Samsung G800 is not a G600 sequel as many would think; these devices were designed for different audiences, differences in functionality also speaking for themselves. G600 is rather a mass product which in essence is a perfect example of a most useful and versatile functionality implementation sold at a very reasonable price, besides the model became the first camera phone with a 5Mpix unit. As we have already mentioned ( Samsung G600 camera, dealthmatch with Nokia N95 & Sony Ericsson K850i ), G600’s main advantage on the market consists in a comparatively low price that makes this model the most affordable camera phone of its class. At that, a compact size and a small weight, certainly, are still important.

The new G800 is focused on absolutely different things, in particular, an image effect combined with a hi-tech camera. At that, the audience of the photo flagship is artificially limited, the key moment being the evident reduction of software functionality, even as compared to G600, let alone Nokia N95 which is going to object of many similar comparisons due to a number of reasons.

Further we will dwell not only on G800 itself but also the differences from the original G600 in terms of the software aspect, as there are lots of them; that is a point of fundamental importance - a flagship software simplification in comparison with a mass model. But let’s begin with habitual specifications…

	Samsung G800 main specifications
Communications	GSM 900/1800/1900, WCDMA 2100; GPRS/EDGE
Memory	160 Mb of user memory microSD slot, no card bundled
Display	2,4" , QVGA (240х320), 262K
Data transfer protocols	USB2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR (A2DP supported)
Camera	5.0 Mpix (up to 2560x1920), auto-focusing
Battery	capacity - 960 mAh up to Up to 210 min of talktime Up to 160 hours of standby mode
Dimensions	102 x 52 x 18.8 mm
Weight	110 g
Guiding price	550 euros

Samsung G 800 sales package is typical and even less than that. For example, you won’t find a memory card bundled. There are no nice extras like a tripod or a case. The sales package includes a wire stereo headset, a battery charger, a software disk and a printed manual. A USB data cable is shipped but it doesn’t change much. The package is a little bit poor for a flagship device.

Design and ergonomics

Samsung G800 utilizes the classic slider form factor, its design reminding of Shine series devices most of all, in particular KE970. On the contrary, G800 is considerably thicker - almost two centimeters. It makes the model less handy, but it will be only to advantage for a male audience, in fact this moment definitely adds solidity to G800 together with not the very small dimensions on the whole, a weighty casing and the metal applied. The latter is employed for a back panel and a side edging. It is a thin aluminium piece. As well as Shine does, G800 gets scratched shortly, which spoils the handset appearance.

The build quality is high, provided you shut eyes to a non ideal practicality of materials. G800 really makes an impression of an expensive and solid handset, attracts attention. A massive casing, by the way, is of no little importance here - it looks effective. There are three colour variants available - Metallic, Bronze and Black. The first colour option to be released is a Metallic one which is put to the test now. G800 sits in hand moderately as we noted before, the dimensions are not most effectively balanced. The weight is excess, that’s also to the fancy. At that, to optical zoom model measure, everything is within reasonable limits (let’s remind of Nokia N93).

The implementation of controls leaves good impression - they are well spaced apart, have a sufficient stroke and size. The handset keypad is standard for the last generation devices; it is made of a metal plate, flat, however due to their big size, the keys are easy to tap at and nice to type with. The keypad use a bright white backlighting, it’s very even and well-visible in all kinds of environment. It is an interesting fact that the numerical keys are backlit when the slider is closed, which is not quite logical. The navigation block is comfortable to use, the buttons are of sufficient size, no sensor ones, however only the three of them are backlit: Call, Reject and Cancel.

The protective camera cover of G800 leaves much to be desired. It sticks out above the surface for about 2 mm (the thickness is 18.8 at that spot) which is even more than with N95. The opening mechanism is too tight, and no finger rest is provided for - in some cases it's the sliding mechanism that opens instead of the cover, the situation is similar to the problem observed with the K770i model which suffers from a similar problem. The slider mechanism is pleasant - it is not too sharp, but precise. There’s no separate finger rest for opening the slider as well, that tends to screen fingerprinting and spoils the appearance. Unlike LG, Samsung does not complete its baby with an assortment of napkins for wiping though it would be rather useful - not only the front panel tends to accumulate grease and fingerprints.

