Firstly, I am very disappointed with Flipkart for showing wrong information that Flip cover
was free with this phone. However Samsung website said offer had ended.
I felt that this phone makes me complete. I have everything I need from gadgets in one device. It is really not that bulky to carry it in pocket unless you wear skin tight pants. It might be weird in beginning to use this camera designed device as phone, but eventually we get used to it. Overall, its a very satisfying, eye catching useful device with great performance.
Pros of Camphone -
1. Camera takes very high quality videos,
2. Xenon Flash is so bright that the background in the picture taken in pitch dark is clearly visible,
3. The flash lasts only milliseconds that human eyes can tolerate the sudden bright flash light without forcing the person to close the eyes and it takes the picture perfectly in that milliseconds duration.
3. Photo clarity is quite satisfying even in low light conditions without flash,
4. Phone works smooth and fast without any lags even when multitasking with several apps running in parallel.
5. Amazing battery life especially under super save mode - with basic use like calling, messaging, Facebook, chatting etc it lasts for 35-40 hours. I had taken this on my last foreign trip. I was able to take many pictures and videos and also use basic features for whole day. This is the first smartphone that I have seen with such a good battery life.
6. Bulky camera on the rear actually turned out to be advantageous for me. I hold the phone resting the bulk lens part on my forefingers and use the free thumb on touchscreen. The bulk lens part can also be used as stand to place it slant on desk to watch videos.
7. All S4 camera features including drama shot, sound shot, continuous shot etc are present in this device. Group play, Air gesture and other new S4 features are present in this device also.
8. It has got every smartphone features like NFC, Wi-Fi direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth, 3G, 3.5G, 4G LTE, DLNA, IR Blaster etc with latest Android Jelly Bean OS.
9. Use phone as Remote control using IR port and Samsung WatchOn App, worked smoothly with old CRT TV.
Cons -
1. Videos and pictures are noisy when zoomed beyond 7.9x. It doesn't take smooth good quality photos when completely zoomed.
2. The zoom is stepwise. I was expecting a smooth zoom where I can zoom and halt at any point. The steps taken are 1.2X, 1.4X, 1.6X, 1.8X, 2.2X, 3.1X, 4.2X, 5.6X, 7.9X, 10.0X. It is impossible to stop at any other intermediary zoom positions.
3. Cannot zoom in Panorama mode unlike in Sony / Fuji film.
4. There is no flash (flash option disabled) in Samsung's Smart modes. I have to switch to expert manual mode or auto mode to use flash,
5. Flashlight cannot be used as Torch using Android Flashlight apps.
6. The notification light is either absent or doesn't work in my device,
7. Sometimes the camera lens part gets jammed with pant pocket while taking out the phone while still sitting.
8. Zoom noise is still captured while recording video even with Quiet zoom turned on in settings. I haven't seen any camera with optical zoom that filters zoom sound completely.
9. No FM
- Shrihara Palanetra11 Nov, 2013