vs N97 comparisons to see the difference in spec clearly. Rating:
Reviewed by Thai from Australia on
23rd Nov 2009
I've waited for this phone and when it came and i got it in my hands,
i ended up sending it back to service 4 times...first was a manufactering
defect with the touchscreen. In landscape mode for typing, under
the "n" on the spacebar it doesn't regester touch in a certain area
( i have a youtube video of it search Omnia icon hd flaw). it's
also worth noting that since i've sent it back to service 4 times
i've recieved a new handset 4 times and 4 times it still had the
same "dead spot". the other 3 times i sent it back was for software
issues, video recording had spots ( like dead pixel spots) wen it
recorded hd video, and the bottom speaker didnt work. All these
issues i had with the hd were separate issues with every new handset
i got. Finally got fed up and gave up..whats even worse is that
the retail store i got it from (telechoice) doesn't do refunds so
the new handset they recieved, they have to sell it to give me my
money back. I've bought the phone abt 2months ago and only got to
use it for 1.5weeks total. All in all good spec phone i guess i
just got bad luck 4 times or samsung has some manufacturing quality
issues. Rating:
Reviewed by da badbwoy T from UK on
13th Nov 2009
Proper badasss fonage. Dis fone is so sik! The orange b$ll$x is
pure B$ll$x really slow and ad aparent - like when taking a photo
- would u like to upload to orange and get charged. Really made
a great phone rubbish. Debranded to Italian firmware well easy -
now its da lick u can hack da phone to use ovi - so really not that
bad BUT samsung get it 2gether this phone should have been the king
of bling 09. Real shame dat samsung provide no real support. OH
and am able to use Samsung PC suite 7 on vista 64 - check ur drivers
and download the latest suite from samsung. Handwriting recognition
is useless - should really be a lot better given da tech specs (LG
do a 8Mp touch screen resistive great handwriting rec) Also symbian
not logically laid out - easily sortd tho by organising it urself.
Recorded in HD at 29 frames a sec also BBC iplayer watching defying
gravity in 720 lines - proper bad. once u debrand the phone its
pure wicked - long battery etc...I think that the latest firmware
upgrade will be sik and also i can wait for da samsung app store,
but will hack in the meantime so ovi store thinks that i am using
an N97 - same system anyway - these ppl should work together 2 make
symbian someting special. Get it and debrand it ! Way better than
iphone yeah da apps da apps da apps but how many apps do u really
need and will u really use. I have utube, picasa and fring, orange
maps, google maps and bbc iplayer think thats sufficient da phone
has evryting onboard anyhows. Hopefully nxt firmware should get
kinetic scrolling in - dats when u tilt da phone to scroll. has
kinetic scrolling in pic gallery - oh and sound is very good all
round JUST DBRAND and enjoy ! Rating:
Reviewed by Honest Jon from UK on
12th Nov 2009
Great phone, I mean outstanding. I find it the best for Multimedia,
HD recording and photo's though some light conditions vary. An amazing
thing I have found is the screen is so good on this phone and almost
any video works on it, I take my N95 out to London or Paris, then
bluetooth films or pics to HD, the screen brings pics and vids to
life and it saves me loosing the HD. Watch out for iphone loosers
giving bad reviews on this phone, this phone makes the iphone ld
news, apps are rare on the i8910, but with the functions on the
HD, app's are not important. Rating:
Reviewed by tom from United Kingdom
on 6th Nov 2009
I have had my samsung omnia HD for a little over a week now and
if i do say so myself im rather pleased with it the battery is an
ever lasting gobstopper and its screen is soooo huge its great for
the video feature the only dowside to this phone i feel is the qwerty
keyboad which is a little frustrating when typing but with a little
practice is like stroking silk. in my oppinion its a great phone
and will be one of the best phones on the market for a long time
my uncle has the s/e satio and he now wants one of these papas he's
so jealouse Rating:
Reviewed by Alan from England on
23rd Oct 2009
Brilliant screen, brilliant camera, brilliant multimedia, brilliant
phone!! Rating:
Reviewed by Michael from USA on
20th Oct 2009
I AM SHOUTING ALOT, THEREFORE MY REVIEW IS THE BEST AND I GIVE THIS
PHONE 5 STARS BECAUSE IT IS INDEED AN OUTSTANDING PHONE, TOO BAD
I CAN'T PUT 50 STARS LIKE ON OUR GREAT FLAG! [Editor's comment:
Michael, no need to shout. We can hear you on the other side of
the Atlantic!] Rating:
Reviewed by unfens van colt from holland
on 19th Oct 2009
zis fone waz de greatest innovationz but i couldnt ask for more Rating:
Reviewed by Mike from Sheffield,England
on 17th Oct 2009
Having left Samsung years ago when my D900 contract exspired i have
had a rollercoaster ride with phones which i just couldn't got on
with. Nokia N95 was ok but to big n to much junk on,Nokia Arte good
looking phone for posers and the SE 905 in my eyes a very good phone
but started to be really slow and non responsive. Looked at the
new iphone yeh its good but not that good its just another 'Look
at me i got a iphone n paying over odds for my tarrif. The I8910
HD is so good compared to th=e above phones i dont want 2 upgrade
when 18 months is up, ITS BRILLIANT N LOOKS SO GOOD TO. Rating:
Reviewed by G from England on
14th Oct 2009
Don't buy it, had it since it came out and although a fantastic
peice of hardware there is absolutely no support from Samsung, no
applications like iphone/android/windows mobile don't be fooled
by the symbian software as 99.9% of applications are locked to Nokia
so won't work on it. Orange also ruin what could have been one of
the greats by adding thier own stamp which just in a word makes
the phone slower, more clunky and removes the assisted GPS which
was a strong sellling point of the phone. Buy and HTC HD2 instead
the camera may not be as good (the i8910 is the best I've seen)
but it has the support and the capacative screen we all love. Teach
Samsung a lesson they must not only bring out superb bits of kit
but in this day in age of apps you must also support it. Rating:
Reviewed by Jade from England on
13th Oct 2009
I've had this phone for about 3 months now. My old phone (Samsung
G600) broke and luckily my contract was up for renewal. I had intended
on getting the same as my old phone, but it was out of stock so
I figured I'd go with what looked like the best phone on offer to
me, and god do I wish I'd waited for my old phone to come back in
stock. I've had nothing but problems with the I8910. It hangs up
for no apparent reason in the middle of calls, the battery life
is awful, if I miss a call or text from being in a place of no signal
(e.g. on the tube) it can take up to a day for the missed call or
text to appear, it doesn't tell me when someone has left me an answer
phone message but frustratingly texts me about 2 weeks later to
tell me the message that had been left is about to be deleted. The
worst thing which seems to happen far too often is that sometimes
the phone goes into a very strange mode where most of the menu is
inaccesible, I can't make phone calls or send texts and if I receive
a phone call it only shows the number, not the name, and I have
to take the battery out to hang up. It also freezes a lot. I'm very
disappointed by this phone and am unconcerned with the ground breaking
technology if it can't do the simplest thing that a phone is designed
to do. Rating:
Reviewed by camelsnight from uk on
13th Oct 2009
i love this phone, its amazing! Absolutely. Rating:
Reviewed by James from UK on
12th Oct 2009
Awesome phone. The screen is the best you will find anywhere, even
on dedicated portable media players, the camera is very close to
being the best you will find on any phone, the video recording is
the best you will find on any phone. More than that, the phone is
so solid it feels like it's made of granite (it's not that heavy
mind!) and it looks absolutely great. Also I'm completely in love
with the landscape QWERTY text input mode: it's far more responsive
than the iPhone's, has a better layout, and vibrates every time
you hit a key so you get much better feedback for your typing. For
me it makes having a real keyboard like on the N97 a waste of time.
