Cameraphones have come along way since the early snap’n’send’n’then-work-out-what-the-picture-is mobiles. Five megapixels is now the current benchmark for any self-respecting, top-of-the-the-range UK handset with high quality camera aspirations. The G800 is Samsung’s second UK mobile to boast a 5-megapixel resolution camera, following on from the sleek, slimline G600 sliderphone.
The G800 is vying for shelf space with an increasing number of mobiles with similar top-level resolutions, including the Nokia N95, N95 8GB, and N82, Sony Ericsson K850i, and the LG KU990 Viewty.
But the 3G-enabled G800 has something a bit special that none of the other mobile makers have yet squeezed into their 5-megapixel cameraphones – a 3x optical zoom. Sure, other mobiles have zooms, but an optical lens array means no loss of quality when you zoom in up close to subjects – unlike with a digital zoom where the picture quality degrades as the image on the camera imaging chip is digitally enlarged.
In fact, an optical zoom is still a rarity on cameraphones. Nokia has done it before with the N93 and N93i, both 3.2-megapixel models, and Sharp has too with its 2-megapixel V602. But, as Samsung makes much of, this is the world’s first 5-megapixel cameraphone with a 3x optical zoom.
One compromise that Samsung has had to make to achieve this, however, is on size. To fit its clever moving optics internally, Samsung has moved away from the svelte design template of the G600 and other recent models and made the G800’s casing more – well – camera-like. It weighs in at 129g – bulky for a mobile – and it’s just over 20mm where its sliding lens cover protrudes.
So will the benefit of having an optical zoom make a crucial difference to buyers when the G800 is lined up against the other 5-megapixel big-hitters?
Handling
Although Samsung is majoring on the photographic capabilities of the G800, the mobile isn’t a one-trick pony. It’s a fully-featured 3G handset, with HSDPA high-speed mobile broadband technology that enables download speeds on suitably enabled mobile networks of up to 7.2Mbps. While no UK network currently offers these speeds for handsets, HSDPA services on some networks are in the process of being upgraded for services later this year.
