Samsung SGH-F480 Review

Camera:

After we’ve witnessed some very good results from Samsung cameraphones such as G600, we expected a lot from F480.

It takes about 3 seconds to start the software, after holding the button on the right side. Focusing is a fast process and takes approximately 1.5 seconds. The period between two pictures is relatively short too (3-4 seconds).

We were disappointed from the appearance of the interface – it is ugly, monochrome and not user-friendly. The upper part is taken by a row of icons, indicating the current settings. We accept that solution since the symbols are too small, to be easily pressed with fingers. There are four options on the lower row – to change the mode (camera/preset scenes /video recording), settings, gallery and return to the main menu.


The settings are not that much, but they are irrationally spread on a few pages. In order to get to the less frequently used settings such as ISO sensitivity, picture quality, and digital stabilizer, you’ll have to go to the second page and then, to “more settings”. Therefore, whenever you need to adjust one of those, you’ll have to make six taps on the screen, which is not that fast.

The only non-standard options offered by the camera are wide dynamic range, face detection and the smile shooting mode. The first one doesn’t actually do anything that important, but it simply increases the contrast in the darker areas of the pictures. You can actually get similar and even better results by using many computer programs. Once you turn the face detection on, the camera will stay focused on the face you’ve selected even if it moves. If the person you are trying to take a picture of walks outside of the camera range, the camera will try to find another face, and if there are no people in front of the lens, the autofocus is fully inactive. The Smile shooting mode looks for a smile and when it detects one it automatically captures the moment. Unfortunately, the function is not very precise and overall, it’s useless.

Since we recently had to review another 5-megapixel phone by the same manufacturer (Soul), we decided to compare the camera test results. The first thing we noticed was the difference in the file sizes. F480’s pictures are a bit over 1MB, meanwhile Soul’s are approximately 2MB. Nevertheless, the photographs made outdoors are of almost equal quality, good detail and color reproduction. Soul is a master of the fine detail, but F480’s captures are not back either.


The Indoor result were quite disappointing – even with bright lighting in place, there was a slight blur and some noise (same like with Soul). We recommend using the flash even when there are other light sources present, to help the camera focus. Unfortunately, it creates unpleasant shining when snapping close-ups and from far away, it doesn’t enhance the overall quality. There is no Macro mode, but that doesn’t stop the phone from focusing very well at extremely short distances, which will allow you to take detailed close-up pictures.


The videos recorded are with a 320х240 pixels resolution and 15 fps – these having become a standard for most cameraphones and even the ones from the entry level. It would have been good if it could record at 640x480 pixels or at least 30 fps. The quality is not impressive, especially if you are shooting indoors.

As a whole, we liked the camera, because it is fast and makes good outdoor pictures. However, the interface is not user-friendly and the quality of the photographs made indoors is poor. It is sad to have a 5-megapixel camera and not be able to use it at a party or even in a bar.


Multimedia:

As every self-respecting high-class device, F480 has music and video player. The music player has two versions – one taking up the entire screen, and which is accessible from the main menu and a second one that is visualized as a widget.

In the first one, under the album cover and the track info now playing, there are four buttons. They are used to rate the track, access the equalizer, for switching to shuffle mode and changing the playing mode (repeat, folder repeat). You can sort tracks by the number of times played, artist, genre, album, composer. Overall, the interface is easy to use but has unattractive “antique” design. The simple functionality (fast forward, play/pause) is accessible via the widget player.

Unfortunately, the same weak speaker you use during a call is employed for sound reproduction. A light metal crackling noise is heard when at maximum volume. The sound in the receiver is also pretty quiet, but with good quality. There is no 3.5 mm jack included in the package so you’ll have use the standard earphones, which are not very comfortable and don’t even have external volume control. As a whole, the music quality is a bit over the average.

The model is equipped with an FM radio, which needs the handsfree to be plugged in, because it is used as an antenna. The radio has automatic search, which however is not very adequate and during our tests it was constantly finding stations with noise only. Unfortunately, you cannot enter the names of your favorites.


It would have been better if we could use the 2.8” display to watch videos. For that purpose F480 is equipped with a simple video player. It visualizes MPEG4 files (coded in the modern h.264 or h.263) and if they are with resolution up to 240х320 this is done trouble free. Unfortunately, even at a normal frame rate per second (24) the sound doesn’t correspond to the picture and some screens are skipped. Overall, the phone is not suitable for watching quality videos, which is totally unacceptable for such a high-end device.


Besides the regular voice recorder, in the applications menu you also have a video editor. It has an extremely uncomfortable interface and the only thing, which it will allow you to do is create videos from pictures (adding sound as well) or to modify existing ones. The only formats supported are 3gp for video and amr for sound, and there is no way а to add effects, which makes this function pointless.

You have an option similar to the Track ID (seen in Sony Ericsson), called Music Recognition. It didn’t work when we tested it, saying that the Internet server is “temporarily offline”.

Software:

The phone comes with a built-in puzzle game, which is not really entertaining. You can use your own pictures too. Since the device supports JAVA MIDP 2.0, you can easily add more games and/or applications.

Samsung F480 will let you view (not edit) Microsoft Office 2003 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and Adobe Reader (PDF) documents. You’ll have some big troubles opening large files. Once zoomed in, you cannot jump to next/previous page by running your finger across the screen. To do that, you have to choose the “GO” tool. What do you need a touch display if you can’t easily execute such simple functions?

The complicated Excel files are not opened correctly, because of “insufficient memory”.Regrettably, Office 2007 documents are not supported yet.