Call me old-fashioned but I like Symbian. The S60v5 interface is
actually pretty finger-friendly, much more so than Windows Mobile
6, it's solid, dependable and more than that does everything without
a fuss. The menus are fairly responsive and the lack of kinetic
scrolling actually doesn't bother me at all like I thought it would.
Battery life is pretty good for a smartphone with a huge, bright
touchscreen: if it just sits in my pocket with the screen off I
can squeeze more than two days out of it. 24 hours is more reasonable
in normal use. Having the screen on a lot, or the GPS active, or
the WiFi, or compass active does drain the battery very fast though:
playing with Google Maps constantly will drain a full battery in
3 hours or less. Make sure you update the firmware as soon as possible,
later firmwares are noticeably more responsive, have longer battery
life, and make the browser a lot better. Basically, this phone rules.
As compared to the iPhone 3GS, the UI is a bit less polished and
there isn't quite the same range of additional apps yet, but the
hardware is substantially better and you probably won't miss the
Apple App Store very much - the i8910 has more or less everything
you need built-in. Rating:
Reviewed by Aaron from UK on
8th Oct 2009
I have had this phone for almost 2 weeks now and I'm glad to say,
despite reading all the negative and positive review of this phone
that I am very happy with it. The day I heard Orange were going
to have the I phone at the end of 2009 just had to be the day I
was due for an upgrade! I thought and battled over and over again,
shall I wait 2 or 3 WHOLE months to lose this Samsung Omnia original
and upgrade to the Iphone 3gs when it comes out on Orange or shall
I just be brave and get this i8910 HD that nobody seems to know
about? After realising that I desperately needed a new phone, I
just thought I'm going to try the i8910 HD but if it's bad I'll
send it back and wait for the iphone. When I received it, I was
80% sure I would end up sending it back but I just wanted to give
it a fair chance. Wow, how pleasantly surprised I was! Features:
The media on this phone is incredible. It is a joy to watch BBC
Iplayer programs and access youtube through the youtube application
on this huge, crystal clear, high resolution screen. Nothing more
to say about that! It's the first phone I've ever had with a proper
music player. It's very loud and very good quality, much better
and more advanced than my Ipod. The camera is fantastic beyond belief.
I actually felt stupid considering the Iphone with it's totally
inferior hardware. The touch screen is the best. There's not much
kinetic scrolling which I didn't like the idea of at first but with
such a responsive touch screen and unique interface, I can appreciate
how the side scrolling suits the device. Once I got used to scrolling
on the web browser, I actually concluded that it is excellent. Once
you have mastered how to scroll with your finger its just flawless.
To be honest, it's actually easier to select items on this browser
without making mistakes than any other phone. It's just as good
as the Opera or Safari browsers, but I actually prefer the subtle
movement of the page when scrolling as opposed to the dramatic bouncing
when scrolling on the I phone. The actual phone looks really. It's
got a very glossy finish that loves finger prints but it has to
be like that to be scratch resistant. I prefer to wipe away finger
prints than have a tatty looking, scratched up phone after a couple
of weeks. The only thing I would change is the extremely basic functionality
of the symbian operating system. It's funny that symbian has been
seen as one of the pioneers of the smart phone, but it has been
so steadfastly overtaken by all its competitors in terms of smartness
and functionality it just seems obsolete now. Symbian need to step
up and add some more adult like no kid like functionality. All in
all a brilliant phone; I have no regrets. Rating:
Reviewed by Rikkard from UK on
6th Oct 2009
Ive had the i8910 for a month now and I have to say: its brilliant!
The phone is quite large, but since when was that such a problem?
It just means you can see the phone better and the touchscreen is
easier to use. The mp4 videos I have put on from my PC is amazing,
I currently have about 10 movies on here, taking up about 4 of the
8gb, and the image quality is outsanding - better than my TV. The
camera is awesome but takes a while to get used to, and you need
to keep your hand totally still when taking photos. You can jump
to the camera and away again in a second, and the phone processes
the image immmediately, unlike my n95, which takes about 10 seconds
before its ready to take another picture. Internet use is quicker
than my work PC, and very easy to navigate, a great phone for youtube
watching! The battery life is average, if i watch a couple of films
the battery goes, but i went away for 4 days and barely used the
handset and the battery had 4 bars left, so it really does depend
on how much you use it. Downs sides. The sound quality is poor without
using the headphones. I have trouble adding sites to my favourites/saved
bookmarks so everytime i want to go to a website i have to go via
search engine. Passing security queations or chosing options when
call automared services is a very difficult. I dont use the widgets.
