The Samsung Omnia HD has had a lot of things said about it. But the biggest USP of this product is the camera. This baby rocks an 8 megapixel camera that does recording in HD (1280 x 720) at 24fps.
Let’s see in detail how the Omnia HD performs in this critical section, since this is the strongest point on it.
Samsung, today makes some of the highest megapixel count camera-phones in the world today. At 8MP, which is the current standard for high end phones, this camera is good. The Omnia HD has a lot of options and presets to help you get the most out of it. The interface on the Omnia HD’s camera is better than the Nokia solution on it’s touchscreen devices too. The only part where it loses out is the inclusion of a single LED flash. Without adequate flash, this phone cannot be used to capture anything in a dark area, as the results will be anything but acceptable.
The huge screen helps the Omnia HD to a great extent when it comes to taking a photograph. With a larger screen one has a good idea of what is coming into the frame easily. Though, at times, due to the size, the phone becomes quite a handful when trying to get a shot. I struggled at times, to find a sweet spot in terms holding the phone while taking a picture.
In daylight, the Omnia HD shoots some amazing photos, the 8MP at times is a big boon and on the screen at least, one will be amazed at the amount of detail that can be viewed. There are several presets on this device when it comes to the camera, as I mentioned earlier. Some of them are not available within even Espoo based Nokia’s phones. Smile shot feature, fireworks, candle light, dawn/dusk, sunset, are some of the ones I can recall. These settings sadly are not present in some of Nokia’s best offerings. Samsung though, has been providing them for long now.
I must say that the quality of the photos that turned out were rather good, better than even the N97 and I don’t mean by resolution alone. Samsung have a winner on their hands when it comes to camera. The only things that I did feel letdown with, may be because I am sub consciously comparing it with a regular point and shoot digital camera, is the macro. the macro for some reason is not as good as I would have liked it to be. It seemed to be lacking that little bit extra.
In terms of taking the pictures I would give it a 8/10. A good camera lacking dual LED flash or a xenon and a poor macro stop it from becoming a camera-phone to die for. Everything else makes it an excellent performer.
With the still photography part over, let’s take a good look at the video recording aspect. Video recording on the Omnia HD is as easy as it is taking a photo. What’s more is that there are a plethora of options in the form of settings, something which is sorely missing on many other phones. The biggest USP of this phone is it’s ability to take HD videos (1280x720). This USP also means that if you intend to shoot a long video, you had better have some extra batteries and lots of memory available.
So how good is the ‘HD’ recording? you ask, well it is good, capturing detail and colour brilliantly. I don’t think there is anything lacking in the video taking ability of this phone. I cannot find any noticeable flaw here. The phone allows for videos to be taken at a fast speed or a low speed. Interesting modes to have when you want to film that slow turtle race at the zoo or when you got to film that fast cheetah running toward its prey during that African safari of yours! These modes have setting for them too, so you can choose the speed at which you want to record the video. One must also know that you cannot record sound in these modes, which is a good thing. I don’t know things would sound otherwise. Also the modes are not HD quality modes, expect QVGA quality videos in the ‘slow-mo’ and fast forward modes.
As I mentioned earlier in my post, recording in HD means that a 30 second file would be approx. 36MB, so you better have a 16GB card in that phone of yours. Battery packs also needed!
Down below is a huge gallery of images from the Omnia HD and some sample videos too!
