Camera Phones Plaza

Now then, now then. Nokia has flipped. Well, we think so, anyway.

The N71, yet another handset in the N range of multimedia rich phones, is a flip (or clamshell) phone. Nokia doesn’t do these very often – the 3G N90 with the Carl Zeiss camera lens and the non 3G 6131 are the two most recent examples, but they are mere droplets in the vast ocean of Nokia handsets. So we had somewhat baited breath waiting for the N71 to land on our desk.

When we took the Nokia N71 out of its box, our first reaction was raised eyebrows. ‘Are you sure this is a clamshell?’ we asked ourselves, and exclaimed, ‘it’s huge!’

As we see it, the plus points for clamshell phones are: they are small and so ideal for tiny pockets; they look cool as they have a smooth opening mechanism and are easy to open one-handed; just as with sliders, you can control a lot of features without opening the handset; and inside there is room for a large screen and a big keyboard.

And the camera controls, once you’ve got the thing running, are very straightforward. You use the softkeys and the navigation key to access the camera settings, and working your way through them is fast and easy.

A novelty we really like is the range of options for auto shooting a sequence of images. Shooting a sequence – or ‘burst mode’ – is not exactly rare on phones, but in this case you can set the time lapse at intervals between 2 frames a second to one frame every 15 minutes. It’ll carry on shooting for as long as storage memory holds out.

Battery life was a bit of a let down. We listened to music non stop for as long as possible, which turned out to be eight and a half hours. We maxed out the screen brightest and power save settings during this test, and if you minimise them instead you’ll get longer life, but still we’d have liked a bit more from the battery.

We didn’t find the Nokia N71 an especially great handset. Hampered by its size it really needs to offer some extraordinary features by way of compensation, and while we like the sequence shooting mode, that isn’t on its own enough.

Read full review here.

Announced in February during the 3GSM World Congress, the Nokia 6131 is the latest clamshell mobile phone from the Finnish company. It is a quad band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz) world phone with support for GPRS/EDGE networks. Armed with a magnificent 16 million color screen along with a 262k color external display, the 6131 is poised to make quite an impact amongst clamshell aficionados - especially when it also has a 1.3 megapixel camera and external memory card slot.

MobileBurn made a review of this phone and here are some of their impressions.
The 1.3-megapixel camera on the Nokia 6131 is a total disappointment. Although the white balance system gets it right most of the time, photos taken appear grainy and full of noise, especially in poor lighting conditions. Photos also appear out of focus at times, but this is perfectly understandable, as the 6131's camera is not of the auto-focus variety.

The 6131 is capable of taking photos in six different resolutions - 1024x1280, 960x1280, 600x800, 480x640, 240x320, and 120x160. There are three quality settings available - High, Normal, and Basic. Videos can be captured in two resolutions - 176x144 and 128x96. The same three quality settings are also available, and video clip length is only limited by the amount of available memory.

Overall, the pictures produced by the 6131's camera are only good for candid shots and self-portraits. It is quite a shame really, with such glorious screens, Nokia should have done the 6131 justice by equipping it with a better camera sensor.

The conclusion is that the Nokia 6131 is a nice clamshell phone. With a very usable keypad and beautiful screens, it has a lot going for it. However, although the feature set looks extensive on paper, the lackluster camera and poor battery life will be the main deal breakers for the phone. I give the 6131 a Recommended rating, as I just cannot accept the poor battery life - not when this is only an S40 phone and not a smartphone.

If you are on the lookout for a clamshell phone, the Nokia 6131 might fit the bill, but only if you can overlook the camera and battery life. Otherwise, you can also find 16 million color screens on the Panasonic VS series, which have better battery life and a slightly better camera.

Read full review here.

Nokia N93 was voted European Media Phone 2006-2007 by the EISA(European Imaging and Sound Association). I never liked the looks of the N93, but I have to admit, it's features are remarcable and I have to say, it deserves this award.

Here's the Nokia press release:
"Nokia today announced that its latest high performance multimedia computer, the Nokia N93, has been awarded the European Media Phone of the Year 2006-2007 by the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA), Europe's largest multimedia press organization. The award is yet another industry recognition of Nokia's continued commitment to innovation in mobile imaging.

EISA commended the still image and video capture quality of the Nokia N93 plus the extensive internet and connectivity options, dubbing the device the "perfect example of a multimedia computer that can fit in your hands." The judges also singled out the Nokia N93's video editing and printing capability and its digital music player for particular praise.

"Nokia is delighted to have its advancements in digital imaging recognized by EISA for the second year running," said Satu Ehrnrooth, head of Nokia Nseries Cameras, Multimedia, Nokia. "The Nokia N93 represents a new breed of mobile imaging device. Users will find all of the exceptional connectivity, communication and entertainment features you would expect from a multimedia computer whilst also providing always-with-you imaging facilities to match dedicated compact cameras or video recorders."

