Posted by Mia in Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is a flagship among the smart phones of the Korean manufacturer. It is the developers of Samsung that released the most powerful smart phone, which has no analogue among the competitors, so INNOV8 is the most advanced device today.
Appearance
Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is designed, of course, for men. You can paint it pink or red, but it will remain a toy for big boys. The big, hard slider with a decent thickness will protrude from any pocket except, of course, a winter jacket. But now the season is not suitable for such a warm clothing.
The upper end has a lug for the strap, but it is unlikely that someone will want to hang this device on his neck because of its massive weight. Samsung i8510 INNOV8 fully occupies the palm and lies on it like a glove.
Even in the expanded form the unit is comfortable to hold in hand, despite the considerable size of the smart phone.
The tube edges look rich. On the right there are the camera buttons, the mechanical key for selecting shooting modes / log in to gallery, as well as the slot for memory cards. On the left side – the connector for the charger/cable, the 3.5-mm input for the headphones, the sound adjustment button.
On the reverse side we see the most interesting – the volumetric pedestal for the camera lens and the location of the flash gave the impression that we have a camera, not a phone.
It is clear that this is exactly what the developers had in their mind, and they got it. On the side of the lens there is a polyphonic speaker slot, which is quickly stuffed with dust.
The lid covering the battery is made of metal.
Samsung i8510 INNOV8 opens easily, the slider mechanism works fine, taking up the upper half of the shell on halfway. No criticism to the quality of assembly, as well as to the materials used, everything is at the highest level. Interestingly, the tube is successfully composed of various materials – three types of plastic, and this is without mentioning the metal lid and the tracings of the perimeter of the upper lid.
We have long been accustomed to the appearance of Samsung keyboards. And here we have a single plate with symbols that are separated by four horizontal engravings.
It is convenient to dial or type an SMS-message; girls with long fingernails have not expressed any discontent. Key management is not so convenient, but errors are rare. The confirmation button (located in the centre of navigation keys) can perform the role of a sensory touchpad. It can move silently in the menu, as well as in various applications. Moreover, if you get tired of it, it can be turned off. The lighting is bright, and you always see well the symbols on the buttons.
Display
The display with a diagonal of 2.8 inches is frankly good. Its merit is that it is big, bright, does not distort the color of the uploaded images and has an ultra fine grain.
The disadvantage is, perhaps, one – decent image fading in the sun, which, incidentally, is typical for most TFT-displays. When you walk in the street, you have to cover it with your hand, but sometimes it is inconvenient. But the fact that the screen has a little lag was good. After working with the i8510
several days and comparing it with other devices, we came to the conclusion that the screen of Samsung, is one of the best on the market, and you just can not help but like it.
From the perspective of an ordinary user, the menu is perfectly executed, that means – nothing superfluous, but simple, clear and understandable. Yes, and you can see for yourself, how the graphical shell, under which the popular OS S60 is “hidden”, looks. In our sample, there were three themes; in addition, you can change the appearance of the call line, the rapid application in the main menu.
Unfortunately, we could not scroll the names of the items that did not fit into the screen, but the font under the name “Normal” can be described as fairly large.
useful applications are preinstalled in the memory, including a PDF reader, the application QuickOffice, IP-Dialers Fring, the application for Blogging LifeDiary.
Of course, you can set “Yandex-map”, or anything else, the possibilities for installations are large.
The Wi-Fi in this model works without any problems and artful settings. The INNOV8 connected with any access points, in the office, in department stores, at home.
The exception was just the terrible Chinese device ZTE ZXDSL 531V for the network “Stream”, which our phone was unable to pick up.
Surfing on the web with the built-in browser is also not straining for fans of mobile Internet (everything is handy and works as expected), but I, personally, prefer to view pictures and read news from the large screen of PC.
GPS
This is not the first mobile handset from Samsung, with an integrated GPS-receiver; for example, the recently released G810 is also equipped with a GPS-chip. Our model i8510 was not the most sensitive receiver and could not catch the satellites, where the navigators Mio H610, GSmart or the communicator Samsun”deafness” to satellites, particularly in the car or not in a very dense forest.
