This doesn't really seem like a fit in here with unified communications, but I'm going to post this and explain why I think it fits. First, three of the devices included here are cell phones. I may be looking at the cameras, but they're communications devices. I do Skype and other VoIP on the Treo, but not these particular Nokia handsets.

Soon, I'll be testing the new Nokia N80i with Gizmo VoIP capability. And another camera. So for me, this is an exploration into the capabilities of this array of mobile handheld devices I'm fiddling with. And it's the weekend, so indulge me.K

Like many people who've been testing out the latest N-series phones from Nokia, the camera is a feature that really makes an impression. On the N73, the camera just seems stellar in terms of quality and usability. The N93 feels superior in video mode, but I was curious about still mode as well.

This afternoon I took pictures of some silk flowers with each camera listed in the subject line. I figured this is the only way to get a real basis of comparison. I expect to do some more comparison shooting, but here's my first pass for your viewing. I'm going to share them here in the small size, but you can click through to Flickr for the full size. I did no editing or resizing of any kind in the original photos. They're straight from the respective camera.

Treo 700W



At 1.2 megapixel, with no flash, it's about what I've come to expect. This class of camera does an ok job of taking snapshots. It isn't great quality. The colors are a bit muddy. But for a standard camera phone, it's ok

Nokia N73



At 3.2 megapixel, the Carl Zeiss lens shows much greated color saturation. It's sharper, brighter. This picture is crisp, not muddy at all.

The Nokia N93

First the same picture.



I was surprised how different in appearance the pictures from the N73 and N93 were. I noticed the hue of the flowers themselves seem more red in the N93 picture.

The N93 offers closeup mode. I didn't do this to compare with the Nikon, but just to demonstrate that mode of the camera.




The Nikon D50

This isn't included as a note about the quality of the camera in any of the phones. More, for me, this is to set the benchmark of what a 6 megapixel, hi quality image looks like. If Nikon sets the bar high, that's ok. It's the target that I'd like my camera phones to aim for.




I find striking difference between each at every camera represented here. I've only ever compared my Treo to my Nikon. That's always been a striking difference. The improvement of the Zeiss optics as opposed to the 1.2 megapixel in the Treo is, to me, quite striking. It's clear to me that the photo tools in the Treo have been left in the dust by Nokia. The Treo isn't state of the art and isn't even what I'd call reasonably good any longer.

The N73 feels like a digital camera in the hand. It's a great pocket camera, with a nice flash, good zoom, and has done a nice job for me.

The N93 feels like a digital video camera. It's larger and heavier, although I don't really find it much larger than the Treo. The N93 is far superior for video (more on that later), and for those into macro photography or wanting to do any closeup work, it might be the better choice. I can't measure quality in any quantitave way, but the reds in the N93 shots seem closer to the red of the Nikon shot to me.

Just an interesting comparision of photos.


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