Samsung Omnia HD Preview (i8910) - Part 1 - General Design and Hardware

It's interesting that everyone's been looking to Nokia for Symbian's "iPhone-killer", but reading this preview the Omnia HD sounds like a pretty good candidate for producing a Symbian-based iPhone rival.

That's not a criticism of Nokia, just an observation that the Omnia HD is perhaps more in the same space as the iPhone, whereas the 5800 is more of a mainstream mid-range device, and the N97 seems more of a Communicator-esque device. It's a very diverse market, there's room for all these device classes and more.

Also, it's nice to see Samsung bringing some more choice to the S60 platform, they're not just copying Nokia. For example many people wanted OMAP3 on S60, and Samsung is giving it to them.

Someone has been psychically reading the conclusions out of my brain...

I actually think the Omnia HD is significantly closer to being an iPhone competitor than both the 5800 and N97. It is really a cross between a personal media player and a phone. That said there also very significant differences too (most obviously: iTunes ecosystem, camera capabilities)... Actually in general the hardware / technical capabilities are in completely different leagues - but it is perception that matters.

You can play too much into the iPhone competitor label obviously, but it is a comparison to be made.

Definitely leaning toward this over the N97. The size doesn't bother me (i usually have an E90 and a N810 in my pockets!)

Also, the HD video is quite a good selling point from a marketing point of view. You don't have to be a smartphone anorak to be interested in it.

-"Why would I want to buy this instead of another phone?"
-"You can shoot high def video with it. Y'know, high def like on blu-ray?"
-"Wow, on a phone? Wow. I didn't know that was possible."

Whether the HD actually works properly remains to be seen, but at least it's some way to get people's interest in THIS device as opposed to the hundreds of other smartphones on the market. That would be good for Samsung of course, but it would also be good for Symbian as a platform.

The N93 was supposed to have a similar impact, and the camcorder side of it DID work well and was very advanced for its time, but as a phone it was perhaps too bulky to attract enough buyers. The Omnia HD by contrast looks much more sleek and easy to sell.

I'm really confused between the OmniaHD and N97. I keep changing my mind. I love the OmniaHD for its hardware (I mean, who wouldn't?) but I like Nokia's direction on the N97 and Ovi; that is, to provide service and an enhanced internet user experience. So the question goes, do I go for the service/user experience of the N97 or go for the awesome multimedia features of the OmniaHD? So confusing =(

It does look very tempting - although it's HUGE!

Symbian-Guru.com had an interesting article on how handy HD video may or may not actually be - depending on how you plan to use the video of course.

I'm glad you guys posted your intentions for the remaining pieces of this (p)review.

Seeing as you're planning on covering TouchWiz in part 3, can you find time to explore the TouchWiz settings menu as well? I noticed in another video that there is a specific menu under Settings>Personal>Widgets that shows the list of widgets allowing to be enabled or disabled. I'd like to know if the Options menu for these widgets allows any customization. I really hope you guys get a chance to explore that before part 3 and post your results.

I'm most interested in something like customizing the YouTube widget. Samsung apparently has it set to open youtube.com in the web browser and I'd like to be able to change that to make it open the new YouTube application (assuming a v5 version is available when the OmniaHD launches).

Excellent write-up, BTW.

Would it be too much to ask for a part 4? HDD camera tests, etc, all well, but you can compare performance with existing devices?

E.g:say web loading speed vs, N95-2 (omap2)? or verser the iphone?


Cos I hardly see the point, if you say how great OMAP3 is on the one hand, but don't compare it to existing devices...

Also isn't reviewing prebuilt camera hardware nothing short of unfair for samsung.:con? Cos you know its not finished, retail one will most likely be different; until getting your hands on that, its meaningless pretty much...

Rafe (or anyone who has had hands-on with Omnia HD), can you confirm if it has an FM transmitter? The specs at gsmarena.com says it does but the official Samsung website doesn't list it as one of the features.

I'm in the market for a cameraphone with a large touchscreen. In truth, the touch part is not that important; what's important is a screen resolution bigger than the usual pathetic QVGA.
So obviously I'm looking forward to the 2nd. part. If you have a N86 prototype available, I would really love to see a N82 vs. N86 vs. Omnia HD vs. INNOV8 shoot-out!

