Should you buy the Samsung Pixon 12? Read our Samsung Pixon 12 review plus Samsung Pixon 12 reviews by users and find the best buy in the UK (Free Samsung Pixon 12 / Samsung Pixon 12 pay as you go - 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Three, Vodafone)

In a nutshell: The Samsung Pixon 12 is the world's first 12 megapixel camera phone. Not only does it have an outstanding photographic capability, but it comes with virtually every other high-end feature that you might expect. Whilst not a smartphone, it's a 3G touchscreen phone with a media player, FM radio, full screen web browser, GPS with Google Maps, WiFi and support for memory cards up 16 GB. On the negative side, it's expensive and has below average battery life, but it still gets our thumbs up.

Review: September 2009.

The Pixon12 is a 12 megapixel version of the Samsung Pixon and was released in the UK on 1 August 2009. In fact it's the world's first 12 megapixel camera phone. Samsung have upgraded a number of features of the original Pixon, adding a fabulous OLED screen with a massive 480 x 800 pixel resolution, support for DivX/Xvid video move playback, WiFi, HSUPA for faster uploading of photos and videos, and support for memory cards up to 16GB.

It was Samsung who launched the world's first 8 megapixel camera phone (the Samsung i8510), and they are clearly determined to hold on to their camera record beating. Samsung may not have quite the reputation of Sony or Canon in the digital camera world, but they've been one of the big manufacturers since the early days of digital cameras and their competence shouldn't be doubted. Many will point out that more megapixels don't necessarily mean greater picture quality, but we're happy to confirm that the Pixon 12 really does deliver results that match expectations. Of course with no optical zoom, the Pixon 12 is never going to beat a prosumer digital camera in a straight comparison, but it is one of the best camera phones that we have seen. As well as the headline-grabbing 12 megapixel resolution, the Pixon 12 offers a very well integrated camera-like interface that makes the advanced features accessible and easy to use. The range of options is far more than is usually seen on a mobile phone, but for the casual user, the Smart Auto setting means that the Pixon 12 can be operated as a point-and-shoot and will still take excellent photos. It captures images very quickly too, which hasn't always been the case with previous Samsung phones. The Pixon 12 manages to take very good quality images under a wide range of lighting conditions. Key to this is the xenon flash, that illuminates much more competently than the LED flash normally found on camera phones. It's also worth noting that the lens is wider than on most other camera phones (28mm compared with 35mm), meaning that you can get more into the picture.

The video recording capabilities of the Pixon 12 are impressive too. The video camera can record at up to 720 x 480 pixels, which, whilst it cannot match the HD resolution of the i8910 HD, is still an impressively high resolution. The video records at 30 frames per second in high resolution, but can also record at 120 frames per second in lower resolutions, enabling the possibility of slow-motion playback. Although the still camera uses a xenon flash for maximum brightness, there's also a LED light that can be used as a video light. You can also make video calls using the secondary front-facing camera.

The OLED display on the Pixon 12 is superbly detailed, with an ultra-high resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and 16 millions colours. This is an excellent screen that does full justice to the photographic capabilities. It's also a nice display for a touchscreen phone, although it's very slightly smaller in physical size than the display on the original Pixon. The phone uses Samsung's TouchWiz user interface and is generally an easy phone to use, despite its advanced functionality. The easy access to a QWERTY keyboard is a big bonus, and the media functions work particularly well with the touchscreen design. Heavy duty texters should be aware that this may not be the best choice of phone however.

The other media options include a music player, FM radio, video player and a full screen web browser, all of which work very well. There's also a GPS receiver built in, with support for Google Maps.

Connectivity is excellent, with Bluetooth, USB and WiFi available. The internet connection is very fast, with support for both HSDPA and HSUPA, giving fast uploads as well as fast downloads up to 7.2 Mbps on a 3G network. The one thing missing is a 3.5mm audio jack, which limits the range of headphones that can be connected.

Battery life is a weak area. This shouldn't be a surprise for a 3G phone with a large touchscreen display, not to mention the gas-guzzling xenon flash, but even so the Pixon 12 seems to eat batteries even quicker than most similar phones. Expect to charge it regularly, perhaps even daily.

The Pixon 12 isn't a smartphone. This limits the number of apps that are available, but it does make the user interface fast and more robust. It's a high-spec touchscreen phone with an obviously outstanding camera and pretty well everything else that you'd expect too. It's complex, so shouldn't be your first choice unless the camera really appeals, and the battery life is distinctly below average, but nevertheless within its niche it's close to being perfect.

