While most of the crowds are attracted towards the likes of the HTC Touch and the all new iPhone, there are some who still truely believe in powerful phones with physical buttons. There has been sone anticipation and the Samsung I8510, or the Innov8 as it is better known, is finally here.

The design looks somewhat like the Nokia’s powerful N95 with a similar slider design. The slider is wobbly at times. The design isn’t unconventional, but it isn’t very stylish either. An array of touch sensitive buttons line the panel below the screen. There are two dedicated buttons on this panel that makes multitasking to the nest and the previous running application really simple.

The operating system on this phone is the Symbian S60 3rd Edition. The phone comes with a wooping 16GB of inbuilt memory. If that isn’t sufficient space for you, then a MicroSD slot is also available to expand this. Audio quality and reception is also good. Using the keypad under the slider works well although the keys themselves don’t have the nicest feel to them.

The screen is good; the colors are good so are the viewing angle and the refresh rate. This is great because the phone has video support for the commonly used DivX format. Movies run smoothly without any signs of framing whatsoever.

One of the largest selling points of this phone has to be the 8MP resolution camera. The inbuilt flash works alright. Image quality from the camera is not very good. The images seem artificially enhanced to look very attractive. With a smaller sensor than standard point and shoot cameras, it is not possible to capture great quality at 8MP.

A basic video sequencing application comes installed which allows you to make your own video compilation by queuing up videos and photos with transition effects in between. The audio quality of the speakers on the phone is good and there is hardly any distortion with volume set to maximum. It must also be said that phone isn’t very loud either.

As expected from any phone over $350 or so, WiFi is present and so is GPS. The phone also comes with software Route 66 and some other GPS tracking utilities. Google Maps is also one of the custom software installed on the phone. There are also some other software and games such as the mobile version of FIFA 2008 and a bike racer called Asphalt 4. The fast paced games don’t run as well ad you’d like them to but they are still about playable.

The performance maybe decent, but the phone gets warm when you run a few videos or play some games on it. The other problem is that playing games on the keyboard is a little difficult. You also have to get used to the touch sensitive buttons below the screens when you have slid your finger to select the item you want and you move the finger away to click on a button, it slides to the next item.

Overall, it’s a good phone with loads of features that you might not need for use. It isn’t very impressive though, specially for something that is one of the costliest phones around priced at $950. It’s nothing something that will anyone’s jaw drop either. There is no doubt, that the iPhone will grab a lot more attention than the Innov8 and that is available for around $700. The iPhone would appear to be a better buy for people just wanting a stylish phone that also happens to be very usable even though it’s just a touch phone. If you want a phone with a proper keypad, lots of features and the ability to install one of the many Symbian applications available online, then the Innov8 although expensive will fit your spot.

Popularity: 12% [?]