Samsung Innov8 (Samsung GT-i8510)
Discontinued 24th July 2008
One of the most advanced smartphones that we have
ever seen, the Samsung Innov8 (also called the Samsung
GT-i8510) is a 3.5G Symbian smartphone with an 8 megapixel
camera, WiFi and GPS, plus an advanced multimedia player
and a whole host of other features that compete head
on with the Nokia
N96 and N95
8GB.
Samsung are not well-known for their Symbian devices,
but they have been producing them for several years
now.. and the Innov8 certainly seems to benefit from
Samsung's experience.
We guess that the "8" in "Innov8"
refers to the i8510's advanced 8 megapixel camera. This
has autofocus and a dual LED flash, plus an image stabiliser,
panoramic stitching, face detection and a number of
other clever features lifted straight out of Samsung's
dedicated digital camera range. Sometimes we have seen
disappointing video capture quality with some rival
phones, but not so with the Innov8 which is capable
of recording VGA resolution video at 30 frames per second,
or QVGA resolution at 120 frames per second. The Innov8
also has built-in video editing and an FM radio with
RDS, plus stereo Bluetooth and a 3.5mm audio output
socket.
The
multimedia player in the Innov8 / GT-i8510 is pretty
impressive too, supporting DivX, WMV, MP3, H.263 and
H.264 video plus MP3, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA, AMR and RealAudio
formats. The large 2.8" QVGA display is one of
the largest in its class, and is the same size as the
N95 8GB and N96. The Innov8 also has stereo speakers
and surround sound. In fact, when it comes to multimedia
the only thing that the Innov8 lacks is a digital TV
tuner and an FM transmitter.
Internal memory is either 8GB or 16GB (depending
on version), usefully this can also be extended by up
to 16GB using a compatible microSD card. Most of the
competition offers either lots of internal memory or a
memory slot, the Samsung Innov8 comes with both.
The
Samsung Innov8 supports Advanced GPS (A-GPS) although
it isn't clear what mapping applications are available,
but Google
Maps should work just fine. The GPS automatically
geotags pictures taken with the digital camera. The
built-in accelerometer can automatically switch the
Innov8's display orientation. Oh yes, pop the Innov8
on its side and you can use it as a very expensive
digital photo frame.
The operating system is the clumsily named Symbian
OS V9.3 S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2. The Innov8
also comes with two interesting looking 3D games, FIFA
2008 and Asphalt. Of course, there are plenty of Symbian
applications around so you can extent the Innov8's capabilities
as you wish. Samsung seem to have come up with a pleasingly
minimalistic interface too.
Underneath all the other features, the i8510 is a
dual-band 900/2100 UMTS/HSDPA device with quand-band
GSM, EDGE and GPRS data. It supports WiFi, Bluetooth
2.0 and USB 2.0 connections. The large 1200 mAh battery
can power the Samsung Innov8 for up to 5 hours talktime
on 3G, 8.5 hours on GSM with around 13-14 days standby
time. It's quite a large device at 107 x 54 x 17.2mm.
It isn't the prettiest phone in the work, the looks
can perhaps best be described as "purposeful".
Overall though, this is an extremely impressive package
and in our view the only thing that it could really
use is a touchscreen.
We understand that the Innov8 / i8510 will start
to become available next month in certain markets worldwide.
No pricing was specified but we would expect it to cost
roughly the same as the Nokia N96 at launch, so expect
to pay something in the region of £600 / €750
/ $1000 or so when it comes out for a SIM free
model.
|
Samsung
Innov8 (GT-i8510) at a glance
|
Available:
|
Q3
2008
|
Network:
|
GSM
850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
UMTS 900 / 2100
|
Data:
|
GPRS
+ EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA
+ WiFi
|
Screen:
|
240
x 320 pixels, 16m colours
|
Camera:
|
8
megapixels
|
Size:
|
Medium-Large
Slider 107 x 54 x 17mm
/ 140 grams
|
Bluetooth:
|
Yes
|
Memory
card:
|
microSD
|
Infra-red:
|
No
|
Polyphonic:
|
Yes
|
Java:
|
Yes
|
GPS:
|
Yes
(A-GPS)
|
Battery
life:
|
5 hours talk / 14 days standby
(3G) 8.5 hours talk
/ 13 days standby (GSM)
|
|
|