The Samsung Omnia HD i8910 is a big phone in every way.
To begin with the handset boasts a 3.7-inch, 360x640 pixel,16 million colour, High Definition AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display.
Consequently “the device overall is pretty large,” Pocket-lint explains, “measuring 123*58*12.9mm,” making it “a proper pocket hog.”
Sadly T3 “hate the bulkiness of the chassis.” Similarly Knowyourmobile “didn't like the overall feel of the handset with the all plastic casing (aside of the metal trim and buttons) adding a slight cheapness to the proceedings.”
However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and as far as Mobile Phones UK are concerned, “the feel of the phone in the hand is one of quality, thanks to the use of metal, glossy black plastic and hardened glass.”
Cnet are inclined to agree, suggesting “the i8910's glossy black plastic body, trimmed with a chrome edge, and touchscreen goodness can't help but prompt comparisons with the iPhone.”
But of course size isn’t everything. And nor are looks. So thankfully the i8910 is also big on performance. Mobile Phones UK thinks “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.”
The screen is “one of the brightest and most captivating that we've seen so far” proclaims Knowyourmobile. Cnet concedes it’s “gorgeous”, T3 “by far the most sumptuous-looking on the market”, Techradar “to die for”, with Pocket-lint describing it as “vibrant, crisp, pin sharp, excellent to view movies, browse the internet and maintain your online life.”
Even so, says Techradar, it’s “not much use in direct sunlight.”
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It is, says Cnet, “the best Symbian touchscreen phone out there” providing, according to Techradar, “a very easy to use interface that works in tandem with a very responsive touchscreen.”
According to Knowyourmobile there is “hardly any delay in opening apps”, although Pocket-lint felt the operating system “isn't as slick as Apple's iPhone OS but it gives you more freedom than that of the LG Arena.”
There are three different input options: the standard alphanumeric keypad, a landscape Qwerty keyboard, or handwriting recognition.
Knowyourmobile “were actually quite impressed by just how accurately the keypad picked up our prods, particularly with the full Qwerty.” Cnet “found the keys larger than average for a touchscreen phone and easy to use at top speed, with no delay.”
T3 points out: “as you’d expect on a phone with a nearly four-inch screen, internet browsing is brilliant.” Mobile Phones UK concur, saying “web browsing on the i8910 is an excellent experience.” Techradar accept “internet connection is quick over 3G or HSDPA, and lightning fast over Wi-Fi”, but caution “the internet is probably the least impressive feature of the phone.”
Conversely Techradar then go on to say “the video player on this phone is, without question, the best we've seen on a mobile.”
“The screen is large enough to watch a full length film, it’s small enough to comfortably hold in the hands,” agrees T3.
Cnet call the phone “an entertainment powerhouse.” While, when it comes to games, according to Mobile Phones UK, “the quality of the graphics is quite exceptional, and closing in on console quality.”
The 8 megapixel camera, which boasts autofocus, 4x digitalzoom and LED flash, is also “a great addition” as far as T3 is concerned. “Image quality is very reasonable,” Pocket-lint concedes, while Knowyourmobile thinks “the picture quality very good indeed.” Cnet “were impressed by the photo quality”, with Techradar going so far as to suggest that were you “looking to use this as a main camera, you could do a lot worse.”
Even so, as Mobile Phones UK acknowledge, “in terms of image quality, the camera can't beat a dedicated camera, but,” they add, “it can match the kinds of digital cameras that were on sale just a couple of years ago.”
Despite this, Knowyourmobile felt it “a shame that there is no lens cover on board, because that lens will get scratched pretty easily”,particularly as they go on to point out, “the 720x480 pixel at 30 frames per second video recording capability is easily some of the best, if not the best camera footage that we've seen from a mobile”
Indeed the HD i8910, and hence the HD in the name, is “billed as the first phone with high-definition-quality video recording”, Cnet explains. “In terms of resolution,” Mobile Phones UK acknowledges, “the video camera is a worldbeater.”
Pocket-lint accepts “overall video capture is good for a phone but,” they add, “it doesn't quite perform as well as the current batch of pocket camcorders.” T3 agrees “when we pushed the video onto a 40-inch HDTV it didn’t look as clear as dedicated camcorders,” but it still provides “one of, if not the, best video recordings we’ve seen on a phone.”
“Musically,” Mobile Phones UK notes, “the i8910 HD offers high quality audio via its twin speakers, which are loud.” Quite, says Techradar, “music was impressive and loud.” And everybody was pleased to see the presence of a 3.5mm audio jack.
Cnet were also pleased to discover “Quickoffice, for editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.”
“Calls were clear and loud,” according to Techradar.
“Connectivity-wise,” announced Knowyourmobile, “the Samsung Omnia i8910 HD packs the full load, with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 3G HSDPA all an option.” What’s more, as Techradar points out, “there's the option of using the phone as a modem as well, which might not please your network,” they add.
Cnet were impressed by the battery life: “it kept on trucking through a whole day of testing without breaking a sweat.” Pocket-lint concurred “this is a charge daily device and we managed 24 hours on average, with what we would call normal use,” but warn “lots of calling or filming will drain it even faster.”
To conclude, there is no doubt the i8910 is an impressive piece of kit; “a milestone in mobile technology” to quote Mobile Phones UK; “a sublime effort” in the words of T3. Or, as Knowyourmobile puts it, “it's about as fully featured as any smartphone comes, with excellent connectivity, an amazing screen and great still and video, camera functionality.”
But, cautions Cnet, the Samsung “still falls short of the usability bar set by the iPhone.”
“Is this better than the iPhone?,” asks Pocket-lint. “No, it isn't,” they pronounce.
However, Techradar thinks the i8910 “takes on the media darling and wins.”
Clearly, opinions differ, and ultimately subjective rather than objective criteria are all that appear to separate the two handsets. At last, or so it would seem, the iPhone has a rival.