Samsung Pixon

Pros: Outstanding 8MP camera and video
Samsung quality
Rugged construction
Big touch screen
Useful TouchWiz interface
Good call quality
External memory card slot

Cons: No WiFi
3G HSDPA unavailable in US
Screen could be higher resolution
Speaker phone could be louder

Summary: I bought the Pixon as an upgrade from my LG Viewty. Samsung was among the first to do the 8MP camera and they did it right. The camera is the main feature, and it works as advertised and even a little better, which is why I bought it. The pictures from the Pixon were as good as the ones from my Nikon d70S. The pictures were stunning in almost all lighting conditions. They were sharp, clear, bright, the colors were very accurate, and they were recorded to the memory card or phone very quickly, less than 2 seconds shot-to-shot. The autofocus was also fast, less than 3 seconds. The video was also outstanding. The audio was loud enough, the resolution was good, and there was a 120 frames-per-second slow motion recording mode that was really cool and worked great! You could use the LED flash as a video light. The phone had good features as well. There was no 3G or HSDPA for the USA, but the EDGE was fast enough. The TouchWiz interface worked well enough, but I wished there was more upgradability options though, and customization is very limited. The otherwise excellent phone is really let down by its lack of WiFi, and it kept me from buying another Pixon when I bought a new phone. The battery life is reasonable, but the camera drains it quickly. Overall, the Pixon is an excellent phone if you don't mind not having WiFi, something other phones in its class have. What they don't have is the 8MP camera, which is the phone's selling-point. If you want a good phone with a nice camera, consider the Pixon first over the LG Renoir.

Updated on Dec 25, 2010

I forgot to mention the phone's ruggedness, which is amazing. I dropped it more times than I could remember and it took some hard hits. It fell off the roof of my car going 35 mph and bounced off the road. The silicone jacket saved it, but it came out with some dings on the side, but worked fine! More than I can say for some phones.