Samsung Omnia HD (OMNIAHD
/ i8910)
Discontinued 16th February 2009
The Samsung
Omnia i900 was one of last year's hits in the smartphone
market, so you would expect that the Samsung Omnia
HD would be a similar device, but with a bit of
an upgrade.
In fact, the Omnia HD and original Omnia
are based on completely different platforms. The original
Omnia ran Windows Mobile, and the Omnia HD is a Symbian
S60 device. These are fundamentally different operating
systems, and it is very peculiar for a manufacturer
to swap operating systems in a range like this.
However, from what we can see of the
Omnia HD's user interface, you will have a hard time
spotting that it's a Symbian device at all, because
Samsung have chosen to add their TouchWiz interface
on the top. This is the same interface that you can
find on other high-end Samsung phones, so it does give
a consistent look-and-feel. The Omnia had an older version
of TouchWiz on top, so people upgrading from one to
the other may find some familiar features.
Before
we go on, this phone is officially spelled OMNIAHD
with a superscript, but for ease of understanding we
will just call it the "Omnia HD". It is also
called the Samsung GT-i8910, just to make things really
confusing.
One obvious thing about the Omnia HD
is that it comes with a very large display - this is
a 3.7" 640 x 360 pixel touch-sensitive AMOLED panel
that dominates the front of the case. Although that
is a nice, large screen.. we do wonder why they
didn't make it 800 x 480 pixels which is much better
for web browsing. The display automatically rotates
between tall and wide orientations when the handset
is turned.
On the back is an 8 megapixel camera
with autofocus and LED flash. The camera has face detection
and smile detection, and also a "panorama shot"
feature. Video recording is somewhere that the Omnia
HD really excels though, with a maximum capture resolution
of 1280 x 720 pixels at 24 frames per second. The Omnia
HD can then perform basic video editing functions and
play back via an optional HD TV out cable. Alternatively,
videos can be transferred to a PC or uploaded to a web
site.
Video playback is also impressive, the
Samsung Omnia HD can cope with DivX, XviD, H.263, H.264,
MPEG4, Windows Media and RealVideo formats, plus the
usual collection of audio types. Audio playback is through
dual stereo speakers, and the Omnia HD has several other
audio enhancements too. Combine this with the large
display, and the Omnia HD makes an impressive looking
media player.
The Omnia HD also has a built-in GPS
receiver, and comes with a built-in navigation
application and a compass. Because this is a Symbian
device, then it should also be possible to run Google
Maps. The large touch-sensitive screen again comes into
its own here.
We touched on the software earlier,
but it is worth pointing out that the Omnia HD comes
with a document viewer, can access Microsoft Exchange
servers and comes with a range of personal information
management tools, so there's a serious side to the Omnia
HD's capabilities too.
Some other features include an FM radio,
3D games, podcasting support and a proximity sensor.
Underneath,
this is a quad-band GSM phone with tri-band 900 / 1900
/ 2100 MHz UMTS. It can support HSDPA downloads of up
to 7.2 Mbps, and HSUPA uploads at up to 5.76 Mbps. Alternatively,
you can connect to the Internet or a local area network
using WiFi.
Internal memory is 8GB or 16GB depending
on which model you buy, and this can be expanded by
up to 32GB using a compatible microSD card. It's a large
phone at 123 x 58 x 13mm, powered by a large 1500 mAh
battery - although Samsung have not said how much the
Omnia HD weighs or what the talktime is.
This is a hugely impressive device,
and again Samsung have successfully challenged Nokia
on their own turf with a superlative Symbian smartphone.
The Omnia HD should be available during Q2 2009, no
guidance was given on price but we would expect it to
retail for somewhere between €600 to €800 SIM-free at
launch.
|
Samsung
Omnia HD (OMNIAHD
/ i8910) at a glance
|
Available:
|
Q2
2009
|
Network:
|
GSM
850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
+ UMTS 900 / 1900 /
2100
|
Data:
|
GPRS
+ EDGE + UMTS (3G) + HSDPA
+ HSUPA + WiFi
|
Screen:
|
360
x 640 pixels, 16m colours
|
Camera:
|
8
megapixels
|
Size:
|
PDA-style
device 123 x 58 x 13mm
|
Bluetooth:
|
Yes
|
Memory
card:
|
microSD
|
Infra-red:
|
No
|
Polyphonic:
|
Yes
|
Java:
|
Yes
|
GPS:
|
Yes
|
Battery
life:
|
Not
specified
|
|
|