Samsung announce HD Omnia

Samsung certainly like firsts. After taking the title of first 8.0 Megapixel camera phone, the next landmark they have in their sights appears to be concerning video capture. But can they really have revolutionised mobile video recording simply by adding two letters to an existing phone? Well, when those letters happen to be H and D, you’d certainly be forgiven for thinking so. And so with the unveiling of the Samsung Omnia HD, Samsung are certainly a contender for best announcement at the Mobile World Congress (along with Sony Ericsson and the impressively spec’d Idou).

The Samsung Omnia HD earns its name thanks to the fact that it features HD video recording enabling you to capture precious moments in 720p HD quality at 24 frames per second and enjoy HD content on an HD TV via DLNA technology. This isn’t the only upgrade from the original Omnia, the Omnia HD is a complete re-imagining of the i900 Omnia. The new i8910 Omnia HD features an 8.0 Megapixel camera which incorporates premium digital camera ingredients such as Face and Smile detection, Wide Dynamic Range and Geo-tagging. Both camera and video recording are sure to look stunning on the incredible 3.7 inch OLED capacitive touchscreen capable of displaying up to 16m colours putting it as a strong rival to the current best in class, the HTC Touch HD (and the Omnia actually earns its HD title).

Ok so surely that’s the end of the new stuff, right? Wrong! The Omnia HD discards Windows Mobile(seen on the original) in favour of the new touch based Symbian series 60 user interface currently seen on the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and the upcoming N97. Rather than being a carbon copy of the 5800 though, the Omnia HD does bring some Samsung flair to the party. TouchWiz makes an appearance on the homescreen giving you customisable widgets that you can move around and add to with new shortcuts. The camera interface is also given a Samsung overhaul for a far more user friendly experience than that found on the 5800.

To round up the rest of the features, the Omnia HD includes HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity for high speed web browsing and downloads, GPS SatNav with support for A-GPS, a proximitysensor for auto screen rotation, Bluetooth, an MP3 player, video player with support for DivX and XviD, a 3.5mm audio jack and an FM radio. The Omnia HD will launch with two different internal memory capacities; 8GB and 16GB. Don’t worry as which ever you choose, both can be expanded by a further 16GB thanks to a microSD memory card slot.

The Samsung Omnia HD was definitely one of the most exciting announcements at this years Mobile World Congress event and looks set to take the mobile phone world by storm when it launches later this year. Expected to arrive in June.

Samsung S8300 gets official: Say hello to the Tocco Ultra Edition

Following the leaked images a few weeks back, the phone formerly known as the S8300 has now been officially announced as theSamsung Tocco Ultra Edition. While admittedly quite a mouthful of a name, the Tocco Ultra earns its moniker as a marriage of two of Samsung’s most popular phones to date; the Samsung Tocco and theSamsung Soul. The Tocco Ultra features a 2.8 inch full touchscreen display which promises to deliver an unparalleled visual experience thanks to AMOLED technology. The touchscreen is further complimented by haptic feedback which confirms your actions with a light vibration, Accelerometer for auto screen rotation and a proximity sensor which puts the screen on standby when you’re on a call. The Tocco Ultra Edition takes its styling from the Soul; at just 12.8mm thick, this incredibly slim phone still manages to pack in an alpha-numeric keypad in a slide phone form factor. The worlds first full touchscreen phone with a slide out 3×4 keypad.

So a slide phone with a traditional keypad and a proper fulltouchscreen, but what about features? Well, this is where the Tocco Ultra truly comes into its own. The Tocco Ultra includes an impressive 8.0 Megapixel camera with Autofocus, face and smile detection, Flash and support for Geo-Tagging thanks to an on boardGPS receiver. And if moving pictures are your thing, video capture at 30 frames per second is complimented nicely by a wealth of video editing options such as audio dubbing and the ability to trim videos. Perfect for budding Spielbergs. In terms of video playback, the Tocco Ultra supports DivX and XviD as well as MPEG4 meaning the Tocco Ultra is a powerful Multimedia phone.

Elsewhere, we find HSDPA connectivity offering up to 7.2 Mbps for lightening quick browsing and downloads, the aforementioned GPS SatNav receiver plus A-GPS support for an even quicker satellite lock, Bluetooth v2.1 for faster file transfers and streaming music to a compatible headset and of course an MP3 player supporting a wealth of file formats.

So let’s recap; Good looks? Check. Touchscreen interface? Check. Traditional keypad? Check. Cracking camera? Check. Wealth of multimedia and connectivity features? Check Mate. The Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition, known as the UltraTOUCH elsewhere in European markets, is set for launch in mid to late March (so next month!). If those stunning good looks haven’t won you over, the formidable features surely will.

Samsung planning their own App store

In the run up to the Mobile World Congress event (which starts in just over a week), the rumour mill seems to be working overtime linking mobile phone manufacturers to all sorts of weird and wonderful stories. The latest is thatSamsung will be launching an application store, similar to that of the Apple App store and Google’s Android Market, where customers can get their fix of all sorts of downloadable goodies. Not one to normally be taken in with these internet rumours, this one certainly seems feasible with the runaway success of Apples App store showing other manufactures that such a thing can work. Plus the image to the left sort of helps to make things look more official!

Going under the name Samsung Mobile Applications (catchy isn’t it), the initial focus will apparently be on the UK market (great news for us) with over 1000 apps reported to be available from the off, both paid and free. Things are sounding good but before we get too excited, let’s take a look at the cons. Firstly, Samsung don’t have one operating system. The i8510 runs on Symbian Series 60, while the Omnia is aWindows Mobile phone, the Pixon uses a generic Samsung UI and there is also rumoured to be an Android phone in the pipeline. So how can Samsung possibly hope to cater for all these different operating systems? Will we see four versions of the same app? Or will there be selected applications that are only available on a certain platform? This is certainly a stumbling block, one which both Apple and Google haven’t come across as both stick to one operating system.

Whether this rumour turns out to be true should become clear over the next couple of weeks and, if it does, it remains to be seen how Samsung will make it work with their tendency to keep alot of finger in alot of pies, from an operating system point of view. On the other hand, a bit of healthy competition for Apple and Android can only be a good thing.

Samsung S8300 spotted: 8 Megapixel Soul anyone?

With two 8.0 Megapixel camera phones already under their belt, you’d think Samsung might kick back and relax. After all, they were the first company to launch an 8.0 Megapixel camera phone in Europe with the Samsung i8510 a definite contender for phone of the year in 2009. But no, hot on this success, Samsung have been busy working of the latest addition to their already impressive range. The Samsung S8300 looks to be a natural upgrade to theSamsung Soul thanks to a slim slider form factor measuring in at just 12.8mm thick. With the Samsung S8300 still under wraps at Samsung HQ and yet to see an official announcement, what else do we know about this newest 8.0 Megapixel camera phone?

Well, firstly the camera is complimented by Autofocus and an LED flash but what else? Expect Face and Smile recognition to also make their way into that sleek exterior as well as high resolution video capture as seen on the Pixon. Away from the camera, the S8300 is an HSDPA mobile phonemeaning high speed web browsing is at your finger tips, though Wi-Fi is unconfirmed at present. GPS is also included though whether it will be the full fat version as seen in the i8510 or only suitable for Geotagging like that on the Pixon is unclear. To round it off, a multimedia player with MP3/ MPEG4 and DivX (high quality video) support plus Bluetooth v2.1 should make the S8300 a formidable multimedia phone.