Orange has no games for it. This is a phone that in 6 months everyone
will have. Loads of mates are getting them now they have seen mine.
The deal i got with orange is amazing. Rating:
Reviewed by SREEKANTH.SR from INDIA
on 2nd Oct 2009
HOPEFULLY AM THE 1ST PERSON TO HAVE A SAMSUNG OMNIA i8910HD, IN
INDIA. AM USING THIS PHONE SINCE 2MONTHS, N ABOUT THE PHONE, NO
WORDS TO SAY, ITS AMAZING, THE HD FACILITY WITH A WIDER SCREEN IS
WORTH. AFTER ALL THE PHONE IS FANTASTIC..I LOVE IT Rating:
Reviewed by becca from oxford, england
on 1st Oct 2009
ive had mine 3 days.. i was getting on with it quite well although
its VERY confusing.. well, until the touch screen just decided to
stop working :( Rating:
Reviewed by voodoochild from UK on
30th Sep 2009
Had this phone a while and am very impressed! ok whilst i agree
the original phone(with the orange software) wasn't great - laggy,
poor battery life, battery having a tendancy of draining by half
within a few hours with no use. once i upgraded the firmware and
debranded it, these problems were solved. This is not difficult
and FULL instructions are always provided. The phone is now a lot
quicker, response-wise, and the battery life is superb for such
a high spec phone(2-3 days in one charge.) on a recent day trip
to london i took 103 pictures over the course of 4 hours and still
went home with just over half a battery. yes there are no apps out
for it at the moment, but that isnt a big issue with me and i am
more than happy to wait. the sounds isnt great but this has been
solved with an update, which means the sound recorded on videos
and such is in AC3. yes the touchscreen is fingerprint happy, i
would challenge anyone to use ANY touchscreen phone without it becoming
covered in fingerprints. it is a solidly made phone, the camera
and video recorder certainly do not dissapoint either, highly recommended
on my part. Rating:
Reviewed by Dave Stephens from australia
on 21st Sep 2009
This could have been the perfect phone if the call quality was'nt
so bad , you can hardly make out what the other person is saying.
I am on my 3rd one now and they have all been the same.Great camera
, amazing screen and i have found the battery life to be not bad
. I now avoid making calls with this phone , has anyone else had
the same problem ? Rating:
Reviewed by Cedric Vaz from Kuwait on
19th Sep 2009
Never owned one , experiment with one for a day .. nothing fancy
about it. it's a good thing they have teh 'hd' capability to market
themselves and yes the touch screen is a bit laggy and samsung needs
to concentrate on 'battery life'. Rating:
Reviewed by g.jones10 from England on
17th Sep 2009
Superb phone but can anybody help please. I'm trying to bluetooth
some songs to my Omnia HD but it's saying there is no room because
its tring to put them onto the phones memory. How can you store
it in the SD memory?? ps - 5 stars all the way Rating:
Reviewed by Gazzah from England on
16th Sep 2009
Nice looking phone. Finding it hard to get additional apps which
is a shame because there is a lot more it could do. Camera is good,
so too is video.Good large memory on board for lots of music and
even full length movies. Fiddly to use as a phone with the touch
screen keypad. Biggest problem is if you intend to leave the house
with the phone you will need a big long extension lead. GPS great,
and I got it to work with Garmin software but the battery runs out
long before I get anywhere. Supposedly a new upgrade on its way
but it seems I'll need a degree in software programming to install
myself. Potentially a great phone if only it came with its own power
station. Rating:
Reviewed by Jon from England on
16th Sep 2009
Had this phone a while now, still not that impressed. It is ok,
but nothing brilliant. The most annoying thing about it is that
it should and could be brilliant, I am hoping that Samsung sort
things out soon. The Orange firmware is rubbish, and I can't debrand
my phone because I use Windows Vista. I would not recommend this
phone to anyone, and I will not be getting another phone from Orange! Rating:
Reviewed by Blessed from Zambia on
15th Sep 2009
This is a great phone by any standard.Samsung really did their homework
to come out with such a lovely piece of technological wonder. Rating:
Reviewed by Clairey from England on
11th Sep 2009
I am receiving my 4th Samsung i8910 HD tomorrow through Orange,
so i dont know whos fault it is but its a real let down from sumsung
and to have 3 handsets that are faulty in the last 3 weeks is awful.
* The battery on it terrible * It switches off and turns it self
back on again. * It rejects my calls * Doesnt show some of my missed
calls * Textes dont come through till hours later * It freezes alot
* Signal is always low * Wi- Fi wont always connect The list goes
on. Rating:
Reviewed by UNKNOW from ENGLAND on
10th Sep 2009
ITS ONE SIKK PHONE Rating:
Reviewed by Dave from uk on 8th
Sep 2009
The phone is.. ok. The screen is lovely to view and operate. solid
construction nice design for a touchscreen. Nice to type on too.
Still camera is very good producing very good results. Sound is
ok. Actual communication is great. Sounds obvious but making/receiving
calls is a joy with clear sound and quick to connect etc.. But not
without its faults. Kinda shameful how samsung can release a product
with serious issues and then release firmware only on foreign platforms.
