1. LG Viewty vs Canon Digital IXUS 70
2. Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot K850i vs Sony Cyber-shot T200
3. Nokia N95 vs Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9
4. Samsung G600 vs Samsung i85
It’s not all about megapixels, megapixels, megapixels you know. Increasingly, people are looking towards camera phones as the ultimate in gadget convergence because it really is handy not to have to take an expensive extra bit of tech with you on holiday. Plus, suppose you suddenly bump into your hero on the street (unlikely to happen to me unless Neil Gaiman moves back to England) and you have no camera to record the event? You’d like to know that a mobile phone snap won’t be the blurry, badly lit photo some phones had lead us to expect.
So what should you be looking for in a camera phone? And what do you miss out on by not having a full camera on hand? I take a look at high profile camera phones from LG, Sony Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung and put them to the snapper test.
1) LG Viewty vs Canon Digital IXUS 70
Already established as a favourite of mine, the Viewty really takes into account some of the features you would expect from a camera. It packs 5 megapixels, so printing up to A3 is not a problem. The xenon flash is on, off or auto – it can’t be forced at will – but the fact that there IS a flash is a massive bonus; it’s something frequently lacking from camera phones. There is also an incremental ISO light sensitivity setting up to 800, which while low for a camera is pretty revolutionary for a camera phone. I’ve seen this phone point into a darkened box and take a snap of a black Darth Vader helmet; what appears to be a murky and typical shot resolves itself on playback to a crisp and clear picture. It even has white balance options and digital (though not optical) stabilisation.
Basic video editing features including the option of filming at 120fps and playing back in slow motion seriously give this the edge in the camera stakes.
But what is it missing? Well, I’ve compared it to a relatively cheap, compact and popular camera, the Canon Ixus. For under £150 you would get 7.1 megapixels plus 3 x optical zoom as well as 4 x digital zoom, face detection, flash modes and red eye reduction. The flash in general is stronger and ISO speeds can be double that of the Viewty at 1600 as well as set to automatic. Playback is on a 2.5” screen as opposed to the Viewty’s generous 3 inches.
LG Viewty thumbs up: Convenience, xenon flash, 120fps video
Canon IXUS 70 thumbs up:
Optical zoom, face recognition, automatic ISO, megapixels
Verdict:I would argue that the Viewty, which is likely to be free on a £30-£40 contract, is the better bargain. You’re never going to get the fine zoom detail on the phone that you can on the camera, but for close-to-mid-range shots, there’s not a hell of a lot in it.
2) Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot K850i vs Sony Cyber-shot T200
The brand new K850i is so new I haven’t even held it in my hands yet but it promises amazing things from a camera phone. I’m a huge fan of the Cyber-shot brand, having relied on a K810i for holiday snaps recently and not been remotely disappointed; the macro setting captured a stunning image of a dragonfly in close up. The 850i goes for 5 megapixels, automatic lens cover, auto focus, xenon flash and BestPic, a new Sony technology that fires outnine shots in quick succession so you can keep the best and dump the rest. Photo fix editing is included to improve underexposed snaps, too. PictBridge lets you print straight from your phone, an accelerometer features means instant viewing in portrait and landscape depending how you tip the phone, andone-click moblogging uploads are made easy.
The T200 I have had my hands on, and it’s a sleek, compact little 8.1 megapixel number that’s almost as moreish as chocolate cake; once you’ve tried it you’re keen to go back for more even though it’s not necessarily considered a serious camera. It has a number of useful features such as facial recognition, ISO of 3200 and a 3.5” screen, and also some icing-on-the-cake ones like the Smile Shutter, which can be set to only take a photo when it detects a smile; sounds daft, I know, but having seen it in action it really works. However, it also becomes apparent that to all intents and purposes, you only really get 2.8 inches of the screen being used for framing and playback and a lot of the features as style over substance.
