Samsung i8510 INNOV8 preview: First lookGSMArena team, 01 August 2008.
The new Samsung uber-phone, called Samsung i8510 INNOV8, is finally in our hands. It packs so many goodies that it's hard to decide where to start from. It's not the first 8 megapixel handset but it's the best we've seen so far and better yet it's among the most loaded smartphones to see daylight. Everything about the i8510 INNOV8 speaks high-tech and since this is the case, we guess it has come to the right place, 'cause high-tech is what we do for a living.
Official photos of Samsung i8510 INNOV8When you take the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 in your hands you somehow feel you are looking at the forefront of mobile technology. And it makes you think - if they give those to ordinary people like us, what are they really holding up back in their neat labs? But we digress.
We rarely see mobile phones that truly impress us and the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is among those few. We are in the process of making a full review however we couldn't help but post a quick preview for all of you to enjoy.
Samsung i8510 INNOV8 at a glanceGeneral: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100 MHz, GPRS/EDGE class 10, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
Dimensions: 106.5 x 53.9 x 17.2 mm, 140 g
Display: 2.8-inch 16M color TFT, QVGA resolution (240 x 320 pixels)
Memory: 128 MB RAM, 8/16GB flash storage, hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
OS: Symbian 9.3, S60 3rd edition UI, Feature Pack 2
Still camera: 8 megapixel autofocus, mechanical shutter, automatic lens cover, dual Power LED flash, digital image stabilizer, geotagging, auto panorama shot, face detection, smile detection, blink detection
Video camera: MPEG4 VGA@30fps, QVGA@120fps high-speed recording
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, Wi-Fi with DLNA certification, 3.5mm audio jack, TV-out, universal microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS
Misc: Accelerometer for screen auto rotate, Optical touchpad, 3D hardware accelerator, DivX support, stereo speakers, DSP audio technology, FM radio with RDS
Battery: Li-Ion 1200 mAh, Talk time: 8 h 30 min, Standby: 310 h
Expected release date: August 2008
Expected retail price: 750 euro (1170 US dollars)
The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 (previously rumored as Samsung Primera) has a name that seems really hard to pronounce, but in fact it's the word INNOVATE with some untraditional spelling. The device was announced only recently and it seems it will hit the market even sooner while other top-of-the-shelf devices such as Nokia N96 are still holding back for late autumn.
The Samsung i8510 INNOV8Now that we have this baby in our hands, you can rest assured will put it properly through its paces. But for the purposes of this preview will try to present it more concisely covering only some of the matters of interest such as hardware and design, multimedia, web browser, GPS and of course, camera performance. We will try to give you all of our initial impressions, but you can count that we'll do a deeper analysis once the excitement settles in the days to come.
Design and constructionThe Samsung i8510 INNOV8 follows the design trend of all recent Samsung sliders - ingenious combination of metal and plastic and a totally flat keypad. The front panel is taken by the really large 2.8-inch 16M color display. Above it there is a video calls camera and an ambient light sensor for automatic screen brightness adjustment.
The Samsung i8510 INNOV8 has a shiny display but it fares reasonably in bright sunlightThe display itself has a mirror finish but that doesn't hurt the sunlight legibility as much as we thought it would. However Nokia is still the leader in sunlight legibility - topped only by the Apple iPhone.
The D-pad below the display is comfortable to use and the optical touch pad is a novel concept among Symbian smartphones, although the same one is used in the Samsung i900 Omnia for example. Of course, unlike the Omnia, there is no mouse pointer here, unless in the web browser, where the touch pad really shines (but more on that later).
In the regular interface you can move your selection around by sweeping your thumb across the touchpad. A quick sweep moves the selection one item at a time, while a slower sweep jumps several items at a time.
The navigation keys are comfortable • the optical touch pad is cool but not really mind-bogglingOf course Nokia has a competing concept deployed in their smartphones too - the Navi Wheel as first pioneered in the Nokia N81 8GB. However However the Samsung touch pad is much more functional - especially in the web browser.
Under the touchpad hides a regular confirming key and if you turn off the touch pad functionality, you would never guess it's there.
The alphanumeric keypad is totally flat however the keys have sufficient touch feedback. Unfortunately, much like the Samsung G810, the C correction key is placed there instead right next to the D-pad. That's an uncommon solution and we find it hard to get accustomed to when handling text on the handset.
The keypad is totally flat, but still really usable with distinct touch orientation and press feedbackThere are two multimedia shortcuts on the alphanumeric keypad - the M1 key opens the music library, while the M2 key starts the video library.
On the left side of the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is the 3.5mm audio jack, which doubles as a TV-out port, the volume rocker and… wait for it… the standard microUSB port. That's right - Samsung have changed their communication port once again - this time it's for the better.
The left side hosts the 3.5mm audio jack and a new microUSB portLast September the major cellphone manufacturers Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG all agreed to start using the microUSB port as a common connectivity port. So far only Nokia has made some steps in that direction. Now Samsung seems to follow suit. The new Samsung microUSB port is used for both charging and data connections.
On the right-hand side of the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 there is the microSD memory card slot, the camera shutter key and a slider that changes the camera mode among still camera, camcorder and image gallery. When you start the camera you can hear the distinct click of the automatic lens cover opening up.
The right side is home to the camera key, the microSD card slot and the camera mode sliderThe 8 megapixel camera on the back is styled really nicely - a lot similar to Samsung digicams actually. On both sides of the lens you will notice the stereo speakers. However they are positioned so close to each other that we found it hard to spot the stereo effect.
The back is all-camera with a large rim around the lens • there are also stereo speakersThe camera is also equipped with a Power LED flash - it's not a xenon one unfortunately, but it packs dual LED design.
The Power LED flash has a dual LED designThe battery cover, which is all-metal by the way, has a really nice locking mechanism. In order to release the cover, you need to slide the whole bottom part of the back panel.
The back panel is all metal and has an ingenious locking mechanismThe battery powering the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is a standard Li-Ion one with a capacity of 1200 mAh. The manufacturer promises up to 310 h of standby time and up to 8 h 30 min of talk time. By the way, the same battery is used in Samsung G810, as well as Samsung i550 and Samsung D780.
The battery has a relatively large capacity, we really hope it would last the handset for at least three daysTruth be told, the Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is a big handset. And when the slider is opened, it gets too long to allow convenient operation with both the navigation pad and the alphanumeric keys, which in the same time balancing the weight of the upper half with your index finger. And that's when having rather large hands - we can't imagine how would it feel in a girl's hand.
When opened, the Samsung INNOV8 gets too long to be comfortable
it's nice though 
