Reiter's Camera Phone Report

First photos from my Nokia N82 five megapixel, Xenon flash camera phone

Courtesy of Nokia’s “blogger relations program” I have received Nokia’s new N82 camera phone with a resolution of five megapixels, a Xenon flash and video recording capabilities of 30 frames per second.  I received it Friday afternoon so I haven’t taken a huge number of photos, but I have established a photo album for the handset that includes about 30 photos.

I began taking mundane photos during the day, such as from above a creek with a couple of birds in Chevy Chase, Md. about a 20–minute walk from my house (see below).

But taking photos in relatively good conditions isn’t too much of a challenge.  So I ate dinner while I waited until it was dark outside.  I then took photos of some shops that are a five-minute walk from that creek, such as a photo of the outside of Tiffany’s (see below).

I took several photos of Tiffany’s windows.  Shooting through glass doesn’t always produce the best images (see below).  I might have shot the “red” window with a high contrast, but I’m afraid I don’t remember.

I also took several photos outside of an expensive women’s clothing store, Saks Jandel (see below).

For the photos of Tiffany’s windows and Saks Jandel, I used the “landscape” mode that is also designed for shooting through glass.

I’ll be taking many more photos during the weeks to come as well as testing the video recording capabilities.  I expect to take lots of photos and some videos during the CTIA’s Wireless 2008 conference in Las Vegas at the beginning of April.

PC Magazine reviews Nokia N82 five megapixel camera phone as best

PC Magazine has awarded an “Editor’s Choice” and four stars to the new Nokia N82 five megapixel camera phone (see left) that the editor waxes enthusiastic about because of its high quality photos and videos.

Sascha Segan, the magazine’s lead analyst for cellular phones and PDAs, writes, “Finally, a camera phone that gets the camera part right!  Thanks to the Nokia N82's excellent xenon flash, I'm genuinely comfortable using it to replace my digital camera, and even my camcorder in a pinch.”

The handset features a Carl Zeiss lens and autofocus (see below).  “It's the first camera-phone flash I've tested that's worthy of the name, and lets you take good photos indoors even of moving objects,” Segan says.

The N82 is the first (I think) Nokia phone to incorporate a Xenon flash, that produces a brighter light than typical LED flashes.  A few other handsets, such as at least two from Sony Ericsson, also have Xenon flash.

The lens is covered until it’s manually opened to turn on the camera.  One of my pet peeves about most camera phones is the lack of any type of protection for the lens.

Great photos

Despite the high quality of many of the N82’s photos, Segan says they can’t compare to “top-notch” digital cameras.  However, even comparing a camera phone with a digital camera — and not laughing about it — is a major accomplishment for camera phone technology.

One problem, he says, is “in our outdoor tests, it consistently blew out a bright sky.  Shutter delay varies, depending on whether the camera decides it needs to implement autofocus (this camera really seems to have a mind of its own).

“Without autofocus, shots are pretty much instantaneous; with it, you're forced to wait about a second for the autofocus to lock on.  When it does, pictures are sharp and accurate, and the flash puts images miles ahead of those from every other camera phone we've tested.”

Excellent video quality

Segan says the N82’s video quality is the best he’s ever seen.  “It takes smooth, clear 640-by-480-pixel videos, up to an hour long, at 28 frames per second.”

Many analysts believe the high-end Nokia Nseries handsets take the best videos of any camera phone (although I haven’t seen the quality of the LG Viewty’s 120 frames-per-second videos).  There’s sometimes debate, though, about whether Nokia’s five megapixel photos are better than, for example, the Sony Ericsson five megapixel camera phones.

There’s a lot more to the N82, such as GPS, an accelerometer, an excellent Web browser and WiFi.  But I’m focusing on the imaging capabilities.

I wrote a detailed article about the N82 when it was introduced in November.  The launch was filmed with an N82 and also included interviews with Nokia product managers discussing features.

Testing, testing

As I wrote yesterday in my mobile television weblog, I’m heading out to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week and I hope to be able to post photos and videos taken with…..an N82.

Photographer Guido Karp publishing book with Sony Ericsson K810i photos

Photographer Guido Karp in October will be publishing The Nudes – Photography with a Cyber-shot mobile based on photos taken with Sony Ericsson’s K810i 3.2 megapixel camera phone, according to LetsGoMobile.

