In a nutshell: The
world's first phone to offer a 5 megapixel camera with optical zoom,
the G800 sets the benchmark for camera phones. It's also a beautifully
designed slide phone that's fully equipped with an MP3 player, FM
radio, accelerated 3G (HSDPA), 160 Mbytes of internal memory plus
a memory card slot, and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Check out
the top 10 independent deals for the G800 below, or
click to read the full review and user reviews.
Top 10 internet deals
Samsung
G800 Review
Review:
November 2007. Updated June 2009.
Samsung have taken the phone world by storm by announcing at the
end of October 2007 the release of the world's first 5 megapixel
camera with optical zoom in a mobile phone. If the plan was to draw
attention away from the release of the iPhone, then this has certainly
done the trick! Launching in the UK on 12th November 2007, the G800
will be the most advanced camera phone in the world.
Samsung have pulled off both a technological and
design marvel with the G800. Its closest rivals are the Nokia
N95 and Sony Ericsson K850i,
which both have 5 megapixel cameras. But the G800 trumps them with
the introduction of a 3x optical zoom. An optical zoom is common
in dedicated digital cameras, but is very rare in camera phones,
because of size constraints. It enables the camera lens to zoom
into a scene retaining the full 5 megapixel resolution. By contrast,
the digital zoom used in the N95 and K850i (and other camera phones)
loses resolution when zooming. The G800 is also the first Samsung
phone to have a real xenon flash instead of the weaker LCD flashes
usually seen in camera phones. Samsung are one of the key manufacturers
of digital cameras, and they have clearly used their expertise in
the field to create a world beater with the G800. Other new features
that have been imported from the digital camera world are face detection,
and Wide Dynamic Range (WDR). Face detection detects the presence
of a face in a subject and adjusts the exposure and focus to optimise
the appearance of the face.
However, we have to point out that judging from
our user reviews, a lot of people have trouble getting good quality
pictures from the G800, particularly in low lighting conditions.
How can we explain this? One issue that Samsung really need to sort
out is to make the highest resolution the default setting on their
camera phones, because the default setting is low resolution. If
you don't change the setting, you're effectively using a VGA camera!
Another problem is that the G800 incorporates a lot of camera features
(anti-shake, face detection, WDR, ISO settings, etc) and this means
lots of settings to worry about and lots of things potentially to
go wrong. So if you're looking for a point-and-shoot camera, look
elsewhere. We've decided to deduct one point from our rating for
this reason. Many of these comments also apply to the Sony
Ericsson K850i, which has also generated a lot of complaints
from our users about the camera quality - again in low lighting
conditions. Our conclusion is that phone manufacturers should concentrate
on making their camera phones as simple to use as possible, as juggling
settings isn't really what you want to be doing with a camera phone.
But for camera enthusiasts, we still rate the G800 as one of the
top 3 camera phones of 2008 (the Nokia N95 and Sony Ericsson K850i
being the other two.)
As
you can see from the photos, not only is this the highest spec camera
phone, but it's also a sexy-looking slider that beats its rivals
hands down in terms of looks. It may not be the slimmest phone around,
but it's certainly more compact than the N95 and is a good size
for two-handed camera use. Turn the phone over and the back is like
a real digital camera, complete with a sliding lens cover. The secret
to making such a compact device is that the optical zoom is
an inner zoom, where the lens does not extend outside the body of
the phone.
The
G800 also has a new camera Graphical User Interface which provides
the same environment as a digital camera when using the camera function
on the phone. An On Screen Display shows various camera indicators
in a horizontal preview mode.
The large 2.4 inch LCD display is ideal for viewing
images. There's a built-in picture editor, and direct printing to
a Pictbridge-compatible printer is supported. High quality video
recording is also available, and a built-in video editor is provided
too.
As well as the photographic functions, the G800
incorporates all of the features seen in previous high-end Samsung
phones. The music player supports all major formats (MP3, AAC, AAC+,
3-AAC+, WMA formats) and wireless Bluetooth
stereo headsets. A stereo FM radio is also included. The G800
is superbly equipped with memory too: 160 Mbytes of internal memory
is sufficient to hold around 40 music tracks, and you can expand
this with a microSD
memory card.
Connectivity is excellent too, with support for
Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0 and TV-Out. Interestingly the G800 is a 3G
phone too, in fact it supports the latest high-speed 3G nicknamed
3.5G. Specifically, the 3G implementation is 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, which
offers download equivalent to broadband speeds. A web browser is
built-in, and the phone can handle RSS feeds and mobile blogging.
Email with support for attachments is available and a document viewer
can view most common file formats (Word, Excel, Powerpoint &
PDF).
The G800 was an outstanding phone. After a year
in which Samsung appeared to stumble, at the close of 2007 it launched
a product that set the standards in camera phone for the year ahead.
But looking back with the benefit of hindsight, the G800 wasn't
a huge popular success and Samsung now seem to have abandoned the
development of optical zoom cameras in their mobile phones.
Features of the Samsung G800 include:
5 megapixel camera phone with 3x optical zoom,
autofocus and Xenon flash
Video camera with built-in video editing
Display: TFT, 256k colours, 320 x 240 pixels
(2.4 inches)
MP3 player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, 3-AAC+, WMA formats)
Stereo FM radio
Speakerphone
Messaging: SMS, MMS, email (POP3 / SMTP / IMAP4)
Document viewer
Java games (Java MIDP 2.0)
Personal organiser functions
Offline mode
WAP 2.0, GPRS Class 10, EDGE
High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA, 7.2
Mbps) - 3.5G
xHTML web browser, RSS feeds, mobile blogging
Memory: 160 Mbytes plus microSD memory card
slot
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, TV-Out
Triband (GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900) plus
3G
Size: 102 x 52 x 19 mm
Weight: 134g
Samsung G800
Consumer Reviews
Love
your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other
people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review
this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a
forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear
words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!
Average
rating from 100 reviews:
Reviewed by Timmy from Dubai on
20th Feb 2008
the phone is class. buy it guys! Rating:
Reviewed by Jim from UK on 19th
Feb 2008
Got this on a Vodafone contract on the basis of the 5MP camera with
x3 Optical Zoom. As a phone, what can I say? It works. It's a phone.
The build quality is great - the slider doesn't feel like it's going
to come loose or snap! The menu system is intuitive and easy to
use. However, I am struggling to get decent quality images that
rival my ageing FinePix S5500 (4MP). Now I wouldn't expect a camera
phone to slap a dedicated digital camera down, even with more MP
(and 4 to 5 isn't a massive leap) but it is a bit of a worry, although
I expect it will either be me missing a setting somewhere or a future
firmware upgrade. My main gripes though, are the transfer software
and the headphones. Now, I don't normally use the proprietary softwre
bundles with phones as basically, they are next to useless. The
software with this phone handles contacts and diary information
well but *always* loses the connection after it has uploaded two
or more pictures or videos - which it does appallingly slowly. Set
the phone to "Mass Storage" for uploads and it happily rips along
(from the supplied 1GB memory card) The headphone gripe is a common
one for me and I suspect other people too. My ears must be freakishly
different, but the buds don't stay in. Also, I would rather keep
my Sony buds, but, I can't as there is no 3.5mm jack socket on the
phone or connector. Come on Samsung! Rating:
Reviewed by dan from scotland on
18th Feb 2008
had k800i and read reviews for k850i didnt fancy it and thought
i would try the g800. big mistake, phone is rubbish to use and menu
is no different to a fifty quid phone. pay big money you want a
bit of class for your cash. camera is big let down too after k800i,
sending this back while i still can. gonna take my chances with
the k850i.fingers crossed i wont get a dog... Rating:
Reviewed by jbby from turky on
17th Feb 2008
it the best phone out Rating:
Reviewed by Cal from England on
16th Feb 2008
Using this phone for over a week. I think it is a very good phone
with a quality feel. It also looks fantastic. After using a sony
ericson k800i before this i was a bit disapointed with the quality
of the samsungs camera, as this is the main shouting point about
this phone. But after following James Thompsons instructions it
has made the camera loads better in poor light conditions. The menu
is very easy to navigate, simple and clear. Would be nice to have
more themes and i cant figure out how to change the message tones.
