It's not hard to see what Samsung is trying to do with the Pixon 12 M8910, a mobile that's more camera than phone. However, it's important that when doing something like this it shouldn't be more about the camera than anything else - it should be about the phone as well, with a camera a decent effort on the back of it.
It's for this reason we've got high hopes for Sony Ericsson's Satio, with its 12MP snapper and the Walkman innards to boot - Samsung better hope that stays off the shelves for a while longer.
We liked
The OLED screen is gorgeous, and the build quality of the phone is of a decent standard too. The camera is obviously a very good performer, and the addition of an extra video light is a nice touch as well.
We disliked
The price is where the Samsung Pixon 12 M8910 really lets itself down, as post £500 is just too much. The responsiveness of the touchscreen still isn't there, and the video is only so-so, despite so many features running to improve it. The lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack is also criminal - surely it wouldn't have been that hard to add?
Verdict
A nice enough effort from Samsung, but it's not going to break any sales records, despite being a world's first. We're all for innovation, but the world's first 12MP cameraphone seems to have forgotten about the phone aspect of the alliance in some respects. A decent alternative to a point-and-shoot compact camera, but not worth the money to ditch a separate device altogether.