They marketed the phone with mainly its hd vid but in reality it
really isnt that great. The sound is still mediocre even with the
update and expect a lot of dropped frames. Boring s60 by now should
at least figured out how to do a decent copy/paste funtion. On certain
docs you have to delete the whole last section in order to edit
anything you previously typed.Actually i just don't like the way
samsung uses s60. Just seems so primitive and restricted. The actual
handset looks lovely until you get your fingers on it. Absolutely
no point to such a print magnet. I actually thought the battery
life was good. The problem was the battery indicator. It stays on
the last bar for ages. Pc studio is rubbish. why do i have to revert
back to windows xp??? The media gallery is pants. No presentation
and no organisation. Oh yeah and whoever says the web browser is
excellent has obviously never tried Opera, Safari etc. THESE are
excellent browsers. The i8910 is buggy, slow, crashes with any page
over 1mb and don't even get me started on the Stop bug! And because
of samsungs issue with java you can't install another browser. Before
buying this phone visit the omniahd forum first to see if you can
deal with the faults. Otherwise sit there and twiddle your thubs
while waiting for an update.. Samsung, slow it down with your releases.
Concentrate on one and make it great before you unleash it. Rating:
Reviewed by s houghton from uk on
2nd Sep 2009
really good phone in every way except for the battery life only
last about 12 hours Rating:
Reviewed by Daytona from UK on
19th Aug 2009
Hated it. Big (though slim), annoying screen with too delicate touch
screen, difficult to use and the camera is seriously overated. One
thing I did like was the media part of the phone but I can get that
with a W995, so I did. I returned this and got my SE W995 and could
not be happier. Maybe the problem is with me, i.e. I don't really
like change and missed the touch pad. Whatever the reason, this
phone just did not agree with me. Rating:
Reviewed by Dave from Wales on
12th Aug 2009
Had the i8910 for 2 months now and it's awesome! I debranded mine
straightaway (almost) but kept a copy of the Orange firmware for
if it needs to go back. The latest italian firmware IG2 (with Eng
lang inc) irons out one or two of the minor issues and the one major
one...ie) the lower bitrate sound on the HD recording and is now
in HQ AAC format.The battery life is it's one weak spot for many,
but the IG2 firmware has sorted this out too - SatNav and web browsing
for extended periods still drain it a lot but one thing, when it
does get down to one bar power...it lasts for HOURS more...generally
accepted now that the batt meter isn't a true reflection of it's
TRUE level. Hopefully Orange will also get the newer FW soon too.
Get one over the 3GS - I did, my best decision ever! Rating:
Reviewed by Chris from England on
31st Jul 2009
Well it was upgrade time again with Orange, been very happy with
my LG Viewty for the past 15 months so thought i8910 or Viewty Smart
!! decided on better the devil you know and went Viewty Smart.!!!!!!!
BIG MISTAKE. Had it for 6 hours and basically its awful so sent
back and ordered the Omnia i8910. One word AWESOME ! this is a Beast
of a phone and when its a FREE upgrade with Orange what can you
say. Others have give the details but quite simply this rocks already
got 15 full length xvid/divx movies on it with an amazing screen
quality. Supports in the real world of cost effectiveness a 16gb
sdhc micro about £29 on ebay so easily have 24gb with the 8gb built
in, enough for most, you can get a 32gb sd card but at £70 !!! Orange
maps works a treat, as does everything else. BUT!!!! Sound quality
on the video is POOR!!! poor audio codec hopefully samsung will
fix for orange customers with firmware update so until then its
only 4 stars!! Still have the Viewty though for the video until
then!! Rating:
Reviewed by Review from Uk on
30th Jul 2009
An outstanding phone, worth every penny!. Rating:
Reviewed by George from England on
26th Jul 2009
Had this phone a couple of weeks now. Haven't used it that much
but here's how I'd rate some of the features: Battery - Thought
I'd mention this first as others have had problems. I haven't! I
get 4+ days out of it even with moderate usage and it would probably
last 5 days as I charge it before it runs out. Better than the tocco
ultra my gf has which dies after just 2 days of similar usage. Just
make sure you close applications properly as going to home screen
does not close them. You only need 4 running in background. Also
changing default settings on packet data, video sharing etc will
help. 5/5 Camera - Found this to be rubbish in an indoor setting,
regardless of scene and focus settings. I get some nice pictures
outside but only occasionally if the lighting is just right. Haven't
really used the video camera yet. I had a cheap 1mp motorola phone
3-4 years ago and it couldn't recognise faces but it took clear
pictures every time so I'm not sure what the problem is with some
of these recent camera phones! 1/5 GPS/sat nav - is good. Orange
maps which has unlimited free use on my orange contract does the
job and runs quickly. Sometimes the route is slightly odd but it's
good enough to replace a dedicated sat nav. 4/5 Internet - No big
complaints here. Perhaps slightly slower than expected. Haven't
used it much yet but it's fine for facebook/youtube etc. My contract
also came with a 500MB data allowance which was a nice surprise
at it wasn't stated when I bougth it. 4/5 Other - Nice that the
phone comes with decent memory. General operation of the phone is
speedy and the touch screen is decent. The AMOLED display is impressive.
Plastic casing is ashame though. Speakers are decent. 4/5 Conclusion
- I'm giving this phone 4 stars. It's great that I've had no problems
with it. But the camera can't take good pictures and the plastic
casing doesn't feel/look like a high end phone. Rating:
Reviewed by steven from uk on
25th Jul 2009
this phone makes me popular with the women they love it.. i always
get the girls numbers wen i pull this out on them ;) very good fone
5starss Rating:
Reviewed by Daaneskjold from Mexico
on 22nd Jul 2009
i got mine a week ago... read a lot in forums and installed the
last firmware and a few applications... i gotta say the last firmware
has some important fixes like optimizing battery use, the audio
fix for video recording and improvements in the web browser. the
only complain i have is the fact that it wont let me play some avi
videos (i still dont know why cause my ps3 and pc play them without
problem), also the fact that the camera is not a liability... you
can not replace a dedicated camera with this and that is something
i was looking for, anyway if the light is good the pictures are
breathtaking. So i got this and got to sold my previous phone, camera
and also my psp (which i used more to surf / listen music / watch
videos / read than play) and got even xD and im happy hehehe Rating:
Reviewed by kilner_nffc from england
on 21st Jul 2009
Got this phone yesterday and was on charge untill 8 this morning
so not really had a proper play around with it yet. Had to put it
back on charge (even though it had a good 14 hours charge last night.
