The Samsung M8800 Pixon is the latest smartphone by Samsung and its newest offensive in the war of the 8MP phones. It also sports Samsung’s most refined touchscreen interface yet, which also make it a very tough competitor to Apple’s iPhone 3G. In addition to the 8 MP camera and touchscreen, it also sports a range of other features and a stylish and slim design and offers a good overall package with a mix of functionality and features. It obviously is not as capable as the Samsung I8510 Innov8, being more camera and interface centric as compared to the Innov8, but it is definitely more stylish and compact. In this review we check out the features of the M8800 Pixon and decide whether it is a good buy or not. We also compare its camera to the other 8 MP heavyweights in business like the Sony Ericsson C905, Samsung Innov8 etc.
Samsung M8800 Pixon Specs:
* Dimensions : 107.9 x 54.6 x 13.8 mm
* Weight : 121 gms
* Display : 3.2″ TFT touchscreen, 256 K Colors, QVGA 240 x 400 px.
* Camera : 8 MP (3264 x 2448 pixels) camera with autofocus, flash, secondary videocall camera
* Video recording at WVGA @ 30fps, QVGA @ 120fps.
* Memory : 200 MB Internal memory expandable to 8 GB
* Connectivity : GPRS Class 10, EDGE Class 10, 3G HSDPA 7.2 MBPS, USB v2.0 microUSB
* Bluetooth : Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
Other Key Features :
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, SRS (Surround Sound System) Virtual 5.1CH, TV out functionality, Java MIDP 2.0, FM radio with RDS, Organizer, Office document viewer
Design and Build Quality:
The Samsung M8800 Pixon has a very nice and stylish design. It is officially the slimmest 8 MP camera phone available at a width of just 13.8 mm. The overall dimensions of 107.9 x 54.6 x 13.8 mm are very nice and ensure that the Samsung M8800 remains as portable and handy as any other phone. It even wieghs just 121 gms which is decent compared to the features it comes packed with. The full black body sports a clean and minimal design with just the huge screen in the front along with a few control buttons - Call, End and the earpiece, secondary cam and the ambient light sensor. The right side hosts the camera key, dedicated gallery key and the volume rocker. On the left, you find the hold key, shortcut menu key and the microSD card slot. The top features the connectivity port while the bottom sports the mouthpiece and the lanyard eyelet. On the back of the phone lies the star attraction - the 8 MP camera and the accompanying LED flash. The build quality of the M8800 is superb with the body made partly of metal and partly of plastic. The M8800 Pixon seems to be very durable and should easily last for more than a couple of years without any hiccups.
Display:
The Samsung M8800 Pixon sports a 3.2″ TFT touchscreen display which supports upto 262K colors and a WQVGA resolution of 240 x 400 pixels. The display quality is superb with great brightness and contrast levels. It produces vibrant images with rich colors. The sunlight legibility is also very nice. The touchscreen also performs upto expectations. It is very responsive and has superb sensitivity. The haptic feedback provided is good. The screen can also be calibrated to increase the accuracy.
User Interface:
The Samsung M8800 Pixon sports an improved version of the very famous TouchWiz UI earlier seen in the Samsung F480. The version in the M8800 Pixon is a very refined version with increased performance. It is fast and responsive, having cleared most of the problems that plagued the earlier version of TouchWiz. The UI on a whole is very intuitive and easy to use. It also supports multitasking wherein you can run many tasks simultaneously and switch between them. You can also customize your home screen with ‘widgets’.
Gallery and Multimedia:
The M8800 Pixon comes with a default file manager which can also double up as a basic gallery application. It allows you to access all kinds of files, perform all kinds of operations on them and to send them through bluetooth etc. You can also delete, rename, edit and view the details of all the files. You can also open images through the default file manager. You also get a more advanced image viewer application bundled with the phone. You can zoom into the images, view them as a slideshow, as thumbnails, in portrait and landscape modes (you can also switch using the accelerometer) and much more stuff.
The Pixon also comes with a nice looking touch optimized Music Player application. It supports all the basic features like playlist creation, track listing according to author, album, genre etc, fast forward, rewind and various sound effects. It can also be minimised, the music player can also be accessed through a widget. The sound quality of the M8800 Pixon is superb and flawless. The volume range is good too.
It also sports a FM radio with RDS to view track information. The FM reception is very nice. The M8800 Pixon also sports a superb Video Player application which is also touch optimized. It offers many features which aid in video playback. It can natively play a whole range of formats including DivX and XviD, MP4 etc at VGA resolutions. It also offers the basic features like fast forward, rewind, portrait or landscape playback etc. The video playback is very nice with no skipping of frames or lags.
Camera:
The Samsung M8800 Pixon sports a 8 MP camera with autofocus and an LED flash- the main highlight of the phone. It can capture images at a maximum resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels which is pretty much the highest in any smartphone yet. The camera user interface is packed with features and is very intuitive being touch optimized. The camera also supports image stabilization, geotagging and other features. The image quality of the M8800 Pixon is very nice but falls behind other 8 MP shooters like the Samsung Innov8 and the Sony Ericsson C905. The color reproduction is accurate and the colors are vibrant. The contrast is perfect and the images, realistic.
One of the highlights of the Samsung M8800 Pixon is its spectacular video recording capabilities, and it does manage to deliver on that front. It supports WVGA / VGA video recording at 30 FPS and QVGA recording at 120 FPS. The recorded video quality is excellent and easily near the top.
Connectivity and Other Aspects:
The Samsung M8800 Pixon sports a range of connectivity features like GPRS Class 10, EDGE Class 10, 3G HSDPA 7.2 MBPS, USB v2.0 and Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP. It lacks Wi-Fi but that is understandable as it isn’t aimed at the business class.
The Pixon does its main job quite well - the call reception quality is great and the built in loudspeaker adequate for most instances. The volume is superb and the quality too. The Samsung M8800 Pixon is powered by a 1000 mAh Li ion battery which has a rated talk time of 3 hrs and 40 mins. It should easily last for about two days on a single charge with moderate usage.
Pros:
* Nice Camera with Superb Video Recording
* Good Touchscreen Interface
* Slim Form and Stylish Design
Cons:
* No Wi-Fi
Final Words:
The Samsung M8800 Pixon is a nice and cheaper alternative to the flagship Innov8 and definitely a good buy. It offers superb features and if priced correctly, will definitely be a hit.
