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Played with the Omnia Hd today...

10 replies · 7,120 views · Started 21 May 2009

Baller 21 May 2009, 20:06

I played for about an hour on the phone today - Initial thoughts are thus:

NOTE - I am in UK and tested phone with ORANGE firmware.

Yes, the screen is big, colorful and very, very nice to look at, however when using the phone, It didn't seem all that useful, yes theres lots of real estate, but the resolution just means theres bigger gaps between icons, and further to move your finger all the time! The menus are the worst, they make you scroll around quite alot, when they could prob fit all the text on the screen (i know they need to leave space to register the touch zone for each icon, but still..)

Keyboard is not that good, the capacitive touch screen is excellent - on par with my ipod touch, but the way the keyboard is implemented is not good, its hard to type on, not all that accturate (WAY, WAY off typing on ipod touch / iphone) and positioning the cursor back over text you have already typed (say, to correct an error) isnt very accurate, and need to use the two left/right arrows quite a bit. Theres also NO vertical qwerty (remember I'm testing the phone with ORANGE branded firmware as its the only way to get it in the UK)

The software is FAST! You really get the impression theres some serious processing power under the hood, camera loads in around 3 secs, video in 720p was excellent, even waving my hand in front of the lens / panning very fast it didn't drop any frames, and the sound sync'd up perfectly.

The compass is great - just like using a real one in fact and very smooth.

For multimedia stuff, this phone really will rule all (pics, video, not so much music) but for internet / e-mail / texting, its not so great. The browser is good ad loads pages quickly, but the lack of kinetic scrolling (a la iphone/ipod touch) makes navigation a little tiresome.

Let it be said that yes, ive mentioned the iphone a couple of times in this, and no, i am in no way an iphone fan - I have an N95 8Gb which I love. Apple got so so much wrong with the iphone (we all know what it is) but they also got the on screen keyboard and browsing the web very very right - hense my comparisons here (also, everyone has used one so has a good reference point!)

Did I walk out with it - no - I'll be keeping a very close eye on the initial issues / firmware updates (if any) that come up, the biggest drawback for me is the poor text entry (I'm a texter / internet kind of guy, I don' take that many photos).

I will say its a deeply impressive bit of kit, and one I'll certainly be considering and watching over the coming months.

Any questions - feel free to ask!

morpheus2702 21 May 2009, 20:57

Great post, saw the Omnia HD is Oxford on Monday but didn't get the chance to see it in action.

Are there still scroll bars when navigation menus, or is kinetic scrolling implemented?

You didn't think the audio was in the same league as the rest of the multimedia functions? Anything in particular let it down audiowise?

Baller 21 May 2009, 21:09

morpheus2702 wrote:Great post, saw the Omnia HD is Oxford on Monday but didn't get the chance to see it in action.

Are there still scroll bars when navigation menus, or is kinetic scrolling implemented?

You didn't think the audio was in the same league as the rest of the multimedia functions? Anything in particular let it down audiowise?

there was no kinetic scrolling at all on the device, in menus or otherwise 😞 Hopefully a firmware update will fix this!

Don't get me wrong, the audio is fine, its pretty much "s60 as you know it". Not bad, but in my mind not brilliant - theres a reason I carry an ipod touch with me everywhere I go! I don't see my N95 8Gb as a replacement (volume control is too crude for my liking - I had a quick look but I wasn't planning on writing a review!)

I think the key difference for the touch UI for me is that my ipod touch has no menus, all the key features I need are on the screen at the time - with the S60 player there's a fair bit of menus - and that makes it all feel a little clunky for me, perhaps not as dynamic as the iphone. On the other hand, the samsung actually has some features on it so I guess needs the menus!

