Samsung Galaxy R in Malaysia?

The Samsung Galaxy R (also known as I9103) is the first handset to walk in the shoes of the Samsung Galaxy S II. A slightly stripped down version of Samsung's flagship, it wears similar looks, packs an equally powerful core and only downgrades the camera to 5 megapixels. Actually, the Galaxy R is the first of many other versions of the S II that we expect to follow – just as was the case with

Samsung Galaxy S II coming to Maxis soon

Just saw this on Maxis website. It indicates that Maxis will be bringing in the Samsung Galaxy S II soon. *** UPDATE: It’s official. Check this site.

Samsung's Infuse 4G coming to AT&T May 15th for $200

 

We've known Samsung's Infuse 4G was coming to AT&T since the day we got our grubby mitts on one at CES, and now it's finally here.
Samsung's svelte superphone with the dazzling 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display is launching May 15th on AT&T for $200 on a two-year contract. Keep it locked right here, as more pics and a hands-on with Sammy's hot new handset are on the way.

Behind that sizable screen real estate, the Infuse 4G packs HSDPA Cat 14 and HSUPA Cat 6 radios, a 2GB microSD card, 1.2 GHz processor, and Android 2.2. Sammy also gave it an 8-megapixel camera in the back that does 720p video and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing shooter -- all in a handset that's 9.24mm thick in the bulge at the bottom and 8.9mm thin most everywhere else. Full details are in the PR after the break.

Samsung's i7500 Android phone hand's on

We already got a decent look of Samsung's first Android device - the i7500. Tech65's video gives the phone a much more in depth while the software is still not in its final state.The Samsung Android is the quad-band GSM, tri-band 7.2Mbps HSDPA (900/1700/2100MHz) handset boasts a 3.2-inch, 320 x 480 pixel AMOLED touchscreen, WiFi, GPS, a 5 megapixel camera, 8GB of storage with MicroSD expansion for up to 32GB more, and a standard 3.5mm jack.

Watch out Tech65's Video:

Samsung E1110 and E2510 Entry-level Phones

Samsung presents two new entry-level mobile phones, the E1110 and the E2510. Both of them are basic mobile phones that doesn’t offer fancy functions but phone functions.

The Samsung E1110 is a candy-bar style phone with a 1.3-inch display, Bluetooth, support for MP3 ringtones and 1.5MB memory.

The clamshell style Samsung E2510 has a 1.9-inch display, camera, Bluetooth and 15MB memory. It supports quad-band GSM.

[mobilewhack]

AT&T Samsung a777 3G Slider

AT&T releases the Samsung a777 slider phone that supports UMTS/HSDPA 850/1900 MHz 3G and quad-band GSM/EDGE networks.

Samsung a777 features a 176 x 220 display, a 1.3 Megapixel camera with 3x digital zoom, Bluetooth, integrated MP3 player, backlit keys, 50 MB internal memory and a microSD card slot.

The Samsung a777 is available from AT&T for $79.99 after $50 mail-in rebate and with 2-year contract.

[att]

Samsung Cleo Stylish QWERTY Clamshell

Samsung launches in Canada the Cleo QWERTY clamshell phone that comes with a stylish design. The fat Samsung Cleo features a color LCD display, an external display, a 1.3 Megapixel camera, integrated music player and support for external memory (microSD?) up to 8GB.

The Cleo comes in Pink, blue and Champagne.

[Samung CA]

Samsung S9402 DuoS Dual SIM Luxury Phone

This is Samsung’s S9402 DuoS that is probably the first dual SIM Samsung phone outside China. The Samsung S9402 DuoS is a luxury mobile phone with “hardened scratch resistant display glass and metal frame covered with rhodium (chemical and mechanical damage resistant platinum group metal).”

Samsung S9402 DuoS features a 2-inch AMOLED display, a 5 Megapixel autofocus camera, Bluetooth, 1GB internal memory, FM Tuner and a microSDHC card slot. The 5 Megapixel camera offers image stabilization, Smile Detection, WDR and LED flash.

The Samsung S9402 DuoS is not a 3G phone. It supports:

• Triband GSM (900/1800/1900 Mhz), GPRS/EDGE connectivity on 1st SIM card
• Dual band (900/1800 Mhz), GPRS/EDGE connectivity on 2nd SIM card

[mobilemania]

Samsung SCH-u310 Knack for Verizon

Verizon offers the Samsung SCH-u310 Knack clamshell phone for elderly people. This u310 Knack features a 2.2-inch display, big keypad buttons and a dedicated 911 button for emergency needs. This basic mobile phone is priced at $39.99 with a 2-year contract.

[MobileDevice]

SAMSUNG OMNIA: Opinião após uma semana de uso

Dá-lhe,


Após uma semana usando exclusivamente o Samsung Omnia, resolvi criar esse tópico para compartilhar minha breve opinião sobre o aparelho.

