The VGA camera takes pictures in four resolutions: 640x480, 320x240, 176x160, and 160x120. If you're an avid camera phone fan, the picture-editing options won't disappoint. The SGH-D407 offers a 4X zoom, four image-quality settings, a brightness control, seven color effects, 29 fun frames, a self-timer, multi- or mosaic shot modes, and an option for flipping the image's orientation. You also get a wealth of photo sound options, but you can turn them off altogether. The camcorder takes clips in two resolutions (176x144 and 128x96) with sound. Videos are limited to 44 seconds, and editing options are similar to those of the still camera. Photo quality was what you'd expect from a VGA camera; images were grainy and colors didn't pop. It does the trick overall, though, especially if you're just looking to take on-the-spot shots for multimedia messages. Similarly, videos were pixelated and washed out. For saving your photos and videos, the phone comes with a solid 27MB of shared memory.
You can personalize the SGH-D407 with a variety of wallpaper, color skins, and alert sounds. You can buy more options and tones from Cingular over the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser. The phone comes with three Java (J2ME) demo games (Tetris, Midnight Pool, and Skipping Stones), so you'll have to buy the full versions or other titles.
We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) Samsung SGH-D407 in San Francisco using Cingular's service. Call quality was admirable. We could hear our conversations plainly, and callers said they had no trouble understanding us. They could tell we were using a cell phone, especially when we were in noisy environments. Volume on our end was good as well. Speakerphone calls weren't as satisfactory--there was noticeable static, and audio quality had an echoed effect. Moreover, callers had trouble following us at times, and automated calling systems, such as an airline reservation center, couldn't understand us at all. Calls using PTT and the Plantronics Explorer 320 Bluetooth headset were decent, but they suffered from minimal static. Via the EDGE network, Web browsing was sufficiently speedy.
The Samsung SGH-D407 has a rated talk time of 5 hours and a promised standby time of 10.4 days; our tests showed a talk time of only 4 hours and a standby time of 7 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the SGH-D407 has digital SAR rating of 1.38 watts per kilogram.
What You'll Pay
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