Problem im having is (apart from orange making a balls up with my
tariff, but thats a different argument for a different day) is getting
numbers from my sim to show in my phone book. ive got 4 numbers
in at the min which ive had to put in manually however the numbers
ive put onto my sim from my old g600 dont show in my contacts, however
they do show under a name if i get a phone call/message. Any idea
of how to transfer them from my sim to my phone without having to
put them in manually. Only going to rate it at a 3 at the min as
not had long enough time to give it a fair rating, however so far
so good in terms of camera/usability. Rating:
Reviewed by Campbell from Scotland on
21st Jul 2009
Received this phone last week and am impressed with the functionality.
Its the first smartphone that i have been able to browse the internet
with and check emails without to much hassle. Pros: Internet is
usable, easy to learn how to use and screen is high res and looks
the part. Cons: Battery life is truely terrible!! I charged mine
fully and managed to get 12 hours out of it today, i so have bluetooth
on all day and was on the phone for a total of about 30 mins and
10 texts but i would have expected the battery to last alot longer
than this. In terms of functionality i can't live with this. Got
in touch with Orange and they are issuing a new phone so lets hope
it was just a dodgy battery. Rating:
Reviewed by murray from london on
17th Jul 2009
a drawback is that during a call the dialler keypad(which you need
to negotiate automated calls, eg answerphone)is numerical - but
when calling orange customer service it is not easy to enter your
password as letters not visible - so you need to memorise numerical
equivalent from the alpha-numeric keypad - samsung have confirmed
that there is no way round this i am interested to read other users'
battery problems as i can't make it last a day, even without music,
camera or internet use - i contacted samsung and they have offered
a replacement but didn't answer my questions fully - i will try
some of the tips here Rating:
Reviewed by Paulo from Manchester on
16th Jul 2009
This phone looks awesome and i 'was' looking to get one. Went to
see this phone on Phones4u the other day and they said that the
phone had been recalled by Samsung... also, the Orange shop said
that it was out of stock and wouldn't be available for a couple
of months. Does anyone know why this would be, or if there is a
problem with it?? Otherwise, having used the phone a few times now,
this is still a 5-star phone and i will still probably get one!
[Editor's comment: Don't know anything about a recall. It's still
available from the Carphone Warehouse and online retailers, including
Orange. Sales people at mobile phone shops will tell you any old
rubbish - don't believe a word of it.] Rating:
Reviewed by Jason from Cardiff on
9th Jul 2009
I've had this phone for over a month now. Apart from the problem
with "Message received" rather than telling me who sent the message
so I can decide if I want to read it or not, and also the temperamental
battery life, it is overall a very impressive handset. Reported
the message issue to Orange a month ago, apparently they are still
trying to find a solution. I have tried the solution listed below
but I have no contacts on my SIM at all. If I leave the phone on
"Widget" mode, I can see who's texting me on the home screen, but
as soon as I refer back to "Basic" mode I just get a "Message received"
message. Widget mode is a nightmare, way too fiddly. Pull your finger
out Orange!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Kris from uk on 8th
Jul 2009
Basically everything is excellent about this phone, so i'll just
mention the issues i had; -the video recording has been out of sync
with the audio when on high quality, but orange are trying to fix
it (so they say) -some of my texts/calls did come up with numbers
not names but if i deleted the duplicates in the contacts this problem
was solved -there is a flight mode, but it is called "offline mode"
-BATTERY LIFE IS GOOD!! I left mine on initial charge for about
12 hours, phone off, and I get about 48hours out of it, with a few
calls and a lot of texts- but it is a touch screen so can't expect
much more. -web browsing is not as easy as iphone, but still ok
-camera/video are great in light, although not great in low light,
and audio on videos is a bit 'tinny' Still 5 stars! Rating:
Reviewed by carl from uk on 6th
Jul 2009
the problem with the phone not displaying the callers name when
they text or call is the fact u must have ur phone numbers saved
in the phone and sim card!!!! if u delete them either of the phone
or sim then it will sort theprob so to recap u can only have them
on ur phone or sim card..hope this helps Rating:
Reviewed by Vicky from UK on
6th Jul 2009
I have had the phone for 3 weeks and I love it. There is a problem
with the USB tho, can't decide when to work or not. Recording videos
in HD is great, and the options to speed up then films or slow them
down. The camera is great,8 megapixel much better then the 2 meg
of the iphone. Would recommend. Rating:
Reviewed by Andrew from Greece on
5th Jul 2009
Well the phone rox!!!! About the battery issue...the problem seems
to be related with the use of the usb connection....so when u use
the usb to connect to your pc just switch off the phone after disconnecting
it from your computer:) Switch it on and there ya r!!! Battery will
not *fail* in a couple of hours!!Mine lasts about 3 days xD(sorry
for my bad English) Rating:
Reviewed by andy from uk on 30th
Jun 2009
best phone i have had in years.does anyone know how to get album
art to display after i have synced with media player? Rating:
Reviewed by MIKE JOHNSON from UNITED
KINGDOM on 29th Jun 2009
THE TEXTING IS A PROBLEM ,I HAVE HAD MY PHONE FOR 2 WEEKS AND WHEN
i RECIEVE TEXTS IT DISPLAYS NUMBERS ONLY AND IS UNABLE TO ID THE
SENDER . DONT KNOW IF THE PROBLEM CAN BE SORTED MY PROVIDER ORANGE
ARE LOOKING INTO IT FOR ME OR I WILL GET A REPLACEMENT HANDSET WHIC
I DONT WANT AS I AM HAPPY WITH THIS HANDSET APART FROM THE OBVIOUS
PROBLEM. [Editor's comment: See user comments below for the solution
to this problem.] Rating:
Reviewed by Adee from UK on 27th
Jun 2009
Great phone!! great camera dont much like the themes that come with
it though, can anyone tell me a link where I can download an I phone
theme for the i8910hd? Rating:
Reviewed by egypt from UK on
26th Jun 2009
When I came across this phone I thought my prayers hd been answered.