Apenas como referência, vale ressaltar que meu aparelho está com a seguinte versão de ROM/Radio: DXHG3

SAMSUNG OMNIA
(Primeiras Impressões)

HARDWARE

Começo abordando sobre o aspecto físico.

Sem sombra de dúvidas, o Omnia é o aparelho mais bonito e elegante que já tive.

Apesar de ter uma tela maior que o padrão dos PPC/PE atuais, e dessa forma ser UM pouco maior que estes, ele é bem fino, o que garante uma empunhadura bem confortável na hora de uma ligação, por exemplo, além de não incomodar nem um pouco no bolso (é quase imperceptível).

Não resta dúvidas que ele foi inspirado no iPhone, e isso pode ser percebido ainda mais pelo número reduzido de botões (ou pelo espaço que eles ocupam).

Ao todo ele possui:

a. Na parte frontal: O botão de ligar e desligar, além do mouse óptico (que pode ser usado como 4-pad).

Os três botões não são saltados, ou seja, ficam na mesma altura do visor, o que dificulta que os botões sejam apertados sem querer num bolso, por exemplo.

Apenas o mouse óptico é um pouco mais alto que a tela, mas coisa de milímetros.

Acima do visor existe um grande falante do telefone, que é o local de escuta do telefone e da caixa de som do aparelho.

Um pouco abaixo há a câmera para video chamada e do lado esquerdo dela há o sensor automático de backlight.

b. Nas partes laterais:

b1. Do lado direito - 4 botões:

1. Atalho rápido para o Menu especial da Samsung (ou Task Manager, se apertado por uns segundos)
2. Botão de aumentar o volume, dar zoom na câmera ou zoom em qualquer área (se apertado por uns segundos)
3. Botão de diminuir o volume, diminuir o zoom ou ligar o led do flash (se apertado por uns segundos, e configurado nos settings para isso)
4. Botão para abertura do álbum de fotos ou do acionamento da câmera (se apertado por uns segundos)

b2. Do lado esquerdo - Nenhum botão. Ele possui apenas a parte para prender a stylus ou uma alça de mão. Além disso, há ainda o conector proprietário para sincronismo, carregamento e fone de de ouvido do aparelho.

c. Na parte superior: Há apenas o botão de ligar e desligar (se segurado, desliga por completo) e o orifício do Reset.

d. Na parte inferior: Não há nenhum botão. Existe apenas o orifício do microfone.

e. Na parte traseira: Temos apenas a câmera e o led.

Como já disse, achei ele extremamente bonito, e acredito que isso se deva por causa do aspecto espelhado que ele aparenta.

Olhando p/ ele, parece que o aparelho só tem uma bela tela espelhada (embora não seja epelhada..).

Como o contorno da tela é cromado(?), isso contribuiu para que eu achasse o aparelho muito bonito (embora essa região possa riscar mais facilmente...acredito).

Atrás ele é feito de plástico, ou melhor, é composto apenas pela tampa da bateria, e pelo fato de não ser no estilo "black piano" (aquele preto brilhante inimigo de dedos) dá um aspecto de limpeza no aparelho, o que acredito que dificulte no aparecimento de riscos.

Abaixo dessa tampa é que fica a bateria, o slot do SIM Card e o slot do MicroSD.

Aqui fica a primeira falha do aparelho: Vc não consegue tirar o MicroSD sem tirar a bateria.

O MicroSD não fica embaixo da bateria, mas sim ao lado........Então pq vc não consegue tirar??

Por um simples motivo: a saída dele fica virada para a bateria. Dessa forma, uma vez inserido e com a bateria acoplada, a saída ficará bloqueada pela bateria.

Não sei pq os engenheiros planejaram assim, pois era só inverter a saída para o lado oposto da bateria.

A mesma coisa ocorre com o SIM Card, mas pelo fato de ser mais maleável, com jeito vc acaba conseguindo tirá-lo sem tirar a bateria.

---

Saindo do aspecto físico e falando em seu desempenho como PPC/PE, até o momento achei ele bem rápido em todas as funções em que o botei a prova (principalmente no uso do GPS e na execução de filmes).

O WM por si só já é um OS pesado, tendo em vista a infinidade de coisas que ele pode realizar, e o Omnia executa as tarefas de forma bem satisfatória.

Até o momento eu não tive nenhum lag perceptivo, ou que prejudicasse alguma atividade.

Em suma, em termos de velocidade/desempenho, estou bastante satisfeito.

---

A tela maior é muito boa na utilização de programas como o Opera, leitura de documentos/ebooks/emails..., um navegador de GPS (Ex. TomTom), mas quando ela é exposta diretamente ao sol, a situação muda.

