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The Samsung i8910 HD plugs a hole in Samsung's portfolio by giving it a media monster to offer consumers, and there's a lot going on inside the handset for consumers to discover.
We liked
It's important to bear in mind that this is a media-centric handset, so when we say we love the screen size, it's for that reason. Should it have been utterly useless at video or the internet, then perhaps we might have been a lot more scathing, but the AMOLED Screen is to die for and video and music playback is simply awesome.
The range of applications and features on the phone is staggering, and the touchscreen interface and response is Samsung's best yet (and we haven't even mentioned the brilliant stand that comes in the box).
We disliked
The chunkiness of the phone might not be to everyone's taste, and the internet was a little bit picky to play with. The DLNA server was a complete joke, and we're a bit upset to not see more native clients on board out the box.
Some areas of the phone aren't as polished as we'd have liked, but you have to search jolly hard to weed them out.
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Verdict
TechRadar's tip for Samsung's handset of the year so far, easily taking 'Best in Class' in terms of media functionality. It can match the Palm Pre and the Apple iPhone 3G S in terms of ability and raw processing power, and just works in the right way when you need it to. A handset that we really had to work hard to find much wrong with (providing you don't mind carrying around a pretty hefty phone).
How it compares to the rivals
The Palm Pre - The Samsung i8910 can't match the sheer integration the Palm shows, but it kicks its virtual ass at media playback.
The Apple iPhone 3G S - takes on the media darling and wins. The larger and richer screen makes it the choice for watching video, and the Exchange support is a winner too. Shame there isn't an App Store on board to compete.
HTC Magic - Google's latest darling is the other phone to recently nab 4.5 stars, and the two are pretty closely matched. However, the Magic might be more appealing to a wider audience thanks to its more conventional size and shape.
Nokia N97 - The 'other' S60 5th edition handset on the market (apart from the 5800 XpressMusic) and despite having a QWERTY keyboard and solid design, can't even begin to compete with Samsung's slick interface and better processing grunt.
Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grew with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.