Bought it from a we site that claimed it had voice dialling. It
does not. The website's "customer service" just said sorry but tough.
So I am very annoyed about this. Also find Symbian seriously limits
possible downloads. Have yet to find decent games, document viewer
needs to be downloaded and paid for, tried downloading BBC Iplayer
but that needs higher level flash player not available on Symbian.
So cannot view HD playback. Flash lets down the camera as does software
supplied. Currently very few decent/truly useful apps and widgets
available. So not all it's cracked up to be. Will try the single
source contacts to solve another gripe - not displaying names for
messages. And the soner I can find out how to unbrand the phone
the better. I do not like Orange. Rating:
Reviewed by marek from UK on
24th Jun 2009
I have this phone and it makes me feel so cool. i think the women
luurve me. Rating:
Reviewed by Whudaman from UK on
20th Jun 2009
Hi.From reading the helpful posts about numbers being recognised
instead of names , I used ideas from the posts and can vouch that
the following procedure sorted it out on my 8910i omnia.My phone
now recognises names in the Inbox! The phone wants to only recognise
numbers stored in one area.sim or phone.and on phone is best cos
sim can only store 200 contacts. Follow the procedures below: 1.
Go to: Contacts/Options/Settings/Contacts to display(sim) 2.Go back
to : Contacts/Options/Mark All/Delete 3.Then go back to: Contacts/Options/Settings/Contacts
to display(Phone Memory) problem solved!! Hope it helps your probz
too!! Good Luck Whudaman :+) Rating:
Reviewed by Brian from Uk on
18th Jun 2009
Really like the phone. It definitely takes time going through all
the in and outs of the application on the phone. Battery life is
definitely an issue so will be taking on board to drain it and do
a full charge as a normal user, would like to see at least 2 days
use. Love the video playbacks but sometimes texting/mailing etc
can be a bit tedious. Calling Orange customer service and they say
enter the first letter of your password...obviously you have to
remember what a normal mobile alpha keys look like on a number only
dialler! Browser is ok...so may look to use the new opera if I know
how to install! Orange does seem to slight annoy me with some of
the applications and I have given the demo games and alphact racing
game a miss. After 30 secs of playing that silly game touching left/right/bottom
screen to direct the car??!!! I was scare of dropping the phone!
Question - Has anyone drop the phone yet? Did it survive!! Rating:
Reviewed by Alan from UK on 17th
Jun 2009
Again got this phone on an orange upgrade 2 weeks ago and so far
so good. Was worried about the battery life after reading the reviews
but with a few calls and a bit of music/browsing each day I am getting
2 days comfortably. The browser for me is a bit disappointing. The
speed is good but the software is average at best. Great camera,
good for music, no problems with call volume. Haven't found the
built in fm transmitter that was stated in some reviews!?! All in
all a good solid well built phone! Rating:
Reviewed by Paul from UK on 15th
Jun 2009
Got this phone on an upgrade from Orange, have upgraded from a Samsung
G600, was going to sell it after seeing what they were going for
but curiosity got the better of me & decided to keep it & i'm glad
I did. 1st of all some people are mentioning battery problems. The
battery needs a good charge on this phone, ie: run the battery down,
turn the phone off & leave it on charge over night. I done this
& currently have 4 out of 7 bars left after 27 hours of taking the
phone off charge. Have used bluetooth, a few calls & text messages
and general stuff on the phone. I am also not using the 3G connection
permantly as this is known to drain the battery, if I want to use
the web i'll turn on 3G which takes about 5 seconds to do. Obviuosly
the more you use the camera & video the battery will drain quicker.
There is also a few other tweaks in the settings which can help
save battery power, do a search for "omnia HD forums" and you'll
find a wealth of info and tips out there. The phone overall I find
a pleasure to use, the touch screen & software is brilliant, it
is very responsive & i'm very impressed with both. (this is my 1st
touchscreen) Navigating aroung the phone is easy. I've only had
to look in the user guide for more complex applications. I find
texting a pleasure to use as you have a large virtual keyboard &
I find it much easier than most normal key pads on phones which
a lot of the time i'm sure are made for childrens fingers. I'm a
41 yr old male. Camera - The 8 meg camera is good, you have various
settings which when experimenting with you can get some decent photos.
I compared some photos I took, with some I have taken from my Canon
ixus860 (8meg) and the canon wins, but then again it should, its
soul purpose is to take photo's. The only thing I don't like with
the camera is some settings are not saved when you exit camera mode.
This is down to Orange software as if you decide to unbrand your
handset & put on the original Samsang software the camera settings
are saved. video- Now this I am impressed with. 1280X720hd recording.
I generally use the 720X480 resolution & the results are great,
also you can use flash when videoing in dark places, dont even think
I can do that on my canon isux860. If you use the HD Res, when played
back you may notice some lip sync issues, but when video is played
back on my PC it all seems fine. Whatever setting you use I think
you'll be impressed, the video recording is suberb, you almost forget
this is actually a moblie PHONE! There is a wealth of stuff I will
probably never use on this phone, music etc for which I have an
I-pod (apart from mp3 ringtones where I find the sound quality excellent)
but with what I have used I could only find fault with if I was
being really picky and off the top of head I can't think of anything.