Apesar de ter um sensor automático de backlight, contra o sol a tela não fica muito visível. Dá p/ ver, mas não de forma muito natural.

A impressão que passa é que a tela fica esbranquiçada.

---

O GPS é algo fascinante, pois no uso conjunto Tomtom+GPSGate (com a função aGPS ativada), consigo fixar satélite em no máximo 2 segundos.

É uma coisa absurdamente rápida. Nunca vi nada parecido (se bem que nunca tive um aparelho com aGPS).

Nos vários testes que fiz com o GPS, não perdi o sinal em nenhum deles (incluindo túneis).

Em um dia em que eu estava na Av. Paulista completamente parada, percebi que em dois momentos o satélite jogou minha posição para uma rua paralela a Paulista.

Vale frisar que estava na Av. Paulista (zona completamente cheia de interferências) e estava PARADO.

Quando comecei a andar, ele já achou minha posição correta.

---

O acelerômetro é outra coisa que gostei bastante, ainda mais por funcionar em todos os programas (principalmente com o TomTom).

Obs.: Programas que não funcionam em landscape com o acelerômetro, ele tenta rodar a tela e volta p/ Portrait.

Só uma coisa achei estranha (e que já tinha visto em outros reviews): a tela gira para a esquerda, para a direita e para "baixo", mas se virar o aparelho de ponta cabeça, a tela não irá virar...ficando na posição de "baixo". É uma bobagem, mas enfim, por enquanto é isso que acontece.

---

O espaço adicional de 16GB (meu modelo) é excelente e garante um espaço absurdo para vc guardar o que quiser.

No meu caso, eu uso o espaço de 16GB para todos os programas/jogos e afins, e o meu cartão de 8GB para fotos, músicas, filmes, vídeos e documentos, pois fica mais fácil transferir para outro local.

---

Gostei do som nas ligações. Me parece claro e limpo.

O fato do speaker ser frontal tb torna o uso do auto-falante mais produtivo.

---

A Câmera de 5mpx é outro aspecto que não pode deixar de ser mencionado: ela é rápida e de resultado satisfatório.

O programa que vem junto é bem no padrão das câmeras "semi-profissionais", permitindo diversos tipos de fotos/vídeos para os vários tipos de exposição, além da escolha manual de ISOS (50 a 800).

---

O mouse óptico também é bom, mas apenas se for utilizado como mouse mesmo, pois se ativado para funcionar como 4-way (seria o D-pad dos demais aparelhos), vc poderá se irritar um pouco.

Ele não funciona como os D-pad comuns, pois ao invés de apertar, vc passará o dedo na posição que desejar levar o cursor (repito: estou falando da utlização como 4-way e não como mouse).

Às vezes vc tem que passar o dedo algumas vezes p/ obter êxito.

Já na função mouse ele funciona que é uma maravilha.

Parece que nas recentes ROMs lançadas, a Samsung melhorou a resposta do 4-way, mas como eu não atualizei não tenho como constatar.

Graças ao mouse óptico, eu nem uso a stylus do aparelho, que apesar de ser bem legalzinha, é bem chata de ser carregada (não tem slot p/ ela. Ela deve ser colocada na alça externa).

---

Falando na stylus, aqui vale pena compartilhar uma curiosidade que constatei: A sensibilidade com o dedo é muito melhor que a com a stylus (pelo menos é a impressão que eu tenho). Usando o dedo tudo flui perfeitamente (de forma bem lisa), mas com a caneta não tenho essa sensação...

---

No quesito bateria estou bem surpreendido. Ainda não tenho como precisar o tempo de duração, pois nessa semana eu usei demais e praticamente não deixei o "bichim" descansar.

Só posso dizer que nas vezes em que carreguei eu fiquei um tempão ligando tudo para zerar a bateria.

Hj, por ex., peguei com a bateria full na parte da manhã, fiz algumas ligações, recebi outras, usei WF, BT, tirei fotos, instalei/desinstalei alguns programas, mandei SMS, joguei um pouco....e agora estou com 80%.

Não foi um Hard day em termos de ligações (algo como 10 ligações relativamente curtas), mas foi em relação ao WF e BT, usando o BT p/ mandar programas e WF p/ conectá-los à internet para testes. Fora que com isso ele ficou muito tempo ligado direto...

Enfim, ACHO que quando deixá-lo totalmente adaptado pro meu gosto, ele deve durar uns 2 ou até 3 dias de uso moderado.

---

Depois abordo outros aspectos...

---

SOFTWARE

A Samsung customizou bastante o Windows Mobile. A impressão em alguns momentos é que eles criaram uma versão especial do WM.

O Omnia vem com diversos programas de fábrica feitos pela Samsung, como por ex.:

1. Call log: visualizador das últimas chamadas, mas no formato finger friendly (para uso com o dedo), permitindo que se filtre tudo rapidamente, execute uma ligação ou delete facilmente o registro.