Apart from that it is a stunning phone but not sure if it is better
then my old k800i. Rating:
Reviewed by Shane from UK on
11th Feb 2008
had problems with the camera at first but follwed the instructions
by: James Thompson from Scotland on 6th Feb 2008 and everything
works well now... no blur or dull images! looks good and although
you might feel a little disappointed with the features if you have
just swapped from a PDA but the only thing that I feel is lacking
is a Wi-Fi connection. battery life lasts about 2 days when used
regulary for internet browsing and calls - good enough really unless
you rarely have access to a electrical outlet. If you think that
it is heavy - you really need to get down the gym; its certainly
no heavier (noticeably) than any other quality phone. Above all
i'm satisfied - not completely, but mostly. Rating:
Reviewed by Tracy F from uk on
11th Feb 2008
I too have never sent a phone back until this one and also are a
big lover of Samsung phones. My gosh! this phone is terrible. Terrible
size, terrible weight, and so terrible to navigate. Honestly, it
took me 3 days to work out how to turn off the keypad tones and
that was with asking several of my friends. If you are looking into
new phones, dont even think about getting this one. Its a waste
of time, and now i have to wait another week before i can get a
new phone, what will that be.... well thats what im looking up now! Rating:
Reviewed by Andy C from UK on
10th Feb 2008
Well i'm afraid this is the first phone i have ever sent back. I
am a big fan of samsung mobiles. My last phone was a D900 chrome,
before that a D600, a D500, a D410 and more going back even further.
In fact the only phone i have owned other than a samsung was the
sony Z7. This is why i'm so disappointed. I should have held out
for the F490, but as yet it's still not available in the UK on any
network. This phone is simply too big and bulky. It does have Samsungs
usual build quality and it looks good until you pick it up and feel
how heavy it is. Someone thought i had a remote control in my hand
rather than a mobile! I bought this thinking that i could use it
to capture those all important moments while my daughter is growing
up and beginning to walk, without having to have my sony digital
camera around or my samsung camcorder. But the quality just isn't
good enough in the camera, so as a phone carrying that extra weight
it's just not worth it. Most of the people i've seen with lower
pixel cameras on sony erricson phones get a better quality still
picture. I personally think its down to the lens, sony and nokia
use carl zeiss lenses, LG schneider-Kreuznach lenses, Samsung needs
to find a quality manufacturer to sort theirs out. Yes it has mega
options for setting up but this seems to cause more problems. The
whole point of a camera on a mobile phone should be point and shoot
capabilities surely. What make it more gauling is the rest of the
phone is set up really well, all the usual samsung easy to navigate
menus and great features, its just simply too big and too heavy.
It looks like i'm going to have to order the LG viewty instead which
is 22g lighter and half a cm thinner. Rating:
Reviewed by ROPPA from ENGLAND on
7th Feb 2008
It looks a million dollars but that old saying looks are'nt everything
is very true of this phone. Build quality is great and looks stunning
but thats where it ends, the camera for indoor usage is rubbish
the pictures like others state are grainy or blurred or both. It
comes with no apps. or games you cant theme it like on the se or
nokia's. Its compact but as for weight dear me, all I can say is
dont fall in a lake or It will have you to the bottom in minutes.
Do yourself a favour and buy the N82 its 10 times better. Rating:
Reviewed by James Thompson from Scotland
on 6th Feb 2008
Like most people I have had big problems with the camera especially
in poor light conditions.Having spent days experimenting with different
settings i have found that the best setting for poor conditions
is to have the ISO at 400 the flash on auto and most importantly
have the WB set at "Daylight" you will find the colours rich and
clean and not the greyish dull type exposures you get on the auto
settings. Believe me this will transform the camera from being just
ordinary to exceptional!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Andy from UK on 6th
Feb 2008
I have a G800 and Occasionally when using the radio the screen changes
to blue and the word download appears on screen. At which point
none of the buttons work and it won't switch off. The only way to
re-boot is to take the battery out, Can you tell me what this is
and how I can stop it happening ? Rating:
Reviewed by vic from uk on 6th
Feb 2008
Got phone 24hrs ago,very impressed overall.On text,phone does not
default back to T9.Is this a one off? Camera very good in light,not
as good in low light,(poor flash,got to get very close)no blurry
pics as yet.Using a 1gb micro sd card as someone suggested.Perhaps
its working.On the negative side,bluetoothing a pc is painfully
slow and cable not much better.Instruction manual woefully inadequate,(still,who
reads them anyway)?.All in all very happy with phone,just wish it
was a little slimmer Rating:
Reviewed by Dave K from England on
6th Feb 2008
I have had this phone 5 days now and its excellent! After owning
Nokias for the last 3 phones I took the plunge and went for the
G800 after seeing my fiance's G600. Its easy to use, good to look
at and has some great features. Yes its bulky (but I hate small
thin light phones) and the camera is sometimes frustrating but as
a whole i am extremely pleased with it. The camera has come in for
some critisism but if you stick at it and experiment for long enough
you can get some excellent pictures day & night. I will say that
my fiance's G600 seems to have a brighter flash even though its
not a xenon! You can alter the profiles to suite your own tastes
(Hev you can add your own mp3 tone via profles/messages). The reason
that i gave it 4 stars not five is that compared to Nokias I think
texting is weaker and more difficult to carry out. All in all though
recommended, get one! Rating:
Reviewed by Melissa from UK on
3rd Feb 2008
Thanks Kelly - what does 'reflashing' mean, is it the same as restoring
factory settings? Also, does anyone know how we can find out if/when
firmware upgrades are released, and how to get them? Thanks! Rating:
Reviewed by Neil from Ireland on
3rd Feb 2008
Got the phne last week and first impressions, looks great, until
you pick it up and look from the side, heavy and thick, but apart
from that it's the best looking phone out there, and when you realise
the feaures it has you understandf the size. Like everyone else
im wondering about the faults. 1) Some picutes come out blurred,
2) Flash only works wel when close up, further then a foot or two
away it doesnt work, 3) why cant u keep image stabiliser on all
the time. What i want to know, mainly about the flash strength and
the blurred pictures, is will a firmware upgrade fix this, can it
be fixed or will these problems live with the phone forever? Rating:
Reviewed by Hev from England on
2nd Feb 2008
I have just got this phone G800, I love it but i cant find the tones
for sms text messages? It just beeps when i get a message. Does
anyone know if these can be changed? I know Samsung sms tones are
usually limited on their handsets but i cant even find where they
would be on the G800? Can anyone help pls? Thanks Rating:
Reviewed by neil swift from lancashire
england on 1st Feb 2008
Actually bought this after originally buying the Sony W910i of which
I only kept for 2 days and was very disapointed. This is about the
fouth Samsung phone that I have owned and I think it an absolute
cracker. Yes the phone is a little bulky but boy does it feel quality.