All in all I find the phone a pleasure to use, its easy, feels nice
& fits in my jeans pocket fine even with a silcone case on, talking
of cases, that is something I would recommened along with a screen
protecter. 9.5/10 Rating:
Reviewed by Chris from UK on
14th Jun 2009
I Had this phone as an Orange upgrade, had the phone for 5 days
before sending it back, the battery life was appalling, at night
the phone had 100% Battery charge, yet 6hrs later when the phone
had done nothing it was down to 15%, the navigation and touchscreen
werent a patch on the iPhone, the camera however was very good but
you would expect this from an 8MP. Could've been an excellent handset
but poor battery performance spoilt this one for me. Rating:
Reviewed by Jason from Cardiff on
11th Jun 2009
Had the i8910 for about three weeks now, great apart from one main
problem - On the main home screen, I don't like the lay-out (widgets,
clock too big, doesnt show date etc etc etc, so I put it in normal
(or finger-tip) mode. Only problem is, in this mode, when I receive
a text, it just says "1 message received" It doesn't state who it's
off etc etc......Any solutions to this guys?? Rating:
Reviewed by Geoff b from UK on
10th Jun 2009
Looks fantastic, but on Orange where they just ruin the phone ?
you got to be kidding! Come on O2 lose the Iphone obsession... ive
had to settle for LG Viewty Smart which is a great phone in itself. Rating:
Reviewed by Angeleyesuk from England
on 9th Jun 2009
Word of warning, despite what it says in the manual you MUST GIVE
THIS BATTERY A FULL CHARGE B4 USE!!! At first I only charged it
till it said 'battery full' and was horrified to only get about
6hrs out of it even without making calls??? I went back to basics
and am now reasonably happy with the performance(30hrs inc abit
of web serfing, video watching, music and calling)Design is super
slick, menu navigation makes sense but is not as slick as iphone.
Vid playback, camera and pc software are great, plus browsing is
quite fast too. I have upgraged from a k800i and belive it or not
this phone somehow seems less intrusive in your trouser pocket.
I'm still gonna drop a point because I really was expecting a standout
perfomance from this 1500mah battery but in the end its good for
this type phone. Definately does alot for your swagger! Rating:
Reviewed by eldracm from uk on
8th Jun 2009
supposed great phone. pity about the 3rd rate network it is fixed
to. Rating:
Reviewed by Matthew from Manchester,
UK on 5th Jun 2009
Just a quick one to say that the dongle in the box is a desk stand
for the phone. Also, to help the people (like me) where the texts
come through showing one-hour prior, it's a problem with daylight
savings, which isn't fixed yet. To get around it, you have to turn
off the auto-update time and change the location from London GMT+1
ti Iceland GMT+0 and then it works fine... Samsung will hopefully
fix this with a firmware update. One thing I've noticed is that
if you use the photo contacts (sweep left from the homescreen) to
send a text, it doesn't show the name of the person in your sent
items, which puts me of using it... any suggestions? All my contacts
are in the same place... Rating:
Reviewed by Bob from UK on 4th
Jun 2009
Wierd dongle thing is a Stand for phone to sit on when watching
movies etc. Rating:
Reviewed by Matthew from UK on
2nd Jun 2009
I've had this phone since its release date, and have tried all the
features, and I have to say that it is amazing! As others have said,
it's a magnet for greasy fingerprints, but it wipes clean easily
with a soft cloth. The battery life on my handset is fantastic,
with a single charge keeping the handset going for four days, and
that's with lots of texting people and calling. Of course using
features such as satnav, or watching movies drains it much faster,
but it does on any media device, so I can't say that that's a flaw.
At first I was going to accuse the camera of being rubbish, but
with a few tweaks to the settings, it takes extremely clear photos,
even in the macro setting. Even though Orange have a preset in camera
mode that only allows uploads to Orange Albums, Bebo, and something
else, you can still upload the pics or vids to Flickr and Facebook
if you log into them via the internet. Overall, it's a great handset,
easy to use, amazing quality screen, and I wouldn't hesitate to
recommend it to anyone! P.S. I don't know what the dongle in the
box is for either. I'd wondered if it was a belt clip and you keep
your phone in your pocket, but if it slides out the clip stops it
from falling out? Rating:
Reviewed by Simon from UK on
1st Jun 2009
Hello all, had this phone now for one full week, still trialing
it via Orange Shop online, first thing's first: ALL OFF YOUR CONTACTS
NEED TO BE IN ONE PLACE ONLY, IE THE PHONE MEMORY OR THE SIM ONLY!!!!
If they are on both, SMS's will come thru as a +44 number, that,
my friends, is prehistorically bad! Took me and several Orange techies
4 days to sort that one out. Well annoying. Anywho, now for the
phone. LOOKS: 6/10 It is a greasy fingerprint lover, ewwww! But
Black and Chrome always looks good. SCREEN: 10/10 utterly impressive
clarity, my mates jaw's still drop when compared to the iPhone,
which looks washed out in comparison, imagine that! however, the
new iPhone is muted as an OLED too......hmmmm, interesting. INTERFACE:
6/10 It's a symbian, so Nokia users will love it's simplicity, I
think it's a bit dated, compared to the iPhone and even the LG interfaces.
MEDIA: 10/10 WOW, the camera isn't THE best I ever seen, but the
HD capture is quality, tho it does lag on lip syncing I noticed,
hmmmm. Still, best in class. The music player, FM radio and DivX
capabilites make it a grand experience. OVERALL: 7/10 One one thing
tho.......... As pointed out in other reviews, why does my device
say 'Gadget' in the top left corner, where it should say Orange?
Any ideas anyone? Please help!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by jasper from netherlands
on 1st Jun 2009
Comming form the nokia e90, this is realy a improvement of screen,
speed and access (touch screen). But the network signal is weak
and battery life poor. In 24 hours the battery is empty with no
usage. This is not a phone but a multimedia player that has to be
recharged before use. Rating:
Reviewed by Cassie from UK on
31st May 2009
Paul, UK, I too thought what is that dongle thing, as yes it looks
like what you use to get from samsung, but they were always wrist
straps, then i tried to attatch it to my vlothes, but that just
ruined my top and i wouldnt trust that to hold my phone, so in answer
I still have no clue what it does! As for the sms/text prob with
the names, im still having the same prob, even after deleting all
contacts from everywhere and just adding again to one place, it
still wont show up :( i will continue tho and try and find a solution,
as i cant be doin with sending it back to upload all my images etc
again Rating:
Reviewed by Dwok from England on
29th May 2009
It's certainly a great phone, no doubt about it, I've had it for
2 days and been very impressed with how it operates. However the
claimed battery life is absolute garbage. I am lucky to get 24 hours
out of the phone with minimal usage, it's a real shame but it makes
it completely impractical, I've never sen a phone go flat so quick,
even with as many app.s as possible shut down it just leaks power.
