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A New Phone

The time has come to give my old phone a well deserved retirement.

A nostalgic review of my previous phone, actually my very first phone. Photos are from the photoblog - Nokia 7610.

Nokia 7610

It's exactly 6 years since I received this phone as a gift from an uncle. Little did I imagine at that time it would introduce me to a world of new experiences.
(Photo taken 2 weeks after I received it).

Launched in May 2004, the 7610 runs on Symbian S60v2 OS 7.0s. Its internal specs are antiquated compared to today's devices.
123Mhz ARM4T CPU, 7MB RAM, 8MB internal memory. It also came with a 64MB Reduced-Size MMC (RS-MMC), the precursor to the MicroSD. Died after 2 years & replaced with a 256MB card.

The 7610 was a grey market device, bought from Hong Kong or Singapore (around Rs 11k) with no warranty. If it broke or malfunctioned, there was little I could do.
Somehow, after numerous falls & unimaginable torture, the device is still working. External casing aside the body is solid unbreakable plastic. Legendary Nokia build quality. Keeps working, even on the factory firmware.
Yup, at that time, you couldn't update your device over USB, so you had to bring it to a Nokia Care Centre. Which I never did. & I didn't need to do it because there weren't any show-stopping bugs on the 7610.

The OS occupies around 25MB on the ROM. That has always been one of the biggest advantages of Symbian - run efficiently on minimum specs. Includes support for multi-tasking... Proper apps running in the background with an app switcher.

The Design

It's fair to say that Nokia didn't go as crazy as with the 7600. It features the same teardrop shape, with more conventional keypad layout & less curved edges. Now that I realise it, Nokia actually made smartphones fashionable!

1MP camera

The first megapixel (1152 x 864) smartphone. A revolution at a time when most camera phones had VGA resolution. It also supported 10 min video recording (at 176x144) in the popular 3gp format. The photos are shockingly bad compared to modern standards. No settings other than digital zoom & a night mode. But it was an essential feature which helped me out countless times. When I broke my P&S camera, it was this 1MP fixed focus camera which got me out of tight spots. Normal photography isn't its forte, but my word, it was awesome at "photo-scanning" printed text & other documents. Some of my “best” photos…

RCPL. Overlooking the cemetery & DT projects. 2005.

Calodyne.

Old Post Office, Port Louis.

Valetta lake.

Roof-top. In 2005, I could actually see the sea… (In 2010)

Symbols.

Ganga Talao. 2006 & 2009.

Maheswarnath Mandir. Being painted in 2006.

Pointe aux Biches.

Ferrari 348.

Orange is here. 2008.

Victoria Hospital room. Stayed there for 5 days. Hell.

Audi R8. December 2008.

USB Plasma ball.

UOM kittens. 2009.

Ile aux Cerfs. 2010.

The Port. 2010.

& the rest is history…

While uploading these photos, I had an epiphany. However bad these photos may look, they still remain priceless memories. An advice - capture every moment in your life. :)

My First Smartphone

The 7610 introduced me to the world of smartphones. At that time, there were only 2 major smartphone OSes - Windows Mobile & Symbian. Few people acknowledge it, but Nokia actually invented the smartphone for the masses with the 6600 & then expanded it with the 7610, 6670 & 3230. It's another thing that only geeks understood & exploited the full potential of their Symbian phones.

So imagine my absolute delight when on my first day with the 7610, I discovered you can install apps on it! Just like on a computer! & games! Themes! Wallpapers! Custom ringtones!
It was by sheer luck that I discovered multitasking when I pressed the menu button for a longer time than necessary.
Similarly, it was a friend who informed me the purpose of the pencil key - used for marking, selection, copy, cut & paste. Yes, a dedicated copy/paste button.

Here a few of my favourite memories with the 7610.

- Two weeks after I received the 7610, I bricked it. What happened was that I was taking photos using internal memory & it completely filled up, leaving not enough space for the device to boot. After several days of panicking, I discovered that you can hard reset every Symbian phone (Power on while holding on Call+3+*).

- The Apps Revolution. Before these so-called app stores were born, I was downloading & installing apps & games everyday. At the start, it was from WAP sites & forums. Eventually I discovered where I could get Zero Day releases - on MIRC chat channels. It was #mediaplace channels if I remember well. Releases were mirrored among chat members & all you had to do was download from them. Using commands naturally as there was no GUI. In its heyday (2005-2006), around 60-100 Symbian apps were being released daily. My own apps database is over 1GB (average app size of 1MB).

