Samsung Tocco Lite review

Samsung's S5230 delivers an affordable taste of touchscreen control

samsung tocco lite GT-S5230
Get the Tocco experience on a budget

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

camera

Compared with the original Tocco, Samsung has gone light with the camera capabilities of the Tocco Lite. Its 3.2-megapixel camera is a fixed focus shooter, with no autofocus system built in, and lacks even a basic LED flash. Clearly imaging isn't a priority on this model

jag

JAG: The Samsung Tocco Lite can take reasonable snaps with its 3.2-megapixel fixed lens camera in decent lighting conditions – though shots lack finesse

The fixed focus lens limits the precision you can get when composing images, offering point-and-shoot snapping rather than anything more refined. Close-range shots are particularly limited, but generally the quality you can achieve with this type of camera is compromised.

d

FIXED LENS: The fixed lens camera limits the crisp, sharply focused shots you can get with some top end cameraphones. Images appear a touch soft

As it happens, the camera user interface is rather good, reprising a similar look and feel to other higher-end Samsung touchscreen models like the Tocco Ultra Edition.

With a press of the side button the camera is ready to go in a couple of seconds. It has a very intuitive touchscreen interface, with plenty of clear settings icons flanking the main portion of the viewfinder. It's uncluttered, and pressing one of the icons pulls up further options, with most showing large, clearly labelled symbols to represent the settings available.

flowers

SATURATION: These colourful flowers, under bright natural light, appear oversaturated with some colour bleed apparent

The Scene Mode even offers a line about what type of shot each setting is for.

There are plenty of shooting options available if you want to override the auto metering system. As well as exposure control and a variety of white balance settings, users have six Scene settings to choose from, and a selection of Shooting Modes.

frog

CLOSE-UP: With no macro close up focusing, you can't get crisply focused close range images

These include continuous multiple shots, a neat panorama mode that uses a movement sensor to help frame a stitched together shot (albeit in low res), a mosaic mode, a 'fun' frames mode, plus a Smile Shot option – which delays the shutter until the camera detects the subject you're shooting is smiling. The latter works surprisingly well over a few metres.

ff

SOFT: This longer range shot on a bright day appears soft, and the colour of the sky is artificial and soft

You can add colourisation effects too, and there's a timer option too.

Pressing the volume/zoom keys – oddly on the bottom in camera mode – can activate the 2x digital zoom, and if you choose to view the photo gallery in camera mode, it can be used to zoom in or out, or pull up at a selection of pics in your gallery (like on some digital cameras).

lamp

MIXED-BAG: Mid to close up shots can look OK – but with a fixed focus lens, it's a bit shoot and hope

Although the interface works intuitively, image quality is pretty average for this grade of cameraphone. Shots don't have the level of detail you can get with a higher quality cameraphone, and with a fixed focus lens it's always going to be shoot-and-hope.

Mostly, images were acceptable, though some appeared a bit soft and we weren't impressed by close up shots. Although colour is generally acceptable, we did find colour in some brightly lit images were sometimes over cooked, with some colour bleed present – not the best we've seen from a Samsung mobile.

morris

MORRIS: Using the Sports shooting mode you can avoid blur from moving images, though in practice this does little to improve results

Without a flash, low light shooting performance indoors in dark conditions was feeble, with shots murky.

From the main camera interface, you can nip quickly into the image gallery by pressing one of the on-screen buttons.

Samsung combines finger and accelerometer based scroll-through, which can be irritating when images flow past as you tilt the phone, though you can stop them with a quick finger press. It's easy then to zoom in or out, or even edit pics.

outdoors

OUTDOORS: Outdoors at night, shots are also limited

Touch editing is relatively easy, and you can add effects, crop and even draw or scrawl over the images. It's simple too to select and send images, whether by email, Bluetooth, MMS or to upload online.

You can also select the camcorder option from the main camera viewfinder. The Tocco Lite shoots at maximum QVGA quality at up to 15 frames per second, so you get typically mediocre quality, low resolution mobile phone footage that's a bit jittery.

TOPICS
Latest in Samsung Phones
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra could have even smaller bezels - and that could mean an even bigger display
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra on an orange background
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is still full price and I don't know what Samsung's playing at
An image of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra from a hands-on event
Will Samsung's new Galaxy AI features come to older devices? Here's what we know
'Circle to Search' on a Galaxy S25 Ultra can now identify a song you sing, hum, or play.
Samsung’s clever new ‘Circle to Search’ trick could help you figure out that song that is stuck in your head
An image of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra from a hands-on event
We celebrate the Samsung Galaxy S25 launch event with a special episode of our podcast
Samsung Galaxy S24 hands on handheld back straight white
Samsung Galaxy S25 AI leak teases major Gemini upgrades and new morning briefings
Latest in Reviews
GlocalMe KeyTracker
When I tested this global tracker, it trounced the Apple AirTag in so many ways
An AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D on its retail packaging
I've reviewed three generations of 3D V-cache processors, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D is the best there is
Mac Studio on a desk
Apple Mac Studio (M3 Ultra): the ultimate creative workstation
Apple iPad Air 11-inch M3 (2025) Review
I tested the 11-inch iPad Air with M3 for five days, and it stretches the value even further with more power for the same price
Moiraine using her magic in The Wheel of Time season 3
The Wheel of Time season 3 proves that Amazon's Lord of the Rings TV show isn't the only high fantasy heavyweight worth watching on Prime Video
The Honor Pad V9 on a bronze table.
The Honor Pad V9 is the mid-range, Android-powered iPad rival you've been looking for