3-megapixel camera-phones comparison: D900, K800, N73, N80, N93

The D900 camera interface resembles the one of other models by the manufacturer (for example SGH-X820) and is in portrait view, in contrast to all other tested phones, which had an interface in landscape mode. This is confusing, as pictures taken this way will come up in landscape view – the viewfinder actually doesn't show the real area you are about to capture so on the resulting pictures you will have things that were not seen during the framing of the photo.

Starting the camera takes 3 seconds, after you've pressed the dedicated key on the right side, which is a good result. Sadly, it takes 7 seconds to save an image taken with best quality. If the ‘fullscreen + indicator' option is ON, you will see status icons above the viewfinder, indicating the settings the camera is using at the moment.

In addition to the standard color effects and frames (near 30 preloaded) you can change the status of the White Balance (there is no manual option), the exposure-metering mode (Center, Auto or Matrix) and the ISO (you have options for Auto, 100, 200, or 400). The flash can be set to Auto mode, Shoot only, or Permanent, which keeps it on as long as the camera interface is on, but drains the battery faster – we suggest using Auto for obtaining best results. The night mode is a must when capturing lightened objects during the night. To adjust any of the settings you have to move through Samsung's options menus, which will cost you about 5 clicks for every single change, which makes it slow and annoying. Left and right directions of the d-pad adjust the EV compensation, while the up-down are for digital zoom (useless), which is accompanied by an annoying sound that luckily can be turned off. Every key on the numeric keypad is shortcut and you can see its function in a minimap in the settings menu. Also the autosaving option is handy, as you are not asked what to do after every taken image, and the self-shooter offers three settings (3, 5 or 10 seconds).

The maximum resolution of the camera is 2048x1536 but it can take shots in various other sizes, in three compressions (quality). What we also found strange is that the shutter key lacks “half-press” position – you hold it, the auto-focus does its magic and automatically captures the image – you cannot stop just when focused. As a whole, the interface is ugly, slow, and misleading, and probably the worst one of the phones compared although there are no important options missing.