Samsung Pixon M8800 Review

Samsung Pixon is yet another phone from Samsung, a company that seems to be challenging Nokia and LG for the largest number of phones released in a year. Have they cut corners and unleashed a third rate feature phone?

2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 2100
Dimensions 107.9 x 54.6 x 13.8 mm
Weight 121 g
Display TFT touchscreen, 256K colours
Size 240 x 400 pixels, 3.2 inches
Memory 200 MB internal memory
Card slot microSD (TransFlash), up to 8GB
Data GPRS Class 10 32 – 48 kbps, EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps,3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps
Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP
USB v2.0, microUSB
Camera 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, video(WVGA@30fps, QVGA@120fps)
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion 1000 mAh
Stand-by Up to 290 h
Talk time Up to 3 h 40 min
Features Accelerometer sensor, Built-in GPS receiver, Camera geo-tagging, auto-panorama shot, face, smile and blink detection, advanced shake reduction, DivX/XviD/H.263/H.264/WMV/MP4 player, MP3/eAAC+/WMA/AMR player, TV out functionality, Java MIDP 2.0, FM radio with RDS

It could have gone either way as there are so many phones hitting stores right now that are forgettable and easy to dismiss as an iPhone wannabe, so I’ll get the negatives things out of the way first as I want to rant and rave about how great this phone is.

The worst thing about this phone is the housing. My initial impression when I picked it out of the box was that the phone was tacky, plastic and not likely to last the 12-18 months you’ll have this for if you opt for a contract. The buttons felt like they should be on an electrical gizmo that makes childish noises found in your local pound shop. These thoughts are still felt after a week’s usage.

Secondly is the groove around the outside of the screen. This is perfectly sized to pickup all known forms of dust and gunk. To my horror my partner’s makeup manage to collect in it after using the phone briefly.

Thirdly is a complaint about the bundled software. Under Vista I just could not get it to work. It looks pretty and the demonstration got me thinking it would be pretty darn good. However, it crashed the instant I loaded it and there was little to play with to get it to work. The website offers no updated versions at this time of writing however I imagine I’m not alone and Samsung should address this in the future.

Okay, I’ve gotten that out of the way so now I can spend the rest of the time raving about how fun and easy this phone is to use.

The operating system is so simple yet manages to package all the known features of today’s phones and just a little more. Everything just works. There is a snappy response even with cute transition animations, superb implementation of an accelerometer and a massively powerful camera that is a doddle to use.

The most notable feature is the widget bar on the main screen. This was one of the best features of the recent Omnia and its easy to see why it would lend itself so well to almost any phone on the market. Here it is surprising fast and has loads to offer. Most of the widgets included with the phone aren’t the most useful but once the platform is established you’ll see all manner of useful applications making their debut.

As you can see the user interface is very simple to use and the accelerometer is nicely added for everyday use. I notices that the battery life wasn’t the hottest and if you are uploading some of these massive shots to a Flickr account or the like on the move then I think you’ll have problems getting through the day.

The camera works well, whilst the night mode is, as always, a bit of a waste of time photo’s are crisp and of extremely high quality. Using the zoom is, as ever, a drawback on these phones. The Digital zoom does no favours to the image and there is no optical zoom. Have a look at some of the pictures below as I went for an adventure around my garden. The first picture of the fuzzy mutt is indoors using the flash.

I guess if I was to make a complaint it would be that whilst the widget’s are fun and allow for a little customisation there is little option of more customisation. The phone is well laid out and you are expected to deal with that, if you don’t like it then tough. However, this is the case with most phones and the customisation is much more involved than 90% of other dumb phones.

Inside the box you receive a couple of goodies. A nice metal stylus, mini CD with software, headphones with a 3.5mm jack, attachment cable for the 3.5mm jack with mic, volume and clip for lapel, a USB lead and the all important power adapter with lead. Nice to see that Samsung haven’t gone the way of so many companies and expected you to charge off the USB cable and packaged only a plug.

This is a Cinderella phone. Dressed in rags, but underneath it’s beautiful and will steal the show. My only worry is that by the 12^th month it’ll turn into a pumpkin.

Thanks to Superestrader for supplying the review device