- Using offline dictionaries (Concise Oxford English, Thesaurus, etc) while everyone else had to lookup in their hardcopies.
- Graphical calculators. :P

- Gaming. Mostly Java games, arcade-style - Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider, Splinter Cell, Asphalt, Bejeweled, Worms & Brothers-in-Arms (above).

- Reading eBooks using MobiReader. HP & TLOTR converted to .mbp. Spent 2 days reading HP5 non-stop. Turn off screen backlight & make it reflect the ambient light - it's as good as ebook readers!

- Watching movies & TV shows, including Top Gear. All had to be re-encoded into a lower resolution. Started with 3GP on RealPlayer (no fullscreen). Moved on to DivX with Smartmovie. & finally settled with Xvid (avi) & x264 (mkv) when I discovered CorePlayer. What an app!

- My first smartphone virus. Received over Bluetooth from another infected S60 phone. Fortunately, I did have an antivirus app installed which promptly deleted it. It was harmless anyway because you had walk it through its installation steps.

- Beyond themes & icons replacement, I also changed the font (ttf converted to gdr), the screensaver & adding quick launch shortcuts to the home screen. A few years back you could also change operator logos...

- Pranking friends by recording their conversations or playing pre-recorded ones in the background.

- Identifying barcodes & mobile QR codes. At that time, it was nothing more than a gimmick. No actual use.
- Apps like CameraFx allowing special effects (sepia, faux flash, b&w, pop art, kaleidoscopes, etc) & stitching of photos (360 panoramas).
- Installing Python apps. You just needed to install the Python framework & then write & run your own homebrew apps.

- Bluejacking - copying sms & contacts from other phones. Only worked with a few devices. Other bluetooth hacks - remote controlling my PC, use phone as bluetooth mouse, IMing over bluetooth (to other Symbian devices) & using camera as webcam.

- Long battery life. Only 900mAh, but it could run 2/3 days on heavy usage & up to a week on light usage. Only games used to kill battery life. Otherwise, you could leave apps running in the background without worrying about it draining the battery.

- Music. Using a 3rd party headset connected to the pop-port. Listening to music (with mono hardware limitation) using UltraMP3 to overcome the default 7 bars volume. I always believed in the mobile phone as a converged device & that's why I never owned a music player. I actually skipped the iPod generation.

- Opera Mini + Dabr = Twitter on the go. Opera Mini has been a godsend for browsing web sites without exploding my data consumption.

- Free Gprs. Around 8GB downloaded using Cellplus' network in 2007. Figured out a way to tether it to my PC & enjoyed an unlimited connection for the very first time in my life - (I was on dial-up in 2007). & that was around the same time I started blogging. So yeah, the 7610 was directly responsible for me being a blogger today. :)
& it's still helping me today - 90% of all posts on the blog have been typed on the 7610. Including this one.

You now know why I love Symbian. Its apps, its ease of use, its stability & its efficient use of the battery. The perfect OS built for devices like the 7610.
I find it amusing when people complain that <insert OS or smartphone here> doesn't have a feature I've already used years ago. Symbian was way ahead of its time.

As such, whatever will be replacing my 7610 will have to fulfill all these requirements & improve on many of the available features.

Requirements
- Touchscreen smartphone - at least 3.5" high resolution screen.
- Good build quality & durable. Should handle some abuse, especially in harsh environments.
- Great battery life with removable battery.
- Great browser with flash support (or at least play YouTube videos).
- Ample storage - microSD + internal storage (16/32GB)
- Decent camera. I already have the Nikon L20, so that the least of all my priorities.
Budget - Rs 14,000 ($467)

Basically looking for a mid-end smartphone on a tight budget. Let's look at the contenders, OS-wise.

iPhone

Large app ecosystem. Decent hardware (high res screen, good battery life, 1Ghz processor, 512MB RAM). Future-proof. Jailbroken apps fixes some of its deficiencies.

Available in only 16/32GB. No microSD. Non-removable battery. Fragile glass construction. Doesn't survive falls. Broken front glass requires complete touchscreen replacement because it's glued together. Cat-&-mouse game between Apple & jailbreakers resulting in updates removing jailbreaks/unlocks.

eBay prices (unlocked):
iPhone 4 16GB - $855
iPhone 4 32GB - $990
iPhone 3GS 32GB - $625

If you account for the Customs VAT, Orange Mauritius actually sells it cheaper, but it's network-locked.
Because of its popularity, the iPhone is way overpriced. The only place where you can get the lowest price is Singapore/Hong Kong - where it's sold for as low as Rs 20k ($667).
Not only it's out of my budget but I don't have any external contacts, so the iPhone is very much out of my reach. Anyway, I wouldn't want one because it's too fragile; will never survive my clumsiness.

Android

I have zero experience of using Android & the following points are based on what I've read from reviews.
Large portfolio of devices. From cheap smartphones (320x480 screens) to the superphones (1Ghz+ processors). Most of the 1Ghz devices are future-proof. Large amount of apps. Extensive customization options (keyboard replacement, home screen, etc).

While Android has a plethora of devices, they all have the same drawbacks. Fragmentation. Yes, it does exist if you stick to manufacturer updates. OEMs are methodically slow at pushing the latest Android updates to their devices. Fortunately, there are the vanilla ROMs that you can install…. at the expense of manufacturer customizations (specifically in the camera & music department).
Short battery life due to lack of multitasking optimization. No GPU-accelerated UI (that's why Android needs faster CPUs).

Despite the wide variety of Android devices, the hardware isn't appealing if you're looking for the perfect converged device. For e.g., there's only one manufacturer that makes decent cameras - SonyEricsson. But given their track record at updating their devices, it's impossible to trust them anymore.

Apart from the Nexus line of devices, it's hard to consider any Android device. The cost, lack of mid-end converged devices & the fact that I've never tried Android means I'm still undecided over this platform.

HTC Desire - $490
HTC Desire HD - $565
HTC Desire Z - $565
Motorola Milestone 2 - $580
Samsung Galaxy S i9000 - $600
Nexus One - $570
Nexus S - $690

Windows Phone 7

At this point in time, it’s hard to consider an OS that’s still in its infancy. Yes, it has the most advanced UI but lacks essential features like multitasking, decent browser & microSD card support. Given Microsoft's accelerated development schedule of the OS, I would estimate WP7 to be one year away from having a feature set on par with iOS & Android.
Excluding the games, the apps catalogue isn't very exciting. & the iOS-styled limitations are a step too far for a platform that needs to attract as much users as possible.

HTC HD7 - $520
Samsung Focus - $595
Samsung Omnia 7 - $615

Symbian

I know there are tons of devices from the N97 mini, the X6, the E72 to the C5. But after having used Symbian^3, there's no going back. Given that the C6-03, C7 & E7 all have EDoF cameras, there's only one Symbian device that can be considered - the Nokia N8. That would have been my first choice… if I hadn't used & extensively reviewed it. The main limitations are a crap browser, rubbish resolution, lack of apps & a UI that hasn't changed since my 7610. The price is tempting, but the camera alone isn't worth it.

Nokia N8 - $480

MeeGo

Yeah, MeeGo OS is just round the corner. The N9 will probably be announced within a week with the rumoured hardware specs as follows: 1.2Ghz CPU, 1GB RAM, 1080p-playing GPU, 64GB internal memory & 12MP camera. Clearly into superphone territory, with a price double my budget. I couldn't wait for it...

No iPhone, no Android device, no WP7 device & not even a Symbian device. So what did I buy?

The first tablet OS, built for the Internet.
The only touchscreen smartphone with no front buttons.
One of the two smartphones with 32GB internal storage & a microSD slot.
A pure Linux experience that makes Android look like Windows.
The only smartphone with native dual-boot support (with MeeGo 1.1).

The Nokia N900

The ultimate geek phone. & by geek, I don't mean the faux geeks that consider themselves to be one just by jailbreaking devices, taking photos HDR or retweeting hashtags. The Maemo 5 OS on the N900 is a tablet GUI on top of the Linux kernel, giving you total freedom of modification. No unlocking, no jailbreaking & no complex rooting procedures. The N900 has been designed with only one thing in mind - to be completely open.
Here's the analogy with cars... iPhones are BMWs with loads of gizmos available. Android is the Volkswagen group - building everything from Polos, Audis to Lamborghinis. Symbian is like Toyota, great at making good cars but not supercars.
& the N900? The Ariel Atom or an F1 car. Only a few can drive it & they know exactly what an incredible machine it is.
That’s why when I saw it was being sold at $400 on eBay, I didn’t think twice. Even though I’ve never used one before…

Yeah, the first time I held an N900 was when I unboxed it… Unboxing pics & first impressions are in this post on the photoblog.

More about → A New Phone

Nokia N8 Review: Part 6 - The Camera

The N8 has a 12MP wide-angle camera with Xenon flash. That puts it in direct competition with entry-level point-&-shoots. Can a $500 smartphone take better photos than a $100 P&S? Can a camera phone replace a compact camera? That is exactly what I'm here to find out - the Nokia N8 vs Nikon L20.

This post is Part 6 of Nokia N8 Review series. The remaining posts are here:

The Hardware

Underneath that huge bump at the back of the N8, there lies some cutting-edge hardware. At the heart of it, there is a 1/1.83" image sensor. That's 30% bigger than most compact cameras. My own Nikon L20 has a smaller 1/2.5" sensor.
It has a mechanical shutter & a wide-angle 28mm Carl Zeiss lens (actual focal length of 5.9mm) with a fixed aperture of f/2.8. Focus distance is from 10cm to infinity.
The Carl Zeiss optics are protected on the outside by a Gorilla Glass window, meaning it's scratchproof & shatter-proof. But not immune to smudges & fingerprints. It will need a good wipe before you take any photos.
Next to the camera, you have the Xenon flash & a red LED. The red LED is an auto-focus assist light used to help the camera to focus in low light by illuminating the subject. There is no option to turn off this AF assist light (or to use it as an emergency light).

Fixed Aperture

Unlike the N86 8MP, the N8 has no variable aperture. Instead, it has a Neutral Density filter that slides in when the light level exceeds a certain threshold. An ND filter reduces the light intensity while a variable aperture will make the aperture smaller allowing less light into the sensor.
However, it isn't all about light intensity. A large aperture means narrow depth of field (more background blur), while a smaller aperture means large DOF (sharper photos). That's why a variable aperture is better.
On my own camera, the aperture usually stays at f/3.1 under normal light conditions & lowers to f/5.5 under bright sunlight. But I don't have any control over the variable aperture (no aperture-priority mode). Even the N86 with f/2.4, f/3.2 & f/4.8 has its aperture controlled automatically.
What I'm hinting at is that unless you have control of the aperture, it's not essential - it's cheaper to have a less complex ND filter.
That said, the holy trinity of aperture, shutter speed & ISO has been broken - full manual control will never be possible (officially or unofficially). :(
(If you don't know these terms, here's a quick guide & an advanced guide).

Camera UI

The biggest let-down with the N8 is in fact what has been the problem with Symbian^3 - the UI. Take a look-back at the N97's camera review & see the N8 above. What has changed? Almost nothing.

Take a look at the video. Notice how I have to double-tap to change scene modes. I'm not complaining about the lack of controls, but the way you access the controls. The UI should have designed in such a way that no settings is more than 2 taps away. Nokia should take a look at the UI of actual cameras, the Samsung & SonyEricsson camera phones.

Although I would have liked more Scene modes (you can have only one user defined scene mode), the N8 has all the essential controls you’d expect from a digital camera.

Flash – Automatic, Red-Eye reduction, On, Off.
Scene modes - Automatic, User Defined, Macro, Portrait, Night Shot, Night Portrait, Landscape, Sports.
Show grid – overlays a Rule of the Third grid on the screen.
Self-timer – off, 2s, 10s, 20s.
Colour tone - Normal, Sepia, Black & White, Vivid.
White balance - Automatic, Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent
Exposure – +2/-2 at 0.5 steps.
Light sensitivity (ISO) - Automatic, Low, Medium, High.
Contrast/Brightness – 20 notches/10 notches.
Sharpness – Hard, Normal, Soft.
Single/Sequence – Take a single shot or multiple shots.

Much has been said about how the camera settings will be persistent. However, the only settings that are permanent are those related to image handling - resolution, naming, storage & geotagging.
By default, the N8 doesn’t save your last modified Settings when you exit the camera. It reverts to Auto mode each time you start the app. For that you have to customise the User Defined mode as per your Settings (for me Flash off & Grid on) & then set it to default mode. I’ve never come across a digital camera doing this…
Otherwise a make-shift solution right now is to let the camera app running in the background. No worries about memory usage, because the camera goes into standby mode when switching to another app.

In my version of the N8, I did have the option to turn off the shutter sound. If not, look around for a patch. ;)
From the camera shooting screen, there really is no option to view recently taken photos – you have to launch the Photos app from the Settings menu. One addition I’d like in the Photos app is the EXIF data. Which reminds me, the N8 doesn’t actually show live preview of ISO & shutter speed…

Another problem with the UI is the placement of the buttons. In the video, I managed to press the menu button by mistake. That's still ok. What about if you press Exit? Given the location of the Exit button is where you would usually hold your thumb, exiting the camera app happened all the time when I was using the N8. Ironically, the older side buttons UI was much better.
Another quirk I noticed was that sometimes the resolution would automatically change from 12MP to 9MP. It's only much later that I found out that pinch-zooming the screen does that.
Out of the box, the N8's camera is set at 9MP, cropped at 16:9 - 4000x2248. Why that isn't at the full sensor resolution of 4000x3000 is to anyone's guess...

For normal users the camera interface might be ok. But, this isn't any Symbian device we're using here. More than a let-down, it's an insult to the great camera on the N8.

Jpeg compression

You may find it surprising that the average file size of the 12MP photos taken by the N8 is... 1.75MB. While having RAW mode would be overkill, I expect at least a low jpeg compression mode that gives the highest image quality. Hence maximum details & more freedom for cropping.
Fortunately there is a hack to remove the 85% compression & set it at 97% or 100%. 97% is largely enough with file sizes at 4MB.

Autofocus area

If you've used previous Nokia phones, you'll notice that it had a large centre focus area. In the N8, it's been made smaller - much to my delight. This allows faster AF & gives precise focus control.
Did I mention that a half-press on the shutter button locks both the focus & the exposure like all cameras? :)

Camera shake

The N8 doesn't have any optical image stabilisation (it wouldn't be feasible anyway). Camera shake while pressing the shutter button is something you'll have to take care of if you have not-so-dexterous-hands. Fortunately, the N8 does have an on-screen button which is easier to tap.
& what if you need to lock focus? You can use the timer. Set it at 2s.
The other way is to first lock focus on the subject using the shutter button. & then remove your finger to quickly tap the on-screen button. Most of the time, the AF will focus on the same point as you previously manually focused. :)

Shutter speed

f/2.8 | 1/1114s | ISO-105

f/2.8 | 1/5s | ISO-565

Shortest exposure time I've obtained is 1/1114s while the longest exposure is 1/5s. Sadly, with no exposure control, long exposure photography is out of question. No light trails photos. It wouldn't be practical anyway because of the large aperture.
The above night photo is one of the rare ones without motion blur. So if ever you want to take night shots, you’ll have to get a makeshift tripod & set the ISO to low/medium to lower the high noise.

Speed of camera

Time between pressing camera button & being able to shoot on N8: 3s
Time between unlocking, pressing camera button & being able to shoot on N8: 5 to 6s
Time between turning on & being able to shoot on Nikon L20: 5 to 7s
Autofocus shoot time - time between tapping on-screen button (without any AF lock) & taking photo on N8: 0.5 to 1s
According to Nokia's camera supremo Damian Dinning, the N8 has an AF time of around 0.35s & a shutter lag of 150ms. In practice, I've found the N8 to have exactly the same AF time as my Nikon L20 in almost all situations. Even in low light with flash, I was surprised to find both cameras going off at exactly the same time. For a phone camera, that's some incredible advancement!
However, this is no DSLR. Like with my L20, you have to anticipate when an action will take place & time your shot accordingly with the AF lag in consideration.
There's no burst mode on the N8, but the lag between taking photos is at most 1 to 2s in sequence mode. Unlike previous phones where this could only be achieved by using the phone memory, the internal NAND storage is much faster on the N8 - write speeds of around 10MB/s.

AMOLED performance

As I mentioned in previous posts, the AMOLED screen doesn't give an accurate colour representation. When you take photo, the saturation seems perfect. It's only when you load the photo on your PC that you notice it's not that striking anymore...
The other problem with the screen is that it's reflective. For reasons only known to Nokia, they didn't include the polarized Clear Black Display on the N8.

Face detection

Yes, the N8 has face detection, where a small square appears on people's faces when it detects them. I haven't tested it as I'm not interested in these commercial gimmicks. Same as faux-HDR.

Photos Comparison

Wide-angle

Nikon L20 | f/5.5 | 1/500s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/243s | ISO-105

Nikon L20 | f/5.5 | 1/260s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/152s | ISO-102

Nikon L20 | f/5.5 | 1/284s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/189s| ISO-100

A wider-angle camera captures a wider angle of view from the same point (kinda obvious). The Nikon L20 has a focal length of 7mm while the N8 is 5.9mm. In 35mm equivalent, that’s 38mm vs 28mm.

Macro Mode

Nikon L20 | f/5.5 | 1/647s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/392s | ISO-105

The wide angle has almost no effect on macro photography.

Nikon L20 | f/5.5 | 1/192s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/95s | ISO-100

In fact, in macro mode, N8 focuses better than the L20…

Saturation

Nikon L20 | f/5.5 | 1/135s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/173s | ISO-105

If you haven’t noticed it by now, the L20 does tend to slightly over-saturate its photos. & here, with red/magenta colours, it gets worse. The N8 has no such problems!
If you look at the background blur, the L20 has some radial blur (looks like lens aberration) while the N8 gives round bokehs…

Low light

Nikon L20 | f/5.5 | 1/384s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/216s | ISO-105

Dark clouds, just on the verge of raining. N8 wins.

Nikon L20 | f/3.1 | 1/67s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/124s | ISO-104

The N8 is obviously better (bigger sensor & all), but it doesn’t sacrifice that at the expense of noise! Direct sunset photos is impossible by the way (no variable aperture).

Zoom

Nikon L20 – Optical zoom | f/6.7 | 1/337s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 – Digital zoom | f/2.8 | 1/215s | ISO-100

Ok, that’s one area where a digital camera will always beat a camera phone… Note the white haze in the N8’s photo.

Flare

ND filter vs variable aperture.

Nikon L20 | f/5.5 | 1/738s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/797s | ISO-105

If you crop the sun out, the N8 has done a pretty neat job.

Nikon L20 | f/5.5 | 1/369s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/129s | ISO-105

Once again, the N8 fares pretty well. Although you do have the light scattered all over the place…

Night (without flash)

Nikon L20 | f/3.1 | 1/40s | ISO-400

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/100s | ISO-213

Both the L20 & the N8 can’t take photos at night without flash (excessive noise & blur). However, how about some candle lighting… Can’t believe that the N8 is better – look at low noise level!

Night (with flash)

Nikon L20 | f/3.1 | 1/30s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/50s | ISO-132

Nikon L20 | f/3.1 | 1/30s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/50s | ISO-148

Something’s wrong here…

Details

Here are 1:1 crops of photos taken by the N8 & the L20.
Important things to consider - the L20 has a 10MP sensor with (supposedly) superior optics. The N8 has a bigger 12MP sensor with a wide-angle lens. Which will win?

Nikon L20 | f/5.5 | 1/544s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/250s | ISO-103

Nikon L20/Nokia N8

Nikon L20 | f/5.5 | 1/707s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/291s | ISO-103

Nikon L20/Nokia N8

Nikon L20 | f/3.1 | 1/337s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/90s | ISO-105

Nikon L20/Nokia N8

Nikon L20 | f/3.1 | 1/168s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/280s | ISO-105

Nikon L20/Nokia N8

The result isn’t astonishing - the N8 has the better details! I agree there is some over-sharpening in the last set, but for a camera phone, that level of detail is insane!

In defence of the L20, it does have one manufacturing defect. The L20 has some serious lens aberration - if you check the landscape photos, there are certain areas out of focus. & it also has a very aggressive noise reduction algorithm.
The N8 has some aberration, but it's barely noticeable except in some landscape photos. Out of focus areas is more likely due to camera shake.