EISA is the largest editorial organization in Europe, with a membership of 52 Audio, Mobile Electronics, Video and Photo magazines drawn from 18 European countries. In June, EISA member magazines came together for the election of the European awards. The panel annually chooses the best equipment in a number of categories from products introduced during the preceding twelve months.

The Nokia N93, which started shipping in July 2006, is the latest addition to Nokia's high performance Nokia Nseries range, offering unparalleled digital camcorder, telephony and rich mobile internet functionality. Boasting a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, DVD-like video capture and 3x optical zoom, the Nokia N93 offers an advanced combination of imaging and communication technology."

The N73 is one of Nokia's newest S60 3rd Edition phones and was released at the end of July 2006. The Nokia N73 is a quad band GSM world phone with will work anywhere GSM service is available. It has EDGE and UMTS 3G on the 2100MHz band (for Europe, not the US), Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, 240 x 320 QVGA display, miniSD card slot, full PIM applications with easy syncing to Outlook (and the Mac with little trouble), MS Office document viewers, MP3 player, FM radio, stereo output, email client and a full HTML web browser.

But what is the Nokia N73: well, a camera that just happens to have a smartphone attached. If great photos aren't your thing, Nokia offers a wide variety of Symbian OS Series 60 phones with with lesser cameras and other strong points such as the Nokia E61's QWERTY keyboard and the N91's 4 gig hard drive for MP3s aplenty.

MobileTechReviews made a review of this sensational phone and here are some of their conclusions:
If quality photos are important, the N73 and its bulkier sibling the N93 (which lacks the 850MHz band used by Cingular in the US) are Nokia's top offerings. The Nokia N80 has a 3MP camera that's quite good (once you adjust to the shutter lag), and you'd likely be pretty impressed if you saw the photos it takes. That is, until you see the N73's photos. The N73 has a 3.2 megapixel camera and adds a Carl Zeiss autofocus lens which makes for sharper photos.

Camera

<-120x240 Vertical Banner - left->Clearly the camera is the focus of this phone. The 3.2 megapixel camera uses a CMOS sensor (as do other camera phones and even some dedicated cameras and digital SLRs like Canon's). Though the Nokia N80 also has a 3MP camera, the N73's Carl Zeiss autofocus lens helps it pull clearly ahead with sharper, more colorful and detailed photos. Autofocus also makes depth of field shots possible, for example in portrait mode your subject is in focus while the background is pleasingly blurred (though we couldn't get a pronounced depth of field shot with the N73). It even does better in low light situations with considerably less noise than the N80, though Nokia isn't leading the pack in low light capabilities overall. At its best, you really can't tell the difference between the N73 and a dedicated 3MP camera. In challenging situations (low light, extemely bright light) it looks better than any other camera phone except the Nokia N93 and Sony Ericsson K790 / K800i which are on par. With good balanced indoor or outdoor lighting, the camera can take amazing pictures. it's well suited to most any outdoor picture (sunny or cloudy) and well lit interior shots such as offices and malls. Dark interiors raise noise levels and you'll notice the phone's attempts to smooth out the noise, though it's still capable of taking some really lovely outdoor shots at dusk (see the Hooters sign photo; and no we don't endorse Hooters ). The flash helps at close range but an LED flash can only do so much (and more powerful flashes eat batteries fast). See the photo of Sammy the cat, taken indoors with very poor lighting and flash to get an idea off what the camera can do in dim locations.

Like all autofocus lens camera phones on the market (there aren't many), the N73 focuses when you press the shutter half way down and on-screen indicators turn from red to green when focus is achieved. This takes about 1 second and then you can press the shutter button all the way down (or press it all the way down to start and wait for the camera to focus before it shoots). Unlike the N80, there is no shutter lag and the image is taken when you hear the shutter sound. However, each manages to take a shot in about the same amount of time (wait 1 to 2 seconds for the N80's shutter to trip or wait a second or two for the N73 to focus then take the shot). This means that the N73 isn't an action photographer's dream— a fast moving subject might have passed the ideal point by the time the N73 captures it. The camera has sequence mode to help: it will take several shots in a row so one of them might capture the perfect moment of action.

The camera's ergonomics and on-screen active menus are perfect for the serious shutterbug. Slide open the active lens cover to launch the camera application and rotate the screen to landscape orientation. The shutter button falls naturally to the top right and the zoom rocker is on the left top so you feel like you're using a camera rather than a phone. The on-screen active menus quickly and intuitively take you to settings to switch between photo and video mode, change scene type ( auto, user defined, macro, portrait, landscape, sports and night with default at auto), flash mode (on, off, auto or red-eye reduction), self timer, switch between single shot and sequence, EV settings, white balance, color tone and ISO. In short, a photographer's dream. Compared to the 3MP autofocus Samsung a990 on Verizon, this camera is a dream to use, and the settings are even easier to manage than the solid N80's. Image quality beats the competition and gives the Sony Ericsson K790i / K800i a run for its money (though the SE may win by a very modest margin, especially in low light thanks to its Xenon flash).