The article notes that Karp’s camera phone photos were on display at IFA 2007 (see above).  He says, “Rock ‘N Roll and beautiful woman have always been one to me.  New to me is the experience of taking photos for such an exhibit with my Sony Ericsson K810 mobile phone.”

Ofcom "Communications Market Report" says U.K. users most aware of camera on phone

A big (330–page) U.K. government report on the state of wired and wireless communications contains a wealth of information on a wide range of technologies and applications, including a bit of good news about camera phones.

The Office of Communications’ (Ofcom) “Communications Market Report” (available in three sections plus summaries) says that based on surveys the non-voice feature of cellular phones that consumers are most aware of (not including SMS) is the camera.  Sixty five percent of cellular users are aware their phone has a camera and 41 percent have used the camera (see below).

The report notes the percentage of awareness is likely to increase as consumers replace their phones with newer models and as greater percentages of phones include cameras.  Currently, 84 percent of handsets sold in the U.K. incorporate a camera.

Why are cameras No. 1?

Why are cellular subscribers most aware of the camera even though other features (such as games) were introduced earlier?  Ofcom speculates, “It is interesting to note that the awareness of the camera feature is highest, followed by games and alarms, which have been available for longer as mobile phone functions. 

“This may be because the camera is a physical part of the handset, which is more difficult to overlook than a menu item or because there has been more publicity about camera function than other features.”

The report notes the majority of consumers who were surveyed said the features on their phones didn’t affect their use of dedicated devices.  However, Ofcom reports that a “significant minority” say their use of dedicated devices has decreased because of features on handsets.

Indeed, 38 percent of consumers surveyed say their use of regular cameras has decreased because of the cameras on the phones (see below) — as well as decreases in the use of other standalone devices because of cellular features.  Moreover this could be just the beginning of less use of dedicated devices.

Ofcom says, “As the level of sophistication of these features on mobile phones has only recently approached that of basic level specialist devices. the impact has probably not yet been felt in the replacement lifecycle of the separate device.”

Not all good news for new features

Ofcome has bad news, however, for proponents of mobile television (as I am).  Mobile televison didn’t fare as well — to say the least — as camera phone awareness and use.  Check out the article I’ll posted later tonight on my “Reiter’s Mobile TV Report.”

Don't forget — if you’re at all interested in the U.K. telecommunications environment — Internet, WiFi, cellular, broadcast/cable television, etc. — be sure to check out the entire Ofcom report.  MocoNews.net has a brief summary of the report and BBC News has a detailed article about the report’s findings plus two video reports.

Cingular BlackJack: Nice phone with good quality 1.3 megapixel photos, videos

Courtesy of AT&T/Cingular, I've been testing a couple of cellular phones, including the Samsung BlackJack (see left).  I like it.  It's a thin, light, quad band, 3G (HSDPA) Windows Mobile 5 handset with a QWERTY keyboard, a 1.3 megapixel camera and video recording, nice screen, external (yea!) microSD slot and Bluetooth.  It feels good in my hand and slips into my shirt pocket.

I know some people aren't fans of Windows Mobile and it can indeed take an extra keystroke or two to accomplish some actions compared to, say, the [aging] Palm OS.  But Windows Mobile has come a long way since its initial bloated, buggy code.

But isn't that often the way with a lot of Microsoft software?  And, I'm interested in testing the latest version:  Windows Mobile 6.

Keyboard

As a keyboard fanatic, I'm not completely thrilled with the BlackJack's keyboard.  Some of the navigation keys at the top of the handset seem somewhat too cramped to make them easy to differentiate from other keys.

Also, I think the keyboard could have been designed a bit better within the available the space.  I would like to see a slightly bigger spacebar, with the keys flanking the spacebar moved just a bit closer to the edge, away from the spacebar.

But it's a usable keyboard, especially if you don't have giant fingers.  The keys are widely spaced (relatively speaking) and have a nice feel to them.

Image quality

As for the camera's image, they aren't bad.  They are at least as good as the typical 1.3 megapixel camera phone, perhaps somewhat better.  But camera phone quality is a moving target and what was considered good six months ago isn't necessarily so today.