The camara is geat unlike some peoples comments below, I feel it
is just a matter of getting used to Samsung phones. Music sounds
great, especially through the headset and the FM radio is clear
as anything.Texting is easy to use and you can actually set your
own tone as the text alert, a common criticism with Samsung phones
in the past. Buy it and you will love it. Best Samsung so far. Rating:
Reviewed by Lee from Canada on
31st Jan 2008
Im dissapointed. I thought this would be the last camera phone i'd
have to buy for awhile but boy was I wrong. It sucks battery life
like no tommarow and doesnt have any wi-fi feature. The camera is
practically useless because everytime you try to take a shot the
images always come out blurry! Even with anti-shake on yielded the
same results. Also the photo quality is mediocore for being 5MP.
In my opinion if you want a good camera phone then I'd recommend
the Nokia N73 or Sony Ericson K800i over this. Rating:
Reviewed by Carl from England on
26th Jan 2008
I have now had the G800 for some time and having used it i would
say its a very good phone for those who want good looks and applications.
You do however need patenice to set it all up. As others have said
the instructions are poor but you do just find everything yourself.
Camera is very good but needs careful operation so just take your
time with this. One thing it doesnt say on this site is that it
can take up to a 4GB Micr SD card. All in all i like it and it does
have one thing my old N95 doesnt have... a quality feel! Rating:
Reviewed by Nick from UK on 25th
Jan 2008
Pro's - Nice looking, feels quality, decent options Negative's -
Poor battery life, camera isn't great, no games, options could be
laid out a little better. Not a bad phone but I wish I'd gone for
something different. Rating:
Reviewed by Kelly from UK on
25th Jan 2008
Reply for Melissa, Have had the same problem with the T9, searched
everywhere but in the end called Samsung direct. The short answer
to your question is that you can not delete words from the T9 without
re flashing the phone and then invalidating the warranty........
Thanks for the info on teh pics, finding the flash to be rubbish.
Rating:
Reviewed by Melissa Harrison from UK
on 23rd Jan 2008
Hello again everyone, just a quick update. I have put a 1GB microSD
card in, and suddenly the picture quality has improved A LOT. Not
sure why this should be the case but the difference is marked. After
much experimentation I have also found the following settings helpful
(in the Settings menu, when you actually have the camera on - and
remember to click 'save' after changing anything, they'll revert
otherwise)... Anti-shake: off, Extended zoom: off, Wide dynamic
range: off, Contrast: 50, Saturation: 0, Sharpness: 50. Quality:
high, ISO: 200, Exposure metering: normal, Autofocus: on. Auto WB
doesn't work and you have to set it yourself for every image. Turning
the ISO up to 400 improves the reach of the flash (but increases
graininess, of course). One final thing that's driving me mad about
this phone: I hate using t9 but decided to make the switch seeing
as this phone won't let me turn it off permanently. However, I have
now filled up the t9 dictionary within 6 weeks of gett ing the phone
and it won't learn any new words. I'd now quite like to delete some
of the ones I taught it at the beginning, which I wouldn't have
if I'd known it would run out of space, but can't. If anyone knows
how to edit the t9 dictionary, or reset it, I'd be grateful! Rating:
Reviewed by Phil from Bristol on
22nd Jan 2008
Love it, everything is working fine, had it a week or so,feels good,what
i like is when you open a text you can zoom out to see easier by
pressing the right side of the control cursor. Great clear sreen,easy
to use thanks Samsung! Rating:
Reviewed by Ted from UK on 21st
Jan 2008
really like this phone, never had a samsung before, its fairly easy
to use. few pointers i agree with below...instructions are v basic
and not much help, but as its fairly simple, you kind of work most
things out in the end. pity there was no games included, but have
downloaded some and that was v quick! havent tried connecting to
pc yet, will do that tonight, but am disappointed in taking shots
indoors or at night...wasnt expecting crystal clear pics, but the
quality is much the same as my old phone (although this is much
better in normal daylight conditions). Unfortunately i want to take
a lot of pics indoors or in the pub! am hoping some tinkering around
with the settings will improve this... but generally am v pleased
with the phone... Rating:
Reviewed by Sarahbee from UK on
21st Jan 2008
Can anyone please help??? My friend just got upgraded from the D900
to the G800 and loves the phone, only problem is the skin colour
is set to black, on the old D900 this could be changed to white,
we cannot find how to do this on the G800. Also can't seem to read
texts while on a call, does anyone know if these two things are
things that Samsung have taken off this new model? Thanks for any
help. Rating:
Reviewed by Dara from UK on 19th
Jan 2008
I have had this phone for a couple of weeks – I always think
it is better to comment after a period of time and I am a bit surprised
that some comments have been made on here be people who appear to
have owned the phone for a couple of hours! I agree with one of
the other comments that I really am not sure how to rate the G800.
I had and really, really liked a SE K800. In many ways the G800
is a great phone. Its functions are great, the interface is good.
I like the appearance (in particular the large screen), though I
realise that the relatively large size will not be to everyone’s
taste. As a functioning telephone, it is great. Now for the rub.
The camera is good. Not great, but good. The camera is a VERY sensitive
animal and the phone does not have the talk-and-point-and-click
spirit that made the K800/10 such a great machine. There are a vast
number of settings on the G800 and the camera is not at all easy
to get to grips with. It should be noted that the instructions with
the phone are terrible and better instructions are something that
Samsung should provide, especially with such a complex camera. When
you get it right, the pictures are fine, but the settings are so
sensitive it can have a bit of a hit-and-miss feel, I think that
is reflected in the other comments. Possibly the camera is more
suited to the more occasional user that rather than someone who
uses it indiscriminately. The zoom optics are excellent and are
the one feature that really set the G800 apart from the crowd. The
flash is also nowhere as effective as that on a K800, but I suspect
a bit of firmware could fix that, at least in part. The auto ISO
setting also seems out to me but again, I expect that this could
be corrected. I was a bit disappointed, not with the phone per se
but because this is not a real step forward from the K800 and the
3.2 megapixel ranges. If anything it feels like a step forward from
the generation before, my much liked D600. If you are looking for
a great step forward from the 3.2 megapixel camera phones from SE
and Samsung, you will be disappointed. If you want a simple point
and click camera, or you don’t have much patience, don’t
go for a G800. But if you are looking for a nice looking phone with
a good camera there is nothing at all wrong with the G800. But you
will need to persevere. Rating:
Reviewed by phillip cooper from west
yorkshire on 18th Jan 2008
This is the best camera phone i've used.Very easy to operate, it's
very tactile you just dont want to put it down i love it.... Rating:
Reviewed by BabylonSick from Sweden
on 17th Jan 2008
I totaly agree with this comment Its a lovely phone but the camera
is awful. Every single picture I take comes out either slightly
blurry are very very very blurry. I sell cameras for a living and
have changed every possible setting to take out the blur and nothing
works. The anti shake is meant only to be used in macro mode and
using it in normal shoot mode will only make pictures even more
