BARCELONA, Spain - Samsung was looking to overtake Nokia's S60 enthusiasts when it launched the i8510 INNOV8, to compete against the N96. It has just reinforced the same strategy with the i8910 Omnia HD, the phone with the largest AMOLED display in the market, HD recording and playback, and 16GB of memory, which is expandable with a microSD memory card.

Word-of-Mouth marketing (WOM) is also being used to campaign the Omnia HD. Samsung is providing the chance for enthusiasts to become "an official ambassador for the Omnia HD". The 50 most interesting applications to this position will receive an Omnia HD before it begins to retail in the market, and  applicants will also receive the invitation to a "secret mission". The basic job description of being an ambassador is someone who is in charge of "introducing the phone to the world, blogging, filming, playing, chatting, and demonstrating its unrivalled capabilities".

As said previously, the i8910 has the largest AMOLED screen in a mobile phone. At 3.7" with qHD resolution (640x360 pixels), the screen is as clear as it gets, and PhoneReport was witness to that. The touchscreen display relies on capacitive technology, which provides better response to "finger operation". The colours of the screen were vivid, providing strong colours and deep contrasts.

The 8 megapixel camera is one of the first in S60 phones. We were not able to test the camera, as the software was at an early stage. The camera supports geo-tagging, business card recognition, face detection, and the Smile and Blink shot technologies, the latter two which make the camera only capture an image when the person is smiling, and not blinking.

The reason that the phone has the HD suffix in its model name is that it can record and playback videos in HD 720p. The recording resolution stands at 1280x720 pixels, at 24 frames per second.Video trimming, audio dubbing, live dubbing, subtitle inclusion, and image capture are the video editing features possible on the phone. One can certainly expect the Omnia HD to be a phone very concentrated on video features, even though Samsung points out that convergance is a very important factor in this device.

Having a 16:9 aspect ration in its screen means that watching a movie on the Omnia HD is similar to being seated in one's lounge watching a movie in a HDTV panel.

Common features required in high-end phones are also present. The i8910 features Bluetooth, Wi-Fi with DLNA certification, HSDPA at 7.2mbps, HSUPA at 5.6mbps, and USB 2.0. The DLNA feature allows the phone to stream a movie in HD resolution to an HDTV panel via Wi-Fi, which can be seen as a wireless TV-out connection. For those that do not possess a DLNA-enabled TV, a dongle with HDMI connection is available for purchase.

The i8910 also has A-GPS, with a digital compass to enable accurate readings on the navigation application for drivers and pedestrians.

Samsung made use of its DNSe (Digital Natural Sound engine) technology to provide users with a virtual 5.1 experience through the phone's dual stereo speakers. It is likely for Samsung to use its own technology and not Dolby's offerings for mobile phones, currently used by its South-Korean-rival LG Electronics.

On top of the Nokia S60 5th edition software platform, Samsung installed its own TouchWiz 1.5 user interface, in order to give it a feeling of its own brand. The change from Windows Mobile to S60 on its flagship offering shows that the company is not impressed by sales of phones running on Microsoft's operating system, even though the original Omnia was (and is) quite popular.

A Samsung product manager revealed to PhoneReport that more colours could be added to this phone by April.

The Samsung i8910 Omnia HD is likely to support the bulk of its features thanks to its generous 1500mAh battery.

The layout of the new Omnia is different to the first one, in the sense that there is an additional button in the middle of the two 'call' keys, and that the colours have changed. The dimensions are also different, where the i900 Omnia measured 112 x 56.9 x 12.5mm, and the i8910 Omnia measures 123 x 58 x 12.9mm. The new Omnia is larger in every sense, even the weight has increased 27g from 122g. Regardless of these changes, for feature-eccentric users, the phone should feel comfortable to use.

The front of the phone is kept relatively simple, the secondary camera, mainly used for video calls, is at the left top corner, and three keys  are located below the 3.7" display. The keys rest on a silver piece of metal which contrasts against the black colour of the phone.

The left side of the phone contains a hole for the lanyard, the volume rocker, and the microSD memory card slot. The latter is easy to open and its mechanism, used in most Samsung phones, is strong and not prone to breaking.

The camera shutter button, microUSB port, and "hold" button are located on the right side. The camera button contrasts with the phone's predominant colour, it is in silver, and in a metallic material. The microUSB port is based on the same opening mechanism as the microSD port, and lastly, the "hold" button supposedly locks the phone's touchscreen and buttons. It would be preferable for a "hold" switch to be used instead of a button.

The phone's bottom and top sides include the dual stereo speakers, which are used to provide a virtual 5.1 effect thanks to Samsung's proprietary DNSE technology.

The back of the phone is left relatively simple for a phone that has a high-end camera. A small and single LED flash is bundled with the 8 megapixel camera, which will be disappointing to fans of photography and video, as rival phones from Nokia actually include dual LED flashes.

The Samsung i8910 Omnia HD promises to be a high-end phone capable of competing against other phones in this category, such as the Nokia N97, for example. The success of the Omnia, now improved with a better camera, more memory, larger display, and a more flexible operating system, will contribute to the South-Korean manufacturer to come closer to Nokia's position in the mobile phone market, although the Finnish company will offer strong resistance and competition.

[Video: PhoneDog]

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