Flash

Nikon L20 | f/3.1 | 1/30s | ISO-64

Nokia N8 | f/2.8 | 1/50s | ISO-123

Maximum range of the flash is between 3 to 4m. Damian Dinning tipped that the N8's flash is at its most powerful when you use the red-eye reduction mode. Weird.
The Nikon L20's flash is far more powerful & has greater range. The L20 uses 2 NiMH AA batteries (2.4V) while the N8 has Li-ion (3.7V). Hence the L20 takes around 5 to 10s to recharge between flashes while the N8 takes less than 5s. (Read about how flashes work here)
However, despite having a Xenon flash, the photos look as if they've been taken with a LED flash!

A quick detour through Lightroom reveals that the white balance is way off for the N8.

Tweaking the temperature & the tint makes the photos nearly similar to that of L20. This should be a priority fix for the N8's camera in the next firmware.

Red-eye
I can't show photos of people here, but what I can tell you is that both the L20 & the N8 failed the red-eye test. In pitch darkness, with the subjects at a distance of 2-4m, even with the pre-flash strobes, it made absolutely no difference. Could have used the normal flash instead of wasting the battery using red-eye reduction mode. Result - I had to spend the whole day on Photoshop painstakingly rebuilding eyes.
Perusing through the photos, I did find one non-red-eye photo. The subject was 1.5m away. Point to note - if you want to take nighttime portraits with red-eye reduction mode on the N8, keep your subjects within a distance of 1.5m.

Digital Zoom

Up to 2x of digital zoom. You can use the on-screen controls, double-tap or use the volume rocker switch.

ISO

ISO 100

ISO 400

ISO 800

These are the custom ISO settings for Low, Medium & High. It would have been nice if we could have IS0 200, because beyond ISO 400, the noise level is unacceptable. Note that during prototyping, the N8’s sensor could reach up to ISO 1200…

Bokeh

There's actually one reason why I'll forgive Nokia for the lack of variable aperture. Large aperture = awesome bokehs!
These light bokehs are quite easy to achieve. Use the macro mode & tap the on-screen button. By default, the AF system, when it can't achieve focus, shoots the photo at the closest focus range.

Panorama

There's no built-in panorama mode on the N8. Instead, there's a free Nokia Panorama app which you can download on Ovi Store. The panorama app produces decent results, but I don't like how it artificially curves the horizon.

The best way to take panoramas remains the old-fashioned way of shooting individual photos & stitching them on your PC. Here are 2 examples posted on the photoblog – Pointe aux Biches & Montagne Longue.

The big problem with the N8's camera is that some of the photos still have that artificial "phone camera" feel with it.
First, there's obviously a slight lack of vibrancy & saturation (& some wrong white balance with flash). On the AMOLED screen, you never notice it because the screen is over-saturated. My Nikon L20 brings out the colours perfectly, although it does over-saturate sometimes. The N8 could do with slightly more realistic colours in certain cases. I haven't tried the vivid mode, but you should use it if you find the photos to be less lively. Of course, nothing beats post-processing... It's better to have an under-saturated photo than an over-saturated one which you can't modify.

The second problem is the flare. With no variable aperture, it's really difficult to control bright objects. Furthermore, the (relatively) slim profile of the camera means it captures a lot of ambient refracted light. It would be pretty useful if we could add a "hood" in front of the lens. So the variable aperture is something everyone will sorely miss...

Video recording

The N8 finally brings in some 720p recording. The audio is stereo with another digital microphone at the back. With the 12MP sensor, there's 3x optical-like zoom. Video is recorded using H.264 codec (average bitrate of 12Mbps) & audio at 128kbps AAC sampled at 48kHz. The frame rate is limited to 25fps. & here's the hack to bump it up to 30fps. The low light mode lowers the frame rate to 15fps. & the night-mode reduces it to 5fps.

I've uploaded 2 videos on YouTube. Best viewed on YouTube at 720p. First one is at 25fps & 2nd one at 30fps. There are certain problems with recording video on the N8 - you need steady hands or the video will end up as above. & you have to practice with the zoom controls so that you don't have those sudden zooms. It would be nice if Nokia could add smooth zoom in future updates.
In the 2nd video, one thing you'd notice is that while I zoomed in the video, the details got better! According to Damian Dinning, that's because at around 2.5x, there is no downscaling. The video is recorded at a 1:1 sensor ratio.
PS. My PC struggled to play these 720p videos. :S

If you've noticed, I didn't do any kind of macro video recording. That's because it's not possible on the N8. Instead of a continuous auto-focus system, there's an Active Hyper-focal Distance system that focuses on everything from 60cm to infinity.
Is there a hack to add continuous AF? Yes, but it doesn't work. HyperX has encountered problems with the macro mode while using continuous AF. So it's up to Nokia to find a way to add this much demanded feature.