Features of the Samsung Pixon 12 include:

12 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom, autofocus and power LED & xenon flash
Video camera (720 x 480 pixels, 30 frames per second) / 3G video calling
Display: AMOLED, 16 million colours, 480 x 800 pixels (3.1 inches) with auto rotation
Music player (MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+ formats) plus DivX/Xvid video support
FM radio RDS
3D sound effect
Ringtones: MP3 ringtones / 72-voice polyphonic tones
Messaging: SMS, MMS, email
GPS navigation with Google Maps
Voice memo & voice mail
Speakerphone
Java games
Document viewer
Offline mode
WAP 2.0, GPRS, EDGE, 3.5G (HSDPA 7.2 Mbps & HSUPA), web browser
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1, USB 2.0, WiFi
Memory: 150 Mbytes plus MicroSD memory card slot (up to 16GB supported)
Personal organiser functions
Quadband GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) plus 3G
Size: 108 x 53 x 14 mm
Weight: 119g
Talktime: 3 hours
Battery standby: 250 hours

Samsung Pixon 12 Consumer Reviews

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Average rating from 34 reviews:

Reviewed by Ross from United Kingdom on 23rd Jan 2012
I absolutely love this phone! Ive had it for a little over three months with no problems at all, until now. For some odd reason the camera wont focus when i hold down the shutter button. And it's not like Ive overused the camera. Out of the three months, Ive only taken around 100 pictures and now every picture i take just comes out blurry. I really hope this isn't a common problem with these phones as i am planning on getting it fixed or replaced.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Tom from United Kingdom on 29th Sep 2011
This phone is very good, as long as you get a stylus as its a resistive touch screen. However, I find using my thumbs for the qwerty keyboard is actually a lot easier, so it negates the need for predictive texting, which tbh isn't too great on this phone. The camera is at once its biggest selling point and its biggest problem. It looks gorgeious and takes very gorgeious pictures, BUT it often refuses to take a picture. It will eprform the actual exposure but then the screen will go blank with the message "capture failed" for up to about 10 seconds. This is forgiveable in controlled conditions, but capturing those epic drunken moments is a game of luck. The frequency of this problem is inconsistent too. At one point, only 2 out of 20 pictrues refused to capture, but at other points, its failed to take about 7 pictures in a row. For a phone that is hailed for its camera, it seems criminal that this problem is often overlooked in reviews. But it IS a damn good camera... when it works. The smart auto mode is great for getting the right settings to capture the "best", fastest shot (of course any photographer knows that the truly best shots are set up manually). If the camera was just more consistent in actually working, it would be 5 stars in that photo department. Needless to say, I find it hard to trust for a night out. And frankly its just awkward getting people together for a photo only to have it fail... and fail again. The screen is amazing, one of the best I've seen. Colour reproduction stays fairly accurate despite the viewing angle, small lines of text are not just legible, but crisp and bold- Makes reading news on the train more enjoyable (as long as you have a stylus for scrolling). Watching films on this phone is also very enjoyable, especially if you go to the effort to get a 16gb memory card and rip some DVDs onto it (Use Handbrake and DVDfab for good results in this department). It should be noted that 16:9 ratio films can only go up to 480x276 pixels, as the phones resolution is 480x800. So dont expect to put an 800x480 video on the phone- it may be viewed in landscape mode but the phone doesn't support it, which I find odd. But this is no problem, as films can be 'blown up' to fit the screen, with their aspect ratio intact. Also, invest in some half-decent earphones/headphones and make sure you have the 3.5mm jack to mini-usb adaptor that comes boxed with the product. You may wan t to consider getting headphones with a short cable, as you can use the adaptor as an extension cable. I just keep mine wrapped up in a figure of eight knot, which can get in the way a bit, but is otherwise okay. The standby interface or whatever its called works quite nicely, and its handy to have things like sticky notes, calander and google search/mail/maps right at your fingertips (oh yeah, google maps doesnt work for me, but the GPS navigation gets pretty good if you invest some money in a 3D map license and walk/drive navigation. Hwoever the GPS Navigation software is easy to pass by unnoticed if you dont spend a bit of time exploring its potential. So give it a chance if thats a route your interested in going down (route... GPS... get it? Funny.) Overall this is a great phone if you don't mind not having all the luxuries and uber-conveniences of say, an iphone 4. The camera's seemingly random failure to capture photos is quite disconcerting, but its great for picking out detail in your snaps- would make a holiday album come to life, but maybe not so reliable at the club. (Although the xenon flash will certainly not dissapoint, and the smart auto mode will happily compensate for club-type lighting conditions). The phone does have its quirks, but a week or two of tooling round with it will help you understand how to get the most out of it. The widgets are handy if unexceptional. Don't expect any angry birds here- the