blurry. I see people are having problems with the flash making their
pictures come out dark. To counteract this so into settings and
go to the ISO setting and change it from Auto to 400. I'm really
disapointed with this fone and I'm taking it back tomorrow after
having it for only a day. Samsung could have made it so much better
so why didnt they? Dont buy this dmned phone, it is the most utter
piece of junk ever. The 2mp camera on my sisters SE is far better
than this. All the images taken inside turn out way way too dark,
and without a flash, they are too blurry to be considered images
taken with a "camera", more like random painting. The only way to
make the images taken inside a bit brighter using the flash is to
change the ISO manually, and always, and even then the images are
either too bright or too blurry or both. Rating:
Reviewed by Mohamed from Turkmenistan
on 17th Jan 2008
It very nice telephone! I like! Good for sexy time! Fits in my turban! Rating:
Reviewed by Ben Rive from Jeraey on
16th Jan 2008
My last phone was a samsung d500 witch at the time i fought was
great i lost it and fought get a gd new phone so i ordered the samsung
g 800 and when it came down (finally );)i spent least 2 hours on
it the camera worked great who cares if its nt as gd as a digital
camer what do u expect the menus were easy to get round i found
text annoying i think its looks gr8 unless ure wering jeans with
small pockets it will be fine but on the whole i think its looks
gr8 (better than competitors) Rating:
Reviewed by Mark from Wales on
14th Jan 2008
Had this phone for a week now, and to be honest it has really grown
on me. After reading some of the reveiws i was a bit nervous about
my upgrade from my reliable D900,but lets move with the times and
I am glad I did, everything is working as it should be, battery
and camera are great.A very sturdy and well made phone and fits
pleasingly in the hand.Very pleased with it and give it the big
thumbs up! Rating:
Reviewed by Melissa from UK on
10th Jan 2008
Got this phone after waiting six months for the K850i only to find
that a) I hated it and b) It was buggy. I had to send two models
back as they were faulty. The camera on the G800 is not nearly as
good as on the K850i. The flash is very weak, the shutter delay
is very long, the camera struggles in all but the brightest light
and it has an annoying habit of displaying a perfectly crisp image
for a second after pressing the shutter, then 'resolving' it to
a blurry, out of focus shot. Oh, and while the image editing software
is good fun, and improves the look of pics on the phone, when you
transfer them to a computer the colours etc are often very 'off'
- so you'd be wise to use proper image editing programmes on the
computer rather than tinker with them in-phone. However, since neither
phone truly rivals a dedicated 5MP snapper I have decided to stick
with the phone I actually prefer, which for looks, build quality
and reliability is the Samsung (having said that, it has dropped
two calls and frozen once since I got it). If you're moving from
a Nokia or SonyEricsson the Samsung OS is a bit tricky to get your
head around, and can be frustratingly illogical. Stick with it,
though, as it all becomes clear and is actually quite pleasingly
quirky in use. My main gripe is with the fact that I can't turn
T9 off permanently. This is a major frustration for me as I don't
like using it and now either have to turn it off every time I want
to send a text, or grin and bear using it. Inputting text manually
is annoying, too, as for who knows what reason they have not put
the apostrophe in the shortcut menu, meaning it takes several keystrokes
to use it. The alternative is using poor punctuation, but if I wanted
to do that, I'd just use T9. The build quality is excellent and
the slider action is sturdy and satisfying. The phone is pretty
big and heavy, though, and be aware it doesn't come with any interchangeable
themes, so WYSIWYG when it comes to how it looks - apart from a
wallpaper image, of course. Finally, I had terrible trouble importing
my address book from my old SonyEricsson phone. New users beware,
you are best off importing your old contacts into Outlook, editing
them there, then syncing with the Samsung - otherwise they go in
surname first, then first name, and can't be changed around - not
to mention lots of other formatting oddness. I think this might
be the fault of the SonyEricsson system, though. Don't get this
phone and expect an amazing camera: it isn't. It's decent enough,
though. Rating:
Reviewed by James Thompson from Scotland
on 9th Jan 2008
I have had this phone a couple of days and am having difficulty
in knowing how to rate it. I do admit to being a bit set in my ways
when it comes to mobile phones and in particular Samsung which for
me up till now have been easy to use and pretty reliable. However
I upgraded from the excellent D900 to this and am baffled why Samsung
have changed some of their formats on the G800 is this just change
for change sake?? One particular irk and it is an irk I bluetoothed
all my contacts from the D900 to the G800 with no problems however
I had to return the G800 to the phones4U shop because of a fault
and before handing it back I tried to transfer my contacts ( 400
of them!!!) by bluetooth to the new G800 only to discover you can't
do that with this phone. It will accept your contacts from bluetooth
but not send them WHY!!!!!! I really can't comment too much on the
camera yet as I need some more time to suss it out but I would suspect
it will be no more than average. The battery life is atrocious it
needs charging daily even with very moderate use God only knows
what it will be like if I start using all its applications regularly??
Samsung boasts cutting edge technology why can't they give us a
battery which will support a power hungry device such as the G800
there is after all plenty room for one!!! Will I keep the G800???
I really don't know yet,this one is on an 18 month contract which
is a long time to be unsure about a phone I had no such feelings
about the D900 when I got it a year ago. Perhaps I should stick
the SIM into my D900 and E-Bay the G800.... lets wait and see!!!
Rating:
Reviewed by Andrew from United Kingdom
on 8th Jan 2008
Its a lovely phone but the camera is awful. Every single picture
I take comes out either slightly blurry are very very very blurry.
I sell cameras for a living and have changed every possible setting
to take out the blur and nothing works. The anti shake is meant
only to be used in macro mode and using it in normal shoot mode
will only make pictures even more blurry. I see people are having
problems with the flash making their pictures come out dark. To
counteract this so into settings and go to the ISO setting and change
it from Auto to 400. I'm really disapointed with this fone and I'm
taking it back tomorrow after having it for only a day. Samsung
could have made it so much better so why didnt they? Rating:
Reviewed by jade from england on
7th Jan 2008
I recently got this phone and i have to say, although i love the
design, i feel it is somewhat lacking in features. i was suprised
to find that there were no basic games or real music samples included
with the phone. also the photo quality is not as good as expected.
however, the biggest problem i have found with it is trying to load
photos onto the pc, it takes FOREVER! Not very impressed Rating:
Reviewed by Justin from England on
5th Jan 2008
I ordered the G800 as a second phone to back up my HTC S710 which
although very good lacks a good camera. Here are my good and bad
observations: The Good: Looks very smart, Camera is excellent in
daylight, Optical Zoom works well in daylight. 3g works well. The
Bad: Quite Big by todays standards. Camera is poor at night, Xenon
Flash is very disappointing considering how everyone raves about
it. Keyboard is a little fiddly. Conclusion: Its a big phone that
looks smart but the camera simply is only very good in daylight.