Let's compare G800 dimensions with Nokia N95 and Sony Ericsson K850i:

The model is equipped with stereo speakers which are placed at the top part of the casing. Unfortunately, their outputs are not well spaced apart that is why the effect is practically absent. Both the apertures are located above the screen that is why no sound problem arises. It's quite another matter that its maximal volume with G800 is below that with Nokia and Sony Ericsson. It would hold for A2DP as well and as for the wire stereo headset there comes the high-quality sound through it due to built in DSP. The truth is that the same N81 wins in any case. As a whole, in view of the traditional firm standard interface slot (the new one like with G600) and not the very best value of battery lifetime G800 finds itself rather an average player. At that, the software performance of this item is the best for a brand - on a level with G600 again, making no allowance as in case of many other things on the software platform.

Except for a headset, a battery charger as well as synchronization, the interface slot is used for nothing else. Though, for example, TV-Out functionality would be rather useful for a camera phone. The memory expansion slot is the standard microSD one, with the hot swapping support. Up to 4 Gb memory card compatibility is announced. Symmetrically on the right edge a sound volume rocker button is put as well utilized for zooming when using the camera. The camera launch button is found nearby. Both the elements are extremely easy-to-use, no reproaches.

The sound volume button has a few settings, for example while receiving an incoming call the button can be set to act either as Mute or Reject. The first function just mutes the ringtone while the second drops the call. Unlike Samsung G600, G800 has no text template sending option after the call is rejected but its availability was handy with the former device.

Besides camera launching the shoot button may be used to call the quick access menu consisting of five shortcut icons:

• Call log
• Messages
• Browser
• Music player
• Shut all the running tasks

Thus, switching between applications is implemented in this device; by pressing this button you can switch to one of the offered modes from any item of the main menu. It is possible to keep a few applications running at once, however there is no full-fledged task manager here and the quick access menu cannot be customized. As a matter of fact, G800 is the first step Samsung has taken towards multitasking, everything being in its infancy here (there are only three processes available in a background), but the advance in this direction is already evident.

Display

Samsung G800 sports a display with a 2.4’’ diagonal (36x48 mm), the matrix is build based off the TFT technology is able of displaying up to 262 million colors. The resolution is quite traditional, namely being 240x320 pixels (QVGA). This stands for approximately 12 lines of text simultaneously visible on the screen.

The display has a mirror-plated substrate that resists the sunlight so the information remains easily legible. The matrix quality is amazingly high, the colors are very natural and the brightness is one of the best among the similar products. Unlike Samsung G600, there is no luminance sensor here, the screen and keypad backlighting being adjusted manually (there are four positions available).

Special attention should be paid to the screen functioning in a view-finder mode. The software algorithm used for transmitting the picture from camera to the screen is far above than just good, there are no delays when moving the handset, the colors are extremely natural, the image edges are very sharp, as for this parameter on the whole, the device is an absolute leader among the competing offers, even N95 being left somewhat behind.

Nokia N95 / Samsung G800 / Sony Ericsson K850i

The screen fonts are easily legible and optimized for the device’s display. The phone numbers are shown in large symbols, no problem arises here. The options include a setting that allows to choose the symbol type as well as font size, font color and background color.

Communications

Samsung G800 is a three-band device (GSM900 /1800/1900), has a full Class 10 EDGE support, it supports third generation networks (WCDMA) as well. On the front panel there is a VGA-camera for video telephony.

Wireless communications support of Samsung G800 is represented by the Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR module. It arouses no questions, though just as earlier it doesn’t support sending over Java applications from outer sources to the phone. 3D profiles are supported, but no hardware acceleration is present.

The Bluetooth options include the activation status (whether it is turned on or off), the list of visible Bluetooth devices, the Bluetooth visibility status of the phone itself, the device name and miscellaneous settings. The stereo headset (A2DP) proved to be a reliable accessory, the only minor flaw being a negligible lack of volume. The following list of profiles are supported:

• Dial Up Networking Profile
• File Transfer Profile
• Generic Access Profile
• Service Discovery Application Profile
• Headset Profile
• Handsfree (Car Kit) Profile
• Generic Object Exchange Profile (OBEX)
• Object Push Profile
• File Transfer Profile
• Basic Printing Profile
• Audio Vdieo Remote Control Profile
• Advanced Audio Distribution Profile
• Enhanced Data Rate
• Dual Profile Bluetooth (Voice & Data)
• vNote

Unlike some new models Samsung G800 doesn’t sport an enhanced A2DP support allowing for two Bluetooth stereo headsets to be used simultaneously with the same phone. However such functionality is a niche one, therefore one shouldn’t consider it as a disadvantage.

