By Aaron Tan, a freelance writer

THE digital camera world's race to ace megapixel count has crept into the world of smartphones.

To appease discerning consumers, cellphone makers are now making the cameras in their handsets rival that of digicams.

Last month, Samsung fired the first salvo with the Pixon 12, which it said is the world's first smartphone with a 12-megapixel camera.

Around the same time, Sony Ericsson launched its 12MP smartphone, the Satio, which was reviewed in Digital Life last week.

Compared to the Satio, the Pixon12 is slightly lighter and less bulky, albeit with a smaller 3.1-inch Amoled (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) touchscreen that consumes less power.

The Pixon 12 also has several digital imaging features that make shooting high quality snapshots a cinch.

Standard camera features like auto-focus and auto-flash worked in tandem with the lens to produce photos that look vivid and vibrant.

Navigating phone menu items using the smartphone's TouchWiz touch interface felt a tad faster compared to the Satio.

Three home screens let you park widgets that manage Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections and access social media sites like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

The phone reacted quickly to the fingerflicks which I used to browse my contact list, photos and music.

While Web surfing is speedy, Samsung needs to address some usability issues.

First, you have to double-tap on Web links to jump to a hyperlinked page. To zoom in on a Web page, the same double-tapping is required.

In several instances, I ended up zooming in on Web pages when all I wanted to do was click on a hyperlink.

Also, thumb typing on the Pixon12's onscreen Qwerty keyboard can get tricky.

I had to position my thumbs accurately on the screen to avoid typos.

The gizmo played MP3 music with good audio fidelity but battery life was not impressive. I ran out of power after just over a day's use, which included voice calling, Web browsing, texting, video streaming and some photo-taking.

Final say

Nice camera features that produce good-looking snapshots in a compact package. Onscreen keyboard can be improved though.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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