There has been no hiding from the fact that the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD has not been as widely available as one would expect at this stage. Remember, this is a handset that was released in the UK around the middle of May. Here we are, two months later and sim-free handsets are still hard to come by (well in the UK at least).
There may be a valid reason for this. According to GSMArena, the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD will effectively get a re-launch on 1st August selling for €540. They go on to say that mass production was stopped shortly after the soft launch “for some i-dotting and t-crossing to take place”.
Now exactly what that means is anyone’s guess. Could Samsung have taken the phone back to the drawing board for some (minor) internal changes? Or are the changes all related to firmware? We recently saw the IG2 firmware release that has enabled AAC audio when using video recording. That particular firmware is currently localised to the Italian market, but maybe Samsung are including a version of this to ship in all handsets?
At this moment in time, one can only guess what exactly Samsung wanted to fix before the handset received wider availability. However, it is interesting that some of the major mobile phone websites out there (like GSMArena and All About Symbian) refuse to publish reviews until they get hands-on with final sim-free i8910 HD handsets.
We received an email from Samsung PR yesterday apologising for the delay in sending out handsets to Omnia HD Ambassadors. They attributed the delay to the following: “The delay has occurred because of an update to the software being used, and Samsung want to ensure that you have the newest software during your use of the handset.” This is likely to mean that the bug squashing is related to software rather than hardware changes. After all, how much of an uproar from the early adopters would there be, if newer versions of the phone had some ‘enhanced’ features. Anyway, there’s not too long to find out now. We should be getting our handset within the next couple of weeks (fingers crossed!)
Thanks box360!
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if they release a new 1 with better hardware, i aka we the current i8910 owner would be pissed, good luck samsung.
Have you even got your i8910 yet? Sad really having a Omnia HD blog without even owning the phone. Samsung have let you down!
They’ve let all of the Ambassador’s down to be honest. They should have been realistic with the timelines to avoid disappointment. Although had I known it would have taken this long initially I would have probably bought the handset myself a while back!
second what phillip said – as an i8910 owner I would freak out if there was a hardware change
I just got mine yesterday if there’s ANY update they should give it to the current owners like apple iphone….take to your nearest store or something….right now i can’t even get ig2 because my i8910 is french
i just emailed samsung they replied
In response to your email regarding your phone. There isno relaunch
date. If you having problems please take your phone to local service
centre for firmware update.
Bigger drive c: would be much appreciated in updated version. That, and lack of real remote (Nokias like) in the headset are Omnia HD’s biggest faults
Hey TM what’s wrong with the c drive mines okay…toatl memory 247.50mb i usually use about 100 mb ad have 140mb left it’s actually better than one on my old(still using) computer..i opened msn, the program that detects music and tells you the song, bbc iplayer, and web and it still was pretty fast
You probably mean RAM memory which Omnia HD has good amount – 256MB and about 160MB free after booting
I was talking about internal drive c: on which contacs and messages are stored. Some work better when install on drive c: (e.g python apps). Also drive c: shrinking is well common in Symbian system (accumulating of browser catch, emails, etc). Furthermore many apps even though installed on drive e: (in Omnie HD 8GB or 16GB memory) or drive f: (memory card – microSD) also reside on drive c: due to some registry issues, autorun or else.
Omnia HD has only about 50MB free on drive c: – thats way to little and one must always care for every MB to avoid out of memory errors and problems in such simple things like sending bigger files via bluetooth.
great blog! I am glad that I visited him
Hey how do you get the same setup as in that picture there?
Why have you stuck the N97 homescreen onto the front of the Omnia HD??? Do you know something or are you just teasing???
Looks as if we might finally be getting the ambassador phones tomorrow hopefully doesn’t it? The first challenge is an interesting one! Still trying to think up an idea.
New firmware update confirmed from Samsung Facebook Italia!!!
The new firmware update will fix the overall performance of omnia HD including the 3D multitask!
http://www.facebook.com/SamsungOmniaHD?ref=s
Guys, the image used here shows Handy Shell being used on the phone, not the N97 homescreen. It’s a nice alternate active standby app (because the i8910 HD doesn’t have enough homescreen options obviously…) but doesn’t work on all S60 phones unfortunately.
Just had an e-mail saying mine should be arriving today and giving instructions on how to change the phone into English.
I received my ambassador phone today finally so i imagine you will have to? I’ll shortly start to have a play
Hi,
That’s nice that you got the phone. Let me know how does the pictures are in the night especially in the club and/or night clubs? I have omnia, the pictures at night, sometimes doesnt becomes blurry and not clear but other pictures are fine.
No Sim-free Omnia HDs? I mean, what are you people talking about? EU countries have no boundaries… I bought my Omnia HD on-line in Italy/EU for 370 euros and just upgraded firmware to latest available… No errors, phone acts as advertized and even better when you find right apps (free and payware too). I never expected it to be this good that’s for sure. As for memory creed – just tuck in 8 GB microSD and you won’t have any trouble with storage. I took few night photos, and for mobile phone photos they look great. Phone itself has lots of options to finetune your camera/video recorder setting! It lacks some usefull widgets though, slight change in Samsung widget theme (3 screen desktops without having to pull out widget bar for example) etc and this is the phone that can last for years IMO.
Hardly a relaunch to be honest.
The Omnia i8910 HD is better in several ways, although the i8000 does have a slightly better screen. Its more a successor to the i8510.
ItsJustAC what the fuck are you talking about hardly a relaunch to be honest? its just a real life relaunch that will happen in which they improved internal stuff, and also many things in the software. the phone is awesome, the OMNIA II is looking crappy with its windows mobile 6.5 and its windows mobile in general which fuckin sucks and is slow, also this phone has overall better hardware, with the omnia II having a laughable 5 megapixel camera. the screen is better? you just thought that because you saw a nice shiny photoshopped commercial image of the phone. thats all? both screens are exactly the same, made by the same AMOLED company, they just sticked to the same, its not possible to make that slight tweak to improve it its just bullshit.
uggh the i8000 DOES have a slightly better screen. the i8000 is 3.7 in.
480 x 800 pixels, 3.7 inches
while the i8910 has
360 x 640 pixels, 3.7 inches
No release yet today (1st august). delayed again. weird.
Received mine a few days ago. really please with it. (UK).
I had a nokia n95 8GB and put the applications of windows live messenger, facebook and youtube on it.
does this exist for this phone, and if so how do I get it, even links please.
please reply to email or post blog… if too long.
thanks expert!
Still No re-launch been delayed again or what!?!
i got my 8910 1 week before.. im just wondering why the phone hangs and gets slow after i use the 3G+ network
Hi,
Current version of Omnia HD is running symbian^1. Does samsung have a plan to upgrade the phone OS to symbian^2 and symbian^3 when they release in 6 months and 1y respectively (checkout the symbian foundation site)?? That will be a very important criteria to buy the Omnia HD now, because though omnia HD is as functional as the iphone now (maybe) it will not be so when iphone raises the functionality bar through an OS upgrade.
reg
vivek
omniafan, I don’t know why you’re being aggressive.
It isn’t a relaunch because its not the same phone, and not a better version of the same phone. I have an i8910 HD, and there is a significant difference between than and this one.
I said specifically that the Omnia II is not a relaunch because it is not a better phone. It does have an AMOLED screen too, but it is higher resolution than the i8910 and that’s the only advantage. A relaunch wouldn’t be a downgrade and different OS entirely, so I don’t see why people are touting the i8000 as that.
So I reserve the idea I’m right in saying so.