Average consumers still enjoy taking photos on their phones more than almost anything else, despite the wide range of other functionality now available on the average handset.

It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that, following on from last autumn's Pixon, Samsung has now released a new slimmer, more attractive mobile with an 8 Megapixel camera. 

The Tocco Ultra as an OLED touchscreen and an alphanumeric keyboard, and Samsung claims that it can record high-quality video, play DivX files and, as is becoming increasingly standard, help you find where you are thanks to a built-in GPS chip.  With so many pixels, is this finally the cameraphone that will replace your regular digital camera?


At last: A Cute Cameraphone
Fortunately, Samsung seems to have found a way round the usual excuse that almost every other manufacturer is guilty of trotting out: "yes, it is a little thicker than we would have liked, but that's to make room for the camera."  The Tocco Ultra is a svelte handset, and, somewhat ironically, it manages to have a much better shape than its direct predecessor, the Pixon, despite the fact that it seemed to have been designed specifically to ressemble a small digital camera.  In short, the Tocco Ultra is seductively small--and it's finished with attractive materials, too.


There is a downside, though, and one that we think is fairly considerable: the phone's case is very fragile.  Just 24 hours of normal usage saw a series of scratches taking the shine off the metallic grey mobile's ruby trim.  If you ask us, what's needed is a separate case, but you'll need to look to a third party for that, as Samsung provide the phone as-is.

While we're on the subject of things that are irritating, the fact that it's very hard to open the battery compartment is enough of a pain--until you realise that you need to take the same part of the phone apart to get access to the memory card slot--which you're likely to want to do, given that the card that comes supplied is only 1 GB.


The Tocco Ultra slides open to give a traditional alphabumeric keypad, meaning you don't have to rely on the touchsreen interface to write e-mails or text messages.  Unfortunately, though, using the keypad feels a little cramped, and the touchscreen no longer has the option of a virtual QWERTY keyboard either.  Getting rid of this incredibly useful feature is one of the most puzzling of Samsung's decisions, especially given the amount of room on the 2.8" screen which is very bright and otherwise easy to use.

In-house OS does the job

The Tocco Ultra uses the same proprietary interface that stood out on the Addict and the Style.  It's nice and responsive, and most commands are handled as soon as you plant a finger on the screen, with a gentle vibration providing feedback as you move through the menus.


Samsung is still keen to see users personalize their phones, and now offers more widgets than ever, including ways to access popular online services like Facebook, MSN Messenger, GMail and Goolge.  Because the OS is proprietary to Samsung, however, there's no equivalent of Apple's AppStore, meaning you're restricted to widgets provided by third parties.

Don't bother trying to get online
Although the Tocco Ultra does ship with a web brower and a widget that gives you direct access to search results from Google, you should know that browsing online with this phone is very difficult.  Displaying a single page on the screen is almost impossible, leading you to scroll through dozens of screens to find the content you need, or flit hopelessly around a webpage searching for the information you need.  All of this scrolling is also very jerky.

We can only conclude that using the Tocco Ultra to get online should be left for real emergencies.  If you're after a phone where you can stay connected on the move, you should probably look elsewhere.

Good quality photos and videos
If, on the other hand, you're in the market for a phone to take great quality snaps with, the Tocco Ultra deserves a second look.  The autofocus is quick and the photo itself follows soon after.  Speed is very much something we welcome in a cameraphone as it allows you to be sure of capturing great spontaneous shots when the mood takes you.


In terms of the quality of photos produced, the Tocco Ultra does well during the day, with good colour matching and sharp, detailed images only occassionally marred by blurriness.  Photographs suffer a little more distortion in darker environments and are particularly weak at night, where this phone doesn't quite match up to a good compact digital camera.


The Tocco Ultra's video capabilities are also worthy of some attention.  You can film at a resolution of 720 x 480 pixels, which is pretty decent, but using the zoom leads to jerky focus.  Audio quality leaves a lot to be desired, with the biggest problem being the impression that the microphone is pushed a little too far.

When you're listening MP3s, though, the speakers are good, and the in-ear headphones that Samsung supplies are much better than those that usually come free with mobiles.  And while the connection to the phone itself is based on a proprietary connector, the audio cable splits in two with a regular mini-jack allowing you to use your own headphones if you prefer.  While we're on the subject of sound, one piece of advice would be to keep the 'Surround Sound' feature turned off, unless you want your music to fade away into something with no details at all.

The battery life is neither any better nor any worse than any of the Tocco Ultra's competitors.  We found a full charge hardly lasted more than a day and a half of average use, and even that was without too much time spent online after we gave on the terrible web browser.