More unboxing today! This time, it’s a first look at the flagship Samsung Ultra Touch (a.k.a S8300) that we saw at the MWC event at Samsung a while ago. The cool thing about this unbox is that the phone isn’t even on sale in Singapore yet!!

This phone is filled with features, and like all top-of-the-line phones, it’s got everything from GPS, 3.5G HSDPA, Bluetooth etc. And carrying on the Samsung flasgship tradition, it has a really powerful camera too. 8 megapixels!! With LED flash, auto-focus, smile, face detection, anti-shake etc. Also, like we mentioned during the MWC post, this TouchWiz UI powered phone, like all other TouchWiz UI phones (Pixon etc), doesn’t have WiFi built-in.

Stay tuned for next week’s Gear65, after the Vaio P episode, as we take a more detailed look and review the Ultra Touch!

A Windows Mobile phone that’s actually awesome? Is that possible? The HTC Touch HD might actually be that phone! Find out why Daniel keeps thinking that the TouchFlo3D user interface should be a standard in Windows Mobile phones, and how it lets us forget about the fact that there’s actually nothing HD about the Touch HD (strictly speaking). This phone isn’t perfect though, and we’re not gonna let its flaws just pass by!

Oh, and this is going to be a long video, but that’s just because this is such an awesome phone, especially if you have been using Windows Mobile phones for a while!

Links: HTC Touch HD, Touch Pro2, Touch Diamond2

Follow up on video: The Touch HD still has the largest (3.8″) display among any HTC phone today, with the Touch Pro 2 at 3.6″ and the Diamond2 only at 3.2″.

The following are some photos and videos we took at the event.

Samsung Ultra Touch

A pretty slick phone with the usual powerful camera found on the Pixon. Running on the TouchWiz UI (I prefer to think it’s an OS) found on the Pixon, it is very similar with it in terms of specs, including the lack of WiFi, which continues to boggle the mind. There’s an interesting face recognition feature being shown off here similar to that found on iPhoto 09 that allows you to tag faces in a photo, and lets you call them by touching their faces on the screen. Of course the presenter points out that if you have too many faces in a photo, the boxes are gonna be too small to touch.

Samsung Beat DJ

Samsung has decided to replace the “Live Loud” brand of it’s music phones with a new “Beat” brand. The Beat DJ is their flagship Beat phone, also running on TouchWiz UI, ALSO lacking WiFi. The “DJ” feature on this phone seems to be just a novelty, but I’d like to point out that the touch area extends to the wheel at the bottom. Oh, and as much as we at Tech65 hate people who blast their music in the public, it appears that it is a trend nowadays, so we can’t blame Samsung for responding to this “beng” market by putting B&O speakers into their Beat phones. Urghh…

Now you can get out of awkward situations with the Samsung Ultra B

I thought this was the funniest thing I’ve seen built into a phone. This phone has a “fake call” feature that when activated by a shortcut, initiates a fake call. Wait, hold on, I got a call… “Hello? What? Little Johnny fell into the well?? I’ll be right over!! Sorry, gotta dash… Emergency…” According to the rep, you can even record a conversation so that it sounds like you actually have a real call! Oh, and when there’s a real call, the phone won’t ruin your cover by ringing. I know there are iPhone apps out there that do that, but this is the first time I’ve seen something like this built right into a phone!

Samsung Innov8
Network: 3.5G (GSM, HSPDA 7.2Mbps)
OS: Symbian 9.2, Series 60 V3.2
Connectivity: Wifi +Bluetooth 2.0 + GPS
Camera: 8 Megapixel CMOS with AF and Dual Power LED

First, lets start of with the design and aesthetics of the Innov8.

From Innov8 Features

See the earphone cable sticking out next to the Mini-USB port? I feel that putting the ear phone jack there makes the phone a little awkward to put it into the pocket, because it will be lying horizontally (unless you use the phone pouch), and making the pocket look very bulgy. On the extreme left side of the phone is the volume control buttons, which also acts as zoom button in the camera mode.

The earphone jack is of the standard 3.5mm type, so you can plug in your own ear phones as well.

From Innov8 Features

This is how the earphones look like. I tried it, and it fits my ear snugly, though initially, I had to adjust it a fair bit, thus causing a little discomfort. But I soon got used to it. The audio and visual playback is awesome.

Prior to accessing the main menu… there is a mini menu interface…

From Innov8 Features

This contains shortcuts to predefined functions, or customized to your liking (will come to that soon).
A quick glance through the various buttons will show if the FM Radio is running (shows the radio station), or if you are spinning MP3 tunes. “Shortcuts” options can be customized to one’s preferences.

Here’s a snapshot of how the main menu interface looks like

From Innov8 Features

See the media icon? with a little circle like thing at the top right hand corner? This indicates that an application in that category is running in the background. Nifty eh? The visual indicator helps to point out what the phone is doing.

They too, have thrown in Google applications such as Mail Reader and Google Maps.

From Innov8 Features

What you see here is the function of recording audio clips, and each clip can contain one hour worth of audio. The quality and volume of the clip can be set prior to recording. Extension of the clip is of MP4. Playback of recorded audio is decent, it can be even better, but I think the environment in which the audio was recorded plays a part too.

Ever come across a song you like that is playing on the Radio and want to record it? Now you can, because the Innov8 can. “Options” and then “Record”. These clips are then stored in the file manager.

Like some other phones, it also allow auto repositioning of the screen elements, when the phone is shifted from vertical to horizontal view.

From Innov8 Features

From Innov8 Features

Notice the keypad? It looks flat, but is actually very comfortable to key in messages or numbers, and suitable for people with larger fingertips as well. I found no difficulty using it with one hand. The sliding mechanism of the phone is also very smooth, and makes it easy to use even with just one hand. The Innov8 feels very “solid” in one hand itself, giving me the sheer confidence of shooting pictures too.

The photo quality is quite clear, as shown in then previous Innov8 post, so I shall not dwell too much on it).

The Symbian OS makes phone navigation a breeze, though non symbian users might find it a little harder to get used to initially. Apart from that, the Innov8 allows a great deal of customization of the shortcut keys (spoil for choice). It can be a boon or bane, depending on how you perceive it to be. Boon – It allows you to define what are the most accessed and frequently used functions. Bane – Hard time remembering which keys accesses which functions when activated. There are at least 6 to 8 keys that can be customized.

Last but not least, the English to Chinese and vice-versa dictionary. Suddenly I don’t feel so language handicapped anymore. The sms input supports Chinese and Malay characters input.

From Innov8 Features

From Innov8 Features

That’s all I have. These are the features that I will use most often if I do get an Innov8, and I believe that these are some features that people like you and I would want to find out before buying the phone. I hope you will enjoy the review that I have written, feel free to give me suggestions or tips I can improve on. Thanks!

This review was originally from Nicole.sg