2. Câmera: que além das diversas opções de foto e vídeo, conta ainda com um detector de sorrisos e de rosto (foco) e na parte de vídeo, ainda permite que se faça filmes em slow motion.

3. Clock: Programa que reúne Alarms, Memorial Day (lembrete para datas especiais), World Clock (hora mundial) e Stop Watch (cronômetro)

4. Digital Frame: Funciona como aqueles porta-retratos digitais, mostrando a hora, as fotos (parada ou como slideshow)...hora com fundo das fotos..enfim, é um programa p/ vc deixar ligado com o aparelho na tomada.

5. FM Radio: dispensa explicações

6. Media Album: programa que reúne toda a parte multimidia do aparelho. Vc tem acesso rápido as fotos, músicas, filmes e etc.

7. Photo Slides: Visualizador de fotos que busca todas as imagens do aparelho

8. PodCasts: Serve para vc ouvir seus podcats favoritos de forma bem organizada. É um "RSS" de podcast.

9. RSS Reader: precisa explicar? rss

10. Smart Converter: Conversor de temperatura, tamanho, area, dentre outras.

11. Smart Reader: Leitor de cartão de visita. Ele escaneia o cartão pela câmera e adiciona as informações da pessoa na agenda do aparelho.

12. TV out Player: Em conjunto com o cabo específico (não incluso no meu pacote), permite ligar o celular na televisão

13. Touch Player: Tocador de música, vídeos e filmes.

14. Task Switcher: permite fechar os aplicativos abertos ou navegar entre eles.

15. Phonebook: agenda telefônica no estilo do iPhone.

(tem tb o SilverInbox (programa finger friendly de SMS/email - apenas da lista), mas no meu caso é ativado apenas via registro)

Bom, acho que citei todos que foram feitos pela Samsung.

(claro que ainda tem os 3 tipos de today (incluindo o com widgtes) e os 3 tipos de teclados)

Além disso ele vem com diversos outros programas, como o Opera, Streaming Player, Video Editor (editor de vídeos), Windows Live, Theme (programa para trocar facilmente a cor do tema utilizado) e etc...

==========

Após uma semana de uso, eu posso opinar da seguinte maneira:


PRÓS:

• Aspecto Físico (beleza e finura)
• Sensibilidade com o dedo
• Rapidez
• Câmera
• Programas nativos
• Finger Mouse (apenas a parte mouse e não 4-way)
• Qualidade do som nas ligações
• GPS (fixação do satélite e manutenção do sinal)
• 16GB de memória (Storage) + slot para memória adicional
• Bateria

CONTRAS:

• Stylus Externa (embora seja dispensável)
• Conector proprietário
• Dificuldade de visualização da tela quando exposta diretamente ao sol
• MicroSD e SIM Card só podem ser retirados se a bateria for retirada
• 4-way não é muito preciso

================================================



Por enquanto é isso. Quando der eu coloco algumas fotos e divulgo novas informações.

Desculpem a forma confusa e vaga da minha opinião, mas estou cansado para caramba e hoje era minha data limite para postar.

Espero que sirva p/ alguma coisa, e caso alguém tenha dúvida sobre algum item comentado, ou sobre qualquer outro aspecto, fique a vontade p/ perguntar em nosso Fórum que responderei:

http://www.palmforum.com.br/forum/viewtopic.php?f=77&t=31354&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Samsung a837 Rugged Phone for AT&T

Samsung and AT&T is going to launch the military-spec mobile phone a837, according to BGR. The Samsung a837 is a quad-band GSM/3G/HSDPA mobile phone that supports also Push-to-talk. a837 is a clamshell phone with a main and an external screen, a 1.3 Megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and aGPS.

O Ataque dos CLONES - III: Samsung Omnia (ou Samsung Clomnia)

Dá-lhe,

Seguindo a tradição dos grandes aparelhos (vide posts anteriores sobre o HTC Diamond, iPhone e Sony Xperia), chegou a vez do Samsung i900 Omnia ganhar a sua versão clonada.

Com vocês:

SAMSUNG OMNIA....CLONE
(CECT i900)

[HUMOR] O melhor unboxing do Samsung Omnia

Dá-lhe,

Hoje eu trago o "verdadeiro" e melhor UNBOXING do Samsung SGH-i900 (Omnia).

Esse sim deveria ser o metódo padrão...rss

[Download] Samsung Omnia (SGH-i900): RINGTONES

Dá-lhe,

Hoje eu trago os toques (ringtones) do Samsung Omnia.

