Pixon M8800 - a challenge to Cyber-shot and Nseries or a iPhone killer?
Eventually, Nokia proved themselves a leader in the last year’s heated cameraphone race. The N95 model came to be a synonym to a perfectly balanced cameraphone (with little public attention ever paid to the obvious problems with assembly quality, etc). Samsung was the second to follow, shelling out their very much balanced, highly functional G600 with a very attractive price tag. At the same time, Sony Ericsson had been losing their influence in the segment. The challengeable K850i made a very poor continuation the once famed K750i and the quite successful K790i/K800i models.
Samsung Pixon M8800 compared to i8510 INNOV8 and Sony Ericsson C905
Samsung Pixon M8800 compared to i900 Omnia
This year, the ranks may strikingly change. Nokia seem not to be hurrying with their 8 Mp handset, taking preference of making a variety of 5 Mp phones. This move is actually a well grounded one, the Nseries handsets are already on a peak of popularity, balancing on the verge of another massive audience expansion thanks to the planned arrival of a number of touchscreen model. Samsung goes on chasing after the edge of technology, having announced their second 8 Mp handset (M8800). As for Sony Ericsson, C905 is what all of us are looking forward to. If the price and release date don’t change, the company has a fair chance to redeem the lost positions.
As we have already mentioned in the corresponding article, the i8510 turned out a real success. Be prepared to discover very little continuity from in its M8800 continuation, though. This model is a conventional cell phone running a proprietary OS by Samsung, controlled by means of a touchscreen (much like iPhone or the latest WM PDAs) It is going to become the world’s first 8 Mp cameraphone with a touchscreen, expected for release a few weeks earlier than the LG KC910 handset. It’s noteworthy that the interface of M8800 looks like much the interface of the recent i900 Omnia – you get the same widgets, animations and menu design.
Samsung Pixon (M8800) main specifiacations:
• Supported networks: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, HSDPA;
• Screen: 3.2” / 240x400 / touchscreen;
• Memory: 100 Mb of user memory, microSD slot;
• Wireless services: Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, GPS, FM tuner;
• Measurements: 107.9x54.6x14.9 mm;
• Weight: 110 g;
• Battery: 1000 mAh;
• Price: 600 euros.;
• Release date: final days of October 2008
Before the official announce under the name of Pixon, the model was known branded as Bresson, an obvious tribute to the famed French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson and a serious claim of superiority in the camera aspect. Cartier-Bresson was born in 1908 not far from Paris and paid to visits to the former USSR during his lifetime, which resulted in two photo series titled The Muscovites (1955) and On Russia (1974). It’s really hard to say why Samsung picked his name in this case, but Brensson’s own opinion about photography sounded like that: “The photograph itself doesn't interest me. I want only to capture a minute part of reality. Once the picture is in the box, I'm not all that interested in what happens next. Hunters, after all, aren't cooks.”
The outward appearance of M8800 is very reminiscent of a common miniature-sized handheld Samsung camera, resemblance found even in the materials. Metal finds an active use, just like in i8510. The camera lens sticks out above the surface but slightly, a second protruding piece added a bit lower to balance the handset and make it easier to hold. The quality of assembly and materials is pleasingly high. Just like any other touchscreen handset, M8800 is exposed to unwanted fingerprints and soiling (to a tolerable extent). The screen diagonal, weight and size are all balanced, you don’t feel any discomfort holding the device in the hand. A thickness of 14.5 isn’t amazing, yet very pleasing for a 8 Mp cameraphone. The KC910 model is thinner, but is more exposed to soiling, and doesn’t have an equally good design.
The conservative black is so far the only color option, but it’s very likely that other versions will gradually appear. The variety will depend on the demand for the original version. We won’t predict a really high demand, so most likely only two or three extra colors will be used for the future issues. The basic black version looks reserved and neutral, equally becoming to people of either sex. There are only two functional buttons on the face panel (in addition to the central button, which is used to undo the latest action but is often mistaken for a more usual OK button)
The edge-located elements come in plenty. Being a touchscreen-based device, this phone expectedly makes use of a touch sensitivity block button. The quick menu access button bases on the left edge, the right edge is where you will find the camera controls: the rocker button, the mode switch button and the shoo button. There’s no 3.5 mm audio out available in this model, but you always can make use of an adaptor. Unlike in i8510, the interface slot isn’t standardized – the firmware type used instead isn’t as universally compatible. The MicroSD memory card slot comes with full hot swapping support. The onboard flash storage is limited to a mere 100 Mb so using a replaceable flash storage unit is almost necessary.
The camera is one of the model’s key features. Except KC910, no other 8 Mp touchscreen handsets are arriving onto the market in the foreseeable future. The 8 Mp & touchscreen combination is, however, commonly found on the market of conventional handheld cameras, predominantly distributed in the upper price bracket and often marketed as a key selling point. This doesn’t give any outstanding advantages to a mobile phone, but offers a nice improvement in usability (the ability to select icons right with your finger on the screen is really helpful) and, on a more general scale, is simply fresh and fashionable.