Video quality is also excellent by camera phone standards. The N73 can take videos at a maximum 352 x 288 resolution with audio at 15fps in MPEG4 format (high quality). It can also take "normal" and MMS sized video in 3GP format. Video is sharper thanks to the autofocus lens and colors are well represented with little of the typical camera phone's blockiness and only moderate noise (less than moderate by camera phone standards). Digital zoom will introduce some blockiness, so use it only when you must if you want the best quality. The camera has a video stabilization feature which does reduce handheld jerkiness but as with the N80, also gives the image a bit of an over-smoothed look. Audio and video are in sync in all quality settings and audio is clear and loud. The camcorder is definitely good enough to capture and save those special moments when a dedicated camcorder isn't handy. While the N73's camcorder can't beat the VGA camcorder in the N93, it's very good and beats the Sony Ericsson K790 / K800i.

Conclusion

If you're a smartphone user and love to take photos, this phone is a godsend! No more deciding between a useful business phone and one that's fun to use and can take simply wonderful photos. The N73 has one of the best cameras of any phone on the market, with only Nokia's own N93 and the Sony Ericsson K790 / K800i competing. If you don't need smartphone features, then the Sony Ericsson offers serious competition but it can't compete with the Nokia on syncing, powerful PIM applications, Office viewers, PDF viewer and 3rd party software. The phone has excellent reception and call quality with fast data rates over EDGE and good ergonomics (though the straightforward design might seem boring it does make for an easy to use phone). Bluetooth is fast which is a plus when transferring those big photos and videos. The screen is gorgeous! Battery life is good and the smartphone is responsive in all tasks.

View full review here.

The Nokia N91 has been one of the most highly anticipated music phones. It was one of the phones touted to be an iPod killer, as it has a 4GB hard drive similar to the now defunct iPod Mini. After being delayed for some time now, the N91 is finally here, and Mobile Burn managed to get hold of one for a test drive. The Nokia N91 runs on Symbian OS v9.1 and, like the previously reviewed N71, it also features the much improved 3rd edition of the S60 user interface.

Sporting a 2-megapixel camera and WiFi connectivity, the N91 has a lot going for it. The Nokia N91 is a dual mode phone, featuring WCDMA/GSM operation (GSM 900/1800/1900MHz, WCDMA 2100MHz). I do not have access to any 3G SIM cards, so this review will be about the N91's capabilities in GSM mode.

The camera on the N91 does not have an auto focus mechanism, but surprisingly the images taken appeared sharp and in focus. The Nokia N91 can capture images at full 2-megapixel resolution (1600x1200), and in VGA resolution (0.3-megapixel, 640x480). I was quite surprised that the N91 does not make full use of its 2-megapixel sensor by cropping the image when zooming instead of just blowing it up, which rendered the 20x digital zoom fairly worthless.

The menu system in the N91's camera function leaves a lot to be desired. Unlike the intuitive and user-friendly menus found on the N71, accessing any option has to be done by first clicking on the left soft key. The white balance options cover most of the situations that you could expect to encounter - Automatic, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, and Fluorescent. The automatic white balance option worked very well, delivering spot-on color all the time. However, there is no Macro mode in the N91, thus making it impossible to snap close-up pictures.

Overall, the pictures taken with the N91 gave surprising results, as they were pretty sharp for a non-autofocus camera. If you are lucky, some of the pictures might be good enough for print. The Gallery menu in the N91 takes ages to load up any files, though. The weirdest thing was that I could not access any of the pictures or videos I have taken via the Gallery menu. The problem still persisted even after reformatting the hard drive. I am not sure if this is firmware related, but the only way I could access my pictures and videos was via USB data connection.

The N91 records videos in three resolutions - 352x288 pixel resolution in MP4 file format (MPEG-4 video codec), 176x144 pixel resolution stored in .3GP format (H.263 codec), and 128x96 pixel resolution also stored in .3GP format. Users can record in two different lengths - short and maximum. Unfortunately, the maximum length is only an hour's worth of recording. This is such a letdown, as the N91 is equipped with a 4GB hard drive and it would have been possible to record way more than just an hour. I just cannot figure out why Nokia put in such a ridiculous limitation. A mute function allows you to turn off the microphone when recording a clip. Users can also toy with white balance (Automatic, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, and Fluorescent) and color tone (Normal, Sepia, Black and White, and Negative). Click here for a sample of the N91's video capabilities.

Read full review here.