Samsung Omnia HD – a giant leap for MOJOs?

This review of the Samsung Omnia HD (i8910) is not about your experience as a user. It’s a review for creators of content. The i8910 as it’s also called, offers recording and playback of HD movies, an 8 megapixels camera, a blistering screen and a CPU on 600 MHz. When it comes to specifications, the Omnia HD beats all other phones suitable for mobile journalists. But how does it perform?

Let’s start by looking at the phone and menus. I’ve made this clip to show you the different functions and menus. The main focus is on the menus for the still image and video camera. (To watch it in HD – you got to visit YouTube).

As you can see – Omnia HD offers a touch screen with very high quality. The resolution is 360×640. And since the screen uses AMOLED, the picture quality is much brighter and with stronger colors than you’re used to. AMOLED also uses less power, compared to usual LED screens. When it comes to the screen – I don’t know about any phone offering a better quality.

Still image camera

As you could see in the video, the menu for the still image camera offers a lot of choices when it comes to scenes and manual overrides. 8 MP is a very high resolution when you think of how small the image sensor really is. In good lighting conditions, the Omnia HD delivers sharp pictures with good colors. But if you zoom into the pictures, you will see that the pixels look “unsharp” or “dirty”. With a very small image sensor – this is only to be expected. The quality is good enough for small prints and use on the web. Quality wise it dosen’t beat my current phone – the Nokia N82.
The problem with the camera on the Omnia HD starts when you try to shoot images in low light conditions. While the Nokia N82 is equipped with a xenon flash, the Omnia HD only offers one single LED. And as we have seen on all other phones with one LED as a flash – it’s simply not good enough. For producing stilling images for web I would almost be tempted to say that the quality on images taken with the flash is useless.
Making a good smartphone is all about making some compromises. And they’ve got to be the right one for your target group. When it comes to the flash issue, it’s obvious that Samsung has prioritized the video quality in low light conditions, and not the still images.

I have taken some test shoots. Just click on the Image to wath full resolution on my Flickr page.

Picture taken with the panorama function

Picture taken with the macro function

Picture taken in full auto

Video camera

Samsung Omnia HD is the first phone offering video recording in 720p (1280×720) with 24 frames a second. This isn’t full HD, but with a good quality – it should be more than enough for producing high quality videos for web. And maybe TV?

As with most advanced phones today, Samsung has started selling the Omnia HD a little bit too early. The audio codec used in my firmware is AMR, and the sound quality is really crappy. In a new firmware they have changed to the much better codec AAC. They have launched the new firmware in Italy, but not in Scandinavia. Therefore I can’t really tell you by my own experience how the sound quality is with the new firmware, but on different forums I can see that others are happy with the change and say that the sound is now much better. On my firmware it only record in 8 Khz when I record in 720p and that is really not enough.

Another thing that’s missing on my firmware is the option to turn on “anti-shake”. It simply won’t start in any recording mode.
As for the still images function, the challenge with the small image sensor is the same when it comes to video. Video is recorded in MP4. It is very compressed and this poses a lot of challenges when you want to record high quality. The phone also drops a lot of frames. So it’s really not 24 frames. More like 21 or 20. The dropping of frames also gives you lip sync problems.

My first test clip is a demonstration of changing conditions. I’m recording myself moving from inside my house, out in the garden and around my house. You will see different lighting conditions and since there is a lot of motion, the codec will have to work hard to keep everything in sync. Since I’m only borrowing this phone for å short periode I’m not used to recording myself with it.  Hope you will excuse that. The video is simply uploaded “as-is” from the phone to YouTube in the phones web browser. If you got a WIFI network nearby, this works like a charm. Uploading this video on 78 MB was done in three minutes through my home network.

A common problem shooting video on mobile phones are “wobbling”. The codec struggles to produce an even result on the background and the result is a sort of “waves”. In high resolutions this phenomena is even more visible. Shooting in sequence with less pan and motion will give a better result. The Samsung Omnia HD is not better or worse than its competitors.

So, what about Samsungs choice to use a single LED flash and not a xenon flash? Since you can actually use the LED as a video light, it can come in handy interviewing people in dark places or out in the dark. If you work as a journalist, bringing exclusive interviews and pictures back home is important. I’ve worked as a news editor for some years. And even though things could be better, I would definitely have shown videos shoot with the Omnia HD both on TV and web. It all depends on what sort of story we are talking about or how it’s told. My next example is talking in a completely dark room. No windows, no light. I think the lightning is better than I expected. What’s not good is that the phone is dropping frames like crazy. This result in major lip-sync problems. Since the problem actually is a large number of frames missing, it is difficult to resolve this problem with a quick fix in editing applications.