The wire connection is achieved through USB 2.0, but the data transfer speed is not the highest. On the other hand the phone sports full and correct support of Mass Storage, Media Player, Printer and Modem Connection modes. The corresponding menu lets the user to set one of those as the default connection type or ask for choice every time a phone-to-PC connection is established.

User interface

Samsung G800 is a top-class solution in all senses as regards functionality, positioning, prise and so on. Indeed, it can boast the 3G support, the best camera among the designer models catering for the world market, etc. However in practice the situation is different. G800 is only a photo solution and no more than that. Any business functionality is out of the question, the device is inferior to the G600 bestseller practically in all respects if we speak about the level of feature implementation. Why there exists such a situation, we do not presume to judge; seemingly, a top class model should possess all the capabilities implemented in a mass model. But as compared to G600 we observe either a lack of progress as such or a significant simplification of an existing functionality. It concerns practically every trifle save for a rare exception, we have already mentioned the impossibility of quick access menu customization, the list of applications is fixed; further, G800 has no text template sending option after the call is rejected, there is no user theme customization, the FM tuner, multimedia player and user interface features are reduced.

As a matter of fact, the example of Samsung U600 and U700 is somewhat similar to this one, the latter keeping a higher position in the range of models, supporting 3G as well, but its abilities were only on a basic level, it did not possess the innovations that U600 provided. The explanation is as simple as it comes: G800 is not a priority model for the company, but just a niche offering, called to show the company’s technological leadership in the camera phone segment; as for G600, it remains the true flagship both in sales and in functionality as we have already noticed while reviewing this undoubtedly successful product.

Let's dwell on the camera phone user interface features. Following the wake of D900, the company again implements the Living World embedded interface plug-in. Once the phone identifies its geographical location, it displays a corresponding desktop wallpaper (Kremlin for Russia and so on, including the Sydney Opera House, the Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco, the Big Ben of London and the Eiffel Tower of Paris) The wallpaper displays a set of symbolical animations indicating the time, quality of signal and incoming calls or messages - the wallpapers switches between the day and night versions, the sky gets overcast with clouds when the signal level gets low, fireworks can be seen once you get a unread message or miss a call. If you are out of the mobile network area, you see a green lawn among hills. This is not exclusive to G800, but still is a winning feature that looks fresh and intriguing.

During the standby mode a screen-size clock can be set to be shown, that’s large enough for the numbers to be easily seen from a distance. Up to two clocks corresponding to two different time zones can be shown on the screen simultaneously or the clock indicating the time of your city of residence of a larger size.

The status line displays all the indicators of the running processes and the activated modules - Bluetooth, player, the selected profile, the web connection, the battery charge level, the network service indicator and so on. If you open a menu, the indicators go a line down so you can always see them.

Is goes without saying you can pick any picture for a wallpaper instead of the Living World screen, almost anything like a photo taken with the camera. The calendar cannot be set to be used as the wallpaper, an option like that is excluded. But on the other hand there is rather an interesting feature that allows to create animated wallpaper, referred to as My Screen. The matter is that you choose from one up to nine pictures, photos, the effect to be applied and the shot change rate. During the standby mode the chosen pictures replace each other, besides one of following effects is applied:

• Butterfly
• Paper plane
• Cherry blossom
• Bamboo

Besides, several picture change modes are available: rolling-up, replacing, moving aside and so on. It looks attractive, slightly reminding of the multimedia menu background implementation with Nokia N95.

The information displayed during standby (the name of service provider, the currently playing song title, the event indications) can be customized to be shown in a number of ways according to the user-defined preferences: font color, style and alignment are customizable.

