My GPS Camera Phone

The Nokia 5610 is here and I am a happy camper. I don’t want to talk smack about my phone, but it pales in comparison when put against the Nokia 5610. I’ve had a busy week, but things slowed down enough to allow me some quality time with the new phone. So far, so good.

What I like the most about this camera phone is the capability of the camera. Weighing in at 3.2 mega-pixels, the 5610 packs a decent punch, capturing shots with reasonable quality and good exposure. It’s loaded with features (for a camera phone), including auto-focus, night mode, image sequence and a self-timer. My favorite feature, though, is its ability to shoot macro photos. See the results for yourself.

I was skeptical when I read about it and even still while previewing the photos on the phone. I was floored when they hit the computer. Seeing such detail come out of a camera phone leaves me speechless and wanting to shoot more. Personally, I like getting close to subjects and I feel disappointed when the hardware doesn’t let me do it. The Nokia 5610 doesn’t disappoint in this respect and I can’t wait to try some more photographic experimenting.

The big down side I see so far is the lack of attention to the image quality. While you could shoot images fit to size for a desktop background, you wouldn’t want to. The images at 100% reveal a chink in the armor: granulation and compression artifacts all over the place like rust eats away at a piece of steel (see below). The plus side is that the lack of quality at full-size can be compensated for by reducing the image size (as seen above), but that negates the point of having a 3.2 mega-pixel camera in the first place. With that said, I concede the fact that this is a camera phone we’re talking about, not a Nikon D300.

I’m looking forward to a lot of shooting before this thing makes it’s long journey back to England. Thanks to everyone at WOM World once again for this opportunity.

My time with the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic is winding down and I anticipate an e-mail from the folks at WOM World any day now regarding the return of the phone. Since I’ve had the phone, I’ve put it through a rigorous test to see if it can come anywhere near my photo quality standards. Since pictures speak louder than words, I’ve pulled together a few representative photos from the Nokia 5310 and my Casio G’zOne Type-V as a control so you can see the difference in image quality for yourself.

The four images below are untouched (except for re-sizing) and directly out of the camera using default settings. I’ve attempted to shoot objects that cover four areas: bright, medium and low light, and contrasting colors. All images are shot in 1200×1600 resolution. Let’s start with the first image.

Bright light/color tones:

As previously experienced, the Casio tends to overexpose, possibly mistaking the actual light conditions with a dark object in the image. In this case, the trees at the bottom might be confusing the light meter. The Nokia 5310, however, seems to read the light level accurately and manages to capture the subtle details in the clouds without exposure problems.

The winner: Nokia 5310.

Medium light/color tones:

The office building I work in is painted this horrific color all over. Any time I’ve tried to include it in a camera phone photo, I’ve had problems where the center is a different color than the rest of the wall. This can easily be seen on the left in the sample image from the Casio. The right side depicts the photo from the Nokia 5310, which is incredibly crisp and evenly colored. The red, white and black pop against the earth-tone background and there’s no deterioration or bleeding of color, unlike the Casio image which is washed out and just blah.

The winner: Nokia 5310.

Low light/color tones:

In this case, the two exposures come out pretty close, with no major differences. The driveway lettering in the contrasting off-white appears similarly in both images, however, with a bit of that color issue coming through in the Casio image. In spite of that, I’m going to leave it up to personal preference. For a true “dark” image, see the post on shooting fireworks at night with a camera phone.

The winner: Tie

Contrasting colors:

Although this isn’t the best image, it reinforces the point about the Casio and earth tones. The Casio captured the image somewhat nicely, but still overexposed the concrete, resulting in missing details and washed-out green grass. The Nokia was able to precisely measure the contrast and compensate accordingly, resulting in a nice deep green alongside the grayish concrete, complete with the little details clearly visible in the grass and the concrete.

The winner: Nokia 5310.

Surprisingly, the Nokia 5310 comes out on top. I fully expected a phone that was so dedicated to music to be inferior in the photo department, but I was wrong. You can rock out and still take decent pictures, which raises the appeal of this phone significantly.

One interesting thing about the Nokia 5310 camera settings is that it saves a 1200×1600 image as a 4″ x 5.33″ file at 300dpi, which is the recommended resolution for printing. Most others usually default to a 16.67″ x 22.22″ file at 72dpi. (Thanks, Dan!)

Overall, the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic is a solid choice for a camera phone, providing quality images in variable light conditions. The added benefit of the removable microSD card (up to 4GB) and a simple USB connection makes high resolution photography a breeze, with no worries about available storage or file transfers.

So, get your groove on and shoot some great photos with the Nokia 5310. You won’t be disappointed.

Disclaimer: No compensation was received for this review nor is there any affiliation between T-Mobile/Nokia or Verizon/Casio and this web site. All reviews and statements herein are based on a trial/regular usage and personal experience.

Rather than bore you with a post about how to capture great shots of fireworks, I’ll fill you in on the fireworks between the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic and my Casio G’zOne type-V.

As a precursor to the July 4th holiday, my girls and I went outside and tested some sparklers to make sure the worked. I took the chance to run some night photography testing between the Nokia and the Casio to see how well (or how bad) they handled low-light situations. I lit some of those cool sparklers that shoot sparks and started shooting.

The Casio G’zone fared as expected, which is not that great. The Casio tends to compensate for the lack of light by overexposing, making for a pixellated and digitized-looking image. The settings for this shot were standard, with no brightness or filter changes. The Casio did manage to capture the spark trails, though, but the effect is lost with the overexposed background. I’d say it’s not the best camera phone for low-light shots.

