The Samsung i8910 HD is the latest high-end smartphone from Samsung. But can it cut it against two of its toughest rivals: the Nokia N97 and the HTC Magic?
The Samsung i8910 HD uses the new Symbian Touch OS, but like any self-respecting phone, it has its own custom interface on top of that: TouchWiz, a finger-friendly, touch-based UI built around widgets, such as weather apps, or contact shortcuts. However, it’s not just the Samsung i8910 HD, because the phones in this shootout are built along similar lines. The Nokia N97, in fact, also uses Symbian, making the two phones very similar in terms of underlying OS. If we’re talking flair, then the HTC Magic is a far more worthy contender, with its Google Android interface. That makes the HTC Magic’s interface a lot more expandable, but to counter that, the Samsung i8910 HD interface is far prettier.
Internet and Online Tools
Both the HTC Magic and the Nokia N97 have aces up their sleeves, though, as they both have dedicated online app stores. The HTC Magic has the Android Marketplace, and the Nokia N97 has its Ovi Store, both of which make downloading extra software incredibly easy.
Camera
The HTC Magic also has the benefit of an app store, and a marginally more expandable and functional interface (although the i8910 HD has the prettier interface). But there’s one area where the Samsung i8910 HD comes out as the easy winner: the camera. The HTC Magic makes do with 3 megapixels, and the Nokia N97 tops that by having a 5MP camera. However, the Samsung i8910 HD trumps both, as it not only has an 8MP stills camera, but it’s the first phone in the world to be able to record true, 720p HD video. Neither of the other phones can match that. So, we have three very different phones: the HTC Magic with its Android Marketplace; the Nokia N97 with its keyboard; and the Samsung i8910 HD with its phenomenal stills AND video camera.
