It has been a long, long, rocky path, but the Samsung i8910 HD is finally in mass markets - well, in some countries and for some networks, at least. And armed with II1 firmware, it's high time for me to wrap up this top-end Symbian flagship. Just how good is it and what are its weakpoints? Is it more of a media tablet than a full-on smartphone? Find out in our review (Rafe contributed text - it's a joint effort! And thanks to Stuart Clark as well for helpful feedback)
Read on in the full article.
I Love what Samsung is doing/has done with Symbian. It feels that its a great OS again. Sadly the fact that Nokia's devices come under powered in the hardware dept reflects badly on the OS. I mean the massive amount of ram makes a difference. I have a mate who is high up at Apple and we had dinner and of course the talk turned to OS and he sprouted his standard mantra of Symbian being an archaic molasses embedded OS being slower than turtle mating. I whipped out the I8910 and he was visibly shaken. I meant he actually shut up. He could not believe it. WHat a joy!!!
Anyways so they have made the hardware better to support the software but where the I8910 fails MISERABLY against anything Nokia has made is call quality. I cannot believe the amount of dropped calls, bad sound and so on on the I8910. Even though I am a power user voice is still my primary usage and the I8910 just does not deliver. I have gone back to my N97 despite my preference to the I8910 because it guarantees a Quality of Sound Service. In my industry EVERY ONE uses iPhones which has pathetic voice capabilities and combine that with an I8910 on the other end the call is virtually impossible. And when I phone America on the I8910 it is just a wasted effort. And call quality is something that i will not compromise on no matter the amount of APPS availible. I think that voice communications have become much worse since the launch of the iPhone which is also dastardly in this dept.
A great review would be a quantifiable test on voice calls for all devices and then not just in relation to themselves but in relation to others ie. Making the test like Nokia to Nokia call 10/10 Nokia to Samsung 7/10 and Nokia to iPhone 5/10, Samsung to Samsung call 9/10 Samsung to Nokia 9/10 Samsung to Iphone call 1/10 What do you think?
I hate when hardware is made from one company, and the software from another. You never get the same support or integration as you do when the device comes out of one roof. Take palm, apple, nokia, and rim (blackberry) as an example.
I was expecting a hatchet job (like for the HTC Touch Pro2 and Hero), but instead this turned out to be a very fair and balanced review. I agree with most criticisms you have about this phone.
There are two areas however where you completely miss the mark:
- Navigation Software: like I said in the forums, the Route66-based navigation software (at least on the Italian, unbranded version that we both have) is in E:\Samsung\Applications. It's not installed by default, possibly because Samsung, unlike Nokia, has no stake in having you use a particular navigation program. Your review makes it look like it doesn't come with no navigation at all, which isn't true.
- Download: with the launch of the Samsung app store last week, the Download application has been changed completely, and allow you access to the app store. While UI-wise this is a change for the worse (I liked the old Download app), the review should describe the current state of the software at the moment of writing.
>>I was expecting a hatchet job (like for the HTC Touch Pro2 and Hero), but instead this turned out to be a very fair and balanced review.
Heh. All my reviews are fair and balanced. It's just that not everybody appreciates the fact....
>>- Navigation Software: like I said in the forums, the Route66-based navigation software (at least on the Italian, unbranded version that we both have) is in E:\Samsung\Applications.
No such folder on my i8910 HD. I'm just reviewing the device I was shipped.
>>While UI-wise this is a change for the worse (I liked the old Download app), the review should describe the current state of the software at the moment of writing
The Download app is exactly as I describe, right now, i.e. a Handmark vehicle. Have just done 'Refresh list' to make sure.
Hi, it is easy to move webbrowser cache to E: (provided that phone is unlocked, which many of owners do anyway, to allow installation of Nokia services)
http://forums.samsungi8910omnia.com/samsung-i8910-omnia-hd-custom-roms-cooked-roms/5262-custom-firmware-tutorials.html
All that positive talk about the i8910 almost made me take it off eBay... almost.
