Nokia N82 camera

A few months ago, I compared three 5 megapixel camera phones with auto-focus and flash - the i-mobile 902, the Nokia N95, and the Sony Ericsson K850i.

I concluded that:
- The i-mobile 902 was the best camera overall
- The Nokia N95 was the best camera for my purposes
- The Sony Ericsson K850i was the best camera for most people

Enter yet another 5 megapixel camera phone with auto-focus and flash, the Nokia N82.

Now that I’ve used the N82 camera extensively (see pictures above), how does it fit into the picture (pun intended)?

Well it definitely improves upon the N95 camera in terms of features by offering a xenon flash, faster startup time, and faster auto-focus (as well as providing a lens cover, which is missing on the Nokia N95-3).

It matches the K850i camera in terms of features with the brighter xenon flash and faster operation, and beats it in terms of performance with the better Carl Zeiss optics and richer colors.

However, it still lags behind the i-mobile 902 camera in terms of sensor noise and low-light performance.

The N82 beats the K850i in video performance (VGA vs. QVGA resolution), but the K850i trumps the N82 when the time comes to upload pictures (tri-band HSDPA). Also, the N82 is a smartphone, whereas the K850i is a feature phone.

So ultimately:
1) The i-mobile 902 is the best camera overall, but is limited in terms of phone features
2) The Nokia N82 is the best camera for people who want a smartphone with a xenon flash - the Nokia N95 is the best camera for people who (like me) want a smartphone with (US compatible) HSDPA
3) The Sony Ericsson K850i is the best camera for people who want a feature phone

I’d seriously consider retiring my N95-3 for a version of the N82 with US-compatible HSDPA. Are you paying attention, Nokia?

Nokia N82 goodness

In the year and a half I’ve been writing this blog I’ve used a lot of nice camera phones, including the i-mobile 902, the Nokia N95 & N95-3 (which is currently my main device), and the Sony Ericsson K850i. Usually, I purchase them and keep them for several weeks or even months before selling them used, but in good condition…

But lately, I’ve also been fortunate to have access to devices through Nseries WOM World, each for a few weeks at a time. So far I’ve played with the Nokia N800, Nokia N76 and most recently the awesome Nokia N82. I have to admit that I’ve become a bit jaded with all this technology, but the N82 is the only device I’ve reviewed so far that was difficult to return!

There’s no question that the N82 falls into the über phone category - it’s pretty much a candybar version of the original N95, but with a xenon flash, which makes a significant difference in extremely low light (more on this soon).

Here are some pictures and a couple videos (one and two) of the N82.

Compared to the N95, US version, it removes US-compatible HSDPA, but adds the oh-so-important lens cover, and the xenon flash. The N82 features a smaller and dimmer screen (2.4″ vs. 2.6″) and a micro-USB connector (vs. mini-USB on the N95). Here are additional observations:

Pros:
- Same crazy features as the N95 (5 megapixel Zeiss AF camera, WiFi, GPS, etc…)
- Lens cover & xenon flash
- Faster camera startup time
- Automatic screen rotation
- Candybar form factor (lighter, fewer moving parts)

Cons:
- No US-compatible HSDPA
- Smaller, dimmer screen
- Poor build quality (chrome paint flaking off on this well-used demo unit)
- Unable to stand on its side
- Fingerprint magnet

So, now for the million dollar question. Is the Nokia N82 the ultimate N-series device on the market today?

In my opinion, yes - especially if Nokia decides to make a version with US-compatible HSDPA. The N82 feels faster than the N95, and offers subtle improvements to the user interface that make it easier to use on a day-to-day basis. In fact, I think the N82 is the best camera phone currently available.

Unboxing the Nokia N95, US version

The news came right after I returned from playing in the desert with my Nokia N95, right around the time Nokia officially announced the N95, US version (aka. N95-3).

