With a reputation for innovative, stylish and functional mobile phones all rolled into one convenient package, Samsung make even their average handsets stand above many of its competitors, and this is why it's one of the "Big Three" mobile phone manufacturers. With the D800, however, the time may have finally come for Samsung to have slipped up, even if it's just a minor slip. However, first the positives.



Like the predecessor on which it's based, the hugely popular D600, the phone is as stylish as you'd come to expect from Samsung. Small, compact and mixing black with chrome to an effortless sheen, there's no doubt that this is yet another winner in mobile phone design. It's a little larger than its older sibling, yet it never feels too big, mainly due to Samsung's continued use of the screen slide option.

The screen is also larger than the previous D600, and with 262,000 colours mixed with 240x320 pixels, the Samsung D800's picture is sharp and clear. This is just as well, as the camera, although good, is a little less powerful than those of Samsung's competitors. Whereas 2.0 mega pixels are the norm, the one on the D800 is only 1.2 mega pixels, leaving the picture quality a little less defined (although the newer screen does its best to make it look as good as possible).

There are the usual multimedia features on the Samsung D800, such as Bluetooth for easy file sharing, and an MP3 player so you can download and customise your own ring tones. However, although the sound is clear, the D800 is lacking in the bass area, and can therefore leave songs sounding a little tinny, especially if you're a fan of rock or dance music.

Another area of contradiction is where the memory is concerned. Although the D800 is no slacker when it comes to internal memory, with a generous 80MB provided, there's no feature or slots to allow you to upgrade this memory by inserting an SD card or similar. When other mobile phones of a lesser spec than the D800 seem to be able to have this feature, it seems all the more conspicuous by its absence here.

Although it makes up for this in other ways, by offering voice command calling options as well as a voice recorder and other office functions, it still feels like the D800 is a slight step backward for such an innovative company. Don't get me wrong; the D800 is still a good, solid mobile phone. It's just that in this day and age, with even less specced mobile phones offering slightly more options, Samsung seem to have forgotten that a mid range mobile phone needn't mean average.