My interest is MOJOs and citizen journalist. Often recording in a “point-of-view” style. This is probably the most challenging recording environment for this phone. I’m not recording in a way that will show you how beautiful the pictures can be. Matthew Bennet from US Mobile Industry has also made a test of it. He has focused more on buildings, items and colors. It’s a smashing example on how good the picture quality can be. Since he’s not interview anyone, you will not see the lip-sync problem.

Samsung i8910 video sample from US Mobile Industry on Vimeo.

Samsung Omnia HD is supported by Qik and Bambuser, but not in HD. In the application from Qik there is an option for 720p, but it’s not possible to enable that resolution. Probably still in beta-mode. I guess the Omnia HD will be the first phone which can stream live in HD resolution on the net.

Other features

The Samsung Omnia HD features Flash Light 3.0 – making it possible to surf most web pages as if it was a normal computer. For instance – playing videos on YouTube works well, I can also upload and edit video on the tube.

The QWERTY keyboard on this touch screen works great if your fingers are of a normal size and your nails are short. My wife tried it, but had to give up because of her long nails. It takes some time getting used to, but with some practice you will write pretty quick using both hands (or actually both thumbs). I found myself writing longer answers on e-mails than I would on my Nokia N82.

My favorite feature besides the video recording is the smart reader application. Start it up, take a picture of a business card – and the phone automatically scans the information and converts it into a new contact, with all the information in the right places.

One thing I haven’t been able to test, but that I think is an exciting feature is the possibility to connect the phone to an external disk via HTTPS. In theory your newsroom can have a common storing space on the net, and then you can store pictures and video directly in this space from the phone. You could also connect your phone via HTTPS to a NAS for easy upload of images and video in your home network.

One thing I won’t dig deep into, but that I think is worth mentioning is the DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance Digital Living Network Alliance). This is a way of communicating with other digital devices in your home network. For instance, if you got a Sony PS3 (which support DLNA) you can in theory play your videos, images and music directly on that device from your phone. The phone will simply stream the data file, but will not process the data. It will leave it to the PS3 to process a HD video, image or music. I say in theory, because there are some problems with the DLNA on the Omnia HD. Because of the AMR sound codec, my DLNA server won’t play the videos. But I guess this will be fixed in the new firmware. Samsung are shipping out a lot of different types of units with DLNA or Medi@ 2.0 as they call it.

Even though this review is focused on producing content, I must say that playing video files and streaming video is really where it stands out. The screen is so amazing; you got to see it to believe it. During the time I’ve tested it, I’ve watched several movies and long webcast on it. And the size and quality of the screen makes that a pleasant experience.

The Samsung Omnia HD features a large battery. With a capacity of 1500 mAh it’s 450 mAh bigger than the one on my Nokia. Because of the large CPU on 600 MHz it will use more power on tasks like video recording and playing HD video. I still have to charge it almost daily. In standby it will last a week.

On my Nokia N82 I can connect an external microphone via the Nokia AV cabel. I haven’t been able to do this on the Omnia HD.

Since it’s actually a phone, it though I’ll put in a couple of lines about that to. The phone features is really the weakest point for the Omnia HD. The coverage is really bad. It loses signal long before my Nokia. I travel a lot up in the mountains with poor coverage. On my last trip, my Nokia had coverage for most of the time, while the Samsung struggled for most of the time. The audio quality of the phone is also poor. On about half of the calls I’ve made with the phone, people have been complaining about the sound the quality. It never happens on my Nokia. I’m uncertain if there is a fix for this on the new firmware. It could also be that the phone I’ve tested have some errors, but I can see that a lot of people complain about this.

Conclusion:

At present, this is the most innovative and high performing smart phone on the market. Apple iPhone is easier to use, but performance wise, the Samsung Omnia HD is far ahead. Its strongest feature is an unbelievable clear and bright screen with a high resolution. It plays a lot of video formats and shows no lagging or other artifacts playing HD video. Recording in 720p is a giant leap for smart phones. Since this is the first generation of 720p phones, it has some weak points – but all in all it’s pretty impressing. Samsungs choice to use one LED lamp makes this a better phone for video than for still images. With the easy upload to communities I think they have made the right choice.

The touch screen is responsive and pleasant to use. With each finger print, you get a small vibration to confirm that you touched a button. The phone does collect dirty finger prints and Samsung should work to reduce this effect on new models.

The high performing CPU makes every menu fast and smooth, but will also drain the battery fast when surfing, recording or playing video. The large battery secures long standby time. If you dig into communities about this phone, you will find a lot of advice on how to tweak the setup for better battery performance. Samsung should have set this straight from the beginning.

For MOJOs – I think this is a very good phone. If you only want a phone for calling people – this is not a good choice. The phone part is to weak.

I you own a Omnia HD, please share your views in the comment field. I also wish to thank Samsung Electronic in Scandinavia for lending me the phone.