CrunchExclusive: Hands on with the Samsung G800 [UPDATED with video]

Turn down the audio. They’re just talking about the new Halloween movie
Is it possible to go a day without Samsung announcing a world’s first? Not likely. During my recent trip to Korea, I pulled a little face time with the G800, which is the world’s first 5-megapixel camera phone with 3x optical zoom. It may be launching in Europe, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to let it pass on by and not let Samsung know we want it, too. It’s shiny with a metal casing and it ‘feels so good in my hands’ that I almost ran out with it in my pocket. It may look bulky, but it fit in the pocket of my jeans and I hardly noticed it even when I was sitting down. The G800 measures in at 3.97×2.01×0.74-inches. Enough of my rambling. Let’s get on to the deets.

As I mentioned before the G800 rocks a 5-megapixel camera, which puts it on par with the Nokia N95 and SE K850, but it boasts a 3x optical zoom with face detection, Wide Dynamic Range and a Xenon flash. You can also take panorama shots, burst shots and macro shots. It’s also sprinting along with HSDPA to upload those pics and videos on the fly wherever you are. The UI was simple to use as you’ll see in the video. The 2.4-inch QVGA LCD goes wide when you need it to and clearly displays everything you need while taking photos.

It supports stereo Bluetooth, USB 2.0, and has a microSD port for further memory expansion. A full HTML browser and PictBridge round out the package. It launches next month in November, but pricing has not been disclosed, yet.