The font style in the dialing mode is also customizable as well as size, color and numerical symbol style. However the preset figure types are more attractive - as one of the available variants the symbols traced with a fountain pen on notebook pages are offered, an appropriate animation present. Besides the font customization, you can also set the background color for the phone number window; almost everything here can be adjusted to your own liking, since Samsung phones have long been known for their strong positions in the field of user customization features, which is evidently a customer attracting factor.

As we have already mentioned, the My Menu implementation in this device differs from that of Samsung G600. The quick access menu cannot be customized; it is called by pressing the camera launch button. It’s quite to advantage that the list can be activated from any item of the main menu, not only during the standby mode. One can bind different functions chosen from a rather extensive list to the navigation button strokes sidewise.

Another interesting and useful feature is the ability to filter the contents of phone book and call log by the three initial numbers while in the standby mode. In fact, if you know a phone number by heart you can trace it in your contacts book and the call log by merely typing the three initial letters... once you do so, you see the search results shown as a list of contacts’ names as well as surnames and phone type icons (home, mobile, etc). If the phone number is not saved in the phonebook, it’s only the number itself and the call status icon that are shown in the search results.

The absence of user themes turned out to be the next disappointment. You remember how handy this feature was implemented in Samsung G600; the user was even able to create custom themes right from a basic menu, without having to resort to a specific application, the quality of themes implementation deserved admiration. Samsung G800 doesn’t give even an opportunity to choose between the two basic color schemes - black and white, the menu presentation is always one and the same.

The main menu can be either set to show as the traditional icons tab or as a list with each icon hosting a pop-up menu listing its sublevel functions (this option can be turned off if you get annoyed with the crowding pop-up windows).

The navigation features the recently introduced ‘user action memory’ function found in the newer Samsung models - the phone keeps track of user actions and opens every menu at the menu item that was last activated. Fast menu navigation is possible through numerical keys, everything is standard here. But as compared with G600, there is no animation - upon activating a menu item, the previous screen cannot be set to slide sideways or fade or open in halves, giving way to the new information. Among the few drawbacks we discovered while working with the menus is the lack of possibility to swap the menu item positions and the order of submenu items, as well as there’s no way to create new groups and icons.

On the whole the camera phone interface may be characterized as follows: if you pay much attention to usability, a great deal of nice extras, design and high customization potential - Samsung G800 definitely won’t suit you. G600 is as pleasant, handy and innovative, as G800 is ambiguous. There is a gaping abyss between these devices in terms of user friendliness and we don’t see the reason for such functionality reduction in comparison with G600. Yes, the matter is in a different platform implementation, but it doesn’t justify drawbacks in the interface arrangement. For a top-class solution the device should possess at least the set of functions the junior model offers; here everything is quite on the contrary. However, this may be not too bad for the target audience, G800 being an image solution first of all. The camera phone sports a well-considered and highly pleasant design, and a splendid shooting implementation.

G800 can be imagined as a certain strange combination of Nokia N95 and Nokia 8800 and its reincarnations. That is, we gain an initial impression of the former device owing to high-quality camera availability and comparable dimensions, and an image component – expensive appearance, but poor functionality - of the latter. Well, such combination has quite the right to take place, however one should compare this device not with Nokia N95, but image devices, G800 standing out against their background due to its camera. And G600 still remains the most interesting brand device from the standpoint of its potential and user interface. We’ll dwell on G800 other distinctions below.

Audio profile

The support for audio profile is quite a pleasant aspect of the model in question, which is simplified again as compared with G600. The six profiles are present, but the user cannot add custom ones though the preinstalled list of six profiles is more than enough for the phone to be handy, the existing profiles can be modified. The profile creation mode is quite simple, but that doesn’t mean a lack of options. There are three main groups of settings - Call settings, SMS settings and Misc sounds settings.

The Call settings include the signal type (a lot of variants here - ringtone only, vibration only, ringone and vibration, vibration followed by the ringtone and vice versa, ringtone fade-in with or without vibration and so on), the ringtone itself is also set here as well as sound volume and the number of times the melody is replayed.

The SMS settings are much simpler, only three types of signal can be chosen: vibro, sound, or vibro followed by sound. An .mp3 file can be used as the incoming message signal as well as in a new G600 firmware update. Miscellaneous sound settings include the keypad button sound, the power on/off sound and some minor service sounds.