Why OMAP3430?
"TI's new OMAP3440 is the industry's first ARM Cortex A8-based applications processor to bring full HD camcorder functionality to mobile devices, giving users the ability to record high-definition (HD) video, as well as enjoy new applications enabled by the large displays in the latest Smartphones and Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs)."
"The new chip leverages TI's high performance IVATM multimedia accelerator to support 720p HD video record and playback, unleashing user creativity behind the lens."
http://focus.ti.com/pr/docs/preldeta...prelId=sc08025
http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtb...ontentId=36505
http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtb...ontentId=14649

It doesnt matter to me whether the omnia hd or n97 are competitors to iphone or not, but my main question to the three of you is which of these 2 phones (omnia hd and n97 and not the iphone) would you guys rather recommend to me judging the phones overally. It's a year now I'm using my n82 so I would like to buy another phone to use along with my trusty n82. I'm not saying that it's no longer a good phone but it still is the best phone to me and I would never change it for the likes of innov8, c905, iphone as the n82 more or less balances out of the whole new smartphones 2009 lineup. Its that I'm getting bored of using it everyday as my only device. At first I thought of buying xperia, omnia, touch hd or iphone 3g but after trying them each out for a week, none of them managed to impress me as much as my n82 impressed me in its first week. So I moved my choices to n97 or omnia hd (the SE Idou was my third choice but since it has no signs of showing up I totally excluded it from my list of choice. I would've been much happier if SE just announced when they were gonna release it but those bastards didn't even bother tell anything). My problem is that I cant justify which one to choose as both are symbian touch UI, both have different touch homescreens, etc. I cant figure out anything else but I can rather leave this to you guys as you guys are the experts here in advising people like us which phone to go for overally. And yes, I would as well be very grateful if you guys also tell me which of them will come out when and at what price. Please guys help me out as I might be desperate to know which one to choose, when to get and how much it would cost me?

Tzer2, you get the booby prize for being the first to mention the cult-device-that-shall-not-be-named. Go and stand in the corner.

I can only add that I'll bet the PIM apps aren't as good as the ones I had on my Psion ;-)

My friend is a developer on this phone and he hates it.......he is no iphone fan boy but he says he really really would not buy one. He said that the hardware is great but the software has been rushed and "testing" is a total afterthought.

By the way the hardware does have an FM transmitter but there is no software / drivers to run it so it wont work.

indie

It's always the same story with Samsung; brilliant hardware and features but no product support. I'm probably assuming that i8510 are still waiting for a new firmware and user-centric way of getting it on their phones!

This phone is sexy, but until Samsung get this side of things sorted, I'm staying clear and going for the N86

That's up to you. Basically the Omnia HD is the ultimate multimedia phone (technically anyway). The N97 might be said to be more of a generalist. I'll address this further in part 3. They are both have the potential to be great devices, but, in my opinion, have different market niches.

Yes if you want HD video you don't have a lot of choice of phones :) But a lot of the time lower res video may be all you need.

Some of what you mentioned is addressed in part 3. There's no customisations of Widgets that I saw (didn't look at everything - this was based on limited hands on time). So your YouTube scenario is unlikely. However there should be a capacility to add more widgets from third parties.


We'll address many of those in a final review (this was based of pre-release software). We had limited time, but those sort of comparison benchmarks is certainly something I would want to look at.

Yes it is unfair reviewing pre-release camera / software - that's why we call it a preview and make it clear it is indicative only.

No sign in the software versions I've seen.

Hi Rafe,
Very nice review you say it will be available end April is this your own thoughts or has that come from Samsung ?

That was the date mentioned at MWC, but I think you could probably put that back to May for the first real availability with wider spread availability in June.

now only introduce an Omnia HD qwerty and i think i am a customer.

I am currently using a N95 8GB and really like the way I can customize it and put my own applications on, and have the phone the way i like it.
But in the summer I will be upgrading to a new phone, and wondered if anyone knew if another phone running symbian (albeit a newer version) would be able to accept the same symbian applications that I have on my N95?
I love the look of this phone!

The one thing i'm really annoyed about with the iphone is how good the development is for it, even though there are SO many phones out there that are better.
So many amazing apps and stunning/fun games for it.
My question is- does anyone know if games the likes of those on the iphone/ipod touch could be available for symbian phones?

WHeres the second part coming of this review...

welll the first part was really good...

it covered the physical aspects...

i just wanna ask to this reviewer...

should i wait for the SOny ericsson IDOU or should i buy Omnia HD when it comes out in market!!!!!!!!


pls reply

The Omnia is capable of running more sophisticated games than the iPhone. However a lot depends on developers making those games. The iPhone gaming market has done well because of the distribution system (a single, closed, app store works particularly well for impulse buys like games).

It depends what application you use. The N95 runs S60 3.1, the Omnia runs 5.0. Some of the apps will work (even if they are the 3.1 version) and a lot of them will have 5.0 versions so the chances are good that the apps will run. Can't really say more than that without a list of the apps you use!

Part 2 will be out Tuesday, part 3 probably Friday.

The Idou is going to be at least six months behind the Omnia (probably more). We don't know enough about the Idou so its almost impossible to answer this question!

Great work rafe love your reviews. You think you can send it to me for say, a couple of years? XD

Great review rafe, real interesting read. Do you have any ideas at this stage what networks this phone is likely to be available on in the uk?