The interface is actually very close to what we had with i900, offering a high level of usability and functionality at the same time. All the necessary functions are in. A total of 13 Scene presets are available, which stands for a lot of fun. You can record videos at a 720x480 resolution which isn’t something you’ll find with i8510, while LG KC910 Renoir does. The latter offers a better photo quality, regardless of a more compact build. M8800 isn’t better at taking pictures than i8510 or SE C905 either. The quality should get improved in the final version of the firmware. We are going to publish a M8800 vs. KC910 comparison test article shortly.
One thing we really liked about the camera is its importance. It takes less than 2 seconds for the camera application to launch and four more seconds to get focused on the object and acquire the image. The viewfinder feels a bit inert, though this doesn’t make a critical point. In the gallery, you can simply shake the handset sidewise and the onboard accelerometer will feel the movement and make the pictures slide left or right. GPS can be optionally used for geo tagging, but is easily deactivated at will in the options. Speed blogging is supported, but the word speed actually goes very poorly with the EDGE as the only available means of web access.
Here are a few shots with Samsung Pixon (M8800) taken at maximum quality settings in a variety of environments:
As you see, the image quality isn’t too high for a 8 Mp cam, but it isn’t much worse than C905. The flash is weaker though, displaying only a mediocre performance. We hope Samsung will improve this in the final firmware version. On the other hand, there’s a bit of difference between this camera unit and the one employed by i8510. So there’s little expectance of growth in quality, since the cam actually has lower specifications. We are going to publish a detail cam comparison test shortly, embracing the available 8 Mp cameraphones and will pay some special attention to this point. As for now, let’s have a brief camera comparison between M8800 and i8510:
M8800 / i8510
The screen shares the same characteristics with the i900 model, scoring a 3.2’’ width and a 400x240 resolution, but in practice a few easily perceptible differences come into play. For instance, M8800 has a much better brightness. The quality, including the maximum view angles, contrast and refresh rate are also better. Unfortunately, this doesn’t go to the glare resistance, the phone displays a rather poor performance against the direct sunlight. In the final score, the screen is really fine though.
As for the rest of the features, M8800 has a good hardware stuffing, but we wouldn’t be calling that the edge of technology. The lack of Wi-Fi is the most disappointing thing, since it takes ages to upload the fresh stuff to the blog via EDGE, let alone the costs. The closest would-be competitor KC910 Renoir has a Wi-Fi unit, just like the rest of 8 Mp cameraphones. The only wireless service available with M8800 is Bluetooth, which works just fine, but with an average implementation of the A2DP profile – the sound volume with A2DP could have been much higher. An FM tuner with RDS is also available, sporting a good quality of the incoming signal.
The battery life under normal duty lasts for an average of 2 days. The battery capacity amounts to 1000 mAh, which effectively stands for a night’s photo session with the flash kept on all the way through.
The most remarkable software feature is the availability of a widget system which originated with the F480 model and was later adopted for the Windows Mobile operating system on i900. The widgets are of little help on the practical side, the biggest point about them being the high customizability. The widgets work just as they do in Windows Vista – you can drag and drop the wanted elements to and from the panel, or hide and enable the panel itself. One thing the widgets are really good for is the integration of multiple local services, just like in the Omnia model.
The menu sports some really good-looking transition effects, no worse than the latest S60 smartphones can offer. The software package doesn’t include anything extraordinary – you get a media player, a PIM, etc. The functionality is standard, in practice you don’t get anything new or different from the F480 model or any conventional Samsung phones. A music ID service and Google Maps for GPS navigation are available. The Google feature pack is granted a dedicated menu tab, embracing Google Search, Google Mail and Google Maps features. The M8800 model, when engaged in the Flight Mode, retains a full functionality even if the SIM card is actually removed, something which doesn’t work with certain phone models. It’s great you can use the cameraphone as a plain handheld camera without any need for a SIM card.
The market perspectives for this model aren’t too bright in our opinion. It’s going to start selling by the end of October at a price of 600 euros. The LGKC910 Renoir will be released at a later date, sporting a lower price and an integrated Wi-Fi unit. An aggressive ad campaign would likely pull up the popularity, giving M8800 better chances on the market, but unfortunately they aren’t planning anything of the kind. The model will receive much less advertising support than i8510 had. As a result, the sales will be correspondingly lower.
Smape's opinion
It’s not a revelation to the market, yet possesses a number of obvious strengths. On the other hand, the touchscreen and the 8 Mp camera produce a combination of questionable practical use, which is going to repel a considerable fraction of the target audience. Samsung offers the more traditional i8510 for an alternative. The two in league make a duo with standing a very firm ground on the top cameraphone market.
We would recommend this model to people who care for the photo quality and touchscreen controls but wouldn’t mind dropping a smart OS. Apple’s iPhone scored an epic success following this concept, so there’s a lot of reason for Samsung to try this approach out, making an accent on the 8 Mp cam.
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