included Java games are frankly awful. But music libraries are smartly organised and there is a media browser for photos and videos (which I have yet to fully explore). Watching videos is a pleasure given the bright, colourful screen, but dont expect HD output. Sending texts is fairly intuitive and the QWERTY layout option is thumb-friendly and quickly accessible by rotating the screen sideways. The phone itself looks sleek and more than a little camera-like (people have mistaken mine for an actual compact camera before lol). Just as a frame of reference, I've only had this phone for about 3-4 weeks and my last phone was a K800i. I have no interest in smart phones atm but this phone makes a nice stepping stone between the two, and is a fair competitor in its own right (seriously, that AMOLED screen is just perfect). Samsung gets a lot of flak for their UI, but it does a decent job of holding everything together, minus the frills that a true smartphone offers.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Gemma from UK on 23rd Mar 2011
Ive had this phone for at least a year and a half and cant wait to upgrade it!!! camera is great but when connecting to the internet is so slow and sumtimes does even connect.My boyfriend also has the same phone and we have the same problems.Would not recommend anyone to get this phone as its rubbish!!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Riddhi from whatever on 14th Mar 2011
I have been using the pixon 12 4 d last 1 and a half year and still i dnt have to charge it everyday.. I love the phone and anyone who buys it will love it too
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by microy from united kingdom on 5th Aug 2010
ive just upgraded from a pixon8 to a pixon12 the both phone are outstanding.picture quality is good on both.the touch on the pixon 12 is slightly faster responce than pixon8 manybe a second or 2 but well worth buying
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by padam sen from kuwait on 17th Jun 2010
hi this is padam i have samsung pixon 12.every thing is ok with this.but the battery is not staying long and i could not download fring and nimbuzz on this phone what is the reason please help me.if i can do some thing to increase battery life and download fring and nimbuzzz
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Rosie from UK on 23rd Apr 2010
Ive had the samsung pixon 12 since dec 2009, in april 2010 it stopped charging and had to be sent off for repairs, after 2weeks i found that they could not fix the problem and told me to go buy a new phone... all i was offered was £15 to go buy a new phone.. the samung pixon 12 needs charging everyday so i dont see how its my fault.. the phones 4u told me i had put 'excessive pressure' on the charger!! what rubbish..
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Nick from UK on 28th Jan 2010
I;ve had this phone for nearly 2 months and I REALLY hate it. It doesnt like to surf the net at all. if you go from a 3G area to 2G is comes up 'DNS Failure' and you have to close the browser and re-open it so it can log onto the 2g network. it also wont allow the browser open along with anything else such as the gallery and asks you to close something. it also freezes breifly when a text comes throu. the speaker for everything including the message notifications is always covered when the phone is put down so you never hear anything. The final straw is the fact it constantly drops signal. all the time. its only saving grace is the camera and the fact that the battery life IS decent. i get three days once i drained the test charge the phone comes with and charged it for 12 hours! normal charging afer that
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Desalegne Mebrate from Ethiopia on 16th Jan 2010
one of the best ever since produced,I love samsung
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by V from UK on 15th Jan 2010
Well, I bought this phone for its camera, to be precise the flash! And yes, in that area it completely delivers! However, there are a few areas which in my opinion really let it down! For starters the most ridiculous and non-sensical predictive text input! Writing texts (of which I do plenty) is an ever lasting and annoying carry-on!! Give me a Nokia any day! Also, I like my phone to fulfil a complete 'personal organiser' function and this one does a poor job of it. The reminders, schedules and tasks are all set out in a tricky to get to fashion, not at your fingertips where I think they should be. And then there's the 'New PC Studio'! Who on Earth thought of that one? PC Studio 7 did everything you could wish it to do and was a lot more overseeable and easier to operate. The New PC Studio in comparison is full of useless features and is in my eyes an overall headache! Despite the great camera (flash) I'm wishing I hadn't bought this phone.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Hannah from England on 27th Dec 2009
the phone is amazing, the only faults i find with it; is that when on the phone, i have to put people on loudspeaker to be able to hear them clear enough and when on the internet; the screen enlarges and decreases alot but once its loaded its fine, just the whole loudspeaker thing im going to have to come to grips with.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by laura from london on 13th Dec 2009
it is A great phone .great camra great everything ..you should buy this phone
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Reviewed by Grattus from England on 13th Dec 2009