The BlackJack doesn't include a flash or a lens protector/cover.  Despite the low power and color shifts of most camera phone flashes, they can make a difference between getting a photo or not in a dimly lit setting.  And I'll continue to write about the importance of protecting lenses from scratches and dirt -- accidents waiting to happen.

Still, the images should serve many subscribers just fine.  The videos also will serve subscribers fine, although the quality isn't much above average.  I've taken a few videos and they are more than acceptable for a camera phone that doesn't specialize in video quality, such as the 30 frames-per-second Sony and Nokia models.

I established a moblog for the BlackJack (see above) and have posted almost 50 images so far. 

Nokia N95 + PhotoShow: Vietnam Veterans Memorial 2007 tribute

Three times during the week I went to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. to take photos (see above) with the five megapixel Nokia N95 that I received courtesy of Nokia as part of the Nokia Bloggers program. 

I wanted to create a musical slide show similar to the one I created comparing the photos from Research in Motion's BlackBerry 8300 "Curve" with its 8100 "Pearl."

I have now posted a Vietnam Veterans Memorial slide show on PhotoShow as well as embedding it here (see below).  There are almost 60 photos with each one displaying for six to ten seconds.

By the way, I think it looks much better if you click "Full Size" -- that gets you to the PhotoShow Web site -- and then click "View Large" in the site's viewer to watch the, duh, larger size (assuming you have a broadband connection and a fast enough computer). 

Also, Internet Explorer sometimes streams better for me than Firefox (my browser of choice).  But it could be just my computer.  (The music is off by default, but available by clicking the speaker icon.)

N95 versus digital/film cameras

Using the N95 -- or any camera phone -- makes me realize how much I miss digital and film cameras with their optical zoom and wealth of settings.  The N95 has an optical digital zoom, but who uses that?!

At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial I really missed having an optical zoom because there were photos I simply couldn't get or I had to severely crop areas of photos to get the exact image I wanted that was blown up with reduced resolution.  Luckily, the N95 is five megapixels so that higher resolution helped tremendously in producing acceptable cropped images.  I'm a big fan of cropping!

(All of the images in this slide show were taken on "Automatic," although for a few photos I used the "Vivid" color setting -- but didn't notice any difference.  I didn't use the flash.  Except for those that were cropped, none of the images in this show were modified in any other way.  No brightness, contrast, sharpening, etc.  I want you to see what the N95 produces without software enhancements.)

The lack of an optical zoom and no image enhancement are reasons you'll see images that don't look anywhere near, uh, "picture perfect."  But in this slide show I wanted to convey a certain emotional element, so I have used photos that (I believe) are good enough but not necessarily good because of being too dark, poorly focused, etc. (see below).

(Frankly, I might have been able to get a better shot if I didn't snap it so quickly.  I really wanted to take more and closer photos of that veteran, but it wouldn't have been appropriate.)

Being human

I could have moved closer (the N95 lens is fairly wide angle) or shot more images of certain people, but the human being part of me (I won't discuss the other parts!) uncharacteristically won out against the photographer in me and rebelled against sticking the N95 into someone's face.  The Memorial is a sad place for a lot of people, especially during this Memorial Day weekend, and I didn't want to act as if the visitors were tourist attractions.

So I shot some photos from afar and ruthlessly cropped photos (see below) to get small segments larger images.

And, some of the images would have been better if I were a better photographer.  My incompetence, unfortunately, figures into the image quality.

Good quality images

However, egomaniac that I am, I think a few photos are pretty good, such as the one of the "wall" at the top of this article.  Also, many images I shot were static and no movement was involved (except for mine, sigh, especially when I was crouching to get an object on the ground).

Indeed, the N95 can take very good photos; it's my favorite camera phone and favorite cellular phone in general.....for the time being. 

(Courtesy of Nokia I have the 3.2 megapixel N93 that has a 3x optical zoom, and it would have been interesting to compare the same photos taken with that.  But I didn't want to juggle another camera; I also took the two megapixel BlackBerry 8300 but didn't use it for these Memorial photos.)

PhotoShow online versus desktop

For the slide show comparing the BlackBerry 8300 with the 8100 I used Simple Star's online photo slide show application.  When I posted/embedded the slide show I noted that I would prefer more control.

