Samsung S8000 Jet preview: First look

5 megapixels worth of camera

The Samsung S8000 Jet packs a 5 megapixel camera unit which should deal with most users' photography needs.

The dual-LED that complements the shooter is hardly an inspiring performer but then, no one really expected it to be. At least it can be used to provide light when shooting video, something that's not possible when using devices with a xenon flash.

The S8000 Jet camera UI has been altered to provide a better touch experience. It is very comfortable with the most frequently used shortcuts only a tap away.

The camera interface is really thumb-friendly

The range of settings offered by the S8000 Jet is on par with the i8910 Omnia HD flagship. From manual white balance and ISO to exposure compensation, sharpness and contrast - it's all onboard. Various effects are also at hand as well as face and smile detection.

The smile shutter tries to make sure the person you are photographing is going to be smiling in the photo. You just press the shutter and the camera will automatically detect when your subject is smiling and take the shot.

Blink detection is also available but it only alerts you to the fact that the person in the photo you just took has blinked. This one certainly is more of a marketing gimmick than anything else and it really would have been more useful if the camera delayed taking the shot instead. In other words - help us avoid taking a crappy photo rather than yelling at us for doing so.

The geotagging of images is also enabled this time around and this is certainly good news. The Samsung S8000 Jet puts the built-in GPS receiver to use, recording the location of each photo in the EXIF.

Unfortunately due to the early pre-release status of our unit we cannot provide you with samples from its camera. Being so early in its development, it had some issues which prevented the camera from actually saving the taken photos.

D1 videos: sounds sweet

The Samsung S8000 Jet offers video recording up to D1 resolution (720 x 480 pixels). The S8000 Jet can also record slow-motion videos, something that many of its high-end siblings can do already.

Camcorder UI is pretty much the same as on the still camera

Unfortunately the camcorder seemed to have the same issues as the still camera so we cannot say anything about the actual quality. However judging by the company's recent performances in this area (check our S8300 review), we are sure the S8000 Jet will not disappoint.

First impressions

The Samsung S8000 Jet will really be remembered around the office. The combination of its colorful interface and decent specs add up to a neat and fun device to look out for.

The S8000 Jet has undoubtedly set its sights on the LG Arena and its S-class UI, and which one is better is going to be a matter of personal taste. Both are very user-friendly, with the S8000 Jet having a slight edge in terms of performance. However, the Arena can stake a claim for your money with a simpler, and perhaps sharper, overall design.

Of course the Arena has already been on the market for some time and by the time the S8000 Jet appears it might already have won the battle.

Then again, Samsung can take their time to prepare and they might have some tricks up their sleeve to make the S8000 Jet a more attractive option.

At the moment, the two devices are comparable, but one of them is in pre-release status. We'll be curious to find which way the scales will tip once Samsung launch the S8000 Jet. We'll be looking forward to seeing more of the S8000 Jet around.