SAMSUNG i900 OMNIA
(Ringtones)

(clique na imagem para fazer o download)

[Atualização] Samsung coloca no ar uma nova versão da ROM do Samsung Omnia - DXHG4

Dá-lhe,

Está no ar a nova versão oficial da ROM do Samsung i900 (Omnia).



Trata-se da versão DXHG4.

Quer saber o que essa nova versão trouxe de novo??

Como a Samsung não divulgou uma lista oficial de alterações/inovações (e eu ainda não tenho o aparelho para testar), vou colocar abaixo uma lista de impressões ditas pelos usuários que fizeram o upgrade:

• - Aparelho está mais rápido
• - Foram incluídos novos programas (Ex. Leitor/Scanner de cartão de visita)
• - Novo método de entrada de dados em chinês - Hanyu Pinyin
• - Acelerômetro está mais preciso
• - Nova animação quando a tela é rodada
• - Adicionado o novos widgets no Samsung Today Plugin
• - Adicionado o Samsung Today 1 Plugin
• - Alguns ícones foram alterados (Ex. Calculadora e quando está carregando)
• - A calculadora ganhou um novo visual
• - Novo relógio
• - Novos ítens de configuração na parte de Vídeos
• - Novos ítens de configuração na guia POWER - adicionado WF power saving mode
• - Tecla END agora pode travar o aparelho

..Por enquanto foi isso que li.

Meu aparelho deve chegar na sexta. Caso eu tenha coragem, eu farei a atualização.....e coloco as mudanças que perceber.

(update - 12/08)

Há um vídeo demonstrando um pouco as mudanças:

DOWNLOAD e mais informações: CLIQUE AQUI ou na imagem acima.

[RUMOR] Samsung i900 Omnia: BRANCO!!

Dá-lhe,

Seguindo uma tradição já antiga e, atualmente renovada pelo iPhone, a Samsung pretende lançar a versão branca do i900 (ou Omnia).

Até o momento não se sabe a veracidade dessa informação, e apenas a foto abaixo foi divulgada, mas segundo consta não há muito o que ser mostrado, já que se trata do mesmo aparelho e a parte frontal não sofrerá alterações.

Eis a foto

Caso seja verdade, taí uma nova opção para quem estiver pensando em adquirir esse aparelho que tem tudo (ou quase tudo..) para ser um sucesso.

[REVIEW] Samsung i8510 INNOV8 (First Look)

Dá-lhe,

Hoje eu trago um belo review feito pelo pessoal do site GSMArena, onde eles demonstram a "primeira impressão" do:

SAMSUNG i8510 INNOV8
(First Look)

The new Samsung uber-phone, called Samsung i8510 INNOV8, is finally in our hands. It packs so many goodies that it's hard to decide where to start from. It's not the first 8 megapixel handset but it's the best we've seen so far and better yet it's among the most loaded smartphones to see daylight. Everything about the i8510 INNOV8 speaks high-tech and since this is the case, we guess it has come to the right place, 'cause high-tech is what we do for a living.

Official photos of Samsung i8510 INNOV8

When you take the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 in your hands you somehow feel you are looking at the forefront of mobile technology. And it makes you think - if they give those to ordinary people like us, what are they really holding up back in their neat labs? But we digress.

We rarely see mobile phones that truly impress us and the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is among those few. We are in the process of making a full review however we couldn't help but post a quick preview for all of you to enjoy.

Samsung i8510 INNOV8 at a glance

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100 MHz, GPRS/EDGE class 10, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
  
  
• Dimensions: 106.5 x 53.9 x 17.2 mm, 140 g
  
  
• Display: 2.8-inch 16M color TFT, QVGA resolution (240 x 320 pixels)
  
  
• Memory: 128 MB RAM, 8/16GB flash storage, hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
  
  
• OS: Symbian 9.3, S60 3rd edition UI, Feature Pack 2
  
  
• Still camera: 8 megapixel autofocus, mechanical shutter, automatic lens cover, dual Power LED flash, digital image stabilizer, geotagging, auto panorama shot, face detection, smile detection, blink detection
  
  
• Video camera: MPEG4 VGA@30fps, QVGA@120fps high-speed recording
  
  
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, Wi-Fi with DLNA certification, 3.5mm audio jack, TV-out, universal microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS
  
  
• Misc: Accelerometer for screen auto rotate, Optical touchpad, 3D hardware accelerator, DivX support, stereo speakers, DSP audio technology, FM radio with RDS
  
  
• Battery: Li-Ion 1200 mAh, Talk time: 8 h 30 min, Standby: 310 h
  
  
• Expected release date: August 2008
  
  
• Expected retail price: 750 euro (1170 US dollars)

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 (previously rumored as Samsung Primera) has a name that seems really hard to pronounce, but in fact it's the word INNOVATE with some untraditional spelling. The device was announced only recently and it seems it will hit the market even sooner while other top-of-the-shelf devices such as Nokia N96 are still holding back for late autumn.

