Camera

Activating the Samsung A950's 1.3-megapixel camera converts the internal LCD into the viewfinder. Able to take photos at up to 1280 x 960 px in resolution, images are high enough in quality to make decent prints. Other resolution sizes include 640 x 480 px, 320 x 240 px, 160 x 120 px, and Picture ID.

Using the navigational keypad, users can adjust the Brightness Level (Up / Down) from -4 to +4, and 2x Digital Zoom (Left / Right) in 10 step increments.

Going beyond traditional camera phones, the A950 features an abundant array of camera features, filters, and effects, allowing consumers full control over the shots they take. Bundled options include Flash (Auto, Off, and On This Shot), Self-Timer (5 and 10 seconds), Multi-Shot (Series, Divided, and Auto / Manual), Quality (Fine, Normal, and Economy), White Balance (Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Tungsten, and Fluorescent), Color Effects (Normal, Black and White, Antique, Solarize, and Posterize), and even ISO (100, 200, and 400) and Metering (Average, Center, and Spot).

Even the camcorder is allowed a few filters and effects. Encoded in 3GP2 codec (MPEG-4 and H.263 Video, and AMR Audio) format, video clips can be recorded up to 15 seconds in length.

Basic Features

Being released on Verizon Wireless' network, the user interface isn't what normal Samsung users should expect. As with all Verizon Wireless devices, they replace existing menus with their preconfigured one. Exhibiting both strengths and weaknesses, Verizon's UI is fast responding but leaves only the bare essentials.

Built on an all digital dual-band CDMA (800 / 1900 MHz) network, consumers who rely heavily on analog should be wary.

Samsung rated the A950's 1000 mAh Li-Ion battery at 3.27 and 200 hours (8.3 days) of talk and standby times respectively. However, those are under optimal conditions. Handset manufacturers and carriers often list talk-time and standby-time ratings with disclaimers about variable performance and often refer to the times they publish as maximum times.

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