Awesome review, Steve. Of everything that's come out this year, this handset is the most powerful, but damned in its own way just like everything else. Maybe when the price comes down and more firmware updates roll out I'll buy another one, but for the time being, I'm done with 2009 and its "flagships". Bring on 2010. 😞
slitchfield wrote:
No such folder on my i8910 HD. I'm just reviewing the device I was shipped.
Then the i8910s given out by Samsung through the Ambassador programs aren't Italian (although they have Italian fw). Italian i8910s have that folder, which contains Asphalt 4 and Route 66.
At least, please mention in your article that in some countries the i8910 does indeed ship with Route 66. Italy for one, perhaps owners of i8910s in other countries who read this comment can chime in as well. As I said, reading your review one gets the impression that it doesn't come with any navigation sw, which, at least here where I live, it is simply not true.
Seems like a nice package, but 123mm x 59mm? The trend towards physical bloat continues. Toshiba have released the G01, a shocking 130mm long! These new phones make even the bulky iPhone look small.
Great review of a lovely device. What surprised me--apart from its awesome video playback powers--was just how nice the i8910 *feels*. It's smooth and perfectly weighted. The only ugly part of the device is the lens bump, I really wish that they had made it flush like the iPhone, as it is it's just so hard to keep clean.
Here are some photo samples that your readers might find useful...
http://tinyurl.com/l3fbdx
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@rvirga: Point taken, but a) how is the new user going to know to dig around on E: for a SIS file? (even if it's pre-loaded) and b) Samsung don't even mention the GPS on their page anymore.... it does seem as though they're deprecating the function.
slitchfield wrote:Samsung don't even mention the GPS on their page anymore.... it does seem as though they're deprecating the function.
I hope they don't have skills to remotely disable it too 😊
Solnyshok wrote:I hope they don't have skills to remotely disable it too 😊
Maybe through a firmware update... 😉
Good review, bias balanced and addresses both the highs and lows of the phone. Thanks to all that contributed. Had mine a month or so now, really enjoying it still. I had a chance to pay with a 5800 in one hand and the i8910 in the other for a few hours over the weekend. Much preferred the UI on the Samsung. Faster, easy navigation, scrolling. Much more positive result when pressing icons, entering text in the browser, etc.
I personally haven't had too much trouble with the 'small' C drive. Clearing the cache folder is easy enough, and (imo) the people who are likely to use the phone to its fullest extent running the risk of filling the C drive (ie; geeks like us) instead of just scratch the surface of what the phone can do will a) install apps to E: and b) know how to clear the cache.
One small niggle though. After reading your review, there may be a few Orange i8910 owners wondering if they got ripped off as they won't be finding a TV out cable in their box (thanks Orange...:rolleyes😊
Steve is onto something here. I've just visited the Samsung Mobile site in: UK, Italy, France, Spain. Any mention of GPS has disappeared from the specifications page of the i8910 in UK and France, while it's still there in Italy and Spain. This is really weird. WTF is going on?
Samsung does need to sort out some of the applications on the i8910 though.
Google maps. The newer versions just don't work. They'll crash out after 2-3 mins. Older versions (3.0.0.12) are OK though.
Opera Mini. Version 4 freezes after a few minutes use. Version 5, although much easier on the eye and a nicer app all round, also slows down to a crawl after a few minutes. (though there is apparently a fix for this). Apparently a Java issue?
Nokia Messaging. I know, i know, it's not supposed to be on the Samsung and the three times i've tried it's royally F'ed my phone (even though others have claimed success). But Samsung needs to make a version of their own, or port Nokia's version over. I REALLY miss it.
If you want to test out the gaming, the best I've found so far is Prince of Persia HD from Gameloft. I guess it's Java but I must confess I found it quite stunning.
Or am I just easy to please 😊
IMO the screen / sunshine issue could be solved by a clamshell like the E90 . Outer screen Transflective . Inner screen AMOLED .
😊 Regards jApi NL
Is Turkish included in the firmware? And support for different language inputs?
My i8910 came with a fully working 2 year licensed route 66 that walked circles around nokia maps on my n95. It dissappeared at sometime during my rom reflashing. Gps lock times are fantastic on this device btw.
