Review: Samsung S5560 Marvel (Sample Shots, Conclusion)

Continued from Review: Samsung S5560 Marvel (Interface)
We have already taken a look at the Samsung S5560 Marvel in terms of its physical built, the user interface, ease of use, and its various applications. Now let's see what the 5.0 megapixel camera is capable of. Here are some sample shots taken with the S5560's camera, with default settings. Note that the picture has been resized for faster uploads and downloads. I'm not a professional photographer, hence the lack of expertise to describe the quality of the pictures in detail. Therefore I would leave it to you guys to comment on the picture quality of the S5560. :)

The shops around my neighbourhood. Business is booming ever since they built a Tesco nearby.

My small lawn and porch in panoramic mode.

My mom bought me some mooncakes from this shop a few days ago. Quite expensive at RM8 per piece.

There's a 'Text' mode, which emphasizes sharpness and contrast when you're taking pictures of texts and documents. Useful in written exams.

Dried crabs are a popular snack in Thailand. Despite the unappetizing look, they're actually quite tasty. But it doesn't taste like chicken.

I collect die-casts, my mom collects plants. I'm not sure whose collection is bigger though.

Oranges appear orange. Therefore no complaints regarding colour reproduction. Please do not take my words seriously.

A shot of Asuka Langley in Macro mode. She is soooooooo cute in that outfit!!

With the flash on. Colours and details are enhanced, at the expense of prominent shadows and dark corners of the background.

One of the many effects available. Black and white.

Sepia effect.

Emboss effect.

Outline effect.

Negative effect.

Special XXX effect. This is not true.

Overall, I personally think the S5560 should be able to meet the average consumer's demand for a decent camera in a phone. There are various settings, shooting modes and scene modes to choose from, and the list is quite extensive. Therefore I won't take a sample picture for every mode, but I'll just list the modes and settings available here:

Shooting mode:

• Single
• Smile shot
• Continuous (Up to 9 continuous shots)
• Panorama (Combine up to 6 shots, horizontally and vertically)
• Mosaic (18 different patterns to choose from)
• Frame (20 different frames to choose from)

Scene mode (Description for each mode is taken from the phone):

• Portrait: Takes picture of person.
• Landscape: Distant scenery. Infinite focusing.
• Night: Beautiful night scenery. Keep camera still.
• Sports: Fast moving objects such as sport scenes.
• Party / Indoor: Indoor scenes.
• Beach / Snow: Bright scenery like beach or snowscape.
• Sunset: Beautiful sunset scenery.
• Dawn: Daybreak scenes. Slow shutter.
• Fall color: Trees and autumn leaves. Emphasizes red and green.
• Firework: Catches flame. Slow shutter speed. Keep camera still.
• Text: Text or document. Emphasizes sharpness and contrast.
• Candlelight: Scenes under candlelight.
• Against light: Against light.

Other settings:

• Timer (Off, 2, 5, 10 seconds)
• Resolution (5M, 3.2M, 2M, 0.1M, W4M, W2.4M, W1.5M, W0.1M)
• White balance (Auto, Daylight, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy)
• Effects (None, Black and white, Sepia, Negative Emboss, Outline)
• ISO (Auto, 50, 100, 200, 400, 800)
• Exposure meter (Matrix, Center-weighted, Spot)
• Anti-Shake (On, Off)
• Auto contrast (On, Off)
• Blink detection (On, Off)
• Image quality (Superfine, Fine, Normal)
• Adjust (Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness)

With that, I believe we could finally come to a conclusion on the Samsung S5560.

Pros:

• Reasonably priced. For approximately RM600, this would be one of the best touchscreen phones you can buy.
• Resistive touchscreen makes typing messages a lot easier. But this eventually comes down to personal preference.
• Elegant and user-friendly design. Buttons are easily within reach, and the phone feels nice to hold.
• 3.5mm jack provides decent sound quality, compatible with normal headphones.
• Memory card (MicroSD) is hot-swappable.
• Wi-Fi capability, with an easy to use internet browser.
• Camera provides decent picture quality.
• Good battery life. Not properly tested, but I only have to charge my phone once every 3-4 days, even with frequent use, heavy internet browsing and lots of picture taking.
• Friendly user interface. You don't have to be a total geek to figure out the functions available on this phone.

Cons:

• Lack of 3G connectivity.
• QWERTY keypad is small. Spelling mistakes are becoming much more common.
• You still need to remove the back cover even though the memory card is hot-swappable.
• Loudspeaker isn't that loud.
• Doesn't come with a Leah Dizon wallpaper. (I personally believe that this is a must for every phone, laptops, computers, etc)

My rating:
8.3/10.

Kudos to Samsung!