By Melvin Seah, a freelance writer

FIRST, there were mobile phones with built-in cameras that rivalled standalone ones in megapixel count. Now, phones are catching up with camcorders too.

Video enthusiasts should check out the Samsung I8910HD which can record high definition (HD) video at 1,280 x 720p resolution - possibly the first phone with HD video recording.

I tested it with Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, a 720 x 320-sized XVID clip.

Its 3.7-inch Amoled (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode), at 640 x 360 resolution, delivered sharp images with colours that were surprisingly vibrant. Everyone I showed it to was suitably impressed.

But do not junk your camcorder just yet.

Though my recorded video clips turned out reasonably well, considering that they were taken by a mobile phone, they lacked the detail and sharpness of a dedicated HD camcorder.

For example, my clips of a neighbourhood mall turned out colourful but I could not make out some of the details of the stores in the background.

The touchscreen handset also lacks features such as an optical zoom and image stabilisation.

It had only a 4x digital zoom which would not focus properly at the maximum zoom level.

Meanwhile, image stabilisation worked only with the lowest resolution of 320 x 240 pixels.

Without this aid, clips of children running around at the playground turned out rather nausea-inducing as I had to pan the camera a fair bit to capture them.

Still photos were surprisingly good though.

Pictures of my toddler's Lego bricks turned out bright and sharp. I was also pleasantly surprised that there was no long shutter lag and inconsistent automatic white balance found in most other camera phones.

Other than its video prowess, the phone is also fat with other features.

For quick Internet access, it has HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) at 5.76Mbps, 3.5G and Wi-Fi.

Add these other tools: A-GPS (assisted-global positioning system) and Navfone navigational software with Singapore and West Malaysia maps, an 8-megapixel camera and an auto-rotate screen.

If you have a Digital Living Network Alliance or DLNA-enabled TV, you can even stream videos from the handset to your TV wirelessly.

All these features are crammed into a package about the size of an iPhone.

Running on the Symbian S60 fifth edition platform and a 600MHz processor with 256MB RAM, the phone zipped along effortlessly.

Most times, I found it easy to use, albeit rather inconsistently. To open functions on the main menu, for instance Messaging, I had to single tap the icons. But to open up the SMS inbox in Messaging, I had to double tap. Confusing.

The A-GPS feature is also worth a mention: the phone picked up signals almost immediately and the voice navigation did a good job guiding me around Singapore.

Sometimes, though, it would tell me to make a turn when the map showed that I should be going straight.

Final say

Although HD recording is its trump card, the handset's camera and video playback are what make this phone a winner.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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