"Camera Phone Report" tests Nokia 7610

Courtesy of Nokia I just received the new 1.3 megapixel Nokia 7610 to test. The GSM camera phone is available in many areas of the world, but not yet the United States.

It's been raining in the Washington, D.C. area so except for one small photo of a nearby store, all the photos haven been taken indoors. I established a textamerica moblog where you may view the photos (see below).

My first thoughts are the images aren't bad but not spectacular, certainly not like the ones taken by fashion photographer Rankin.

Consumers need to know

Of course, Rankin is not only a professional photographer (I'm a pretty good photographer, but certainly not a professional), and also he wasn't shooting under the crummy lighting conditions of the photos that I just posted.

Let's wait to make a final judgement until I can get photos under better conditions, so stay turned for more photos during the next week or two.

Also, images sent to my moblog via the cellular network are a smaller file size than if I transferred them to a computer via infrared, Bluetooth or a cable and then posted them. Files sent via MMS (I bought a prepaid SIM card for the phone using T-Mobile) are much smaller than what the 7610 is capable of producing.

MMS upload quality

MMS has a maximum file size of 100K, although the wireless industry is working to increase that size. The 7610 can product a photo of 300K, so the quality could be dramatically better if the images are transferred to a computer and sent via a landline.

You probably know this, but many consumers do not.

In addition, textamerica's moblogs seem to have a problem cutting off images. If you look at the thumbnails of the photos on my 7610 moblog, you'll see the complete image.

But if you click on "full size image," you'll see the image has been cut off on the right side. I've e-mailed textamerica to see what the problem is.

Nokia 7610 quibbles

In the short time I played with the phone, I like it. The screen is bright enough and the resolution is better than many other cellular phones so you are better able to see the the photo.

However, it has crashed several times. Nokia cautioned me that the software (for the U.S., I assume) was still beta and there could be problems. I accept that in a phone that's not yet on the market in the U.S.

The 7610 doesn't have a lens cover (that really is useful for protecting the lens) and it doesn't include a flash (that also is useful for use in low light situations, assuming the flash would have even a modest amount of power).

The keyboard is a bit funky, but I got used to it quickly. The phone includes infrared and Bluetooth as well as a USB cable for connecting to a computer; I didn't receive the cable.

Trying to find a good prepaid service

When I get phones to test, the airtime typically is included. Nokia didn't do that for me (tough times at Nokia?) so I had to purchase a prepaid SIM card. I researched the three major GSM cellular operators: AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile.

I called nationwide customer support lines and local stores, and I know exactly the questions to ask; many consumers don't. Many customer support people didn't know much about prepaid SIMs.

I wanted to know how many minutes were included, whether I would be charged per-packet, per-minute or per-image, etc. Most sales people had to ask other sales people to find the answers.

Picking T-Mobile

A sales representative at a local Cingular store was amazingly honest. He said many people have problems with using data features with a prepaid service over Cingular. He said he hated to point me to AT&T or T-Mobile for camera phone services, but that's what he did!

AT&T Wireless would have worked, but I was told sending photos was extra and not included in the cost of the prepaid SIM.

The best deal was via T-Mobile. It's $50 for the SIM and $30 (I think) worth of minutes or $.25 per photo sent. Also, T-Mobile reps seemed to be more familiar with prepaid pricing and services than AT&T.

If I was told the correct information, I should be able to send 120 photos ($30/$.25) for the cost of the SIM.

Drooling over the 7610

The sales clerk at the Washington, D.C. T-Mobile store where I bought the SIM drooled over the 7610 since it's not available, yet, on T-Mobile's system. He asked if he could insert his SIM card into the phone to test it, and I agreed.

He liked it and said the 7610 would be a big seller. He gave me very good service, much to the consternation of people who were waiting for service!

Comments

[Henrikki]

7610 has a 1 megapixel not 1.3 megapixel camera...and there isn't any infrared.

http://nokia.com/nokia/0,,54665,00.html

Nice review though!

[adaptg adaptg]

Exposure lock for the camera, thats all I am asking,
is that so hard?

[Brian]

As long as the quality keeps getting better I won't complain to much about it :). Some day we will have Digital Camera quality hardware in are phones but for now I'm happy with the little improvements happening.