Too much the hand held PC and not enough the phone for me. Rating:
Reviewed by DOUGLAS from UGANDA on
29th May 2009
EXCELLENT HANDSET Rating:
Reviewed by paul wood from UK on
27th May 2009
Great phone just got it today, however can anyone explkian what
is the grey and black dongle item that comes with the phone, I have
no idea what it is used for Rating:
Reviewed by Ryan from United kingdom
on 27th May 2009
chris cardif. i had the same problem but figuired it out, its cos
you have your contacts saved in more than one location, either phone
memory, mass memory or micro memory card. you can only have them
in one, simple to fix, you just need to delete the other contact
list and just have one. in all is a great phone but i was dissapointed
with the net and menu icons and widget, there not as nice looking
as on the tocco, but iv just down loaded a new theme so all my icons
and menus look like the iphones now, just the widget i need to do
now. also my txts keep coming in with the time saying an hr behind
it should be as set on the phone!! other than that, battery doesnt
last long. Rating:
Reviewed by Steve from England on
27th May 2009
Very well spec'd phone, however I couldn't get on with the touch
screen feel...I didn't find that has the iphone usability. This
surfing slightly arduous for me. The camera is gr8 as is the video,
but the screen feel is going to become too annoying for me. Rating:
Reviewed by Chris from UK on
26th May 2009
In response to Chris Cardiff. I too had the same VERY annoying issue
but after a bit of research I stumbled across -- nokiausers.net/forum/its-broke/10185-name-not-displaying-sms-inbox.html
I know its technically a Nokia forum but the third or forth post
down has some good suggestions. I tried the first suggestion and
it seemed to sort the issue...i.e. 1 number assigned to two contact
names, one of phone and one on sim. Delete one and the text and
call log should correctly display the name Now onto my next problem…why
does it say Gadget at the top rather than Orange?!?! Let us know
how you get on. Rating:
Reviewed by graeme ducker from UK on
24th May 2009
Brill video, other features OK, Orange have put their crappy OS
over Samsungs own. I cant find how to add more widgets? anyone help!!
Rating:
Reviewed by CHRIS from CARDIFF on
23rd May 2009
HAD THIS PHONE ONE DAY,SEEMS BRILLIANT,EXCEPT FOR ONE SMALL IRRITATING
ISSUE,HAVING PUT ALL MY CONTACT DETAILS IN CONTACT BOOK ETC WHEN
I RECIEVE A TEXT FROM ONE OF THEM IT DOES NOT IDENTIFY THE SENDER,ONLY
SHOWS THE NUMBER..CONTACTED BOTH ORANGE AND SAMSUNG,BOTH HAVE GIVEN
ME OPTIONS TO RESOLVE THIS BUT WITH A NEGATIVE RESULT AT THE MOMENT..CAN
ANYONE SORT THIS OUT AS ITS DRIVING ME BONKERS...APART FROM THAT
PHONE SEEMS PRETTY COOL.I KNOW ITS A SMALL POINT BUT IT DOES NEED
SORTING OR ITS GOING BACK. Rating:
Reviewed by Bill from Wales on
21st May 2009
Best phone I have ever seen. I havegot this phone and it is amazing
in every way, everyone should buy this phone, or else they will
regret it...seriously. Rating:
Reviewed by Ben from Ireland on
21st May 2009
Absolutly the best phone out on the market. Although I'v been told
that there's a new iphone coming out in june so i'l just wait for
that instead lol. Rating:
Reviewed by A Person Who Likes This Phone!!
from england on 19th May 2009
this fone id scool but the camera isnt that good actually its riubbichs
lol dont get it Rating:
Reviewed by Omniac from England on
19th May 2009
As this review states, this phone is absolutely awesome! Ive never
seen a display that is so crisp! Also, the symbian OS is very fast,
and unlike many windows mobile phones, very finger friendly. I would
give this phone 5 stars, but theres something you should be warned
about this is not mentioned in the review. This phone claims "HD"
video recording, and while this may be true about the picture, the
sound records in the ancient AMR codec, making it unbearable if
youre recording anything other than a human voice in a very quiet
room. I hope Samsung fixes this with an update or something, its
a shame they ruined this aspect of the phone! Rating:
Reviewed by Arron from UK on
18th May 2009
I expect to upgrade to this phone next month, and I'll post my full
review shortly thereafter. I would like to comment on the reviewer's
remarks regarding the HD video exceeding the resolution of the screen.
This has been the case since VGA video recording became common on
handsets with a screen resolution of QVGA or WQVGA; it is not therefore
a particular problem with this phone, as the author suggests. The
simple solution, which does not appear to have been mentioned, is
to download the video to one's computer and view it thereon. I don't
think this is beyond the 'technical know-how' of most users, and
as far as I'm aware it's what everybody already does! [Editor's
reply: Sure thing, Arron. We didn't mean to imply that it was a
problem. Only that streaming HD videos to a HD Ready TV is likely
to be a problem. I hope you got the idea from reading our review
that we ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS PHONE, because we do!] Rating:
Reviewed by Simon from UK on
18th May 2009
Just tested this phone out at the Samsung roadshow at my workplace
(I work for Orange) and ordered it straight away. It's possibly
the greatest phone I've ever laid my hands on. The HD recordings
are amazing quality, camera flash is pretty good, and the design
itself is stylish as hell. Can't wait for it to be delivered tomorrow. Rating:
Reviewed by Elisha Israel from United
Kingdom on 14th Apr 2009
it is by far the best phone in every sense. it trumps the iphone,
htc touch HD, and the blackberry in terms of multimedia. it also
has push email like blackberry and all. a monstrous battery 1500mAH,
simply put: 13hrs of talk time, 600hrs of stand-by time Rating:
Reviewed by brad from england on
11th Apr 2009
brilliant phone great camera brilliant hd recoding good media player.its
just the games that let it down if your going for a game phone go
for iphone.but this is problay one of the best spec phones there
will be.overall brilliant phone i am definatley getting one Rating:
