I also can't understand why you'd prefer the colours on the Samsung: they're horrible. Did someone dump a huge load of radioactive waste in your garden then clean it up before you took the next 3 photos?
Exploring the Megapixel Myth
I also noticed that old phones were used for the review.
Surely it would be much better to use all up to date phones? After all, when did the N93 last get a firmware update? (whoosh, go the rants)
I think the same test again, with a
6110N as the 2MP
N78 as the 3.2MP
And leave the others as they are.
They you really get to see the proper differences. I suspect both software and hardware has come on a lot since some of those phones.
Theres no way my 6110 was quite as bad as that in decent light.
Its not only the hardware, but the ability of the software to utilize that hardware to maximum potential. My original foray into S60 was the N90. Its 2 megapixel camera was considered gaudy at the time, too. Everyone said we didn't need such high quality images when many MMS systems highly compress and downsize images anyway. At the time, I agreed, but liked the device as a standalone camera/camcorder quite a bit.
Once I gained an intimate knowledge of the OS features, I discovered the N90 packed a full featured image and video editor! This allowed me to not only capture high quality digital imagery on my device, but to also to edit and convert to different sizes and formats to share with friends via MMS, email, or other transmission methods.
People were amazed that I always had such unique pictures in my messages. It wasn't my photographer skills, but editing skills. I could easily zoom in and crop images from miniscule portions of these high resolution images. Needless to say, the higher resolution will allow more small details to be extracted. Smaller details mean the option of cropping the button on a shirt to send to a designer seeking ideas. The higher megapixel count may improve the ability to convey messages, or present views of scenes you may not be able to capture at such close distance.
We as critics must lessen the attitude that we know what most users want or will do. No one will argue that users want their devices to do more. All of the latest innovation in software pertains to present hardware. Newer, more powerful hardware will open the door to richer media experiences, even greater software innovation, like better media editors for our mobiles to handles such high grade data, and more ways to manipulate and share them.
The progression to higher megapixel camera hardware is no bragging rights race, nor a foolhardy undertaking. The ability to capture and manipulate higher resolution media is called innovation, something Nokia used to lead the market in. These innovations have the implication to greatly upgrade the various MMS maximum file size and type settings for various networks across the globe. Device hardware and network speed and capacity present opportunities for OEM's to create new ways of communicating, and redefine the function of tomorrow's mobile devices.
For all those people requesting for optical zoom, I refer you to N93.
The phone has a 3.2 megapixel camera, Carl Zeiss optics and 3x optical zoom as well as a 30 fps VGA-resolution MPEG-4 video recording capability.
3X OPTICAL.
Need I repeat it?
Google before you post, next time.