Calling the shots
With the summer holidays around the corner, it is time to look at the quality of our cameras.
For many people, the mobile phone has become a default camera, but most still rely on phones with modest cameras: even the iPhone is stuck at a meagre 3 megapixels. For those who would like top-class photos, here is a guide to the best cameraphones currently on the Irish market.
Sony Ericsson Satio
Sony Ericsson is now, arguably, the leader in the cameraphone market. Working with Sony’s Cybershot division, the manufacturer has pushed the limits of what a phone can get from its onboard lens, filters and editing software. As a result, it has more high-end cameraphones than any other manufacturer in the business.
Sitting at opt his pile of superior snappers is the Satio, a 12 megapixel powerhouse that can take on an entry level digital compact camera without any blushes. As such, it is currently the best cameraphone available on the Irish market.
The Satio gives a few sophisticated focusing elements that you can only get on high-spec standalone digital cameras. One such feature is its touchscreen focus, which allows you to choose which element of the shot you want the camera to focus on.
The Xenon flash on the unit is also far better than on most other cameraphones.
It also allows you to take bursts of upto nine shots in one second, in a nod to SLR enthusiasts.
Matching newer compact digital cameras, the Satio has ‘face detection’, which will automatically focus on a human face (or several). It also has a range of ‘modes’, from sports to macro to panorama.
Its video capture is good, though not as good as its sister phone, the Vivaz (see review opposite).The phone’s 3.5-inch screen is bright and vivid.
While it doesn’t quite match the touchscreen prowess of HTC and Apple handsets, neither the iPhone nor the HTC offer decent cameras with any of their models, so this is a straight trade-off. The Satio is also particularly strong in the quality and ease of access tomusic. Overall, it is a worthy standard-bearer as the photographer’s mobile choice.
Price: from €180 on contract from 3 Ireland
Sony Ericsson
A second Sony Ericsson model in our review section? Yes, for two reasons.
Firstly, the manufacturer has almost as many high-end cameraphones as the rest of the market put together. Secondly, its second-best model has something that will soon become the norm: high definition video-recording (at the 720p standard).
This does not mean that you can rely on it to shoot a wedding, but it does substantially improve the quality of clips and videos you want to post to YouTube or Facebook.
The phone has an 8-megapixel camera, which returns impressive shots, although it struggles with fast-moving subjects and in low-light conditions.
It includes a panorama mode and a macro option for very close shots.
There are a number of other modes (portrait, landscape and others) which you would expect to find on most cameraphones.
The phone also has face detection, though you cannot choose your own focusing or aperture settings.
As a general phone, the Vivaz works pretty well, although its touchscreen isn’t as accurate as you might be used to from top-end touchscreen phones. It comes with an FM radio, a 3.5mm earphone jack and stereo Bluetooth, for wireless headphones.
It also has a GPS for maps and geo-tagging photos. It has a decent MP3 player on it and also uses the new, industry-standard, Micro USB charger.
Bear in mind that if you want to connect this phone to your TV to watch those HD videos, you’ll have to buy your own HDMI cable.
Price: from free on contract from Vodafone
Nokia N86
It seems hard to imagine now, but it was Nokia who kicked off the megapixel revolution in mobile phones. Eight years ago the 6630 boasted 1.3megapixels, with 2004’s 6680 moving it upto 2 megapixels.
Four years ago, the company introduced a whopping 5 megapixels with its N95 (still one of its best picture phones). Since then, it hasn’t upped the ante much. However, itsN86 is pretty close to as good a cameraphone as you can get on the market.
Its package is built around an 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss VarioTessar lens.
On top of this, it has a dualLED flash, 20x digital zoom, and video recording at upto 30 frames per second.
But it is the N86’s more advanced functions that mark it out as a credible alternative to a basic standalone compact digital camera. These include a variable aperture, a panorama mode and a wide -angle (28mmequivalent) lens.
Fiddling with the aperture is not something that most people might want to do, but it helps control the shot’s light exposure, as well as the depth of field. As such, photography enthusiasts will look kindly on its inclusion.
You can also vary the ISO settings (another lighting trick). The camera also gives the option of sequencing and time-lapse shots. (While this is impressive, it’s not that likely that you will use it.)
The phone also offers quite a few options for uploading or blogging your photos once they’re taken. The only slight drawback to the N86 is that its screen, at 2.6 inches, won’t give the same quality feedback as some of its 3.5-inch screen rivals.
As a general phone, the N86 performs well, although its operating system looks dated and clunky compared to newer smartphones. Nokia will soon have its own 12-megapixel model out, the N8.Until then, this is the best you’ll get from the Finnish firm.
Price: €380 (plus delivery) sim free from Expansys.ie
Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition
Over the last three years, Samsung has hit the Irish mobile phone market with a barrage of mid-end phones. So far, the approach is working: it is eating the lunch of older, established competitors (moving into second place in the Irish market last year).
Generally, the Korean manufacturer doesn’t push the boat out too far in terms of its high end models. It did introduce a 12-megapixel model last year (which none of the four operators now offer on their price plans).
This leaves the ageing Tocco Ultra Edition. (There is another 8-megapixel phone, the i8910 HD, which has HD video recording, but it is only available sim-free from online European stores.)
The Tocco Ultra is a reasonably good phone which takes very good photos. Although it beats many of its competitors for quality, it lags the top-end camera phones for a number of reasons. Firstly, the amount of time it takes between shots (and even between pressing the camera button and the shot being taken) is too long.
Secondly, it lacks some of the high-end editing and adjustment features that the best in the market offer. There’s little by way of face recognition, manual light settings or other tinkering tools. It does have a panorama mode, however.
In terms of the rest of the phone, the Tocco Ultra is a mixed bag. Technically, it has some very nice features, including a very vivid (2.8-inch) screen and a great sound system.
On the other hand, Samsung’s touchscreen user interface is beginning to look very outdated when compared with Android and iPhone handsets. Lovers of physical buttons will like its slide-down keypad, however. Price: from €30 on contract from 3 Ireland