Simple Star's public relations firm read my article and, as a result, Chad Richard, Simple Star's CEO, was nice enough to send me a link to download the company's $39.95 desktop version, PhotoShow 5.  So that's what I used for this Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

PhotoShow 5 is easy to use (I didn't read the manual, but I will) and it does offer much more control than the online applications.  I think I'd like even more control, such as being able to display individual images for more than ten seconds and more up/down/left/right pan-and-zoom options. 

(I'm a pan-and-zoom kind of guy.  Too much time watching Ken Burns documentaries.

Good software

But overall, PhotoShow 5 is an easy-to-use and fun package that can produce great musical slide shows (my efforts notwithstanding!) with lots of special effects, interesting transitions, etc.  There are loads of standard templates plus ways to customize slide shows.

Indeed, I can see that many people wouldn't want to spend the time to select the parameters for every image and, instead, just use a template.  It can take a long time to pick the timing, special effect, transition, music, etc. for every image.

As I mentioned previously, I like PhotoShow's online selection of music;  PhotoShow 5's selection includes all the online selection plus additional ones.

I expect I will produce more PhotoShow slide shows using other camera phones.

My first BlackBerry 8300 "Curve" photos, comments

Thanks to the generous folks at Research in Motion, I received a BlackBerry 8300 "Curve" (see left) on Friday. 

From an overall device standpoint I like it a lot.

But first, from a camera phone standpoint, I am disappointed in the quality of the images from its two megapixel camera.  I took some two dozen photos today and, as is my wont, established a moblog dedicated to 8300 images (see below).

Better than the Pearl?

I really want to like the photos produced by the 8300.  But so far, I am not impressed.

In fact, I'm not sure if the images are any better than those from the 1.3 megapixel BlackBerry 8100 Pearl, for which I also established a moblog.  I know some people don't like the Pearl's photos but for its low resolution, I think the images are much better than the typical 1.3 megapixel camera phone.

I do need to compare more closely, though, 8100 images with 8300 images.  I've only just begun to take photos with the 8300 and don't use the 8100 much because I can't live without (well, perhaps prefer not to live without) a QWERTY keyboard on my primary e-mail device.

Not making up my mind yet

I certainly am going to give the 8300 the benefit of the doubt.  I'm going to take many more photos. 

Also, I received this unit on Friday, before any cellular operator in the United States has begun to offer it.  (I'm using a T-Mobile SIM and I don't think T-Mobile completely supports the 8300, given that it's not yet available on the network.)  Perhaps a software upgrade from RIM would improve the image quality.

Perhaps the hardware on my unit isn't quite as good as the devices that will be offered to subscribers in, supposedly, late May.  Perhaps for a two megapixel camera phone, the images are considered good.

And, as I wrote in the introduction to my 8300 moblog, perhaps I'm spoiled by the quality of the images I've posted from Nokia's 3.2 megapixel N93 and five megapixel N95 that Nokia has been nice enough to send me as part of its Blogger Relations program. 

(I posted a fair number of images on the N93 and N95 moblogs and some of them a rather poor due, probably, to my photography.  I haven't decided whether to remove the crummy images.)

 

Overall really handset

Image quality notwithstanding, the 8300 seems like a real winner -- and I've been analyzing cellular phones for almost 29 years, including the first RIM pager).  The 8300 is smaller and lighter than previous models and the ergonomics are good.  It just feels good to hold, like the Pearl.   

Its metal/gray color looks classy and the construction seems better than the 8700.  It has rubberized-like plastic (I think it's plastic) along the edges that makes it easier to grasp.

The keyboard, though, is not as good as the best BlackBerry keyboards, and I've written about my keyboard fanaticism (for desktop PCs, laptops and portable devices) before.  The earlier 7200 series BlackBerrys had keyboards with round keys that were relatively widely spaced.

These were the best BlackBerry keyboards for entering data and at the time they certainly were the best keyboards on any cellular phone designed in the candy bar-type form.

Keyboard comparison

But as BlackBerrys have gotten smaller, the keyboards have shrunk.  The BlackBerry 8700's keyboard isn't bad.  The plastic keys are a bit slippery, but I got used to it without any problems.

The BlackBerry 8800 keyboard is poor (see left) -- at least I think so.  There is virtually no space between the keys so it's much more difficult to use than the 8700.  For people who enter lots of text, I strongly recommend testing the 8800 before buying.