Have had this phone for about a month now and the longer I have it the better I like it. Never really been a fan of touchscreen phones but the market for high end devices seems dominated by them. However, the user interface for this device is very slick and easy to use, the touchscreen response is very quick and simple to manage even for me! The screen resolution is superb, the icons and menu layouts good once you master where everything is (read the manual!). The camera is as good or better than any I have used (and I have had the Satio, C905 and N86!). The only 2 negatives I have are that battery life is relatively poor (have all settings as low as possible, brightness, ringtones, alert noises etc) but this will hopefully be improved once extended life batteries become available. The only other negative is that the accompanying cd will not load the software to enable my pc to synch with the phone. Also will not load from the Samsung website but have been able to transfer pics using the pcs software so not a major issue. In conclusion, the Pixon12 is a stylish, high end device that is easy to use and produces fantastic results from the camera. What more would you want from a cameraphone!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Claire from UK on 10th Dec 2009
Had this phone for about 4 days, and took it back! Was a good camera, but considering all the hype not that fantastic! Reception was terrible because of the casing. Slow as well. And very annoying! Getting the Jet now in Lilac, much faster, and decent camera considering its only a 5mp.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Anon from UK on 5th Dec 2009
Pixon 12 is brill phone, but only niggle is when you try to navigate the internet, the screen has mind of its own enlarging and shrinking. Just need to find out to stop it doing this!!!!!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Aditya from Mumbai on 4th Dec 2009
Pixon12 camera is fantastic. Features like WiFi, GPS, Internet, AMOLED screen are useful. But I found some problem with Media player. Changing sound effect has NO EFFECT after saving, it works before saving. When background play setting is OFF and we remove handsets, still the sound is played. This is so frustating. Please inform me if some of you have found out any solutions to this.
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Reviewed by Alex from England on 29th Nov 2009
I love this phone absoulutley fatastic it has a great camera google maps which finds your curent location wic came in handy last week as a got lost in tandalhills it is reat for the internet with a big scree easy use for texting no problems what so ever but it was stolen from colledge but i am happy to pay for a brand new one! MUST BUY BEST PHONE I HAVE EVER HAD ! ! !
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Tristen from UK on 22nd Nov 2009
The phone camera is great.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by laura from lincoln on 19th Nov 2009
i have this phone it is really good .the camra is good its not slow ..it just really good i recomend that you get this phone if you want a good phone and a good camra ..
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Hello from USA on 3rd Nov 2009
amazin fone The camera is AWESOME
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Julie from Bournemouth on 2nd Nov 2009
Bought the Pixon 12 together with the SE Satio. Pixon blew Satio out of the window - better battery life, easier OS, smaller and neater when holding in hand. Screen is beautifully bright, no problems with sound. I have had a lot of camera phones (the best up to date being the Nokia N82) but this phone definitely beats the lot. Wonderful.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by tom from cheshire on 5th Oct 2009
had my pixon 12 for about 6 days now and had nothing but problems with it dont like it atall
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Dan from UK on 25th Sep 2009
This phone is perfect. It is basically an I-phone with a 12 MP Camera. Awesome!!!!!!!
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Reviewed by lee j from birmingham on 25th Sep 2009
upgraded to this from my previous lg viewty had this phone since this mornin , been usin it non stop and ogt it all set up perfect for me , the battery dont seem to bad , camera is brilliant , internet speed is fab , touch screen is great , does what it says on the tin , end of the day you people expect a lot , its a phone your meant to make calls and texts off it as long as it does that then whats to moan about , you want a good picture - go buy a camera you want good internet speeds - get a pc with broadband you want good music player - get a mp3 player you want a decent sat nav - go buy a sat nav but overall for what it is its amazing phone - no problems yet - touch wood if you got the option go for it
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Reviewed by Matt from England on 20th Sep 2009
This seems to be a bit of a Marmite phone looking at the reviews. I have to say I am very happy with my Pixon 12, as it ticks all the boxes for me. I've ready about the battery life, but it compares well with my Nokia N82. With my usage it's lasting me 3/4 days between charges. Positives: Superb Camera qualtiy, Camera startup time (locked phone to picture taken in less that 3 seconds) Screen (resolution and viewing angle are top notch), Snappy UI, Seamless WIFI (when setup properly). Negatives: The touch screen isn't the most accurate, the web browser is great for WAP but crashes on busy propper web sites, I do miss my series 60 apps. Concluion: If you are looking for an internet phone that you can expand with apps and games, then this isn't the phone for you. If you're looking for the best camera phone, with pretty good calling/texting, then I can't recommend the Pixon 12 enough. It also help that I got mine second hand for half price on eBay...
