Samsung S60 3.2 phones (i8510 / INNOV8, L870) All About Symbian - Nokia (S60) and Sony Ericsson (UIQ) smartphones unwrapped All About Symbian Forums. World: Samsung Exynos 8890 Canada/China/US/Japan: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 GPU World: Mali-T880 MP12 Canada/China/US/Japan: Adreno 530 Memory 4 GB LPDDR4 RAM Storage 64 GB UFS 2.0 Removable storage microSDXC up to 256 GB Battery. Samsung i. 85. 10 INNOV8 initial impressions and thoughts. Samsung i. 85. 10 Innov. I have spent some time last weekend, and during the week, getting to know the Samsung i.
INNOV8 I received last Friday. I have been pretty busy at work and have not had time to get this out as quickly as I would have liked, but here it is. There are a few glitches, however, reflecting how Samsung’s offering is not as polished, as I somehow thought it would be. Please note this is not a full review – it is merely some observations based on about a week’s usage of the INNOV8. If you have some feature or function you would like me to investigate further, please let me know by commenting – I am more than happy to check something out and provide image or video documentation. HARDWARESamsung i. INNOV8 firmware version information. In my “unboxing post”, I noted the INNOV8’s build quality and also its size. It is a big handset – it is as broad as the N9. I doubt the size of it will fit many women’s hands, also because it a bit tricky sliding it open using one hand. The back cover has a very smooth surface and if I do not use both hands, I cannot help feeling a little worried that it might slip out of my hand. The big keypad is a perfect match for my thick fingers and affords very fast texting - I also simply love the tactile feedback from the keys. Two of the INNOV8’s hardware features are new to me, and I love them already. I am referring to the camera function selector key and the touch pad. Both are outstanding – the selector key because it saves the key presses necessary to switch between image and video mode on other S6. When I occasionally switch over to my N9. I find myself sliding my thumb across the D- pad center key, wondering why nothing happens. If is funny, when I set out to get a new handset, I was aiming for something smaller than the N9. I have now ended up with something bigger. MIGRATING TO THE i. Basically, all data has to be transferred manually. Apparently, the “Switch” application, found on Nokia’s S4. S6. 0 handsets, is Nokia only and Samsung currently does not offer anything similar. There is of course the (syncml) “Sync” application built into the OS, so if you have put stuff in the cloud (with ZYB, Ovi or some other service), you are all set in a manner of minutes. But other data like images, videos and such, all have to be transferred manually. Samsung should license “Switch” (if possible), or develop something equivalent – preferably interoperable with “Switch”. CONNECTIVITYNo remarks concerning calls or texting – if you are used to S6. I have not made enough calls to really say anything about the quality of calls. Browsing on 3. G (HSDPA) works great and Bluetooth just works. Wi. Fi did not work with my WEP encrypted home wireless network – I switched to WPA encryption (something I have been meaning to do in a long time anyway) and everything worked fine.“Destinations” – the access point group manager – makes a whole lot more sense on a handset with Wi. Fi. It did not on my Nokia 6. Classic. If you use WLANs at work, at home etc., pplus 3. G HSDPA, “Destinations” is a godsend. OSYou do not need to spend much time with the i. Besides the standard S6. Smart Reader for reading business cards and adding the info straight to Contacts (works great in the few tests I did), and a video editor. I have taken a quick look at the video editor and I am not impressed. I have used the video editor included on the N9. N8. 2 and 6. 22. 0 Classic and find it very easy to use. In comparison, the editor on the INNOV8 seems very difficult to use. I spent something like 1. Also, the editor only supports saving video in QVGA (3. INNOV8, which records VGA video (6. There are two gallery applications – both the standard S6. FP2 gallery, and a Samsung- only gallery (I guess), that comes as part of the camera software. Dude, where are the thumbnails? Dude, where is the Send option? The S6. 03rd FP2 gallery is genuinely horrible, IMHO – it basically just consists of separate lists of images, videos, songs etc. Really makes me miss the the carousel- style gallery on the N9. N8. 2. No, really - how it is possible to release something like that 1. Phone is a complete mystery to me. I am thinking someone let the engineers decide way too much. Zooming in and out on images takes forever, but that is probably due to the large file size for 8 mp images (~ 2 MB). The Nseries carousel gallery and the i. The camera software gallery is better in this respect as it blends images and vidoes – the experience of flipping through the gallery using the touchpad is awesome – if you go fullscreen you get that i. Phone “thumb- slide” flip! However, this gallery has at least one very odd shortcoming: it is impossible to send multiple images at the same time. There is a “Send” option in the “Options” menu enabling you to send an individual image by MMS or bluetooth. Images can also be marked, but here is the odd thing: if several images are marked, the “Send” option disappears from the “Options” menu! Sending a bunch of images is the #1 reason for marking them, so why include one and not the other? It is possible to zoom in and out on images, but only by clicking through the menus – there are no keypad shortcuts (or I have not found them). Applications menui. Multimedia menu. APPLICATIONSQuite a few applications come preinstalled on the i. I am guessing in part as an attempt to match the homebrewed apps (Nokia Maps, Share Online, Active Notes etc), Nokia bundles with their equivalent handsets. Route. 