Apparently, I won the Nokia BH-801 contest! I won - wait for the irony of it - an N95… It’s my first time winning anything significant, and it’s a device I already own - oh noes :)

What was I to do? Simple really, I talked the (very accommodating, thank you) contest organizers into giving me an N95-3 instead! I then sold my beloved N95, and picked up my Sony Ericsson K850i to hold me over.

So, after waiting 3 months for it to arrive, I’m finally unboxing my N95-3 - take a look at the pictures…

Sony Ericsson K850i camera analysis

Now that I’ve taken hundreds of pictures with my Sony Ericsson K850i here’s how it compares to the other 5 megapixel devices I’m familiar with, the Nokia N95 and the i-mobile 902.

First, all of these phones have great cameras - there’s no doubt about it! As I’ve mentioned before, camera phones are finally decent enough to replace dedicated point-and-shoot digital cameras in most situations…

The K850i generally produces excellent pictures, with a quick startup time. Low-light performance outdoors is excellent (long exposure with the flash disabled), the auto-focus is quick and assisted by an LED flash. The xenon flash and macro both work as advertised.

However, I’m a bit disappointed with the K850i when it comes to low-light performance indoors (artificial light with the flash disabled). There’s a lot of noise in the resulting pictures. Perhaps it’s a firmware issue?

I recently acquired a rare Nokia 7710 and snapped some pictures under the light fixture in my kitchen at night with the flash disabled but the results were pretty poor. Then, while unboxing the Asus 701 (Eee), I snapped some pictures under 3 flood lights in my basement, but the results were still pretty poor.

I’ve noticed that, while the N95 often suffers from a red tint problem, the K850i often suffers from over-exposure. Of course this is easily remedied by adjusting the exposure manually. Colors are noticeably richer with the N95 than with the K850i, perhaps because of the Carl Zeiss optics.

The i-mobile 902’s CCD sensor is less noisy than the CMOS sensor used on the other devices, especially in low-light. The macro on the i-mobile 902 is able to focus on objects closer than the other devices.

Unfortunately, video recording with the K850i is limited to QVGA (320×240 pixels at 30 fps), vs. VGA (640×480 pixels at 30 fps) with the other devices.

Bottom line:
- The i-mobile 902 is the best camera overall, but a pretty limited phone. It’s only missing the LED flash to assist the auto-focus, but this is easily remedied by carrying an LED light on a key chain.
- The Nokia N95 is the best camera for my purposes, and the most advanced phone. It’s only missing a better sensor and the xenon flash (which I don’t really use).
- The Sony Ericsson K850i is the best camera for most people, and a fully featured phone (tri-band HSDPA). It’s only missing a better sensor and VGA video recording.

Update: I’ve revised my analysis a little after reviewing the Nokia N82.

Sony Ericsson K850i iSync plugin

Since Sony Ericsson failed to provide an iSync plugin for the K850i, I pieced one together. Just download, unzip and copy to the /Library/PhonePlugins folder! Then pair your K850i, run iSync, and select Devices|Add Device…

Sony Ericsson K850i observations

I’ve been using my Sony Ericsson K850i for a few days now and it’s a great device all around. In fact it’s almost as powerful as the Nokia N95 which was my convergence device of choice for several months…

That’s pretty impressive, because it’s not a smartphone and it’s not equipped with WiFi or GPS. Then again, these missing features are somewhat alleviated by solid Java support, tri-band (!) HSDPA and an optional GPS module!

- Hardware:
As I’ve mentioned before, it’s smaller than I expected and it’s a fingerprint magnet. Build quality is very good - no surprise there.

Like most digital cameras and unlike most phones, a hinged door hides a battery slot, a memory card slot (which accepts either micro-SD or Memory Stick Micro M2 cards - very nice), and a SIM slot (hot swappable) all stacked next to each-other.

There’s a strip of black rubber along the edge of the hinged door that prevents the phone from sliding when placed keypad/screen up on a flat surface - smart touch.