In an open field (in the open) the “cold” start was 4 minutes, the “hot” start about 1.5 minutes. It is also worth noting the excellent work of the receiver outside the city, where there are no high buildings.
For the purposes of navigation the memory has two preset programs – Route 66 and Google Maps. If the first has no maps of Moscow and the region, the second, as it is known, loads data via GPRS or Wi-Fi (if there is an access point). By the way, you should keep in mind that it literally eats up traffic, because only the scaled maps consume from 170 to 220 KB. This should be remembered, when in roaming, even nationally. Also, do not expect a good drawing of maps if you are away from major cities. For example, I was personally surprised by a non-existent road, and an absence bridge over the Volga, which were present on the map, but otherwise everything is fine.
Camera
A cool camera is the main zest of the model, and even more so because the picture resolution is quite serious – 8 MT. This draws the attention of anyone who takes the smart phone in his hands. Also, many have noticed that, a LED is installed in the model, but not a powerful xenon flash. So this source of light is sometimes not enough, and after using the Motorola ZN5 with Xenon flash, it was necessary to get quickly used to the fact that to shoot in a dark room from a distance of 3 meters is not possible, here the distance is reduced to half a meter. It should be noted that sometimes when shooting with the flash the image is slightly blurred. Summing up a micro-outcome, we should say that the flash will be useful for illumination of any object, for example, when shooting in the shade or in the gloomy weather.
The interface of the photo supplement is an already known form other tubes of Samsung, for example, the model G810, the review of which can be read here. The opportunities and the modes the camera provides can be seen in the screenshots. It should be noted that to work with (manage) the camera is very convenient, because the settings do not have to be “dug” out of the menu, as you need only to click the left context button and you will see windows settings appearing above.
The camera offers a number of presets (scenes), such as the “Sport”, “Indoor”, “Beach”, “Sunset”, etc. You can use them, though they affect the result, but not negatively. They should be tried as an experiment.
It requires 2.5-3 seconds to focus the camera, depending on lighting conditions. Sometimes the unit would not be focused at the first try and we had to press “on” again.
But the most important is the quality of images. They are easier to evaluate with the help of test photos. Personally I was very pleased with the results.
The player / radio
Another important part of the Samsung i8510 is the player. In contrast to the praised Walkman devices from Sony Ericsson, the Korean developers have taken the pains to set in the tube a standard plug for headphones, even though on the left edge (it would be easier on the top). Below you see the appearance of the interface of the device. I think that the design is strict, but with taste.
Also note the presence of 17 preset equalizer settings, including options for 3D-sound. You can choose from three proposed visualizations, of course there is a detailed assortment of music that is standard for all manufacturers of music devices.
The quality of the sound, using good Sony headphones is great! The unit “handles” the full range of frequencies without any problems; the ears do not feel any distortion, noise, and other such things. The sound is brilliant, rich, natural. In the memory of the tube (do not forget about the 8 GB built-in memory and the support of microSD cards), were downloaded well digitalized tracks. Well-known compositions sounded easily, somewhat airy, and frankly, there was no wish to take off the headphones.
The FM-radio has good sensitivity and a decent volume. Up to 50 stations can be stored in the memory with the opportunity to give them names.
Among the innovations is the possibility to record with the radio. Files in MP4 format (why not MP3?) with unchangeable bitrate of 192 Kb/s are stored in the phone memory or on the expansion cards.
The recording quality is good, but it certainly depends on the quality of reception of a particular station.
Outcome
Samsung i8510 INNOV8 is a truly innovative device. The unit has all the necessary functions. Of course, the recommended price of 24 thousand roubles will scare many, but those who want the most advanced smart phone to date, are unlikely to find this amount exaggerated. In technical terms the device is wonderful, it is easy to manage, easy to use every day, one really wants to use it. There is one minus – energy consumers (GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, camera, large display), with not the most intensive work discharge the battery of the tube in one day. But as you know, this problem is usually solved, by something as an additional car charger. In all the rest the INNOV8, without reservation, is a device worthy of your choice.
