Somewhat Innov8ive phone from Samsung
While most of the V V crowds are attracted towards the likes of the HTC Touch and the all new iPhone, there are some still truly believe in powerful phones with physical buttons. There has been some anticipation and the Samsung 18510, or the Innov8 as it is better known, is finally here.
The design looks some what like the Nokia’s powerful N95 with a similar slider design. The slider wobbly at times. The design isn’t unconventional, but isn’t very stylish either. An array of touch-sensitive buttons line the panel below the screen. There are two dedicated buttons on this panel that make multi tasking to the next and previous running applica tion really simple.
The operating system on this phone is the Symbian 560 3rd edition. The phone comes with a whopping 16 GB of inbuilt memory. If that isn’t suffi cient space for you, then
Micro SD slot is also avail able to expand this.
Audio quality and recep tion is good. Using the keypad under the slider works well although the keys themselves don’t have the nicest feel to them.
The screen is good; the colours are good; so are
viewing angles and the refresh rate. This is great because the phone has video support for the com monly used DivX format. Movies run smoothly without any signs of framing whatsoever.
One of the largest selling points of this phone has to be the 8 MP resolu tion camera. The inbuilt flash works alright. Image quality from the camera is not very good. The images seem artificially enhanced to look very attractive. With a smaller sensor than standard point-and-shoot cameras, it is not possible to capture great quality at 8 MP.
A basic video sequencing application comes installed which allows you to make you own video compila tion by queuing up videos and photos with transition effects in between. The audio quality of the speaker on the phone is good and there is hardly any distor tion with the volume set to maximum. It must also be said that phone isn’t very loud either.
As expected from any phone over Rs 15,000 or so, WiFi is present and is GPS. The phone also comes with software - Route 66 and some other GPS tracking utilities. Google Maps is also one of the custom software installed on the phone. There are also some other software and games such as the mobile version of FIFA 2008 and a bike racer called Asphalt 4. The fast paced games don’t run as well as you’d like them to but they’re still about playable.
The performance maybe decent but the phone gets warm when you run a few videos or play some games on it. The other problem is that playing games on the keyboard is a little diffi cult. You also have to get used to the touch-sensitive buttons below the screen - when you’ve slid your finger to select the item you want and you move the finger away to click on a button, it slides to the next item.
Overall, it’s a good phone with loads of fea tures that you might not need or use. It isn’t very impressive though, espe cially for something that is one of the costliest phones around priced at Rs 43,250. It’s nothing something that will anyone’s jaw drop either. There is no doubt, that the iPhone will grab a lot more attention than the Innov8 and that is available for around Rs 31,000. The iPhone would appear to be a better buy for people just wanting a stylish phone that also happens to be very usable even though it’s just a touch-phone. If you want a phone with a proper keypad, loads of fea tures and the ability to install one of the many Symbian applications avail able online, then the Innov8 although expensive will fit your spot.
Specifications 2.8-inch screen, 16 GB inbuilt memory, 8 MP camera, inbuilt GPS, Symbian S60 3rd edition, 1200 mAh battery. Dimensions: 106.5 x 53.9 x 17.2 mm, Weight: 136 g
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