See into S60

December 24, 2005 Mobile device revolution under way Posted by at 07:22 PM | Categories: Commentary

After 5 days in Rome, I can but conclude that mobile devices with decent cameras are becoming a must for many tourists. At the Fontana di Trevi, at the Colosseum, at Pantheon and in the Vatican, more and more persons, including myself, used their mobile devices rather than their digital cameras for capturing moments and places to remember. It guess that there are at least two key aspects why mobile devices are taking over from advanced digital cameras:

1. Ease of use: The cameras must offer fast photographing - short startup times allowing fast shooting; easy zooming; good battery stamina; I also appreciated the possibility to shoot short video clips with a minimum of fuss.
2. Picture quality: It should be sufficient for publishing on web sites or for printing a few selected pictures in standard format. And it is definitely more to it than just megapixel competition...

I appreciated my S60 phone (a Nokia 6680): Often my advanced digital camera took worse pictures (I guess it is also the photographer's fault due to my camera's complex functionality). The night mode, for instance, worked better with my mobile than with my digital camera! ....And my digital camera's startup time was a nightmare. Also the battery consumption was a showstopper at times.

Out of the persons that I saw using their mobile devices for taking photos, a large majority was using devices with megapixel cameras.

In a few days, I will bore you with a couple of sample pics from the trip.

Until then, I would love to hear your opinions about this topic too!

Have a peaceful week-end and/or Christmas!

- BWi

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Comments

As much as I have beef with the N90, I do like the camera. My Minolta camera has a fast startup time for a digital camera, but before trying the "instant-on" camera on the N90 I would have never imagined how much difference there is between waiting 1 second or not waiting at all before taking a picture. I can just fling the N90 out of my pocket and press the shutter button to take a photo. Now if it only remembered the camera settings reliably...

"...The cameras must offer fast photographing ..."

Have you tried N70?? Talking about fast cameras.. yes. they should be fast. but N70 has the slowest camera around..

Hi Björn,
I live in Rome ... If you wrote about your journey before leaving we could meet !
It will be for the next time :)

Marco,

What a pity...

I threw a coin in the Fontana di Trevi, meaning that I am very likely to come back one day! Will send you a note then...

Hi Alexandre,

Thanks for your comment...

My manager's boss uses the N70, so we just tried it out... From opening the lens cover until the picture was taken and presented it took us approximately 3 seconds. I personally think that is quite acceptable, at least it is much faster performance than my 400 Euro digital camera... But ok, I suppose it is a matter of preferences on what can be considered long delays (and what you compare against).

Cheers,

BWi

well mine and others I see take 5 seconds... Maybe it's due to different fw's...
Happy 2006!

Will the picture quality of phone's camera be the same as digital camera (or at least approaching)? That's what I am waiting for right now.... :)

Adding more MPix does not necessary improve the picture quality if the camera's lens is poor.

Antony

S60 Open to new features

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