As for 3d games. There is quake 1,2 and 3. The last one looks fantastic at 640x360 resolution running on maximum details with pretty decent frame rates. Of course, none of them are playable since samsung didn't bother making bluetooth keyboard drivers. Hacking your device will allow you to install nokias driver which works great.
UKJeeper wrote:
Google maps. The newer versions just don't work. They'll crash out after 2-3 mins. Older versions (3.0.0.12) are OK though.
What Samsung should really do is to roll out periodic firmware upgrades in other countries like they currently do here in Italy. The vast majority of i8910 owners (or, at least, those who post in forums) are flashing firmware designed for other countries, sometimes even cooked fw, screwing up their phones in the process. I've seen reported the craziest bugs by people who regularly flash their fw, none of which is present on my phone.
For the record, my i8910:
- doesn't lose photos (j.bruha)
- runs the Connected Home app fine (rleader)
- is capable of running Google Maps 3.2.1 for hours without crash (UKJeeper)
I believe the firmware flashing process is not as harmless as a lot of people seem to think. Even if your phone seems to start up OK after flashing some leaked fw you found, it may develop a lot of subtle issues that we Italian owners don't have.
Samsung is responsible for creating this situation. I don't think it would be much trouble to localize II1 for countries other than Italy, test it, and push it through the legal firmware update channel in those countries.
Jejoma wrote:If you want to test out the gaming, the best I've found so far is Prince of Persia HD from Gameloft. I guess it's Java but I must confess I found it quite stunning. Or am I just easy to please 😊
Actually the "HD" in the title indicates its an S60 (sis) game.
Will work on all recent S60 phones. It may look relatively great but will not use the additional power of the high end GPU of the Omnia HD though...
Install Quake 3 Arena on your i8910 and you'll see just how powerful OMAP 3 and PowerVR SGX are.
Your puny N97 could only dream of running Quake 3.
Unregistered wrote:Install Quake 3 Arena on your i8910 and you'll see just how powerful OMAP 3 and PowerVR SGX are.Your puny N97 could only dream of running Quake 3.
How do you play it on Omnia?
Unregistered wrote:Install Quake 3 Arena on your i8910 and you'll see just how powerful OMAP 3 and PowerVR SGX are.Your puny N97 could only dream of running Quake 3.
LOL! Hope you enjoy playing your kids games.
it does NOT support FLV files!! where u get that from..!?
i've loaded a couple of .flv's (albeit off YouTube) and none have played on the phone!
Just a quick comment: the small QWERTY keyboard is not available on my phone. I flashed it to the latest Italian II1 firmware, and there are three options for input: full screen querty, alphanumeric and handwriting.
Is there any way to enable the portrait querty keyboard? I would like to give it a try (like in Opera 5 beta), but it does appear that it is not available (which is also what I have been reading elsewhere). Did you actually have the small querty keyboard available for your testing?
@ capitaine: My i8910 plays .flv files just fine that I've loaded onto the device. I wonder if it not working has to do with how YouTube converts its videos? Whatever the reason, they should work for you.
Srebbul wrote:Just a quick comment: the small QWERTY keyboard is not available on my phone. I flashed it to the latest Italian II1 firmware, and there are three options for input: full screen querty, alphanumeric and handwriting.Is there any way to enable the portrait querty keyboard? I would like to give it a try (like in Opera 5 beta), but it does appear that it is not available (which is also what I have been reading elsewhere). Did you actually have the small querty keyboard available for your testing?
No, there is no portrait QWERTY, except for some shoddy third party app that attempts to emulate its own portrait qwerty. I forget the name and judging from the screenshots of it i saw, it's nothing to be jealous about, unfortunately. I, too, wish there was a good portrait qwerty option available. The phone is certainly wide enough for it to be comfortable to type on. I hate landscape qwerty on touch phones.
jApi NL wrote:IMO the screen / sunshine issue could be solved by a clamshell like the E90 . Outer screen Transflective . Inner screen AMOLED .😊 Regards jApi NL
What if you open up the screen in sunshine to work on something? 😊