It is not the finished article and I actually think the photos on
my old Nokia N73 look better at night on screen than this. A great
shame because it really could of been the complete camera phone,
but I guess I will have to keep waiting.......... Rating:
Reviewed by shagoto from australia on
5th Jan 2008
it's the best phone ever i have seen Rating:
Reviewed by Full Metal enterprise from
England on 4th Jan 2008
So Am I the only one with the camera freezing problem then? If so
then a reaplcment should sort out my problem. Rating:
Reviewed by Hannah from England on
4th Jan 2008
I like this phone. Camera is good but the really really bad thing
is the battery. Mine lasted for 1 day yesterday..........does this
happen to all or just mine. If it does happen to you all, does it
not annoy you? Maybe i am doing something wrong but it's a phone
so how wrong can it be? Rating:
Reviewed by beth from england on
3rd Jan 2008
im having similar problems to other people but it's probably something
you can help me solve. when the flash is on the pictures go much
darker than how they looked even without the flash. when i took
some pictures at night they were still dark and unclear. is there
anything im doing wrong? has anybody got any pointers for me? other
than that i think the phone is lovely, it looks great. its slightly
heavier than similar phones like the viewty but that isnt a major
problem. oh yeah one other big problem is that when i have it on
silent, after i send a text it still bleeps when it shows my balance.
is this because im with o2? does anyone know how i can stop this?
thank you! Rating:
Reviewed by Chris D from U.K. on
2nd Jan 2008
I upgraded from a D900. I have only had the phone for a week but
the disappointments I found with the G800 in comparisson with the
D900 were- TEXT MESSAGING. The G800 has more submenus making it
fiddly sending a text. It always reverts back to T9 mode even when
you have set it to Abc mode. It will only allow a maximum of 10
txt's to be sent at one time. Calls- Not sure if this is a T-Mobile
problem or not but 50% of outgoing calls result in 'Call Ended'
before a connection has been made. Also callers voice fades sometimes.
General- The phone is much heavier and deeper than it's later cousins.
The camera is ok but the end result isn't the same as the photo
you shoot (the colour changes). I don't want to send the phone back,
but if T-Moblile can't rectify the 'Call Ended' problem, I'm afraid
it's going. Rating:
Reviewed by Full Metal Enterprise from
England on 31st Dec 2007
Got this phone on an upgrade from Vodafone. I Like it very much,
but It has to go back because it is faulty. The camera only works
half the time! You are supposed to just slide the lense cover back
and the camera should come on automaticly. However, most of the
time the screen goes to camera mode but will not take a picture,
then it just makes the phone freeze up and you have to wait a few
minutes before you can use it again. This tends to happen more when
the phone has been in idel mode for a while, but that should not
matter. Voda fone are out of stock of the G800 untill the 7th of
january 08. Hopefully when I get it exchanged I will no longer have
this problem. If I do, then it is going back. Shame really as all
other aspecs of the handset are really very good. Oh, you cant get
a good leather carry case for it at the moment either ! Has anyone
else had the same sort of problems with the camera freezing up like
mine? Rating:
Reviewed by J Davies from UK on
31st Dec 2007
For all you people getting blurred photos you need to understand
how to turn the anti-shake on. You do NOT do it by going to menu,
to settings , to application settings, to camera settings & choose
anti-shake on & save, IT WILL NOT SAVE!. Samsung told me that it's
best to do it this way...Switch the camera on, then press menu key
(one with the lined sheet of paper icon), choose "rear camera" &
then scroll through the on-screen menu to the right until you reach
"settings", press the central navigation key & set anti-shake to
on. An icon will show on the screen to let you know it is on. Please
note that this will only last for the one session. You will need
to activate anti-shake again next time you switch the camera on.
( It defaults to off every time the camera is closed down)....a
pain I know but according to Samsung when I rang them about this,
this is how it should be & they told me the way to do it this second
way rather than the way I was doing it..(ie the first way shown
above). Rating:
Reviewed by JONATHAN from ENGLAND on
28th Dec 2007
ACE PHONE BUT I THINK ITS VERY BIG AND IN MY OPINION F210 IS BETTA
BUT STILL GREAT PHONE MA UNCLE HAS IT Rating:
Reviewed by Lee from UK on 27th
Dec 2007
Just read some of the reviews below and I have to agree that the
camera is not all it is cracked up to be. Nearly all of my xmas
pics have come out blurred(may not have had the anti-shake on tho)and
the pics taken in the evening and in subdued lighting are so grainy
they are a complete waste of time. It took almost 10 minutes to
download 26 pics to my PC which is not quick enough. I am wondering
if there is a fault on my phone with the camera, as someone said
with a phone camera you should just be able to point and click otherwise
I may as well just get an ordianry phone and go back to my digital
camera. Apart from that it is a really cool phone! Rating:
Reviewed by Nicko from Uk on
26th Dec 2007
sean sweeney did u shoot with flash or avaliable light? The law
of photography states that the lower the light conditions the longer
the shutter has to open to create a exposure. You said in your post
u took 59 pics "last night" - mate try taking pic in the day anti
shake only accounts for 2 stops and in dark conditions Like in a
club or bar) that does not even matter . How can you say the device
does not work when you do not even understand photography, man does
my head in. Also if you were shooting with out the flash at night
on people the iso would be cranked up so the pics would look noisy.
please understand how things work with out posting a bad review
because you the operator does not understand photography Rating:
Reviewed by emma from england on
21st Dec 2007
i recieved the samsung g800 yesterday and wasnt very impressed its
very ugly and is HUGE so big infact that id get cramp if i text
on it! i have a;ready decided after having it for only a few hours
that it was going back. perfect phone for a man but definatly not
a girly girls phone! well not unless you feel safer when u carry
a brick in your bag! Rating:
Reviewed by Cherry from UK on
21st Dec 2007
When I first saw the specifications for this phone I thought it
seemed amazing. I was a bit sceptical about buying another Samsung
as I didn't find my last one very user friendly. But Samsung really
have come up trumps with this phone, in my opinion. The niggly little
problems with my previous Samsung (such as having to turn on the
T9 dictionery for every new text created, and the camera taking
photos whilst in my handbag) have been solved. Some people say it's
a bit big but I think it's OK size-wise, and it feels more sturdy
in your hand than a Razr or the like. And I am very impressed with
the video quality, especially the sound. All in all, a great phone. Rating:
Reviewed by Sean Sweeney from England
on 21st Dec 2007
I have recently purchased this phone as an upgrade from the Samsung
D900. My first impressions are that the camera is a terrible letdown
and does not appear to function correctly. I have noticed downloading
to computer via Bluetooth takes a dreadful long time. So much so
I abandoned the first attempt for the length of download time was
awful. I was under the impression something was wrong. The anti
shake does not work. Each time I set the anti shake device to on
and save it defaults back to off. I took 59 pictures last night
in does and out and all were of poor quality. Hence I will be returning
this camera for I feel there is an internal problem with it. If
the next shows no improvement I will refer back to the D900. The
radio on the G800 works fine. But overall I am disappointed. Its
bulky size appears to show that this is not a hybrid mobile. The
camera appears separate. So why the poor quality pictures. I cannot
understand why the makers did not pick up on the obvious faults.
I will see how the camera performs when I exchange it. Rating:
Reviewed by Nikita Kondraskov from Japan
on 18th Dec 2007
Great phone. Quite easy to use for almost all usual tasks of a phone.
The key pad could be a bit more to the top, so that dialing with
big masculine hands would be more easier. Rating:
Reviewed by khanishtan from uk on
18th Dec 2007
it is very cool fone Rating:
Reviewed by Kurdogan from Kurdistan
on 18th Dec 2007
Very nice! I like! Good for sexy time! Fits in turban! Rating:
Reviewed by no-one special from pensilvania
on 17th Dec 2007
the best!!! Rating:
Reviewed by Sid from UK on 17th
Dec 2007
This is the best phone yet, though the User Interface is not like
the G600. Would have preferred a better User Interface (the menu).