Unfortunately, there’s no dedicated play/pause hardware key (see the Sony Ericsson W800i) for the media application. Standard USB and stereo headset connectors are also missing, so proprietary cables are required.

- Software:
The user interface is similar to other recent Sony Ericsson devices. It’s easy to navigate, responsive and quite polished (the fonts in particular). All of the supplied themes are appealing, which is rare on other phones.

The media application automatically switches between portrait and landscape when you tilt the device, just like the iPhone. Unfortunately, it takes incredibly long to index the contents of the memory card upon insertion.

The web browser is pretty basic when compared to the iPhone or the Nokia N95. It supports landscape, but it’s done manually. Java applications like Opera Mini and Google Maps Mobile work well, but strangely, Gmail Mobile is not available.

The phone crashed on me a few times when I was hammering the user interface right after power up - I was forced to remove and re-insert the battery in order to recover.

- Camera:
I’ll be reviewing the camera separately, but I’m pretty sure the K850i is one of the best camera phones on the market today. Overall picture quality and low-light performance are excellent, startup time and auto-focus are significantly faster than other phones.

In short, I feel that the Nokia N95 colors are richer, and that the i-mobile 902 sensor is less noisy, but the K850i is consistently good. The combination of both a xenon flash and an LED flash (to assist the auto-focus) can’t be matched by the other two devices.

The electrically activated lens cover is nice, but strangely there’s also a glass plate over the lens cover which easily becomes soiled with fingerprints - this makes the lens cover somewhat pointless.

- HSPDA/Bluetooth:
With quand-band GPRS/EDGE, tri-band UMTS/HSDPA (US 1900/850 MHz and european 2100 MHz), Bluetooth 2.0 (with A2DP and DUN), and USB 2.0 (with mass storage and DUN), what’s there not to like? It’s a great device for tethering…

- Keypad/screen:
The unusual keypad is surprisingly functional after a brief adaptation period (cutting my nails helped a lot).

The phone uses capacitive sensors just like the iPhone, but only at the bottom edge of the screen where the 3 soft keys are located. As a result I keep trying to tap on other parts of the screen, expecting it to react - doh!

The QVGA screen is excellent (it’s very bright but it could be larger).

The phone resets to using T9 predictive text by default when turned off - this is annoying.

- Audio/RF:
Call quality and reception are very good, as expected. Sound quality is excellent when listening to music with high-end headphones, better than the Nokia N95 (which is noisy at low listening volumes).

- Battery life:
Battery life is great, especially when set to GSM only with Bluetooth disabled.

I last charged it Sunday night and it’s still 3/4 full Tuesday afternoon. I turned it off Monday night for 8 hours. So far on this charge I’ve talked for about 2 hours.

I’m pretty impressed - then again, it’s not a smartphone :)

Tasty bits - 30 31 32 (yummy chunks)

Another month, another triple edition of tasty bits… I just can’t keep up!

A device I just acquired, the Sony Ericsson K850i:
- Sony Ericsson K850i Unboxing!

A device I recently reviewed, the BlackBerry 8320 (Curve):
- T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi BlackBerry Curve Is Fo’ Real and Quite Tasty
- UMA: T-Mobile’s secret weapon. Truphone: everyone else’s?
- T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8320 Unboxing Part 2 / Giveaway
- T-Mobile BlackBerry Curve 8320 Unboxing!
- BlackBerry 8320 Wi-Fi vs. BlackBerry 8300 EDGE speed test
- T-Mobile announces BlackBerry Curve with WiFi, we check it out
- Another look at the BlackBerry 8320 for T-Mobile