Tenkom 22 May 2009, 22:07

I�m really torn between this and the n97. Would you say the browser loads faster or as fast as the iphone? It will be interesting to see how much the faster processor will impact page loading on the i8910 compared to the n97. Atm moment I�m leaning towards the n97 simply because I told myself I wouldn�t buy another phone with no physical keyboard. I�m a fan of emulators and such things. And they simply don�t work with just a touch screen. I hope someone makes a comparison video on youtube soon with browser speed. And perhaps even run a benchmark in coreplayer.

Guitarfreak 23 May 2009, 00:04

Hi all, I own the i8910 and an iPhone 3g...

For internet browsing and email the iPhone wins hands down. But the i8910 is an amazing phone, it as the best mobile GPS chip and connects to sats super quick. Its the only ever symbian phone ive owned that doesnt slow down or crash!(and ive owned a few)

And texting is a dream with the on screen keyboard.

Just wish i could get used to these widgets, im considering turning them off because i dont have a facebook one but thats ruining the phone right? its one of its main features? lol

jappe 23 May 2009, 07:38

Hi,

I was wondering if you could give me some feedback concerning the battery life.

How long does the Omnia stay on when Wifi is on? Can you keep it on in the background so you're notified of new e-mails for a whole day?

And how long can you use it as a gps till the battery runs out?

Thanks

Baller 23 May 2009, 12:51

Tenkom wrote:I�m really torn between this and the n97. Would you say the browser loads faster or as fast as the iphone? It will be interesting to see how much the faster processor will impact page loading on the i8910 compared to the n97. Atm moment I�m leaning towards the n97 simply because I told myself I wouldn�t buy another phone with no physical keyboard. I�m a fan of emulators and such things. And they simply don�t work with just a touch screen. I hope someone makes a comparison video on youtube soon with browser speed. And perhaps even run a benchmark in coreplayer.

Well, in my oppinion if software keyboards arn't our thing, don't look at the omnia! But then guitarfreak seems to think its great, so go and try it yourself! Personally its no where near close to the iphone / ipod touch keyboard, which I think is fantastic. When i bash e-mails out half the time I don't look or even try to be that accurate, and it guesses at least 90% of my message right! With the omnia I had to watch each key "click" to make sure it was the right one, as going back to edit letters is a bit of a pain, certainly no where near as intuative as my ipod touch (but then copy and paste is much much better on the omnia

My advice is to try it out! Ive tried two units not, and (in my opinion) both had very poor keyboards - whats the point having a great handset if I get anoyed just sending a text!

vladthemilkman 23 May 2009, 21:15

I haven't done any coreplayer benchmarks yet, but a couple of "aquired" avi files (not specially encoded for mobile) play without any visible frame drops at all. One has the resolution of 592x336 and a bitrate of 1137kbit/s (video/x-msvideo format according to realplayer) and the other has a resolution of 616x254 - same format with a bit rate of 1054kbit/s. As already reported the screen makes everything else pale in comparison and the viewing angle is nothing short of amazing. Will try some larger format videos later and post my impressions.

1280x720 x-msvideo (divx) re-encoded from a mkv file using "Super", plays with no audio lag or frame skipping. Took a while to get the settings right for Super though!

mark.e32 24 May 2009, 07:55

I have had my 8910i hd for a few days and generally love the phone, except for when you put it to your ear it opens applications can't seem to stop it. It has a lock widget in the bottom corner that seems to do nothing and a lock button on the right side of the phone that locks all. The one thing I detest is all the orange branded crap I think it just spoils the phone. does anyone have any idea when and where I will be able to get the firmware to debrand it?

sciroccokid 26 May 2009, 13:39

Battery life should be just over a day with minimal use. Not sure about how much power the wifi or gps use, but they will sap your battery rather quickly. Hdomnia had a decent article on the Omnia HD's GPS the other day.

jappe wrote:Hi,

I was wondering if you could give me some feedback concerning the battery life.

How long does the Omnia stay on when Wifi is on? Can you keep it on in the background so you're notified of new e-mails for a whole day?

And how long can you use it as a gps till the battery runs out?

Thanks