But still, the best camera phone - getting rid of digital camera
now. Rating:
Reviewed by jonathan from england on
17th Dec 2007
this is a realy nice phone bett6er thn g600 but again thts a nice
phne but i luv this Rating:
Reviewed by kristian from sweden on
16th Dec 2007
Bought my samsung G800 a couple of days ago and I'm very pleased
except for a few details that is missing. The mediaplayer doesn't
have an ecualizer like the G600 and I still have some problems to
find everything but thats probably just me since I used to have
Sony ericsson :P Rating:
Reviewed by jo from uk on 16th
Dec 2007
what a dissapointment this phone is,the pictures taken inside are
abismal.My nokia 6500 takes better pictures.The reviews about it
being a brilliant camera they obviously havent tried taking pictures
in the evening inside.To me the whole idea of having a camera phone
is that you can just point and shoot to capture the moment, you
should not have to mess about with the settings every time you want
to take a picture.The slightest movement makes the photo blurred,
this is the worst camera phone i have seen,apart from taking bad
photos the phone is not to bad.My advice is do not buy this phone
if you want quality pictures. Rating:
Reviewed by nowwhere from chine on
15th Dec 2007
brillant u should buy it i love this fone i will keep that forever
and it bette thn G600 Rating:
Reviewed by Phil from england on
15th Dec 2007
This is suppose to be the best camera phone on the market,it's rubbish.Daylight
pictures not a problem, but try taking a photo in subdued lighting
and you will see what I mean,no matter what you do to the settings
the picture comes out dark,they hype on about the brilliant flash
but it obviously isnt.My sony 800i takes better quality pictures.When
i contacted Samsung they were no help just saying "IT IS WHAT IT
IS"no explanation why the pictures were dark.My advice is do not
buy this phone if you want good quality pictures in any light conditions,because
you won't get them with this phone. Rating:
Reviewed by ang from england on
14th Dec 2007
nothing special, and the battery cover is impossible to get off,
big and bulky, not too impressed at all Rating:
Reviewed by daymo from uk on
13th Dec 2007
I think this phone is great yes its a little fat but technology
needs room!. Shame it dont have newer UI (user intgerface) like
g600 but at least you get sms tones with this baby I too cant access
the anti shake feature on my g800 battery life ok not as good as
g600 but is 10x better looking than any other phone on market oh
and sony k850i is nearly as fat!!! with lots of problems. Rating:
Reviewed by Dave Cook from London England
on 13th Dec 2007
Ok Guys, I have just upgraded to this phone with O2. Reason i went
for it was i was sick of Nokia's keep letting me down and after
past succesful phones with Samsung decided on the G800. First Impressions
are its BIG, as big as my nokia 6280 i had a couple of years back.
Secondly there is no games installed on the phone? Something Samsung
usually score highly at on their phones. The menu is the same as
most Samsungs and the features are just about standard. The 3g is
great for WAP and the phone does the main things well. The Camera
is excellent and rivals the N95 easily. Sadly though the phone is
just way to big. I know it needs to be to house such a great camera
but it sticks out like a brick in my pocket and weighs loads. Im
thinking of returning the phone to O2 but not sure what to give
a try next. The market seems a little quiet right now. Can only
give this phone 3 stars and thats just for the camera, the size
of the phone is a big big let down. Rating:
Reviewed by zoe from australia on
13th Dec 2007
this phone is outstanding in every way.. i also have the nokia n95
as well and there is little difference both excellent phones. ater
taking many pictures with both phones in different light settings
and locations ive come to the conclusion that the samsung camera
is definatey the better thumbs up to samsung as usual for a top
top phone Rating:
Reviewed by Richard Ehrenmeyer from
UK on 12th Dec 2007
Very nicely made, takes great photos, is a bit fat but feels very
nice in your hand. Rating:
Reviewed by D Johnson from England on
12th Dec 2007
To be very honest I love this phone but there is one drawback, when
the phone is in its case and locked it can be unlocked and connects
to the internet simply by it touching the side of the case/phonesock.
Could be a nasty shock when you get your bill. Even the self imposed
phone lock does not stop this Rating:
Reviewed by The Captain from England
on 12th Dec 2007
Just a comment for Chris Ritchie(two reviews below)and others. The
phone/camera I am comparing the G800 against is a two year old Sharp903,3.2mp,2xoptical
zoom.I have taken hundreds of photos and they are as good if not
better than a lot of stand alone cameras.All you people have not
had a great camera on your phones before so you dont know what a
really good picture is.All these comment about about hold the phone
still is irrelavent as the G800 is supposed to have anti-shake,face
recognition etc. With Samsungs expertise in the field of cameras
I cannot understand how they have got this so wrong.I think that
the G800 is the best(all metal) built and looking slider phone and
I would hope that the problems with the camera are software related
and can be resolved in the future with a firmware fix.As a phone
it is good Rating:
Reviewed by L Breeze from UK on
12th Dec 2007
After a lot of picture taking without problems I am not sure what
people are moaning about. This phone has an excellent camera and
takes extremely good, clear photos. What it won't do is make people
who take rubbish photos better photographers! A bad workman blames
his tools. I suggest some practice and hold the thing still as you
squeeze the shutter release. that way you won't have all the blurred
photos :-) It's also a very good phone! Rating:
Reviewed by Chris Ritchie from Scotland
on 12th Dec 2007
HAHA I think that Captain (four reviews below) needs to go out and
buy a digital camera and remember this is still a PHONE! For a phone
it is SUPERB and has really raised the standard. I think you need
a lass and not waste days taking 53 photos! HAHA BRILLIANT PHONE. Rating:
Reviewed by Gary N from UK on
11th Dec 2007
I Got this phone on Contract From Orange UK, As I just wanted a
good looking phone, nice camera and nice video camera, Orange and
Samsung Delivered. Its Well Built, Takes Very Nice Pictures, And
For A Big Handed Person Like Me, The Buttons are very well set out,
The only down point is that the menu is a bit primative, same menu
as my wifes 50 quid samsung, still thats not enough to lose a star,
Again well done samsung Rating:
Reviewed by Mr Mediator from GB on
11th Dec 2007
Ok, to all you peeps buying this phone JUST so you can use it as
a camera and then slam it for not being the 1000GBP opticaly superb
creation you THOUGHT or, rather, EXPECTED it to be I say this...
As phones go - you cannot beat this creation from Samsung. Remember
- nobody comes even close to these specs. If you want a camera -
go buy a camera. If you want a laptop - go buy one. If you want
mobile internet - get a umpc with a usb / sim based 3g/3.5g connection.
You will not see a SUPER-DOOPER camera+phone+mobile office any time
soon! Certainly not this side of 2010 an maybe not even until 2015.
Even then - are you prepared to sacrifice all the component, dedicated
goods you may hav stockpiled JUST to integrate all functions into
one device? "All eggs in one basket" springs to mind. So just appreciate
this technical (and consumer-priced) marvel for what it REALY IS...
A foundation for the future and NOT an immediate "magic bullet". Rating:
Reviewed by J. Davies from UK on
10th Dec 2007
I bought this phone for voice calls & photography...I don't use
texting & dont want it for music or internet etc. With regard to
voice calls & photography, in my opinion, this phone lives up to
its high specifications. I have a Sony Ericsson K810i (albeit a
3.2 megapixel camera) & a Nokia N95. I have compared photographs
taken by each of these & the G800 gives me the best photographs.
