Yippee! Finally, we have someone else who has had a look at the OmniaHD. We were posting so many impressions on the Omnia HD from All About Symbian (AAS) that some have mistakenly thought we were an affiliate site! Anyway, phoneArena have managed to get hands-on with a prototype unit and came away impressed. They believe the device may raise the ball-game for phones at this level and could put some of its rivals in hot water.

From reading their preview, there were a few things that stick out. Firstly, it seems that the unit they played with did not have a camera lens cover (I have attached a large picture after the break that puts this beyond doubt). Now I know that AAS said that the final retail unit will not feature a lens cover, but I’m still secretly hoping Samsung change their minds. For such a high-end imaging device and for the cost involved, I would not want to see dust getting into the lens.

Secondly, it looks like that back of the phone will be glossy plastic. So unfortunately it will probably be a fingerprint magnet. Like AAS, phoneArena were very impressed with the video playback (especially on that 3.7-inch screen) with it playing a number of plays smoothly and without problems. This is one area of the phone that has me very excited. I detest converting my video files so to play these files natively on the Omnia HD would be ideal.

On the video recording side they found that it did skip and stutter when recording in HD. The same thing happened with AAS, so I’m hoping this will be fixed in the final release. The software for the 8MP camera was found to be fast and easy to use. The preview also has some sample videos and photos (including 360 degree flash) of the device which are worth checking out. I have attached the summary points from the preview after the break (including their thoughts on the software side).

Key points from phoneArena preview:

• 3.7-inch AMOLED screen delivers stunning and vivid image quality.
• The whole back side is glossy plastic that, unfortunately, simply loves fingerprints.
• TouchWiz 3D is showy and appealing. Widgets can be pulled on the screen by dragging them from the status bar on your left to the home screen.
• 3D navigation can be switched off should you not really like it.
• Quite pleased with the QWERTY keyboard after typing several messages. You can choose the response time depending on your own typing speed. Switching over to a standard on-screen keyboard or hand writing recognition is just a few clicks away.
• Browser interface has got more colourful and appealing. All pages and Flash elements, including the YouTube player load properly, there is no evidence of any problems and navigation on such a huge screen feels great.
• Music: You can almost immediately notice the 5.1 channel sound equaliser function. The RDS FM Radio features a simple, stylish interface in pleasing colours.
• 8-megapixel camera has a Pixon-like interface. It is extremely fast and easy to use.
• HD videos recording: The maximum setting of 19 frames per second left them wanting as the video was a bit choppy and stuttering. They hope that the phone will be bundled with 24-fps capable software when it hits retail.
• MediaBrowser: Looks similar to the Pixon´s Photo Browser and you can preview all available camera shots and video files. The accelerometer can be used to switch over between files.
• Video playback: Plays MP4 and AVI files without a hitch. Watching videos on a 3.7-inch AMOLED display beggar’s description. I agree with their suggestion that there is no point in converting videos at a greater resolution than the one of the screen features though (640×360), especially if you are intent on seeing the movie on your phone.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 5:34 PM and is filed under Hands On, Imaging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.