Switching between profiles is only possible via the main menu, there’s no separate button for switching profiles. The Mute mode is toggled by holding the # key; the activated profile icon is displayed in the status line.

Call service

The phonebook is called by pressing the right soft-button or via the main menu. The list contains phone numbers from the phone memory as well as from the SIM-card (a customizable item – it can be set to show only the phone memory or the SIM-card numbers). Every contact is given a small picture if the one is fixed or a preset icon. Filtering by the initial name letters is possible (up to 50 symbols). If several phone numbers are associated with a single contact, only the main one is displayed in the contact headline (mobile phone number by default).

A name, a surname and two phone numbers (a mobile phone number and a home number) can be associated with a newly created or edited account as well as an e-mail address, a short note, an individual ringtone and a call picture. Any picture, photo or preset icon can be used for that. The call picture is large, practically taking the whole screen. Seemingly, here we observe the next simplification in comparison with G600 - a reduced quantity of items, however in actual fact G800 acquired a new feature: the ability to add necessary items. One can set up to 35 items in all, 10 being initially preset. The list of items to be added contains the following ones:

• Mobile number (personal, work)
• Home number (personal, work)
• Fax
• Other
• Videocall number
• E-mail
• WEB page address
• Group (a contact can belong to several groups)
• Message signal (individual)
• Nickname
• Birthday date
• Company
• Position
• Address (personal, work)

When giving a contact more than one phone number, the user can specify which number is to be used as the default one for making calls and sending messages. It is just an advance towards any smartphone’s contact book, the account items cannot be renamed and moved here, a quantity limit is present.

When setting the birthday date, the phone automatically offers to mark the event in the calendar, give the event a name and set the alarm clock to warn you in advance of the upcoming birthday.

The phonebook memory can store up to 1000 contacts, each containing all the associated phone numbers. The user groups are present, three form the total of four being customizable, i.e. you can rename them. A unique ringtone and picture can be associated with each group. A group can contain up to 20 contacts. All the contacts as well as the namecard can be sent via SMS, MMS, E-mail or Bluetooth to another person. The quick dial list can contain up to 8 numbers. The list shows only the person’s name and surname which might be a bit inconvenient if that person has several numbers and only a picture if it is associated with the contact.

Other miscellaneous options include the possibility to choose the storage location for the newly saved contacts - the SIM card or the phone memory (or set it to be asked for each time the user saves a contact), sorting all the contacts by name (Display as), but there is no template choice (Name+Surname or vice versa) here.

The call log keeps track of all the recent received, dialed and missed calls. Up to 30 records of each call type are stored. The call log can be either displayed as a common list with each call type having an indication icon or three separate lists for each call type. Switching between the lists is done by pressing the navigation button left and right, this aspect sharing the same approach as we saw in Nokia and SonyEricsson phones. The number of times that the specified number has been dialed is shown in brackets next to it. The stats tab contains info about the cost and number of incoming and outgoing calls as well as the length and cost of the most recent call.

Samsung G600 has a blacklist which supports adding undesirable contacts both one by one or even by a whole group. The latter function is a unique Samsung feature (in the sense of a manufacturer-preset function); its usefulness can’t be underestimated. It was very nice of Samsung to include this function as a standard function embedded into the firmware.



Messaging

Samsung G800 traditionally possesses a combined messaging system - the phone automatically defines the message type depending on its content. The phone memory can store up to 500 SMS messages + the SIM card memory. Up to 20 recipients can be defined for every outgoing message, up to 12 messages can be glued together in a single one. Sound, vibration and backlighting signals are available for warning the user of an incoming message. EMS is supported. The MMS memory is limited to 300 messages the multimedia content of which must not exceed the free user memory. The messaging interface supports a separate blacklist. The text message settings are minimal; they include only the text reply, the delivery notice and saving the copies of outgoing messages. Older messages cannot be automatically purged; there is also no feature to set the text style. There’s no SOS message option.

There’s a separate recent contacts list for text messages. Once you are about to send a text message, the phone displays this list of recently contacted people so you can instantly choose one of them as the recipient of the current message. The other option is to use the phonebook to select the recipient. A message can be dispatched either to a single person or to a whole contacts group. The number of recipients is indicated near the icon to the left from the contact name in the contact line.

