Samsung SGH-G400 Review

Camera:

The 5-megapixel camera with autofocus and an LED flash is on the back when the phone is closed, and when it’s opened it is under the display and directed toward you. Therefore, if you are not trying to fix your hair or make a self-portrait, you’ll control it from the external display. The monochrome icons are not very beautiful but here (in contrast to F480), they relate to the overall interface. Selecting a given option is fast and done with few touches on the display. Taking pictures is quick as well; in a well-lighted environment, it focuses for a second only and for three if the light source is not that bright. In addition, saving the image takes another four seconds. Besides the various settings (for size, quality), you have options for adjusting the ISO sensitivity, macro, different modes, self-portrait,  face recognition, and making a picture when a smile is detected.


The pictures made in daylight, including the macros have a high detail level, but not as good as the best in this aspect - KC550 and G600. The colors are real, but overexposure is often present in the areas with lighter objects. In a room with a weaker light source, the detail level is lower but the colors remain well reproduced with the flash doing a decent job.



Unfortunately, you will be disappointed from the videos made with the camera. As in Soul, the maximum resolution here is 320 x 240 pixels as well, and their quality is low with only 15 fps. In contrast, most of the rest 5-megapixel cameraphones offer video recording in a four times higher resolution (640x480 pixels) and the results are better.


The music player is user-friendly and lets you sort tracks by a few different criteria, use various preset equalizers and three types of visualizations. The option for a background play is nice and lets you control the player from the homescreen. In addition, there’s an FM radio.


The sound from the loudspeaker has a good quality but is weak. Since our unit didn’t come with headphones, we used the ones from the OMNIA package. They produce a loud and very clear sound, which was a nice surprise. Comparing OMNIA and G400, the second one performed better in this aspect.

You are able to watch H263, QVGA videos, which offer a good image, but the better H264 will be choppy if viewed in a full-screen mode. Unfortunately, the videos cannot be watched on the external display.