Samsung Memoir T929

As the first 8-megapixel camera phone to hit U.S. soil, the Samsung Memoir T929 (*Est. $100 with new contract; $270 with renewal) has staked its claim as the best in its class, nabbing PCMag.com's Editors' Choice award. The accolades aren't without a hitch, however; nearly all of the experts and users admit that the Memoir has chinks in its camera-phone armor. As David Pogue of The New York Times is quick to point out, an increased pixel count alone does not make a better camera. While the Memoir captures a higher photo resolution than its 5-megapixel predecessor, the Samsung Behold, the Memoir's key components, like the sensor lens and circuitry, are still standard issue. Using the camera requires patience, warns PCMag.com. The Memoir takes nearly four seconds to start up, with six seconds between shots. Add on another two seconds for shutter lag -- which Pogue describes as "something fierce" -- and that's enough time to miss a must-have photo op. Even with the glitches, other features shine through -- a 16x digital zoom (no optical zoom), panorama mode, xenon flash, seven resolution settings, four image effects, a light meter and memory expandable up to 16 GB via microSD slot. The Memoir's high-quality photos are superior to other cell phones such as the Motorola MotoZine ZN5 and even some cameras, such as the Casio Exilim z250. And while the Memoir has an excellent video capture of 640 pixels by 480 pixels, the Canon PowerShot A1000 camera "blows it out of the water with much sharper and more fluid videos," says PCMag.com.

On the flip side, Pogue describes the Memoir's phone as "a mishmash of unevenly executed features, dumped in nilly willy," which tantalize without always delivering. A top draw is the ability to upload photos directly to Flickr, Kodak Gallery, Snapfish and Photobucket, though uploading is slow. The device sports a gorgeous 2.6-inch, 240-by-400-pixel touch-screen display with standard and full QWERTY keyboards for portrait and landscape views, but the keyboards are cramped and the haptic feedback (vibration when you touch the screen) inconsistent. Samsung's TouchWiz widget interface, with which you can drag app icons (such as for the music player) and drop them anywhere on the home screen, is easy to use, but it leaves little room for customization.

The trade-offs likewise hold true with the Memoir's messaging options. The Memoir offers email, along with text, picture, video, instant messaging, GPS and Bluetooth, but T-Mobile's fast 3G network data is not available nationwide, and the device does not have Wi-Fi to fill in the gaps. Another setback is the Memoir's web browser, which Laptop Magazine describes as limited "even though it's touted as full HTML." And while the music player is average, Samsung's proprietary headjack is a disappointment for reviewers and users. Call quality is rated as "good" by top professional sources, although reviewers at PCMag.com, Laptop Magazine and CNET all mention that the phone picked up some background noise in their tests, but not to a distracting degree. Equally unanimous, however, is the conclusion that in the face of these fits and starts, the Samsung Memoir nonetheless stands its ground as the best camera phone on the market. It's no rival for the sleek multimedia functionality of the Apple iPhone 3G, and if you're not in need of three extra megapixels, the comparable Behold lies in the wings for $100 less.