Upon beginning a new message the user is free to set the font size (large, medium and small), color and style (bold, italic). The same settings can be applied exclusively to a selected piece of text within a message. Possible attachment types include an image, a video clip, a calendar note (up to four task types plus a phone card) and a sound. Once a multimedia attachment is detected, the text message is automatically converted into an MMS. The photo and video attachments can be quickly selected from the gallery or instantly taken right with the camera without having to quit the image editor.

The following e-mail protocols are specified:

POP3	+
IMAP4	+
SMTP	+
SSL	+ (3.0)
TLS	+ (1.0)
OTA E-Mail Settings Configuration	+
Push E-mail	EMN OMA 1.0

The maximum size of an outgoing message can’t exceed 300 Kb. The maximum number of e-mail accounts is five. There are the interesting functions of auto e-mail checking at user-defined intervals, sending the reading notices and the e-mail downloading mode - headers only or whole messages. The mail download limit is 500 Kb; an automatic delete is also present here. Deleted messages can be kept saved at the mail server if the user wishes so. All types of attachments readable by the phone itself or by the Document Viewer are supported. The viewer starts right here and when the file viewing is completed the application shuts, leaving the editor running. E-mail settings include a blocking option similar to the one used for messages and for the contacts book. The difference is that the user is allowed to blacklist specified e-mail addresses as well as header phrases to block spam.

The multimedia messaging system (OMA 1.2) limits the maximum size of a multimedia message to the usual 300 Kb. Up to 20 recipients can be specified per message; maximum text length is limited to 1000 symbols. The MMS setup includes the priority, the expiry date and the delivery time (from one hour up to one week and the time fixed by the user). An MMS message limit makes from 30 up to 300 Kb. The auto resize mode to the given limit can be switched on. According to the settings, the message type can be set either freely depending on the size of the created message or strictly limited - should the image exceed the limit, it’s automatically modified to fit. When inserting an object, its actual size is specified, and an already composed MMS message can be previewed prior to sending.

Besides the listed options the MMS messages can have their font size (large, medium and small), colour and style (bold, italic) adjusted in the same manner as SMS messages, the same goes to background color and message viewing mode, the latter option is set to Fullscreen by default. The automatic deletion function is absent for the MMS messages. SMIL is supported - the maximum number of pages and objects inside a message equals to 15 and 35 respectively.

PIM

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The Personal Information Manager includes a standard set of applications like calendar, alarm clocks and quick notes. Up to six alarm clocks can be set, the first one named Wake Up alarm. Each of the alarm clocks can be flexibly tuned, schedule is fully supported (the days of the week are chosen); the alarm signal can be replayed at a user-defined interval. The alarm turns on even if the phone is turned off. Each alarm clock can be given a unique title and adjusted to play a unique song, including .mp3 files or turning on the radio. Much like the sound profiles, the alarm clocks support a variety of signal types - ringtone only, vibration and ringtone, vibration followed by a ringtone, fade-in ringtone with or without vibration and so one. Once an alarm clock is adjusted and activated, a short info on that alarm’s settings is instantly shown on the screen, everything being more than evident.

The Calendar has a few viewing options: by month, by week or by day. The schedule can include up to 240 records (on the whole as well as for one day). Preliminary notices and recurring event signals are supported. Sorting events by type is well-implemented (meetings, anniversaries, tasks). A day that hosts a specified event is indicated by a colored corner, the color corresponding to the event type shown in the status line (meetings, anniversaries, tasks).

The default view mode is adjusted in the options, as well as the starting day of the week (Monday or Sunday). Memory manager is in its place, indicating the number of occupied and free event slots in the calendar memory. The expired events are deleted being picked out or after a period of time.

All the necessary event parameters are specified on adding a new event - date, beginning and end time, the alarm activation time in case an alarm signal is associated with an event and the interval at which an alarm signal is replayed. The total amount of events, as noted above, equals 240, that’s 100 is reserved for meetings, 50 for anniversaries and holidays each and 20 for personal and important events each.