Sony Ericsson K850i thumbs up:
BestPic, xenon flash, photo editing, easy moblogging
Sony Cyber-shot T200 thumbs up:
high megapixels, high ISO, Smile Shutter
Verdict:
Again, for the amateur who just wants decent pics of nights out and holidays – and if they wanted more than that they’d want a DSLR camera anyway – the phone is more than capable and designed for quick sharing. Most of the extra features of the T200 are fun, but little more than a distraction.
3) Nokia N95 vs Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9
The N95 took a huge leap forward for camera phones when it was released earlier this year. The magic words “Carl Zeiss lens” appear on the spec sheet, alongside 5 megapixel CMOS sensor when this was largely unheard of for a camera phone, 3.2 being considered generous. Quick image-sharing uploads to Flickr and Twango were also built in from the off, and it one the TIPA Award for Best Mobile Imaging Device. Auto focus, flash with red-eye reduction, auto exposure, white balance, colour tone, 20 x digital zoom, exposure compensation… they’re all there.
In looking for a reasonably fair comparison, I opted for a Sony compact with a Carl Zeiss lens and 30 x digital zoom as well as 15 x optical zoom. The CCD sensor promises 8.0 effective megapixels, ISO 3200, red-eye reduction and double anti-blur technology. There’s a tilting 3” LCD screen and electronic viewfinder, PictBridge and NightShot, which is probably the most impressive extra feature that is yet to be found on a phone. It allows you to shoot in virtual pitch darkness using infra-red.
Nokia N95 thumbs up: Carl Zeiss lens on a phone, Flickr, Twango
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H9 thumbs up: Optical zoom, NightShot
Verdict:
A tough call, as the N95 is widely considered to produce pretty much the best quality camera phone shots anyone has seen so far. But when you get to that level of specification and start trying to compare like with like in lens quality terms, you get a lot more from the camera in terms of impressive optical zoom and features like NightShot. If you expect this much from your phone, you probably expect a lot more from your cameras and have a DSLR, but if you want to come close to having a phone that replaces the need for a camera – not that this is yet fully possible – this is the one to go for.
4) Samsung G600 vs Samsung i85
The Samsung G600 is all about its camera. It’s a fashion phone, all about being “image conscious” but for all that it touts its 5 megapixels, some of the features are a little disappointing. There are plenty of special effects, a flash LED, white balance and 4 x digital zoom, but even compared to its fellow camera phones that’s a little weak. Having said that, it’s also wafer-thin, which is not something that can be said about many cameras, no matter how compact.
If the G600 carries roughly the spec of last year’s Samsung i50 MP3 camera, the newest equivalent compact camera from Samsung is the i85. Packing 8 megapixels and PMP features, this really threatens the G600’s grip on convergence; if you’re going to get a media player in your camera, then it’s probably worth lugging two gadgets around (even the iPhone, media player extraordinaire, does not have much of a camera and wouldn’t spare you the schlepping). Besides which this is only 0.8” thick, with built-in stereo speakers and plenty of formats supported. Camera-wise it offers a slightly meagre 5 x optical zoom, image stabilisation and ISO 1600.
Samsung G600 thumbs up: Super slim, special effects
Samsung i85 thumbs up: PMP features, optical zoom, high megapixels
Verdict:
It’s time to shell out for a camera. The G600 looks lovely and I wanted so much to get excited about it, but I was relatively unimpressed with the camera when I tried it out, even though I loved the design and other phone features. The i85 is a great bit of clever convergence; we’d still rather carry around a phone and a media player – although the iPhone may change that – so why not put a media player in your camera?
So there you have it; the camera-killing phone hasn’t arrived quite yet, but there are plenty of handsets that have gone beyond perfectly adequate for the average user and are actually turning out amazingly good shots. One photographic artist has even stitched together photos from his camera phone for an exhibition – and they’re only going to get better. This is one area of convergence the geeks are getting just right.
Source: http://www.dialaphone.co.uk/blog/?p=681
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