Gadgets and Gizmos

Samsung G800

Samsung G800 is quite simply one of the sexiest and BEST camera phones currently available in the UK. There’s no denying it looks the part, with brushed metallic body subtly gleaming in the light. Combined with the mirrored front, it makes the G800 a joy to behold.

But despite looking pants wittingly sexy, it really is a phone that’s designed to do a very specific job. It’s a camera phone, and it sets out to be the absolute best camera phone it can be.

Key to that is the simple fact that it weighs in at a huge 5 mega pixels. Since there are only about 7 phones on the market in the UK that have a comparable camera, it’s not got a huge amount of competition, but the competition it DOES have is tight.

It’s up against the Sony Ericsson K860i, the Nokia N95, the LG Viewty and other similar powerhouse camera phones. But the G800 has a couple of secret weapons up its sleeve, starting with the 3x zoom.

And unlike ALL the other 5MP phones on the market, it’s NOT digital zoom. The SGH-G800 is unique in its class thanks to its three times optical zoom and face detection. According to Samsung the G800 has been equipped with a camera that can fully compete with a regular digital compact camera.

Samsung also claim that the Samsung G800 leaves all mobile phone competitors far behind. The Samsung G800 is a smart camera phone but don’t expect it to be a true replacement for a compact camera.

The overall picture quality is fine, surely when the light circumstances are ideal. Face detection does what it is supposed to do but works somewhat slow in practice to be really effective. Since this function can be deactivated I consider it an additional functionality.

Overall the Samsung SGH-G800 is ready for mobile television by supporting HSDPA connectivity next to the standard GPRS and EDGE. Mobile Television involves bringing TV services to the mobile phones.

It combines the services of a mobile phone with television content and represents a logical step both for consumers and operators and content providers. The Samsung SGH-G800 is ready to become Samsung’s all-round multimedia player.

Samsung G800 - Key features

• Camera: 5 MP, autofocus, video
• Bluetooth: v2.0 with A2DP
• Memory: 160 MB internal memory
• MP3/AAC/AAC+/e-AAC+/WMA player
• Browser: WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS reader
• Weight: 134 g
• Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, Email
• TFT, 256K colors
• Java MIDP 2.0
• Stereo FM radio