Samsung Conquer 4G (Sprint) review

As previously noted, the Conquer has a 3.2 megapixel camera and, not surprisingly, overall picture plus video performance is underwhelming. While it's a reasonable trade off, given the bargain price of the phone, it still not much consolation when that spontaneous moment arrives that you want to cherish for a lifetime (or simply share with friends on Facebook) ends up being dull and washed out.

Still photos look perfectly decent outdoors, under the bright sun. But indoors is a different story, and if pictures are taken during the day, with plenty of natural lighting to be found, the chances for a not too grainy image are unavoidably high. But during night, picture quality plummets.

What's most unfortunate about this is that the camera itself is quite versatile. Because it's a straightforward Gingerbread camera app, there are a lot of options. Whereas most branded UIs will either obscure or flat out hide options. You have manual exposure adjustment, macro modes, scene modes, a plethora of auto exposure options.

Even the physical button is itself worth noting. Instead of pressing it to take a picture, end of story, one can adjust the focus when pressing it halfway through. Given all of the focus options at your disposal, you're at least given the chance to take a halfway decent snapshot, despite the not so terrific lens the Conquer is saddled with. And once more, it's a major bummer, no matter the price.

Videos are captured in VGA resolution, and the end result is not nearly as sexy as some of the HD capable handsets out there. But if you're looking to capture a moment while on vacation and are not interested in being the next Martin Scorsese, you'll be fine. Also on the plus side is how the image is nice and stable, with an acceptable degree of choppiness. Colors are washed out, but with VGA, you're honestly not going to get better.