As we have already mentioned in the phone book description, the Birthday line associated with every contact is automatically added to the calendar as an Anniversary-type event, the user is asked to set a reminder, specify the day and the time when the alarm must be activated. So you won’t miss your grandmother’s birthday, and the preliminary warning will remind you to buy a present beforehand. This calendar option is really handy.



Multimedia

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The Samsung software platform isn’t very powerful when it comes to multimedia content processing. The video processing engine leaves much to be desired - it doesn’t support a lot of file formats (even the popular AVI is not supported), there’s no Cycle mode, rewinding a large video file ends up with lags due to the low hardware performance. But when it comes to music playback, the situation is incomparably better on this front though the music player interface has been simplified in comparison with G600. The controls are comfortable, no reprimands here. During the playback the screen displays info including song title and the name of performer, the album cover (thanks to the Album Arts function), the playbar (a progressive rewind mode is supported) and all sorts of indicators showing the on/off status of different player settings.

Background mode is supported, the settings include:

• Playback settings (reshuffle, random song),
• Sound output via a wireless stereo Bluetooth headset
• Add to playlist (one, several or all created),
• Ratings system (from 1 to 5 or unrated),
• Setting a song as a ringtone or alarm signal.

Any song can be sent via MMS, E-mail or Bluetooth. Flight Mode is supported (a phone radio section switching-off), which helps to save battery charge however it’s inaccessible without a SIM card, which is a minor flaw. No additional visualization adjustments are available - the effects known by G600.

During background mode, the player window is automatically minimized to a small box corresponding to the user-defined color and style. The song name and the control indicators are shown in the box. The player supports sorting songs by performer, song title, genres, recently played tracks, most frequently played tracks and so on.

The following audio formats are supported by Samsung G800:

MP3
WMA
Polyphonic, 64
AMR (Voice Tag)
AAC
AAC+
e-AAC+
i-Melody
Midi (SMF)
SP-Midi

As we see, all the basic standards are supported save for RA. Like the majority of the latest models by the Korean manufacturer, the novelty makes use of a dedicated sound amplifier based on the patent-protected technology by Bang&Olufsen. The sound chip was dubbed ICEpower Mobile and helps to increase the output sound volume but doesn’t affect the quality. So Samsung phones virtually became the loudest phones on the market leaving behind all the rival handsets by other brands, which gives them an advantage on the mass market. Speaking if sound quality, it should be noted that it is high enough to consider G600 an able music player as well, nearly matching the latest XpressMusic models manufactured by Nokia supplied with a dedicated DSP which provides for a high sound quality, however Samsung easily beats them in volume (F300, Ultra Edition Series II, E740, F330 and some others). DSP (Digital Signal Processor) provides additional sound processing algorithms while ICEpower Mobile only amplifies the signal to increase the sound volume. While a standalone amplifier amplifies noise and signal distortion just as well as the wanted signal, the DSP allows for separation of wanted signal from the noise part so the amplifier is fed with a clearer signal.

In other words, DSP handles such signal parameters as dynamic range (the equally high capability for reproducing quiet and loud sounds without any distortion), frequency range, noise-emission level, gain compression, and these parameters are determined by a circuit technique of the amplifier. Samsung did their best to improve the sound quality both by increasing maximum sound quality and implementing an improved circuit technique of the ICEpower amplifier itself, sporting better characteristics as compared to a regular DSP-embedded amplifier. How does a casual phone user benefit from it? Of course, first of all there comes the high-quality and at the same time very loud sound perfectly audible in most situations. It’s an evident advantage over the many competing models, but calling that line of Samsung devices ‘perfect’ is simply wrong.

Going back to G800, let’s notice that it’s not bad as a player; its sound quality is quite comparable to that of the rest of last-generation Samsung models and perfectly able to challenge some of the world market’s best music solutions. But owing to a simplified player interface and not the very handy controls one won’t call the handset perfect. It’s an average music solution. Continuous music cycle wastes the battery charge over about ten hours, it’s quite a standard value for a modern mobile device, but some of the next-gen music phones will provide for more than twice as many hours of playback before the battery issues its last breath (we are hinting at the upcoming Nokia and present-day SonyEricsson Walkman phones).