The Nokia 5310, however, fared much better. I’m surprised at the quality of the image, since most camera phones I’ve seen are terrible at low-light photos. In this case, the 5310 shines. The spark trails are captured as I had hoped, without compromising the rest of the image. The background remains dark, but light enough to see the subject. As with the Casio, the shot was taken with the standard presets.

If fireworks are in your plans tonight, be it a large display or some sparklers in your yard, break out the camera phone and see what you can capture. If anything, it will make a great wallpaper for your phone.

Disclaimer: No compensation was received for this review nor is there any affiliation between T-Mobile/Nokia or Verizon/Casio and this web site. All reviews and statements herein are based on a trial usage and personal experience.

With the huge amount of rain we’ve been getting, I thought it appropriate to post a photo of this storm drain. It’s been busy drinking up the massive runoff from severe thunderstorms that have frequented the area. Thankfully, we aren’t anywhere near the Mississippi River, so flooding is not an issue.

This is also a shot taken from the Nokia 5310 that I’m testing out. I have to say, the camera isn’t spectacular in daylight, but I took some night shots of the kids with sparklers and I was surprised by the results. Come back later this week for the side-by-side camera phone photo comparison between the Nokia 5310 and my Casio G’zOne.  The results are rather interesting.

I’ve been working over the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic for about a week now, thanks to the people over at WOM World. My first impressions of this phone and what it can do are much better than that of the 3555, which I had the opportunity to review earlier this month.

I’ve only had a few moments to play with the camera, so I can only say at this point that I’m impressed with the features that the 5310 offers, considering that it’s a camera phone with an identity crisis. In my opinion, the 5310 is desperately trying to be a first-generation iPod Nano, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

I’ve posted a photo from the 5310 as an example of what it can do at maximum resolution (a respectable 1600×1200 pixels) and maximum image quality given poor lighting conditions. The photo was taken during some rain in full auto mode, then cropped and minimally touched up in Photoshop. So far, so good.

Regarding the music part, I have to say that I’m incredibly happy with what I see. The 1GB of expandable memory allows me to load enough music for the day and then play it back through my desktop speakers, a large set of headphones or the ear buds that come with the kit. Given the volume I’ve played the music and the fact that it was driving a hefty pair of headphones, the battery life managed to maintain well within acceptable limits. Obviously, the 5310 isn’t meant to replace your MP3 player, but it sure does a great job at standing-in.

The high resolution display also makes the navigation icons more recognizable, improving the navigation tremendously. I’m still not pleased with the non-intuitive interface, but I can live with it as long as I can see it.

The form factor of this phone is unbelievable. Measuring 1.2″x 4.1″x 0.4″ makes the 5310 almost invisible. Combine this with the microSD card and you’ve got a little powerhouse that can crank out the tunes.

More on the Nokia 5310 XpressMusic in upcoming weeks.

Disclaimer: No compensation was received for this review nor is there any affiliation between T-Mobile/Nokia and this web site. All reviews are based on a trial usage and the statements herein are based on my current mood and/or my personal preferences.

I was recently given the opportunity to try out the Nokia 3555 by the fine folks over at WOM World. Since playing around with free electronics is fun, I took them up on the offer. I’m also incredibly concerned for the consumer, willing to put myself in great danger to provide you with unbiased cell phone reviews.

Yes, danger. You never know when a telemarketer could call.

The good news: The 3555 is compact and has excellent sound quality comparable to a land line (from my experience). It’s slim design makes it nearly unnoticeable in your back pocket. It sports a large directory that I would never fill, a music player, expandable memory and a bunch of other standard features. The 3555 is a great phone for the light user who makes occasional calls.

The bad news: Being a camera phone photo enthusiast, I’m obviously more concerned with the camera aspect of the phone. It is apparent why the camera gets less than a page of information in the user guide – it is an embarrassment to camera phones everywhere. No flash and low resolution makes this camera phone a paper weight. If you want to shoot memorable photos with your phone, look somewhere else.

Usability: The keypad is comfortable and easy to use, with my big hands making few keying errors. The selector buttons present a bit of confusion at first, but I got used to it after a short time. What really gets me, though, is the navigation.

The phone features are displayed on the screen as icons that are somewhat vague in appearance and more vague once you select one. Without going into much detail, let’s just say that getting around this phone is not intuitive at all. Even after a few weeks of use, I still found myself searching for menu items.

When I did shoot some photos, trying to figure out how to send them elicited moments of temporary insanity. The gallery is equally mysterious and aggravating, at least when I remembered how to get there.

One thing that had me excited, albeit briefly, was the glimmer of hope that this thing shot in 1200×1600. Yes, the user guide states on the bottom of page 44, “your device supports an image capture resolution up to 1200×1600 pixels.” I’ll concede that it might be some weak interpretation of digital zoom and image capture resolution, but I’m guessing that a tech writer didn’t get the memo.

The word: The 3555 is a great phone for making calls. If you’re a superior conceptual thinker, you might be able to find your way around the phone menus. The incredible sound quality makes this phone stand out for me, and the slim form factor is a refreshing departure from the usual brick-like design of most entry-level phones. The 3555 is a decent purchase for a casual user. If you’re looking to capture those precious moments, however, be sure to bring a camera.

Disclaimer: No compensation was received for this review nor is there any affiliation between T-Mobile/Nokia and this web site. All reviews are based on a trial usage and the statements herein are based on my current mood and/or my personal preferences.