Samsung SGH-G800 5Mp cameraphone

The design combines the looks of a sharp mobile and a digital camera. It has a large 2.4in, 320 x 240, 262,144-colour display up front with a black and chrome surrounding, while the back sports a smart brushed metal-style finish on plastic.

Thankfully, Samsung hasn’t overdone it with the controls, using a straightforward central navigation control arrangement with flanking vertically-aligned soft-menu keys. Call, end and clear keys are lined up in minimalist fashion at the bottom.

Slim, but heavier than the Nokia N95

The main menu system is laid out in a grid of icons which can be switched to a list, if you prefer. From here you can select sub-menus to explore features, apps and settings. The navigation pad can be configured as quick access shortcuts. The efficient sliding numberpad that slips out from under the body is reassuringly solid. The keypad is a smooth all-in-one affair, with buttons flush on the brushed metal-look pad but still responsive enough when pushed.

On one side of the phone is the Micro SD memory card slot, next to the G800’s charger/earphones socket. Yes, Samsung opts for a dual-function proprietary headphone socket rather than a standard headphone socket, so sadly options for replacing the in-box headset are limited unless you go down the stereo Bluetooth route.

On the other side, there’s the familiar camera activation button, though you need to slip open the slide cover to fire up the camera. Holding the phone horizontally, the zoom control/volume buttons are positioned near to the camera button, inviting right-handed zooming as well as shooting.

That heftiness comes into its own when holding the G800 as a camera - it feels substantial and well-balanced, unlike some slimline cameraphones, which feel like they’re about to tumble out of your hands.

Slip back the lens cover in standby and you’re presented with a digital camera style user-interface that matches up the external camera cosmetics.

The tidy icon interface brings up some handy controls at the touch of the navigation pad - this becomes a four-way switch for the macro mode, flash control, timer and on-screen graphics mode. Other control icons are lined up on the top of the screen, accessed by pressing a soft-menu key and scrolling with the nav-pad.