The feature implementation is typical of Samsung products, all the standard function like search and autosearch are in their places as well as manual tuning and things like that. The specified frequency can be added to the channels list and associate a name with the station. The saved stations can be further deleted, renamed or set to be activated as an alarm clock signal.

Tuning is performed by finger-rotating a circle that is shown on the screen, everything is more than evident. The station memory can contain up to 99 stations, RDS is not supported. Sound output can be configured both for the headset or the embedded speaker. The FM tuner as well as the MP3 player can stay fully functional during the standby mode. The reception quality is high and raises no objections. But Samsung G600 possessed the enhanced ability to record radio broadcasts. There is no such function here, everything is simple.

Preinstalled Software Package

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Samsung G800 comes with a standard variety of preinstalled applications. We have already reviewed some part of it or are going to review (Image Editor and others). Now let’s dwell on some other features. Unlike with the previous models it is not the Picsel File Viewer but the Access Net Front browser which enables the user to view Office document files.

The voice recorder application found in the G800 has a nice and easy to use interface, but it’s functionally simple. Maximum voice record length can be limited to fit the maximum MMS length or to one hour, the recorded file can be saved either to phone memory to a memory expansion card. The record volume and the record name are set by the user. Unfortunately the voice recorder is unable to record phone talks, but the exterior sound source records turn out fine. No reprimands on this side.

The world clock function is quite standard and allows for displaying two timezones and corresponding cities on the world map.

The integrated calculator displays a good functionality; it can handle both basic operations as well as complicated mathematical functions like sinus and cosines. The basic math functions are implemented by pressing the designated buttons. The calculation result can be immediately transferred to the measures converted should such necessity arise. The measures converter can handle and convert all kinds of currencies, measures of length, weight, volume and temperature.

The countdown timer and the stopwatch are quite typical of most phones, nothing to talk about.

The preinstalled games include a number of old favorites found in most Samsung phones: Cannonball, Paris Hilton’s Diamonds, Freekick, Arch Angel, Mini Gold and Midnight Pool. The games aren’t really much of interest, but sometimes they’re great for killing time. As we have already said, additional games can be loaded via Bluetooth (you have to download both the .jar and .jad files, they’re put into the Misc folder from where you can start the installation).

It’s important to note that the phone lacks the Smart Search function, a very useful search application. It remains a mystery why it wasn’t included.

Google Search

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The Google Search function found among other menu items, quite accordingly with its name offering a Google search capability as well as used for opening the browser application (Access NetFront v3.4, the same browser used in most Samsung devices) and accessing the mail server. Everything is quite clear. The browser sports a good variety of functions and settings including:

• Page Format (small, medium, large)
• Page Pilot (a mini-map helping navigating through large web pages)
• Page Address Copy
• Saving images from the page or saving the whole page
• Cache and cookies settings (cache size is 2 Мб)

Miscellaneous settings include options to allow Java scripts launching, play sounds and viewing images, as well as fast view mode - the Smart-Fit technology forces the text and images to fit the screen in a fashion that allows for more comfortable browsing. It’s possible to browse web pages using both portrait and landscape orientation, the latter variant retains the same options.

The browser supports a vast majority of data types and languages:

WML Ver. 1,3
WML Script Ver. 2.0
ECMA Script
xHTML
xHTML-MP Ver. 1.0
cHTML
HTML Ver. 4.0.1

Camera, Gallery, Image editing and Video

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This is a key element of Samsung G800; therefore we published detailed Samsung G800 camera review in comparison with its closest rivals. A detailed result of testing is already available: Camera Deathmatch: Samsung G800 vs. Nokia N95 & Sony Ericsson K850i & Nikon Coolpix S1..

Performance

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The performance of Samsung G800 is traditionally low which is common for most Samsung phones, it’s easily felt after trying to rewind a long 3GP clip weighing about 60-70 Mb. Besides of that, the Java performance is not an exception to that rule, its functionality isn’t perfectly implemented; 3D profiles are supported but without hardware acceleration - though G800 is developed in a nice city of Suwon, it is based on a Qualcomm chipset and not on an NXP one as the previous Suwon models used to. So the rule concerning the absence of JSR 184 does not work here.

	Performance
Model	Sony Ericsson K850i	Nokia N95	Samsung G600	Samsung G800