Wrap-up

With the N8, I do regret one thing - I haven't pushed it to its limits. Even though tweaking the settings isn't user-friendly (especially if you need to shoot quickly), I should have worked some more on the composition of my shots.

That said, I've had an immense pleasure using the N8. I've been using it far more than my Nikon because it's more pocketable & it's less awkward to take it out to snap a pic. If I had used my camera, everyone stares at you, trying to figure out what this freak is doing. With N8, not only no one cares because it's discrete, but also it's so powerful that you're confident that you'll get a great shot with a single tap. For quick shots, the N8 is terrific!

Furthermore, given how technical I've gone with this review, I think Nokia have achieved something here. If you start talking about details only a photographer would understand, then this is no longer a phone. We are in camera territory.

So, can it a replace a point-&-shoot? I would say the N8 is 75% there. With some post-processing, photos from the N8 are virtually indistinguishable from my L20. The details in the images is almost the same if not better. Nikon, Canon & the other manufacturers should be very worried. The margin between phone camera & compact cameras is rapidly blurring out. With a revamp of the UI, optical zoom, variable aperture & addition of more features/manual control, the next camera flagship from Nokia will definitely compete with compact cameras.

To conclude, if you have to choose between a point-&-shoot camera & the Nokia N8, go for a decent compact camera (Canon, Nikon or Panasonic). You will never regret it.

If you want an all-in-one device with the camera having the first priority on your feature list, you should definitely consider the N8.

If you want the best camera phone that currently exists, then this is it. The N8 is the best.

N8 Photography

Here are some of the best photos I’ve taken with the N8. Includes some of the above, plus macro photography, street photography, night, landscape… the Nokia N8 can do it all!

Sorry, no originals from me. Photos are at the maximum Blogger limit of 1600x1200px. It’ll take me days to upload the 500MB of photos I’ve used in this post & the slideshow.

This post was Part 6 of Nokia N8 Review series. The remaining posts are here:

Related links:

Posts from Damian Dinning, the man behind the N8’s camera. Read the comments as well.
Nokia N8 Camera - 2,260 days in the making – Part 1 & Part 2
Nokia N8 photography - all the FAQs
GSMArena - Nokia N8 in focus: An interview with Damian Dinning

Nokia N8 Camera School – set of posts (29 so far!) on how to get the best out of the N8 in various situations.

My Nokia Blog - Rant: Fixing Nokia's Symbian Touch Camera UI – Perfecting the Nokia N8 Camera experience

The Nokia Creative N8 Photo Awards by James Burland

Nokia N8 Flickr User Group - http://www.flickr.com/groups/nokian8/

Other Reviews
AllAboutSymbian - Review: Nokia N8: part 2 - camera and camcorder
Shootspeak – N8 Camera Preview
PhoneArena - Nokia N8 Review
FoneArena - Nokia N8 Review Week – Day 2 – Camera
World of Phones - Nokia N-8 review Part-4: Camera

Photos
TheGadgetBuff - Colours of India in low-light [Shot on a Nokia N8]
ZOMGitsCJ - Nokia N8 Photoshoot: In Flight
ZOMGitsCJ - Nokia N8 Photoshoot: Panoramas of Mumbai
ZOMGitsCJ - Nokia N8 Photoshoot: Mumbai by Day
ZOMGitsCJ - Nokia N8 Photoshoot: Mumbai by Night
ZOMGitsCJ - Pictures from the Nokia India N8 Urban Spree
SymbianWorld - Nokia N8 Macro Shots Tips and Gallery
The Handheld Blog - Nokia N8 Review: Camera – Includes 75 Photo Samples
FoneArena - Exclusive: 89 Live Pictures from the Nokia N8 Camera
The Nokia Network - How Good is the Nokia N8 Camera?
My Nokia Blog - Freakishly Awesome Gallery: Human Cloning with the Nokia N8 – Witchcraft?
My Nokia Blog - Gallery: Nokia N8 Black and White Photography