66 navigation, branded as “Samsung Mobile Navigator”. I think it comes with a trial license for map data (I have yet to check out the INNOV8’s GPS). Mobile client for Gy. PSii – a geo- centric social network I have never heard of. Fring (IM), Sho. Zu (media uploader), two games (FIFA 0. Asphalt 4), and Road. Sync (sync with Exchange). There is a dedicated . Yet, the camera is very easy to use – mainly because the most important options are ready- at- hand, using the D- pad. To me the camera autofocus seems very fast. Use navigation keys to switch between No autofocus, autofocus and macro modes. Very specific! Video mode supports initial autofocus and macro mode – great! When using the video macro mode, the camera has to quite close to the motif (~1. There is something very strange about the videos recorded on the INNOV8, however. First, in most video recordings, audio and video is out of sync. Second, when transferred to a PC, videos play without sound (at least in VLC Player). These issues have also been noted by Steve Litchfield at All About Symbian. Here is a video that demonstrates the out- of- sync problem: I shot some more video to investigate the problem further and I was quite surprised that I was also able to record video that does not have the out- of- sync problem. In the video below, I have recorded Matthew Bennett presenting the Nokia Daily News and as far as I can tell audio and video are in sync. So what gives – I have no idea why one clip is out of sync and the other one is not? If you - dear reader – can shed some light on this issue, please do not hesitate to comment. Music Player is S6. I would say the INNOV8’s speakers produce better quality sound than those of the N9. The speakers are not as loud as the N9. INNOV8 is at max volume and my N9. Note the INNOV8’s speakers are located on the back so turn it around, if you want to fully enjoy their output. The Real. Player included on the i. Div. X encoded video out of the box – so there is no apparent need to install Div. X Mobile Player. I have transferred a rather big bunch of Div. X videos, I have converted using SUPER and the ones I have tried so far all play nicely. When watching video, the screen seems very crisp and clear. PROBLEMSSome INNOV8 issues mentioned in this and/or other posts: Audio/video out- of- sync problem in video recordings. Videos play without sound on PCs. Video editor can only handle QVGA video. There is a problem downloading map data for Route. MB) and there is no way to use a different location. Memory patch fix from Samsung can be downloaded and installed on the handset. All of these issues can probably be straightened out in future firmware upgrades, although I am bit surprised how Samsung is able to ship a device with issues such as the first and last on the list. You cannot help but wonder what other “easter eggs” might have slipped by Samsung’s quality control? I suspect additional issues will be brought forward as more people start using the INNOV8. The above brings me to what is perhaps the INNOV8’s biggest issue: at this point there is no way to upgrade the firmware. In the past, Nokia has released handsets with equally grave issues, but the thing is – if you buy a Nokia you know firmware upgrades will be released pretty soon after product launch (the N9. Samsung is hinting at a streamlined firmware upgrade process – and there is a really dodgy and unofficial one available at samsungi. CONCLUSIONI think it is great to see a cutting edge S6. Nokia. The INNOV8 can help push the envelope and make Nokia stay focused, which will only benefit consumers. In this respect, the INNOV8 really demonstrates Samsung’s innovation capability. Breaking in the INNOV8 made me reflect on the Nokia experience. Nokia is often chided for releasing unfinished handsets (subsequently catching up by releasing firmware upgrades), and I had somehow gotten the impression Samsung’s offering would be more polished. This is clearly not the case with the INNOV8. In comparison, I do not think Nokia is doing so bad, and what is more, Nokia seems to have a better grasp of the “whole consumer experience” (in lack of a better term). The integrated applications and services offered by Nokia – Nokia Maps, Share Online, Ovi – make it easy for consumers to make the most of their handsets. It is an offer Samsung is currently not able to match. In its current form, I would say the INNOV8 has great potential.
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October 2016
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