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8

Now that we have this baby in our hands, you can rest assured will put it properly through its paces. But for the purposes of this preview will try to present it more concisely covering only some of the matters of interest such as hardware and design, multimedia, web browser, GPS and of course, camera performance. We will try to give you all of our initial impressions, but you can count that we'll do a deeper analysis once the excitement settles in the days to come.

Samsung i8150 360-degree spin

Just to give you a size perspective the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is about the size of Samsung G810 but slightly longer. It also has the same weight. Nokia N95 8GB is close to those dimensions too. It's slightly shorter than the i8510 INNOV8, but it's also thicker. But the Samsung INNOV8 seems way longer than the N95 when the slider is open. We think, you have got the idea how big the INNOV8 is by now.

Design and construction

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 follows the design trend of all recent Samsung sliders - ingenious combination of metal and plastic and a totally flat keypad. The front panel is taken by the really large 2.8-inch 16M color display. Above it there is a video calls camera and an ambient light sensor for automatic screen brightness adjustment.

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 has a shiny display but it fares reasonably in bright sunlight

The display itself has a mirror finish but that doesn't hurt the sunlight legibility as much as we thought it would. However Nokia is still the leader in sunlight legibility - topped only by the Apple iPhone.

The D-pad below the display is comfortable to use and the optical touch pad is a novel concept among Symbian smartphones, although the same one is used in the Samsung i900 Omnia for example. Of course, unlike the Omnia, there is no mouse pointer here, unless in the web browser, where the touch pad really shines (but more on that later).

In the regular interface you can move your selection around by sweeping your thumb across the touchpad. A quick sweep moves the selection one item at a time, while a slower sweep jumps several items at a time.

The navigation keys are comfortable • the optical touch pad is cool but not really mind-boggling

Of course Nokia has a competing concept deployed in their smartphones too - the Navi Wheel as first pioneered in the Nokia N81 8GB. However However the Samsung touch pad is much more functional - especially in the web browser.

Under the touchpad hides a regular confirming key and if you turn off the touch pad functionality, you would never guess it's there.

The alphanumeric keypad is totally flat however the keys have sufficient touch feedback. Unfortunately, much like the Samsung G810, the C correction key is placed there instead right next to the D-pad. That's an uncommon solution and we find it hard to get accustomed to when handling text on the handset.

The keypad is totally flat, but still really usable with distinct touch orientation and press feedback

There are two multimedia shortcuts on the alphanumeric keypad - the M1 key opens the music library, while the M2 key starts the video library.

On the left side of the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is the 3.5mm audio jack, which doubles as a TV-out port, the volume rocker and… wait for it… the standard microUSB port. That's right - Samsung have changed their communication port once again - this time it's for the better.

The left side hosts the 3.5mm audio jack and a new microUSB port

Last September the major cellphone manufacturers Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG all agreed to start using the microUSB port as a common connectivity port. So far only Nokia has made some steps in that direction. Now Samsung seems to follow suit. The new Samsung microUSB port is used for both charging and data connections.

On the right-hand side of the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 there is the microSD memory card slot, the camera shutter key and a slider that changes the camera mode among still camera, camcorder and image gallery. When you start the camera you can hear the distinct click of the automatic lens cover opening up.

The right side is home to the camera key, the microSD card slot and the camera mode slider

The 8 megapixel camera on the back is styled really nicely - a lot similar to Samsung digicams actually. On both sides of the lens you will notice the stereo speakers. However they are positioned so close to each other that we found it hard to spot the stereo effect.

The back is all-camera with a large rim around the lens • there are also stereo speakers

The camera is also equipped with a Power LED flash - it's not a xenon one unfortunately, but it packs dual LED design.

The Power LED flash has a dual LED design

The battery cover, which is all-metal by the way, has a really nice locking mechanism. In order to release the cover, you need to slide the whole bottom part of the back panel.

The back panel is all metal and has an ingenious locking mechanism

The battery powering the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is a standard Li-Ion one with a capacity of 1200 mAh. The manufacturer promises up to 310 h of standby time and up to 8 h 30 min of talk time. By the way, the same battery is used in Samsung G810, as well as Samsung i550 and Samsung D780.

The battery has a relatively large capacity, we really hope it would last the handset for at least three days

Truth be told, the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is a big handset. And when the slider is opened, it gets too long to allow convenient operation with both the navigation pad and the alphanumeric keys, which in the same time balancing the weight of the upper half with your index finger. And that's when having rather large hands - we can't imagine how would it feel in a girl's hand.

When opened, the Samsung INNOV8 gets too long to be comfortable

User interface is all too well known

The Symbian S60 3rd edition user interface is used by all Nokia smartphones for quite some time now. Samsung however seem to have a hunch for that operating system too and has several Symbian smartphones in its portfolio.

