Kinetic scrolling remains atop of most wish lists in terms of how one would improve the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD. Seeing how well it is implemented in the Gravity twitter application makes me yearn for this functionality even more.

Good news though, for those willing to upgrade to the latest Chinese firmware (I8910UZCII1), you will be treated to kinetic scrolling in the browser. This is because it uses the newest version of the Nokia WebKit browser (7.1.13841). Check out a video of this in action after the jump and also note that the browser also offers an auto-fullscreen mode. Let’s hope this makes it to other regional updates as soon as possible. Read the rest of this entry »

Nearly a week after Samsung released the Russian XEII1 firmware update, the company has released a new XXII1 update for Italian handsets. The similarities between both code names is not a coincidence – from what I can tell this new update (dated 7th September) is near enough identical to the Russian firmware.

I upgraded to this new firmware from IG2 yesterday and am enjoying it so far. You end up with a new 3D Task Switcher (a carousel showing opening apps) – it’s certainly not needed, but it sure looks fancy. There is also a Grid View of open apps if you prefer it to remain simple.

Other changes include a new zoom icon for the browser. You can also now zoom in/out of pictures in MediaBrowser. It’s good to know that the frustrating stop bug in the browser has also been fixed. The dial pad also sports ‘abc’, ‘def’ lettering on numbers now too.

From what I can tell, the update has made no change to the frame rate of HD video recording (you still get AAC audio though). There is also no App Store icon, despite the store launching shortly (Monday 14th September). A quick video tour of the new firmware is attached after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

A new Samsung i8910 HD firmware update is now out for Hong Kong & Russian models. The XEII1 has some quite interesting additions including a new 3D TaskSwitcher. We’ve attached a video of this in action after the break and appears to work very smoothly.

Other additions include an improved keyboard with increased spacing between keys. The browser stop bug has also been fixed. We have attached a changelog after the break that includes a number of other changes. Sounds like some worthwhile additions and we look forward to this being rolled in other regions soon. Read the rest of this entry »

Finding a decent case for the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD can be a tough task. As one of the tallest phones around, the last thing you need is extra bulk. There are a number of very good cases around, but I was looking for something that provided solid protection if the handset fell, in a minimalist design.

The guys over at MobileFun sent over the ToughGuard Shell case to review, which seemed to answer that criteria. The case is well designed, it hardly weighs anything but provides durable protection against knocks & scrapes. It comes in two parts (front & back) with a matte finish so you don’t need to worry about fingerprint marks. It is made out of tough polycarbonate, so it should last a long time.

Once fitted onto your phone, you have access to all of the camera features and all of the ports. There was no problem in gaining access to ports with flaps either. The manufacturers have provided enough room for easy access to all parts of your phone. It can be a bit tricky to remove once on, but that shows how strong it is.

Overall it’s thoroughly recommended. You can purchase it from MobileFun for £9.95 + p&p. Mobile Fun is one of the largest UK retailers dedicated to mobile phone accessories. They deliver across Europe too. Check out our hands-on video after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

We only recently upgraded our i8910 Omnia HD to the newer IG2 firmware. We didn’t upgrade as soon as we got the handset as we wanted to find out about the limitations of the current firmware before moving on. One of these limitations was AMR audio when recording video. The newer IG2 firmware upgrades this to AAC audio with a higher sampling rate.

To determine what the real-world difference might be, we shot a couple of videos using near-enough identical shooting conditions. We used one of my child’s toys, the singing lobster, to try and show off any improvements using IG2. You can check out both 30-second videos below , to hear the difference. Read the rest of this entry »

As an Omnia HD Ambassador, we have been tasked with a couple of missions to showcase various aspects of the handset. The first mission was entitled “A kaleidoscope of colours”. As you can probably guess, this particular task involved creating a video that contrasts the “colours in ordinary life and looks at the significance of colour”.

The criteria was quite open, which left me a bit stumped as to what idea to choose. I ruled out parks/beaches early on as I felt that most people would be thinking along the same lines. As a father of two young kids, my inspiration hit me pretty quickly.

I decided to use some of my kids toys. Most of them have quite bright and bold colours, which I thought would be perfect for a short video. I also submitted another video that simply follows a bright, colourful parrot wondering around its cage. You can see both of these attempts after the break. It’s by no means perfect, but hopefully gets the message across.

We should highlight that the videos were recorded in high-definition (1280 x 720) using I8910XXIF7 firmware. This is the firmware that shipped with the handset and uses AMR audio. As you can probably tell it doesn’t sound great at all. We will be upgrading to the newer ‘IG2’ shortly, but wanted to find out the limitations of the older firmware first! You’ll also probably notice dropped frames in the video, most noticeable when panning. Hopefully, this is something Samsung will be able to iron out in future firmware releases. Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, so I know that a lot of you have the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD already and I know that many of you have seen quite a few i8910 unboxing videos too, but I couldn’t resist throwing mine into the ring too! We put together a quick video that shows us unboxing the handset and we’ve also included some pictures of the whole thing too.

The i8910 HD we were sent was the Italian version, so the box included a European plug and Italian manuals, but this is not too much of an issue. I was a bit upset not to find the key-ring phone stand in the box, this was included in the Orange UK boxes. Initial impressions of the phone are very positive and it’s certainly not as tall as we’d come to believe. We’re still at the very early stages of playing around with the handset, so expect some more useful updates going forward. In the mean time check out our unboxing video and pictures after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

Our UK readers will probably have heard of Tim Lovejoy, who used to present Soccer AM and now is the anchorman for the Channelbee website. He recently went hands-on with the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD and you can watch his humorous tour of the phone here.

Channelbee is also giving you the chance to win the Samsung i8910 HD. All you have to do is create some original video content and upload your video onto the Channelbee website. The best one walks away with an i8910 handset. You’d better get cracking though as the closing date is Monday morning!