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Reviewed by Neil from UK on 7th Sep 2009
I like the phone too - the camera is amazing when it works but a lot of my pictures don't work and I get a message saying 'capture failed' does anyone know why this is (it seems to happen a lot indoors - when the flash is on - not matter what setting i choose) - are my setting wrong or something? Any help would be appreciated!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by B from UK on 2nd Sep 2009
Fantastic phone - Best phone I have ever used and I have used plenty, including the brick called n97! The phone is so easy to use - fantastic camera - great looks - and the new interface is such an improvment over the s8300 and original pixon. The Pixon12 runs the same fast 800mhz processor that the samsung jet uses, so the phone is very fast, even with the menu transition effects turned on there is no lag! Highly Recommended.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Mattty. from England on 1st Sep 2009
ive had this phone almost 3 weeks now. Used to own the LG viewty which i renewed for this. The samsung pixon 12 blows it out of the water. My sister has the lg viewty smart it doesnt even compare to this phone. The interface seems abit more lively, but the fact its all based around a cube is a gimmick. If you are buying this phone its for the camera, not the smartphone capabilities, whether it has an app store such as ovi or itunes or for its music like the walkman phones. For a camera phone the shots are amazing. I dont think you will find a camera phone that could beat it, we'll just have to wait and see how SonyEricsson stand up to the competition. Ok the battery life isnt the best, but is it really much trouble putting it on charge every night, i can assure you it isnt, i manage it and im so soo lazy; trust me. The oled screen is lush and everyone seems to comment how bright and bold the colours are in my photos when viewing them in the well layed out media browser. All in all dads money has been well spent. I got a well good deal with phones4u, £35 for 18months, 1200 minutes, unlimited texts and internet and a free phone. The only thing i would change about this phone is its interface, it could just be abit more lively and animated like the sclass found on the LG's which i find really fun to use with the iphone like icons.:)
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Cold_Turkey84 from UK on 1st Sep 2009
I have had this phone for exactly a week now and have 2 main issues with this phone. I got it just before going to work at reading festival and the screen broke on the second day. It ran out of battery and when i put it on charge the screen just came up with a garbled mess in charging mode, I turned it on and the garbled mess changed but was still totally garbled. With all intention of taking it back I put it on charge 1 more time, more garbled mess, so i went to turn it off and like magic my sreen came back with no problems at all! I am totally at a loss to explain it but am happy it's back. Other than that it is a good phone if a little slow due to the touchwiz interface. Camera and video facilities are excellent, just disappointed I couldn't take the pics and vids I wanted to.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by i luv me from mars on 16th Aug 2009
Alright phone battery life not to good but other features ok!
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Older user from UK on 16th Aug 2009
Had this phone for just over a week now. Previously owned Samsung i8910 but returned it because of disappointing video recording performance. This seems much better - no lost frames, auto focus on video is excellent. Also tried the LG Renoir (which I thought was good on the video front) and would say this is even better. Auto camera lens cover is also a welcome addition. Still images are very good, improved by both xenon flash and video light. The touch screen UI isn't fantastic (not as intuitive as Nokia or SE imho) but certainly easier to use and more responsive than the i8910. Downsides for me: Screen is clear and vibrant but size makes web browsing a bit of a chore (although in fairness, this is I guess true of many smaller touch screens). Despite its great features, the handset looks a bit "anonymous" and won't turn heads (if you're into that sort of thing of course ;-)) Organiser function appears to limit calendar entries in length, so synching with Outlook not as great as say, my previous K800i. On the whole, I got this for its video and camera features, and on that score have not been disappointed.
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by Haseeb Sheikh from England on 14th Aug 2009
After the pixon and the omnia, it is a decent phone with an excellent display, speaker is decent and quite loud, louder than the 5800 but the omnia is better but is a good phone
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by tony from uk on 13th Aug 2009
rubbish phone many problems poor battery life always crashes. If you have any common sense get the new nokia n97 best phone ever made
Rating: Reply

Reviewed by theincrediblemobileman from space on 11th Aug 2009
great phone with great features must by :)
Rating: Reply

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