The Samsung INNOV8 home screen • the media sub-menu

The other available themes remind of the Samsung F480 Tocco and the Samsung U900 Soul

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 comes with the Feature Pack 2 of the Symbian OS S60 UI, which was announced back in February 2008 and we even have an article on the changes it brings to the Symbian S60 smartphones. Still there aren't that many handsets with it available so we guess it's still a novelty.

However we won't be covering it here, let's just stick to the basics.

The Feature Pack 2 home screen

It's interesting that unlike Nokia smartphones the auto screen rotation feature doesn't work in the menus. But it's pretty much the only place it's not active. Other than that you can rotate every interface screen.

You can rotate pretty much everything except the main menu

The Samsung INNOV8 screen rotation is more attractive than the Nokia one. Much like on the Samsung Omnia, the screen of the INNOV8 first zooms out nicely then rotates to landscape and zooms back in. Some eye-candy can't hurt anybody, right?

Multimedia highlights

The Samsung INNOV8 will have two variants - 8GB and 16GB. The test unit we had was a 16GB one and as expected the actual available memory is more of 14.9GB. There is also a hot-swappable microSD slot. And with the DLNA support you can now mount locally remote folders shared on desktop computers and stream multimedia content from them.

Here's the system memory, the 16GB flash memory and a 1GB memory card • you can mount remote drives too (over Wi-Fi)

When connected to a PC via a data cable you get a choice of several connectivity modes. In the Mass Storage mode the large 16GB (or so) memory, as well as the memory card, both become available as removable drives on the computer. The internal system memory of the INNOV8 is not accessible in that mode.

Image gallery

Speaking of multimedia, the image gallery of the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 holds no surprises. Besides the auto screen rotation it has nothing special to offer. The Nokia N-series trademark gallery looks much better. We also noticed a certain lag in image opening - we really hope this is a pre-production bug that will be fixed further.

The Media gallery • the images list • opening an image

Viewing an image in landscape mode • available options • going fullscreen

The camera has it own image gallery that looks way better. It's only accessible if you slide the camera mode switch to gallery. It's only from there that you get access to the pre-installed image editor.

The camera gallery is much nicer • the auto screen rotations works great • the image editor is accessible only from this gallery

Music player

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 has the regular Symbian music player, there are no news in that department. You can sort tracks by by artist, album, genre and composer and searching tracks by gradual typing is also available.

The Music Menu • playing a track and the three different visualizations

The player comes with numerous equalizer presets, which is a good count by any means. In contrast to some Nokia smartphones, the music player can be terminated as a running process when not needed.

There are a lot of equalizer presets available

By the way a video editor is also available as a separate application that allows you not only to actually edit videos but also create videos out of still images (video slideshows).

The video editor is a versatile application

There's also an FM radio with RDS support. The INNOV8 can record radio broadcast too. However no equalizers are available for the FM radio.

The FM radio has RDS and broadcast recording • when you plug your headphones you can pick a mode

Video player

Video playback is among the touted features of the INNOV8. It's said to be able to play a really wide range of video formats among which even DivX. We managed to confirm that the INNOV8 plays superbly DivX .avi videos shot at VGAres@30fps. The same goes for MPEG4 VGA@30fps videos.

The video library • the video player has a rather basic interface with no overlays

By default all videos play in landscape mode and there's no setting to change that (not that anyone would want to). You can also fast-forward and rewind videos as you please.

Web browsing is excellent

Browsing the internet on a Samsung INNOV8 is a pleasure much like on any other Symbian S60 smartphone. Thanks to the great page rendering content fits perfectly on screen and looks exactly like on a PC.

Opening GSMArena.com • switching between tabs • going landscape

There is flash support but you can turn that off if you like. And now before you ask, yes, it does YouTube videos too - straight from the desktop version of YouTube.com.

Opening YouTube.com • watching a video • going fullscreen

The INNOV8 optical touchpad in combination with the web browser virtual mouse cursor (not visisble on the screenshots) really takes browsing a level up. The touchpad allows you to control the mouse pointer as freely as you like - just as on the desktop. And pushing the pointer to any of the borders of the visible window makes the webpage pans in that direction.

Unfortunately, the web browser doesn't have a true fullscreen view mode, but offers an interesting overlaying toolbar (not visible on the screenshots) with several shortcuts that can be operated with the mouse pointer.

GPS navigation is promising

The Samsung INNOV8 has a built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS support. Our test unit is packed with several GPS-centric applications, however we are not sure which ones will make it to the final retail product.

The Landmarks application allows you to setup various points of interest (obviously called Landmarks) by either storing your current GPS coordinates with a name, description and category or by picking a random spot on the map (provided by the Route66 Samsung Navigator app). You can also preview a previously stores Landmark position on the Route66 map.