When the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD was originally released, it was due to come in two SKUs, one with 8GB of internal storage and another with 16GB. Whilst the phone has seen its sim-free release across parts of Europe and on contract in the UK through Orange, the only version that has appeared is the 8GB. This was starting to beg the question whether the 16GB version was even still on the agenda.

However, it appears that the 16GB SKU is very much of part of Samsung’s plans and has been released across Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, and Denmark). It seems that you will ONLY find the 16GB SKU in these countries, as the 8GB version is not being sold. The cost is 6,695 Norwegian Kroner at Komplett, which is shipping right now and translates to around £635, €750 or $1,050. Click through for an unboxing video of the 16GB i8910 Omnia HD.

Update: The 16GB version has also hit the Netherlands, where the 8GB is already sold. Maybe we will start to see this SKU appear in more regions after all. Thanks Quindor!
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The Nokia N97 has been one of the most eagerly awaited handsets to launch this year. Today, marks the day that the Nokia N97 is officially launched here in the UK. For those of you trying to decide between the i8910 Omnia HD and the Nokia N97 then you might want to check out Part One of My-Symbian’s Samsung i8910 Omnia HD review.

The first part of the review covers the hardware element of the phone and it is well worth a read, even for current owners of the phone. It covers the processor, memory, camera, video, screen, GPS and battery life. The first two bits (processor & memory) are covered in particular depth and what makes it quite interesting is the comparison to the Nokia N97, which is also a S60 5th Edition phone. Read the rest of this entry »

Daniel over at Tech65 has posted quite a detailed (and close up) hands-on video of the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD. He gives a good overview of the phone and its interface including the camera, widgets, the lock to stop moving widgets around and text input, which they weren’t too enamoured with. You can check out the full video after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

The Samsung i8910 Omnia HD is one of the highest performance phones on the market, sporting a 600 MHz ARM Cortex-A8 CPU and 256MB of RAM. That power under the hood is needed to handle HD video, but it also puts it in good stead when it comes to day-to-day tasks. It means that browsing the UI is a snappy experience and hopefully should mean fewer crashes.

This is a theory one user wanted to put to the test. He wanted to see how many applications he could open without the phone slowing down or crashing. Without any apps open the amount of free RAM stood at 140MB, but even when having 12-15 apps open the RAM was still an impressive 58MB. I could see no visible slowdown when having that many applications open. Check out the video after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

A number of Orange Samsung i8910 Omnia HD users have been looking to try and debrand the phone, to get rid of all the Orange bloatware on the phone. Thankfully, it looks like a working solution has been found – the only negative appears to be is that it will cost you €15 to download the necessary files from share4gsm (a small price to pay considering the price of the phone though).

A site is also up and running called Debrandi8910 which details the step-by-step requirements in which to go about the debranding. Remember, this is only a debranding, it will not unlock your phone and allow it to be used on other networks. However, it will upgrade you to the latest XXIE6 firmware. Once debranded users see the following benefits:

• Phone feels faster and slicker
• Widgets that were missing are now back, including Facebook and Youtube
• BBC i-player comes pre-installed
• Support for Facebook, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, Myspace pre-installed
• Anti shake setting in camera now saves ok

The main negative seems to be that the firmware flashes into the Polish language to start with, so you need to remember where to change the language. Also, remember to backup everything before rebranding. Also, this only works in Windows XP and NOT Vista. Check out the debranding video tutorial after the break.

Update: Neil W from Debrandi8910 got in touch to say that it is offering the files needed to debrand the Samsung i8910 HD for just £5. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve already seen a few comparison videos of the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD against the iPhone as well as the original Samsung Omnia. What we have this time round is a great video comparison between the i8910 HD, which runs Symbian 5th Edition, against the HTC Magic that runs on Google Android. Yes, both phones do use different operating systems, but it’s an interesting comparison nonetheless.

The video goes through a number of different features including boot times, display, web rendering and video playback. The display on the i8910 Omnia HD is clearly the winner, being more vibrant and easier to read (in indirect sunlight anyway). The contrast is also excellent on the i8910 with the blacks of the phone destroying the grey hues seen on the HTC Magic. Looking at them side-by-side really shows off just how stunning that i8910 screen really is.

When comparing boot times, the i8910 was the clear winner coming quite a way ahead of the HTC Magic. The HTC Magic seems to be quite responsive to the touch, although not any better than the i8910 from what I could tell. Inputting text, whilst messaging, was also a draw in my eyes.

The browser test showed that the i8910 was clunkier to use than the HTC Magic. Using the browser on Android appeared to much more fluid in terms of both scrolling and zooming. Maybe using Opera Mini on the i8910 HD may make a difference to the browsing experience.

The video also demoed both phones playing the helicopter demo that comes with the i8910 and as expected the HTC Magic struggles whilst the i8910 plays it smoothly. I don’t think there’s any surprises here, given the different hardware used. Check out the video after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Whenever a manufacturer comes to the table with a new touchscreen handset, comparisons are immediately made to see how it fares against Apple’s iPhone. This is no different for the Samsung i8910 Omnia HD where we have already seen some comparison videos not too long ago.

Today’s video is quite interesting, as it shows just how fast the i8910 browser is compared to the Safari browser in the iPhone. Both phones access the internet over the Wi-Fi network and it’s impressive to see just how quickly the i8910 renders the webpage. The difference in time to load the page by 100 percent is 14 seconds in the i8910’s favour! The i8910 also seems to have better colour reproduction, its whites don’t have the blue tint seen on the iPhone. Legibility in direct sunlight is also demonstrated and whilst the iPhone is better in this regard, it’s very close. Check out the video after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »