full-quake-running-i8510-t9.html
for pics of Quake 1 (no floating point version) and the Nokia E3/Futureworks N95 3d chip demo running....on a Samsung. hehehehe
- The build quality of the phone is nothing short of stunning. Metal (listening, Nokia?), sturdy back to the slider and a feeling of weight (e.g. quality)
- Its smaller than I thought it would be, thinner (ish) than my N95 8Gb and about the same length and width with slider closed
- O.S. is Symbian s60 v3.2 feature pack 2; the same as on the N96. It feels like a Nokia, which is great as I feel right at home already!
The thing is, theoretically it will INSTALL every single symbian S60 app out there, even sticking the icon on the desktop. Actually running the app then is a different thing if it needs specific hardware (e.g. the 3d graphics chip/FPU and my Quake 2 dilemma, see later on.)- The new 3d effects when you rotate the screen and go from one menu to another are quite fun
- Music player has been updated, album cover in the middle, nice neon bar showing time left on song, and an Apple style reflection effect under the album art
nice- Realplayer is kick ass....FULL SCREEN PLAYBACK AS STANDARD on Symbian, FINALLY!! Divx playback appears to rock, although i was only playing QVGA. Need to test higher res still.
- The camera is excellent. Responsive, great range of options, slow motion is brilliant brilliant feature.
- GPS is a little bit sucky. You need to load a seperate app for AGPS, download data valid for 7 days, THEN open the route 66 app at the same time. Samsung, how about doing what Nokia do and put the AGPS in the actual sodding GPS app??!
- You need to pay for the GPS maps of Britain, and the voice navigation. Its a lot more than Nokia, who give you maps for free. Also, the GPS app graphics look a little....Fisher Price. Poor show so far for me on the GPS front I'm afraid, although you can buy additional modules for Safety cameras (speed cameras) etc. which is a nice touch, and something the Nokia's don't have.
- As I have been banging on about in another of my threads, the 3d performance is...well its fair to good just now. Unfortunately, either the Quake and Quake 2 compiles for Nokia made by Symbian genius Hinnka are compiled especially for the Nokia FPU, or the 8510 doesn't have a floating point unit (shudder). If the latter is true, this will SERIOUSLY affect gaming performance for those wanting to play 3d games. For example, Quake 2 on my N95 8Gb runs like a bloody dream, with OpenGL shading; you can install it on the Samsung, but try and run it and it pops back to mr menu screen. The one light at the end of the tunnel is that the NON FPU version of Quake 1 does run, at a fair to good frame rate, and you can see pics of this in one of my other threads. Also the Nokia/Futureworks 3d demo works, which uses a 3d chip. I'm very confused by this. I wish someone would find out the specs of 1) the CPU and 2) the GPU. There is a 3d chip in the 8510, right? Perhaps if we all donate to Hinnka through his website, he will recompile his excellent OpenGL Quake 2 for the Samsung, or at least his OpenGL and FPU Quake 1 version.
- The FM radio with RDS is a good feature
- Another downer....why the heck doesn't the video from tmobiles streaming video package display? I pay £5 a month for Sky Sports1 and 2, and Sky News. They play fine on my nokia (its a pretty low bitrate crappy stream) and yet try on my samsung and i get a black screen, although i can hear the audio. Grrrr.
I really hope Samsung support this baby with FW updates like Nokia do, as its looking promising.
For now though, the most important for me are...
1) Whats the CPU speed (It must be some kind of ARM core, like the N95 series phones, as it runs the Quake 1 Non FPU ARM version)
2) Has it an FPU?
3) What is the 3d graphics chip and will someone please develop for it (lol lol)?
