However, that claim will be just a myth when knowing that Samsung actually wants to give Symbian OS a try on its product. This time, Samsung is proud to release its Symbian-based cell phone to the market called Samsung Innov
.Bringing many great quality and high tech features in it, Samsung Innov has also been injected with powerful 8MP camera. So it’s guaranteed that your digital photography hobby will be totally fulfilled on this phone.
- Type: Samsung Innov8
- Release Date: 2008, September
- Price Purchased: Check Price
- Vendor: Samsung
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NextPhones4u Score
Phone Specs: TFT, 16M colors, 240 x 320 pixels, 2.8 inches, Symbian OS v9.3, 330 MHz processor, 8 GB/16 GB Internal storage, microSD support, 8 MP Camera with LED flash, Videocall camera See Full specs.
- Pros
- 8MP camera | Symbian OS v9.3 | Good battery life | Great sound quality with DNSe 2.0 (Digital Natural Sound Engine) | Java MIDP 2.1 | WiFi and HSDPA supports
- Cons
- The numeric keypad is flat and difficult to press the right button |There’s nothing special with the design, it looks flat and too simple
- Bottomline
- Bottom line, the curiosity of Samsung to release Symbian-based cell phone in the market totally paid off by the quality of this phone. This vendor is not halfhearted when producing this phone. All of its best efforts are spilled on this cell phone. So if you’re looking for a decent camera smart phone, then this phone might be your answer.
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| Samsung Innov |
Design
At a glance, this phone looks well produced as a decent slider cell phone. The one thing that makes this phone special is of course Samsung Innov is a slider cell phone. I think slider cell phone is one of the best cell phone models around the market, besides wide touch screen model. As a matter of fact, slider mechanism model always works best on any kind of cell phones, either from Nokia, LG, Samsung or especially Sony Ericsson.
I don’t know about you, but I think in vast majority of modern cell phones, numeric keypad should be concealed. This will not only minimize the use of space around the front side of the phone, but it also gives the area of improvement for the screen size to be much bigger than before. The bigger the screen size of a cell phone, the better. The other thing that makes the screen on this phone special is the support of Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate that allows you to use this phone in landscape mode or normal vertical mode.
The design of this phone looks really elegant and simple. There is no unnecessary element being added on the outside of the phone. The black case cover also looks really blending with the physical buttons on the front side. Moreover, if you set black theme as the background of this phone, it looks even simple but still sophisticated.
There are some physical buttons on the front side. These physical buttons are not really huge but they are practically easy to press and to use for daily basis. On the other hand, the numeric keypad on the back slider is designed by the vendor in flat texture. So it becomes pretty hard to reach and press the right button while looking at the screen.
The back cover of Samsung Innov is designed by the vendor in glossy material, which leaves finger prints every time you hold it.
Gaming Compatibility
The square-shaped D-Pad has also been well produced by the vendor as optical trackpad. It looks nice and solid on the front device. So practically, if you love playing mobile games with cell phone, the D-Pad on this phone can be so reliable to accommodate your hobby.
Moreover, there are lots of high quality games available for this Symbian cell phone (e.g., Real Football 2009 3D, Need for Speed: Undercover 3D and many more). The gaming experience you will get on this phone will also be so much better with a really wide 2.8 inch screen. This phone can be a great gaming device.
And if you want to play other games or apps across Java platform, this phone has also supported Java MIDP 2.1 (which is the highest version of Java platform on mobile phones). So every high quality and heavy Java games can be played nicely and perfectly on this phone.
Camera
As I already said earlier, Samsung Innov is powered by a great 8MP camera. This element can be the biggest reason why people want to grab this phone. On the back side of this phone, the 8MP rear-camera lens looks really huge for cell phone. The white circle that surrounds the camera lens also gives impression of its huge lens.
With the words “Digital Camera” being written around the lens circle, there is no doubt anymore that this phone is released by Samsung as a great digital camera cell phone. No argue to that. And most importantly, the LED flash support has also been equipped to help users snap photos in darker area. Taking your favorite moments with its camera can be done by pressing the camera button on the right side. Not to mention, Samsung Innov also has front face camera that is placed above the screen.
And if we compare the camera of this phone with the most recent product from Samsung, say, Samsung Galaxy Nexus (which is an Android device and only has a 5MP camera), then Samsung Innov will win the battle on camera capability.
Interface and Functionality
The screen also gets the best treatment from Samsung. With the help from TFT, 16M colors and 240 x 320 pixel screen resolution, the entire side of the screen looks really colorful and sharp. It’s also worth mentioning that the 2.8 inch screen of this phone is also really huge for standard old cell phones around the market, which mostly have around 2 – 2.4 inch screen.
The screen looks really decent in indoor area. Everything that is presented on the screen looks nice and the sharpness is just great. However, when you use this phone in outdoor area, under the high level of sun light, the screen appears to become a mirror and shows light reflection on the screen. So it becomes harder to stare and use this phone in outdoor.
Features
Besides the powerful 8MP camera, this phone also comes with many awesome features, from: 3G, WiFi connection, GPS, DivX support, 3.5mm jack, Stereo FM radio, Java MIDP 2.1 platform and many more. The data storage is also a huge relieve for the users because Samsung has injected 8 GB/16 GB in internal storage and the support of microSD external memory for up to 16GB.
Performance
The performance of Symbian-based smart phones has always been really good. So practically, doing or operating the user interface of this phone is pretty fast and smooth, thanks to the help from 330 MHz processor (CPU ARM 11). Installing and running Symbian-based applications or games can be well accommodated by this phone because the version of its OS, which is Symbian OS v9.3, Series 60 rel. 3.2, is still the standard of Symbian cell phones around the market (Nokia N95, Nokia N81, Nokia 5700XM are using the same Symbian OS S60 v9).
Conclusion
Bottom line, Samsung has been popularly known in delivering its great quality smart phones to the market, which mostly are Android smart phones. But this time, this vendor is really brave to release Samsung Innov differently as a Symbian-based cell phone, which is quite rare these days. So I have to appreciate the efforts that have been spilled on this device.
Samsung Innov is a solid built cell phone. Samsung Innov has everything you’re looking for in a smart phone. Offering powerful 8MP camera, good performance, wide screen, good sound quality, and the most importantly, WiFi connection, so it’s pretty hard to not admit that this phone is actually a good quality cell phone. It even can be considered as a great digital camera cell phone.
So in conclusion, if right now you’re looking for a decent camera cell phone, then Samsung Innov can be your great destination.