The 8300 keyboard is smaller than the 8800 or 8700, but the keys aren't as slippery and they are much more widely spaced (relatively speaking) than the 8800.  It's a good keyboard, given the constraints of decreasing the size of the device.

If you have fat fingers and don't care about the additional features of the 8300 (two megapixel camera, enhanced MP3 and video player, BlackBerry maps, GPS capability with an external unit, microSD card), you might prefer the 8700's keyboard.

MP3 esoterica

This affects probably .0001 of BlackBerry users:  If you use Nokia's PC Suite software to transfer music to your Nokia Nseries handset and you employ Nokia's "optimized" format for MP3s and you use the same files in your BlackBerry 8300, you won't want to!

When I inserted two microSD cards with music and podcasts from the N95 into the 8300, the sound was awful on both cards.  When Nokia converts my MP3 and WMV files into, I think, AAC+, the music sounds fine on the Nseries but not on the 8300.

However, when I manually transferred the regular MP3 and WMV files to the 8300's microSD card, the audio was just fine.

University of California engineers develop thin digital camera, telephoto lens

Engineers at the University of Californa, San Diego have created a very thin digital camera with a unique telephoto lens that folds up like an "origami" (see left), according to an article in What Digital Camera.

The engineers believe the technology could be used for camera phones as well as for unmanned surveillance aircraft and infrared night vision applications.

Eric Tremblay, a Ph.D. candidate in electrical and computer engineering at the university's Jacobs School of Engineering, says the imager (sensor?) is seven times more powerful that other lenses with comparable depth, the article reports.

Applicable for camera phones

Joseph Ford, a professor of electrical and computer engineering who oversees the project, says, "This type of miniature camera is very promising for application where you want high resolution images and a short exposure time.  This describes what cell phone cameras want to be when they grow up."

Tremblay doesn't know whether the product will be available for camera phones, although he says he's "hopeful" and thinks there's "a good possibility."

How does it work?

The article says the concept of an origami type of folded lens has been around for hundreds of years.  "It employs the use of mirrors to reduce camera thickness yet retain good light collection and high-resolution capabilities.

"Instead of bending and focusing light as it passes through a series of separate mirrors and lenses, the new folded system bends and focus's light while it is reflected back and forth inside a single 5mm thick optical crystal.  The light is focused as if it were moving through a traditional lens system that is at least seven times thicker."

Flextronics to produce camera phones with H-P imaging techonology in 2007

Hewlett-Packard is licensing imaging technology to Flextronics for improving image quality in camera phones, according to an article CNET News, TheStreet.com and the company's press release (another unnecessary, memory-hogging pdf file).

Flextronics, the huge contract manufacturer of cellular phonnes (among many other products), is expected to produce camera phones with H-P imaging technology in 2007.  Flextronics manufactures cellular phones for such companies as Kyocera, Motorola and Sony Ericsson.

The H-P technology will be incorporated into camera phones of three megapixels and above as part of a five-year collaboration with Flextronics, according to CNET.

Three megapixels and better

CNET says, "HP currently includes the same technology in its own digital cameras.  The upshot is that the 3-megapixel shots taken with these tiny camera phones will be largely equivalent to the shots taken by digital still cameras. 

I certainly will be glad when a three megapixel camera phone photo is equivalent to that taken with a good digital still camera -- both outdoors and indoors.

CNET also says Flextronics and H-P will work to get cellular phone manufacturers to use other H-P features, such as "slimming down" a person's image after the photo is taken.

Check out "The Creative Life" for quality of N93 videos

Are you interested in the video quality from Nokia's N93 GSM camera phone?

Check out James Burland's "The Creative Life" weblog where he's posted lots of N93 videos showing his family and friends out and about in the U.K. (see below).  Thanks James for the heads up!

Although the N93 doesn't offer the quality of Robert Scoble's $3,000 or $4,000 video camera (I forgot what Robert said it cost), especially in low light/night situations, it's not designed for that.  Overall, the videos look just fine for family outings and citizen journalism.

The N93 shoots videos at 30 frames per second and takes photos at 3.2 megapixels.  No cellular operator in the United States offers the N93, although you may purchase an unlocked phone in the U.S. from Nokia for a mere $699.99.

More N93 info.?

If you're interested in more information about the N93, take a look at the N93 WOM World weblog that has lots of interesting articles and links to other good information (see below).