Samsung GT-M8910 Pixon 12 cameraphone

Review As digital camera manufacturers start to concentrate on quality rather than megapixels – reducing the count of the latter while enhancing the former – mobile phone makers still appear caught in the vortex of more-means-better. A case in point is the Samsung GT-M8910 Pixon 12, the first handset with a 12Mp camera – should we be impressed?

Well, actually, it isn’t just about the megapixels for Samsung either. Yes 12Mp breaks new ground, but the feature set here is actually quite rounded in terms of what a mobile phone can offer, and you might be tempted even without taking the numbers game into account.

For example, the Pixon 12 has a Xenon flash. Hardly groundbreaking in itself but it does mean you get a better chance of producing good shots indoors in low light conditions. Furthermore, it has a separate light for video shooting.

The lens is covered, and when you press a right side mounted button it shoots off and the camera software launches. Both processes happen quickly enough for you to stand a chance of a quick point and shoot. A separate button handles focus and shooting, and it has a very positive action.

A Smart Auto mode adjusts camera settings according to conditions, giving you the best chance of getting a good shot. It worked quite well during testing. The bowl of fruit, for example, is a brighter, more vibrant image when shot using Smart Auto than it is on settings we chose as best for this scene.

One of the other things Samsung is shouting about on the camera front is the Fast Shoot mode. This takes nine shots in very quick succession. Sadly the resolution is reduced to 640 x 480, which makes it fairly useless really. Video capture runs to 720 x 480 pixels and it made a good fist of that quite challenging moving image, the boiling kettle

                                      The Xenon flash gives it the edge for party snaps

The camera offers 5x digital zoom, and this is actually more useful than is often the case on cameraphones. There is degradation when you use zoom but you may be able to live with the results depending on what you are photographing and why you want the picture.

You can toy with photos on the phone itself using a fairly wide range of tools. Dynamic Canvas lets allows drawing directly onto photos and Photo Eraser lets you mark out an area of a picture that isn’t exactly removed seamlessly, but looks a bit rough with bits missing. Editing done, you can upload directly to Facebook, Picasa, Flickr or Photobucket. And you can print too, either through a USB to PC connection or via Bluetooth.

Samsung has thought about the looks and handling of the Pixon 12 as a cameraphone. When viewed from the back the handset has a very camera-like look. There is a faux leather section on the bottom end of the chassis, which we suppose is meant to be some sort of grip, though in fact it would need to extend further up the chassis to be of great use.

The 480 x800 resolution, 3.1in active-matrix organic LED (AMOLED) touchscreen is bright, sharp and up there with the best of them. It’s ideal for image viewing and a whole lot more. The media browser is rather well thought out. Twenty thumbnails are visible on screen at once, fingerpanning through full screen images is supported of course, and video is stored alongside images, so it is easy to find what you want from one central location.

The screen displays 20 thumbnail images for swift gallery browsing

Other stuff going on with the camera includes object tracking. You can tap the screen to ensure that whatever object you want remains at the centre of focus and exposure settings. It works but you have to move the handset around quite slowly for the tracking to keep your object in sight. Smile and blink detection are also here, as is beauty shot which purports to adjust exposure to help make skin look good. All three are a bit gimmicky, and more useful is the range of scene and shooting modes ...

(By reghardware)