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November 16, 2006
[ REVIEW—NOKIA N73 telephone camera ]
Price: $750
Highly recommended
The low-down: The Nokia N73 is a 3G enabled mobile phone incorporating a 3.2 megapixel camera with an auto-focus Zeiss lens.
Before the current generation of high-end phones the inbuilt cameras have made do with fixed focus wide angle lenses and focussing has been a hit and miss affair. New cameras, such as this Nokia and the competing Sony Ericsson K800i, have true autofocus lenses. The improvement in image quality is noticeable.
The N73 has a sliding cover over the lens and flash. Opening the cover turns on the camera. The flash is virtually useless.
Like: Images are sharp and generally well exposed.
Dislike: The colour balance and dynamic range are not as good as on the Sony Ericsson K800i which is still the standard setter in this price range.
Verdict: The interesting feature of this device is that it is being marketed as a camera with a phone built in rather than the other way round. The selling line is “Snap, share and swing with style on your new Nokia N73.” And open up the user’s manual and on page one the first words are: “The imaging power of a digital camera.” The text that follows is all about the camera and mp3 player and nothing about the phone.
Which raises the question: can a phone camera replace a normal camera? At 3.2 megapixels the resolution is as good as some well-regarded cameras of three years ago. What this camera misses out on is a zoom lens of reasonable focal length. The little Zeiss lens is very wide angle which makes for amusing but unflattering portraits. On the other hand the fact that the phone camera is always to hand is enticing.
A couple of weeks ago Mr and Mrs dpexpert were buying a dress for a distant grand daughter. We took phone photos of a couple of dresses in the shop, telephoned them to the mother and got her choice back in a couple of minutes. “Heavens to Betsy,” we said. “What sort of a world are we living in?”
Bottom line: we like the Nokia but we have a slight preference for the image quality of the Sony Ericsson.
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Posted by terry at November 16, 2006 07:21 AM
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