I can't understand why some of the reviews are decrying the camera
(unless their's are faulty). The only niggle I have with the G800
is the anti shake which has to be enabled on each session of photograph
taking. At the end of the session it defaults to off & has to be
re-enabled on the next session. This is a pain because this option
is quite far down in the menu system. I would have liked to have
been able to enable it with just one or two clicks instead of ploughing
through a lengthy menu system. The build is sturdy & although it
doesn't win the "world's slimmest phone" competition, it's slim
enough for me & in anycase does it really matter?..it's not as if
it's like a house brick. Again..unlike others, I find this phone
very stable. As I said earlier I do not text so the keys are not
a problem & a darn sight better than the pin head keys of the Sony
Ericsson. So, in conclusion, I think this is a superb phone & would
highly recommend it. Rating:
Reviewed by The Captain from England
on 10th Dec 2007
As promised here is the update for the G800.After taking delivery
of the phone last week (first one faulty) I have put it though the
mill.Build quality is excellent, the phone works well,interface
is not the best but you get used to it,the usual features work well.Now
to the camera.Today I took 53 photos thouhout the day from dull
to sunny,inside with & without flash,with anti-shake & face recognition
on & with various settings on the camera for differnt lighting conditions
etc.The photos were put on computer & then printed, out of 53 photos
only 15 were good (colour & sharpness) 10 okay the rest no good.Outdoors
with the camera set up correcly in bright conditions you will get
good pictures. Indoors even with the camera set up all the photos
will be blurred the face recogniton & anti shake do not work at
all. Overall very dissapointed with what should have been an awesome
camera phone according to its technical spec.I just hope some at
Samsung reads mine & other comments to find out where they went
wrong. Rating:
Reviewed by JK from uk on 8th
Dec 2007
Myself and my partner picked this phone as we use the camera alot
and it seemed like the best camera/phone about. We loved it at first,
looks good, seemed solid/sturdy and the camera is really good (even
if you have use settings as auto not very good). Two days after
getting them my partners display went blank although she could make/receive
calls and guess at what menu she was selecting. Arranged for replacement
meanwhile my microphone stopped working. Arranged replacement. Had
them both exchanged yesterday and already display on one has gone
again. I have previously had sharp 902 and 903 which had great camera
(at the time), the SE K800i which was really good, I tried the k850i
and didn;t like it as much as the nokia n95 but that was exchanged
3 times due to faults so got rid of it. I am really disappointed
with the stability of the Samsung it was potentially the best thing
out there. Rating:
Reviewed by Chris from UK on
8th Dec 2007
Was torn between getting this or the Sony K850i, but after hearing
about the software bugs on the Sony I went for the G800. What a
mistake! On spec the camera looks great, with the 5 megapixel, optical
zoom and proper flash (not just a bright light), but all isn't as
it seems. The flash is pathetic and even in moderate light conditions
the pictures come out dark and grainy. Most images seem to come
out blurred even if there is very little movement so useless for
group photos or proving that your mate was really wearing the beer
goggles. With the zoom you will be lucky to get any decent photos
at all. The keypad is awkward and the phone feels top heavy when
trying to type a text. I haven't had the G800 long enough to comment
on the operational aspects of the phone, but don't plan to either.
It's going back first post tomorrow. For what was potentially an
excellent camera phone on paper, this is average at at best. Rating:
Reviewed by rejaul from uk on
4th Dec 2007
Ok il be honest 1st of all G600 is way better it handles the same
picture quality except g800 doesnt have ISO 800 it only has IS0
400 and the video supports 340x240 mp4 when G600 supports 640x340
and u cant change themes onthe damn phone, which is really bad lol....ID
PREFER G600 OR N95 Rating:
Reviewed by D4RBE from UK on
2nd Dec 2007
ITS NOT AS GOOD AS MY OLD SONYERRICSON K800i, KEYPAD IS AWFULL,
CAMERA IS ONLY ANY GOOD IF EVERYTHING IS NOT MOVING! 75% OF ALL
MY PHOTO'S AT A WEDDING AT THE WEEKEND ARE GETTING DELETED.... BLURD!!!
ITS GOING BACK! LOOKS AND FEELS NICE THOUGH! Rating:
Reviewed by Rick the phone guy from
Minnesota, USA on 2nd Dec 2007
I got this phone two days ago. It is simply amazing. I swapped up
from the Samsung D900 to the Iphone now I have dumped the Iphone
for good. The camera is amazing, the flash and zoom second to none.
The menu is typical Samsung setup nothing to amazing but as always
easy to use. I just love the fact that i get to use the internet
and not have to pay for a data package. basically this phone is
perfect. Rating:
Reviewed by taj from ireland on
2nd Dec 2007
not better than g600 Rating:
Reviewed by Gavin from UK on
30th Nov 2007
I've had many "top" phones over the years. The K750i, K800i, Orange
SPVC550/600/E650, Nokia N95 just to name a few. This however is
my first Samsung phone. You will be aware that Samsung make 90%
of Bang & Olufsen components and there is due for release a new
B&O phone which if you google you will find is truely stunning.
I'm let down by the G800 as i find the menu's and the overall use
of the phones software to be rather "Primative". Especially compared
to that of say Nokia and Sony. Now each have their own little Quirks,
nokia being unstable, Sony - Slow, but to bring out a phone with
so many nice features and something that looks great and then use
a primative menu system with it seems a little backwards to me.
As some have already said, the keypad tones can't be switched off
without loosing other phone sounds like the shutter sound. Not a
huge problem but a problem all the same. I find the camera outstanding,
having used the N95 extensively it is far superior. I do not find
the pictures grainy at all, quite the contrary, i thought them to
be sharp and full of detail. Especially when i took a picture of
a circuit board, picking up the text written on each chip very easily.
The other problem with the phone i think is that the menu systems
font size can not be changed. I've read manuals, googled it and
all to no avail. The overall look of the phone is outstanding, Samsung
have really outdone themselves. Build quality has to be the best
phone i've ever had the pleasure to use. Noramlly plastic covers
with "unfitting" panels clipped together. Not the G800, close fitting
metal panels/covers which makes it feel like you're hold a quality
item. The keypad while a little more tricky to use than that of
other phones is still nice to use and is very neatly put together.
I would not hesitate to purchase the G800 again as i feel the menu
system may even have improvements made to it when and if an update
to the firmware is released by Samsung. If enough people where to
e-mail Samsung i would imagine that they'd make some changes for
us and send out an Update. All in all an outstanding phone with
little "quirks", but doesn't every phone have them? Rating:
Reviewed by Soulja Girl from US on
30th Nov 2007
This phone is a horrible dump.Doesn't even work.Like the Captain
from England said, It still doesn't work on full strenght and battery
and wont allow calls.Although it is a nice looking phone. For the
people that are thinking about buying it DON"T It's a waste of time
and money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by monkeyhead from uk on
29th Nov 2007
lovely Rating:
Reviewed by The Captain from England
on 28th Nov 2007
Awesome looking phone, well built.Camera not all that it should
be. I am hoping mine was a faulty phone as after only seven days
it would not allow calls to be made or recieved dispite showing
full battery and signal strength.A replacement will arrive on Friday
so watch this space for an update. Rating:
Reviewed by chief sausage from uk on
28th Nov 2007
bought this phone thinking its got a good camera the rest of it
cant be too bad.. yes the camera is great, unfortunatly the rest
of it is that bad. in brief here is my experiences with it delivery
reports on messages come in as a message so make you read them when
you spell something in the t9 dictionary it automatically starts
the word you are spelling with a capital letter and does so every
time you use it from then on two choices of key tones, xylophone
or beep, since the xylophone got on my nerves i chose beeps, but
it still sometimes plays stupid tunes on exiting certain menus!