Nokia N95 (I expect to get my hands on the US version soon):
- A Brief Look at the Nokia N95 US 3G, PT. 1
- A Brief Look at the Nokia N95 US 3G, PT. 2- Battery Life Comparison
- A Brief Look at the Nokia N95 US 3G, PT. 3 - Build Quality
- BL-6F Into Nokia N95 - Yes It Can Be Done, But…
- Nokia N95 or Apple iPhone? - The Question Has Been Answered
- Sling Player Now Available on Nokia N95
- US 3G Costs Nokia N95 a Mere Hour of Battery Life
- US 3G Nokia N95 Runs For Over 9 Hours On EDGE
- US Nokia N95 Reviewed: Better Than the Euro Version
- New Nokia N95-3: it’s what the original should have been
- Unboxing the Nokia N95 8GB
- All About Symbian Review: Nokia N95 8GB
- Nokia N95-3 hands-on!
- Nokia N95-3 with North American 3G now available
- Hands-on (again) with the North American N95!
- Wiimote used to control Nokia N95
- Google Maps gets cozy with N95’s internal GPS

Nokia N810 (a device I’m very excited about, since I’m coming from the Nokia 770):
- Nokia N810 Hands-On Gallery and Video
- Nokia N810 Internet Tablet with QWERTY is peeped!
- Third generation tablet on TabletBlog
- N810 on TabletBlog
- Nokia’s N810 Internet Tablet, MOSH to debut soon?
- Nokia N810 gets official
- Nokia N810 hands-on

More Nokia news:
- S60 Touch Interface Launched
- Nokia E90 review: Heavyweight champion

iPhone info (centered around the 1.1.1 update and Apple finally announcing an SDK):
- iPhone Firmware 1.1.1 Out and Tested: Breaks 3rd-party Apps, Relocks iPhones and Sends Them to Semi-Brick Activation Limbo (Updated with video)
- iPhone Installer App Updated to 3.0beta3 With Many Improvements
- New anySim Gets Bugs Ironed Out, Now Integrated with Installer.app
- 250,000 Unlocked iPhones Have Been Sold
- iPhone Dashboard Widgets Imminent?
- iPhone Re-Reviewed (Verdict: Don’t Buy)
- Apollo IM for iPhone hits 1.0
- A note to both Apple and iPhone customers on the v1.1.1 update
- Truphone demos VoIP for iPhone
- iPhone update: facts and fiction
- iPhone v1.1.1 baseband downgrade released
- Orange to sell unlocked iPhones in France
- iPhone / iPod touch v1.1.1 jailbreak code posted
- MEX - the strategy forum for mobile user experience - Award surprises, Apple interface guidelines & our challenge for operators
- Apple: “iPhone SIM unlockers will end up with iBricks”
- How to relock your iPhone before the firmware update
- “iPhone Dev Team” issues statement
- Moment of Truth: iPhone Software 1.1.1 is out
- iPhone: 90 Days Later
- DIY iFlash for the iPhone
- iPhone/iPod touch Remote Control
- BusinessWeek: Why I Won’t Buy an iPhone
- iPhone Dev Team announces public iPhone 1.1.1 Jailbreak
- iPhone SIM Free announces 1.1.1 SIM Unlock, iPhone Unbricking
- iToner working with iPhone Firmware 1.1.1
- iPhone jailbreak interface INdependence updated to 1.2.2
- iPhone Dev Team announces free unlock
- Apple: “we plan to have an iPhone SDK in developers’ hands in February”
- iToner 1.0.3 works with iPhone 1.1.1
- iPhone programming 101: full header documentation released
- Stacks on the iPhone

Walt Mossberg echoes (in part) my own rant about the iPhone:
- Mossberg howls: “Free my Phone”

More Apple news:
- Apple Macbook Touch Concept and Thoughts on the Newton 2 Rumors
- We need a real handheld computer, who will build one? Apple of course
- More “New Newton” rumors

Samsung P520 (Armani), G800 and more:
- Samsung Armani Phone Hands On Video
- Java Phone: Sun Microsystems and Samsung May Be Developing Cheaper iPhone Alternative
- Specs Drop for Samsung’s Touchscreen, WiMax UMPC SPH-9200
- Samsung i550, GPS Phone, officially announced
- Samsung’s Armani phone has a surprise: a haptic feedback UI
- Samsung’s 5 megapixel G800 gets launched, available next month

LG VX10000 (Voyager) and CU920 (Vu2):
- Verizon’s Voyager- going after the iPhone crowd
- LG Shine, Prada coming to AT&T as Vu, Vu2?

