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One area where that large screen excels is web browsing and another is text entry. You can enter URLs and other text using a QWERTY on-screen keyboard that sits very nicely indeed in landscape mode. It was comfortable to work two-thumbed. There is also a handwriting recognition system, though I found it unwieldy. And of course you can also use an alphanumeric tappable keypad if you prefer.

The accelerometer is great for switching between landscape and portrait web page views, while finger panning around pages is easy, aided by a nice zoom slider you can call up to get closer or further away from page content. A menu button brings up lots of options such as setting bookmarks, returning to your home page, keyword search within pages and even RSS subscription.

Music playback is another central feature of a modern multimedia handset. Here, there's a 3.5mm jack on the top edge of the casing so headphones won't snag at your pocket when they are in place, unlike those proprietary side-mounted connectors found on other handsets. It is a shame that Samsung's headset is one-piece, though, as I'd have liked the opportunity to use my own headphones past the microphone for better quality output when using hands-free. For those into their radio, the i8910 HD comes with an RDS-enabled FM one.

The phone just managed over 10 hours of music from a full battery charge. Samsung quotes 13.5 hours of talk and 600 hours on standby. Use the Wi-Fi and GPS sparingly and you may approach the two and a half days between charges that I got.

Sadly, there is no Google Maps to take advantage of the GPS, though you can add it easily. There is plenty of other additional software here including a digital compass, voice recorder, podcasts manager, the RealPlayer, mobile email, calculator, clock, unit converter, notes taker, calendar, an application called Smartreader for converting business cards to the contacts app via the camera, QuickOffice for working with Word, Excel and PowerPoint (reading not creating), and PDF reader.

Verdict

There are some negative points with the i8910 HD such as the one-piece headset, no Google Maps, and slightly unwieldy size. But the good points far outweigh the bad, and if you are after a large-screened phone this could be a super choice.

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