since the flat keypad is hard to type long messages with without
giving you repetitive strain injury i decided to use samsung pc
studio to type txts, totaly useless since it only lets you type
160 characters (one txt) and it wont let u read most of what u receive
if the sender has a new(ish) phone... you will get 'This is a EMS
message, view in phone' while connected to the pc most of the other
functions will not work, you cant even read the txt that pc studio
will not show you unless you unplug it from the pc good luck if
you were planning to use software with it, i still dont know what
o/s it uses, it can handle java games (i think), i was hoping to
use a version of tomtom with it but gave up since i could not even
find out what o/s it had. one last thing is why on earth is the
bluetooth visibility in with the memory card settings? thats just
plain stupid i have always been a nokia follower, but decided to
give samsung a chance for the sake of the camera with 3* optical
zoom, unfortunatly that and the good looks is most of what this
phone has to offer. while nokia's firmware might not be as stable
as some other types of phone at least they have some usefull functions,
user friendliness and software availability. I am prepared to put
up with the odd freeze or crash to have all the other things i expect
of a phone these days, so nokia n95 8gb here i come Rating:
Reviewed by viv from london on
28th Nov 2007
love the look and feel of this phone. I bought it because of the
camera but its not as brill as advertised it very grainy and the
flash works when it feels like?? maybe 2 stars Rating:
Reviewed by zoe from australia on
28th Nov 2007
it so awesoem!!!!!!!!!! Rating:
Reviewed by wow wow wow from uk on
26th Nov 2007
i love this phone is so cool it is even better than my old nokia
n95 but i miss the sat nav the camera is 5 megapixels whit optical
zoom and it is a 3.5g a much impoment on 3g 3.5g gives you tv and
faster internet [hsdpa] moveing on the screen is a tft 262k colours
and you can even conect it to your tv so you can see your pics vids
ect i am so glad i upgaded to this phone i one nag i still dont
unerstand why this phone dont have sat nav on it considaring that
my nokia n95 did and that had a 5 megapixel camera but whit out
the optical zoom uther than that this phone is outstanding go on
get it.............5 stars............... Rating:
Reviewed by George from England on
26th Nov 2007
Overall a good phone,well engineered.As for the the camera, its
good but just how good we will have to see.I have a two year old
Sharp 903 3.2 meg with 2x optical zoom,which after taking thousands
of pictures is the benchmark for all camera phones.I have only had
the G800 for five days but have taken many test photos and printed
them.On this camera the auto settings will not handle situations
other than outdoor daylight well.Indoors under incandesent lighting
or fluorescent you have to set these functions to get good photos
as I found the flash lacking in power.With my Sharp I could take
excellant razor sharp pictures with the G800 I dont feel confident
to garantee good pictures all the time.I will continue to test this
camera phone and master all its featues to see if it will at least
match the performance of the Sharp 903. Rating:
Reviewed by Simon from England on
25th Nov 2007
Well in so many ways this phone ticks all the boxes for me, especially
as its the first samsung ive ever bought. It looks beautiful, ive
never had a slide design before and it works very well. It is rather
bulky but at the same time very sleek looking. The display is large,
and the menus are very quick (in comparison to my last phone, the
SE k800i) The keypad while very flat, with no real key definition
is still easy to use while texting. Now onto the major let down
for me; the camera. Boxed and packaged with a slogan saying 'photgraphers
choice' i thought great, an improvement on the k800i camera (which
is superb) Sadly this isnt so, the pictures are very grainy, autoshake
doesnt work at the same time as the flash, and most annoyingly,
the flash seems to pick and choose when it wants to work (whether
its on auto or ON permanently) I just cant rely on it to take a
decent picture. For me, it is nowhere near as good as the k800i
camera (at least on the camera display) Additionally, there doesnt
seem to be any way to have the camera sounds on if you turn the
keysounds down for everything else, stupid. To sum it up, its a
brilliant 'phone', reception on vodafone is excellent but the camera
is a let down (maybe a firmware update will fix this, but why the
hell should i pay for something that doesnt work straight out of
the box) The phone itself feels very 'empty' there are no applications
or bells and whistles, no games (maybe this is just vodafone), so
if you want a 'clean slate' with lots of memory and good functionality
get it. Maybe wait 6months for more support/updated firmware before
getting it solely for the camera. It has a rushed feel to it. Rating:
Reviewed by bradley from england on
24th Nov 2007
it is sik man it is the best phone Rating:
Reviewed by raf from khu on 24th
Nov 2007
i have got it but not sure, it seems a bit big, i don't know whay
to do if i sould return it back, i have read the comments from others,
but still not certain Rating:
Reviewed by Alex Jansons from England
on 22nd Nov 2007
The best phone eeeeeeeever Rating:
Reviewed by Gwen from Uk on 22nd
Nov 2007
Brilliant fone by Samsung as usual. Go get it. Rating:
Reviewed by Matthew Crighton from UK
on 18th Nov 2007
WORD OF WARNING - THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR... In some pictures, there
is an awful lot of noise, and some blurr. Video res. seems to be
at 320x240, with only 15fps; G600 does better. Optical zoom will
blurr pictures a little, depending on the environmental conditions.
Rating:
Reviewed by Sid from UK on 15th
Nov 2007
Amazing phone. The upgrade to the G600. No, the best phone of this
year! Not slim, but a good size, as u can call it a digital camera
as well. So many features that it beats all the phones of this year.
Anyone giving this less than 4 stars hasn't seen this phone and
are enemies to Samsung. After this phone, the Sony Ericsson K850i
is the next best thing. But so far this is the one! Rating:
Reviewed by wow from uk on 14th
Nov 2007
this phone is excellent go get it now Rating:
Reviewed by Henry from UK on
14th Nov 2007
I have just bought this phone on contract.Great camera.The best
phone i have ever had. Rating:
Reviewed by sham from london, uk on
14th Nov 2007
If anyone wants to know the Release Date for the Samsung G800, it's
on the 19th of this month (November on O2. Hope this help the impatient
people like myself who are dieing to know when it's coming out.
I just hope it's good as it sounds. My only worry is the size of
the thing, it sounds big. Rating:
Reviewed by trish from wales on
11th Nov 2007
i bought this phone today from the usa. its absolutely amazing.
buy it as soon as you can. Rating:
Reviewed by piti from london on
10th Nov 2007
its a great phone,,,you'll love it Rating:
Reviewed by Vince from England on
10th Nov 2007
Hi You might be wondering why I am writing this but I finally do
have this phone (from Asia) and it is brilliant. The camera rivals
my digital camera, the interface is user-friendly and it has tonnes
of features. The internet is also exceptionally fast. It also has
loads of memory and a card slot. The not so good things are the
battery life and the weight, but these are hardly major problems,
and so I would reccommend anyone to buy it. Well done Samsung!!
Rating:
Samsung have taken the phone world by storm by announcing at the
end of October 2007 the release of the world's first 5 megapixel
camera with optical zoom in a mobile phone. If the plan was to draw
attention away from the release of the iPhone, then this has certainly
done the trick! Launching in the UK on 12th November 2007, the G800
will be the most advanced camera phone in the world.
As
you can see from the photos, not only is this the highest spec camera
phone, but it's also a sexy-looking slider that beats its rivals
hands down in terms of looks. It may not be the slimmest phone around,
but it's certainly more compact than the N95 and is a good size
for two-handed camera use. Turn the phone over and the back is like
a real digital camera, complete with a sliding lens cover. The secret
to making such a compact device is that the optical zoom is
an inner zoom, where the lens does not extend outside the body of
the phone.