Google phone:
- What’s the Google phone going to be? Hardware or software?
- The Google Phone: It’s the OS dummy

Linux/DIY:
- Compulab’s EM-X270 brings DIY to smartphones
- Wired’s Open Phone Round-Up Tells the Bleak Truth

Other:
- Motorola’s big ‘08 splash
- Meizu’s MiniOne M8 GUI showcased further, still devoid of originality

Unboxing the Sony Ericsson K850i

What do you get when you combine a good 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus, macro, and xenon flash with a nice quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and tri-band (!) UMTS/HSDPA world phone?

You get the Sony Ericsson K850i.

It’s been a long time since I’ve used a Sony Ericsson device for primary duty. Over the next few weeks I’ll be putting the K850i through its paces, and measuring it against the new Nokia N95, US version…

In the meantime, here are some pictures - it’s smaller than I expected and it’s a fingerprint magnet.

Sorry for the flash in the pictures, but I didn’t have my Nokia N95, so I borrowed a Nikon D50 but I failed to find a mode (manual or automatic) that didn’t result in blurry shots without the flash in low light (it was a rainy Seattle day).

Tasty bits - 24

In this video, Steve Litchfield compares Apple’s iPhone with Nokia’s E61i and Sony Ericsson’s W950. His review of the iPhone is quite interesting. Other than the missing 3G support and limited camera hardware, I think the iPhone is only restricted in features by its current software implementation - there’s a lot Apple can (and hopefully will) do to remedy this. I also think that the OS X core of the iPhone is superior to Symbian (and will soon challenge it).

Oh, and Kevin Tofel caved in and picked up an iPhone,and Robert Scoble is dropping the Nokia N95 for the iPhone - hehe :)

Speaking of touch-based devices, Neonode’s sexy N2 got unboxed, and Meizu’s M8 (miniOne) got specified. Is Samsung ’s P520 the answer to LG’s KE850 (Prada) phone?

Sony Ericsson’s flagship P1i is out and about! Here’s an unboxing and a review. Also, here’s a review of Sony Ericsson’s 5 megapixel K850i…

BTW, the iPhone hacking continues:
- Partial unlocking
- “Hello world”
- Custom backgrounds
- SSH access
- WiFi tethering
- Apache, Python, etc…

And finally, here’s a great Nokia E90 blog!

Tasty bits - 22

The iPhone launch (now with YouTube support) is one week away. Are you ready for total chaos? I have a plan :)

In the meantime, here’s a nice article comparing the iPhone with other devices, including two from my current stable (the Nokia N95 and the Sony Ericsson M600i).

Speaking of my favorite phone, the Nokia N95 just got better! And if you’re still not convinced, here’s yet another review. Alternatively, the Nokia E90 is also a good choice…

I’m also pretty excited about Nokia’s Mobile Web Server - it’s a very interesting idea. BTW, here’s a look into the Nokia Media Transfer application I mentioned last week.

The Sony Ericsson K850i is official, complete with a 5 megapixel camera (with auto-focus, macro, xenon flash, and powered lens cover), and supposedly tri-band HSDPA (as well as quad-band EDGE). Yummy :)

Opera announced a flash replacement for phones, and released a beta version of Opera Mini 4. After playing with it, I have to admit that it’s a pretty good web browser, especially for a Java application - in fact, it’s quite similar to Nokia’s very nice web browser.

The Meizu M8 (miniOne) is still evolving and is supposed to be available in late 2007.

Finally, here’s another installment in the multi-part review of the OQO Model 02.