The Landmarks application for managing personal points of interest

The GPS Data application gives you raw satellite data (coordinates, time, latitude, etc). It also allows you to setup basic navigation routes - to either an already stored Landmark or to a set of GPS coordinates. It doesn't offer a map of voice guidance, as we said, it's pretty basic. It also integrates a Trip Meter, which has some pretty self explanatory functionality.

The GPS Data application: navigation screen • adding a destination • the trip meter

The GPS+ application is the A-GPS information downloading utility.

The GPS+ application

Then there's the Gypsii application that offers a host of location-based communication services.

The Gypsii application

Google Maps also comes pre-installed on the INNOV8.

Google Maps

And finally, there's the Route66 Samsung Navigator, which is actually the Route66 Mobile8 application.

Route 66 Samsung Navigator

The 8 megapixel camera managed to impress us

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 packs a serious cameraphone punch. At 8 megapixels, there's hardly any other handset that can put up a fight - save for the Sony Ericsson C905. The INNOV8 produces images with a maximum resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels. And if that's not enough, it also offers all kind of goodies such as geotagging, automatic panorama shooting, face detection, smile detection, and even blink detection to prevent photos of people blinking (which happens to an awful lot of people).

The camera viewfinder • focus modes

The camera also has a mechanical shutter (much like Nokia N73, Sony Ericsson K800 and K850), digital image stabilization, and the proprietary Samsung Wide Dynamic range, which is used to lighten up shadows in high-contrast scenes. The mechanical shutter is a nice plus - as a mechanical way of stopping light making its way to the sensor it takes care of the vertical stripes that appear in the highlights of high-contrast images also known as smear, as well as the wavy distortion that sometimes appears if you move the camera while shooting.

Additional camera settings: image stabilization, wide dynamic range, blink detection, ISO setup

There's also ISO control (50-800) and various everyday settings such as white balance, preset shooting scenes, color effects, etc.

Standard camera settings: shooting modes • scene modes • resolution

As for the photo quality, there's not that much to say. Although our Samsung INNOV8 is a pre-production unit, it clearly produces by far the best photos we've seen from a cameraphone. The colors are spot on, the resolution is very high and the processing strikes the right balance, managing to suppress the noise and leave the tiny detail. Frankly, we couldn't find a single fault to criticize as far as the Samsung INNOV8 camera quality is concerned.

Here are several full resolution camera samples for your enjoyment:

And here are several more this time downsampled to 1600 x 1200 pixels (2 megapixel images). They look even better this way:

Update: Due to the huge interest we decided to add several new camera samples that we took this weekend. Now here's a bunch downsampled to 1600 x 1200 pixels (2 megapixel images):

And here is a set of high resolution samples:

With the recent announcements of 8 megapixel cameraphones many consumers are asking whether they really need that kind of resolution from their handsets. And also "Are 8 megapixels that much better than say… 5 megapixels?"

While everyone should answer the first question for themselves, we will try to answer the second one. Let's compare the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 to the Samsung i900 Omnia, which is a really good performer that we've picked to represent the 5MP crowd. Just for the fun, we are also throwing in the Apple iPhone 3G, which has a 2 megapixel snapper that in Steve Jobs' words makes "great pictures" when there is "enough light". You can bet we chose a scene with enough light.

Here is one and the same scene taken by three different handsets:

Samsung i8510 INNOV8 • Samsung i900 Omnia • Apple iPhone 3G

To be able to make a comparison between cameras with different resolution we are upsampling all images to the highest resolution (8 megapixel). This way we are simulating how the photos will look side by side when printed. The results should speak for themselves.

Here are 100% crops from the same scene to see the level of detail resolved by the three different cameras:

And if all that is not enough for you, the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 offers excellent video recording capabilities, too. It can capture MPEG4 video at 30fps in VGA resolution plus there's a high-speed video recording mode (QVGA@120fps) that's used for making slow-motion videos.

Unfortunately, our pre-release unit had some issues with video recording and since we are not happy with it, we will not be publishing video samples. One thing's for sure, the Samsung INNOV8 will deliver all the video recoding shebang as promised.

Final words

Well, we are really impressed by the package offered by the Samsung i8510 INNOV8. At first look the INNOV8 excels in almost every aspect combining strong multimedia performance, wide range of connectivity options and a nice set of location services. Last but not least it boasts a superior 8 megapixel camera that finally seems to be closing the gap between cellphones and dedicated digital cameras at least as far as image quality is concerned.

The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 has set the bar so high that it would most definitely take time for the other manufacturers to catch up. We are yet too see what it's fully capable of and how it performs in some more basic everyday tasks but for now the prospects are good. Stay tuned for our more detailed review.
via: GSMArena