SAMSUNG MEMOIR SGH-T929 (T-MOBILE)

The Best Camera Phone In the U.S.A.

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The Samsung Memoir SGH-T929 (T-Mobile) may be the phone that gets you to leave your digital camera at home. This 8-megapixel shooter is full of surprises, including support for two decent Web browsers, a fun widget-based interface, and 640-by-480 video recording. The Memoir is expensive compared with other T-Mobile feature and camera phones, but if price is no object, this Samsung can't be beat. The Memoir, which measures 4.7 by 2.1 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.4 ounces, resembles a Samsung Behold mated with a point-and-shoot digicam. The face has a 3-inch, 240-by-400-pixel touch screen with Send, End, and Back buttons sitting in a row below it. The back looks a lot like a digital camera, with a protruding autofocus lens, flash, and slightly textured grip.




As a phone, the Memoir is adequate. Reception on '1-Mobile's 2G and 3G networks is very good; the phone also works on 2G and 3G networks in other countries, though it can't access AT&T's 3G network anywhere. Earpiece and speakerphone volume are both decent, though the earpiece tends to distort at top volume. Transmissions through the microphone sound a bit muddy on the other end, and a lot of background noise tends to come through, although there's remarkably little in-ear feedback of your own voice. The Memoir's battery life, at 5 hours of talk time, is passable.

The big deal with this phone, of course, is the camera, which is better than that of any other carrier-subsidized phone in the U.S.—both for photos and for video. It's not on a par with top dedicated still cameras like the Editors' Choice Canon PowerShot A1000 IS, but it competes with lesser cameras like the Casio Exilim z250. Even though the Memoir doesn't have full smartphone capabilities, its superior ability as a camera phone lead us to award it an Editors' Choice. —Sascha Segan and PJ Jacobowitz



PC Magazine April 2009