Camera Phones Plaza

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.

We've been fans of Nokia's Series 60 and S60 smartphones for years. Though they lagged behind the Palm and Pocket PC Phone competition in the bells and whistles category, they offered fantastic usability, great call quality, generally strong reception and nice styling. In 2006, S60 has caught up, and perhaps surpassed the competition, now offering 2 and 3MP cameras that are hard to beat, integrated WiFi on some models, QVGA and higher displays with high color depth, the usual Nokia great RF, smartphone syncing and Office capabilities and even QWERTY keyboards in models like the E61.

The Nokia N80 is part of Nokia's new Nseries of Symbian OS smartphones running S60. These are strong business phones (if you can forgo a QWERTY keyboard) with a multimedia bent. And let's face it: there are plenty of us who need a smartphone but also want a super camera, multimedia features and even an FM radio. Competitors have left us out in the cold and 2006 may be the year that Nokia wins us over. The one problem is Nseries phones aren't offered by any US Carrier as of this writing. So you'll need to buy one from nokiausa.com if available or otherwise from an importer. They're sold by Nokia and importers unlocked for use with any GSM carrier, which generally means T-Mobile and Cingular in the US.

First a tip: hold the camera still for 2 seconds after you hear the shutter sound. Or simply watch the viewfinder until the image post-view appears. That's the shutter lag, which wouldn't be so annoying if the shutter sound were in sync so one would know when it's OK to move the camera. If you get blurry photos, follow our 2 second rule and you'll get clear, pleasing shots. For some reason, macro mode doesn't have this shutter lag, but all other modes, including Auto, do. The N73 really doesn't take photos more quickly but the autofocus action on screen gives you a clue when it's safe to move the camera, as does the in-sync shutter sound.

The N80 is one of the few 3MP camera phones you can get in the US (the Samsung a990 from Verizon is the only US carrier offering, with other Nokia phones and Sony Ericsson imports filling in the rest of the field). Photos are truly very good if you follow the 2 second rule, and the N80's images lay to waste the average 1.3MP offering. Photos are fairly sharp and you can increase in-camera sharpening somewhat before images look harsh. There's a good amount of detail and you'll clearly see individual leaves and blades of grass in landscape shots, with focus falling off around the edges.

The camera has good shadow detail by camera phone standards and contrast is set conservatively by default which helps maintain shadow detail. You can of course also crank up the in-camera contrast but be careful of reducing detail and blowing out colors. Better to do your post-processing using your favorite image editor on the computer. And in-camera settings for contrast and sharpening don't stick; if you exit the camera app and re-launch it, these will be back at their defaults.

Colors are reasonably true with a noticeable warm bias and contrast is a bit low, leading to somewhat hazy shots. These are easily fixed in Photoshop and other image editors, and the N80's faults are indeed fewer than most camera phones. The Samsung a990 in comparison has very contrasty (but pleasing) images that have a slightly worse case of the warm to magenta color cast. To be fair, the a990 competes more directly in the camera department with the Nokia N73, since both have autofocus lenses, rather than the N80's fixed focus lens which can never be as sharp.

Our only other complaint is no lens cover, something a 3MP camera warrants. Like most all Nokias, the N80 does not do well in low light situations: take a photo in a dark place, even with the flash on, and be ready to do some serious noise reduction on the PC later.

File size is larger than N73's photos which is interesting given the greater detail and wider range of colors in the N73's photos. When taking the same subject at the same time of day from the same vantage point with both cameras set to their highest resolution we found that the N80's photo file size averaged 25% larger. N80 photos run between 800k and 1.3 meg for shots with a good amount of detail and color variation while the N73's are generally around 850k. More aggressive JPEG compression on the N73 is the likely cause.

The camcorder can shoot video at a maximum of 352 x 288 pixels in 24 bit color with AAC 16kHz mono audio at 15fps. It has 3 quality settings, high, medium (both MP4) and low for sharing (MMS) in 3GP format. Video quality is good by camera phone standards, though not as impressive as the N80's still shots by any means. It is clear overall with some artifacting and noise visible in shadows and dark areas. The video stabilization feature does a good job of reducing handheld jerkiness, but does reduce detail a bit.

Key features:

* Brilliant display
* Symbian OS
* Incredible web browser
* miniSD card slot (128MB miniSD card included in the package)
* Very good 3 megapixel camera with flash
* Excellent audio quality
* FM radio
* 40 MB internal memory
* All connectivity options - Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, IR, USB
* UMTS and EDGE support

Main disadvantages:

* Rather big dimensions
* Top row of the numeric keypad is hardly reachable
* No compatibility between Symbian 3rd Generation and lower versions
* FM radio lacks RDS
* No automatic keypad lock when slid in
* Camera lens is not protected



Read full review here.

Nokia today announced the availability of the Nokia N93 Golf Edition, a special package combining the unparalleled mobile video capabilities of the Nokia N93 multimedia computer with a unique golf application that enables you to capture your golf swing, analyze and improve your game by split screen swing comparison and other advanced analysis tools. So, all you golfers out there, go get it.

Click here for the product's official website.

And here's the official Nokia press release:

The Pro Session Golf by Nokia application has a ready to use golf-tailored viewfinder that instantly captures a player's swing from the correct angles and distances. Unlike current video analysis solutions, Pro Session Golf is portable and instantly usable with no additional cameras, cables, or computer needed. Everything you need is already included in the Nokia N93 Golf Edition! Golf teachers and players alike can share ideas, swings, drawings, tips, lessons and opinions, both face-to-face and remotely via e-mail and multimedia messages (MMS).

"The combination of fantastic video quality and the ability to analyze your golf swing with a device that's always with you is going to appeal to golfers who want to use the latest mobile technology to improve their game," said Mads Winblad, vice president, Multimedia Sales and Channel Management, EMEA, Nokia.

Nokia Nseries is an official sponsor of the European PGA Tour for 2006 and 2007. At five of the tour events*, visitors will be able to experience the latest Nokia Nseries multimedia computers first hand as well as have the possibility to purchase the Nokia N93 Golf Edition.

The Nokia N93 is the ultimate mobile device for spontaneous video recording. Offering uncompromised digital camcorder, telephony and rich Internet communication functionalities, the Nokia N93 features a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, DVD-like video capture and 3x optical zoom. You can connect the Nokia N93 directly to your compatible TV for a widescreen movie experience or upload your images and video to online albums or blogs. Moreover, you can create high-quality home movies and burn them to DVD with the included Adobe Premiere Elements 2.0 software.

Available online from today at www.nokia.com/N93golf in 15 countries across Europe,,the Nokia N93 Golf Edition will also go on sale through local distributors such as selected golf clubs and regular Nokia Nseries retail channels. The Nokia N93 Golf Edition includes a Nokia N93 multimedia computer, the Pro Session Golf by Nokia application, a 1GB miniSD memory card, a golf instruction DVD as well as a Get Started guide.

* The five events are the Entercard Scandinavian Masters (Malmö, Sweden), the KLM Open (Zandvoort, The Netherlands), the BMW International Open (Munich, Germany), the HSBC World Match Play Championship (Surrey, United Kingdom) and the Volvo Masters (Valderrama, Spain).

Via Nokia.com.