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Nokia has still more to say about cameras
By Charlie on 21 May 2009
ESPOO, Finland – Nokia launched its first camera phone, the Nokia 7650, back in November 2001 and helped changed the face of digital photography, the Web, and mobile phones. The latest leap in camera phones for Nokia is the Nokia N86 8MP. It has shown that Nokia still as something to say about mobile phones and photography. I have been an avid user of camera phones since the launch of the Nokia 7650. And I am currently using the Nokia N86 8MP. Continue reading for a bit of a journey past the milestones in camera phones at Nokia, and maybe get a glimpse of the future.
The first
The Nokia 7650 was chock-full of firsts for Nokia: it was the first S60 phone, the first with a camera, and the first with MMS. It was also way ahead of its time, a slick slider with an amazing screen. The Economist put it on its cover as the Monolith from “2001″, saying it was the future of computing.
At the 7650 launch, Nokia was showcasing both the camera and MMS by sending three art students into Barcelona, where the launch was taking place, to take pictures of the city and send them back via MMS to the show floor, where the photos were displayed on a large screen almost immediately. In this day and age, it might be hard to imagine the wonder of all this back then.
The funny thing is how the simple VGA camera (uh, 0.3 megapixel) was a lot for us, not only wowing us with the quality, but also straining our GPRS networks.
Lifeblog
The next big milestone for camera phones at Nokia (and for me) was the launch of Lifeblog and the Nokia 7610, in early 2004. The Nokia 7610 was the first megapixel phone for Nokia. And Lifeblog was a multimedia diary that made it easy to manage and browse images and videos on the phone and PC and also made it easy to post images either to Flickr or TypePad.
By this time, photo sharing online was big, with a ton of manufacturers making camera phones and a ton of folks posting online to their heart’s content. With the Nokia 7610, Nokia began to say that photography on the mobile phone was starting to compete with digital still cameras. Indeed, Nokia worked with Rankin, a fashion photographer, who used the Nokia 7610 in the process of making a portfolio of artistic photographs.
Further leaps
The year 2006 was the year of the 3 megapixel camera phone. Two key products that year were the Nokia N73 and the Nokia N93. The N93, a follow-on to the Nokia N90, was designed mostly as a video camera, with a swivel screen and optical zoom. The N73, a favorite of mine, was more of a camera than a phone: it had a mechanical lens cover that would activate the camera upon opening and had a dedicated camera shutter key (standard in most Nokia camera phones now).
But the real game-changer was that 3 megapixel was starting to be of enough quality to compete with analog film. What went from Polaroid snap-shot quality in earlier phones had become good enough to replace the family digital snap-shot camera. And the Nokia N73 sold in the millions.
At the top of our game
Nokia’s push into camera phones was primarily driven by a division, set up soon after the launch of the Nokia 7650, dedicated to imaging phones (what Nokia called camera phones). Before the group was formally dissolved in 2007, one of their last devices built around photography was the Nokia N82, a slick 5 megapixel camera phone with a Xenon flash.
With the N82, it seemed that the imaging team had reached some sort of pinnacle in the fusion of mobile phones and cameras. The Nokia N82 was hailed as the best cameraphone of the year. Nokia became the largest manufacturer of cameras (surpassing digital and analog camera manufacturers). And uploading photos and videos online from mobile phones is now a part of global culture, changing the face of how we socialize, tell stories, and participate in journalism and capturing news.
Is there more to say?
While the dedicated imaging team is long gone, it is clear that Nokia still has more to say about camera phones. This year, Nokia launched the Nokia N86 8MP, Nokia’s first 8 Megapixel phone (see video below). I’ve been using one for a while now and it will definitely replace my Nokia N85, which is the N86’s older sibling (but only 5 megapixels).
My surprise when I first held the N86 when it came out was that Nokia was able to humbly raise the bar once more on what a camera phone should be like. Not content to just shove any old 8 megapixel element into a phone, the camera in the N86 is the latest in a long line of camera phone elements from Carl Zeiss that Nokia has been putting into Nseries phones. Also, there’s software in the phone that is similar to current digital cameras that provide excellent image quality and helps create panoramic photos
Not that I really know (I don’t), but I don’t think Nokia is done saying all it can say about camera phones. When asking a colleague, who does know more, his comment was, “What do you think? We’re just going to say we’re done, turn off the lights, and walk out?”
I think there’s more to come. So feel free to discuss until we find out what my colleague meant.
Related posts:
- My three favorite Nokia devices ever, part 3
- Being flash isn’t always the answer
- Nokia N86 8MP photo gallery
Tags | Carl Zeiss, imaging, Lifeblog, megapixels, MMS, Nokia 7610, nokia 7650, Nokia N73, Nokia N82, Nokia N86 8MP, Nokia N93, photography, Xenon
May 21st, 2009 at 10:38 am
It would be good if Nokia introduced some gimmick software like face recognition smile recognition and closed eyes recognition for their S60 camphones. It would be better if they sold it via Ovi store.
Looking forward to the N86!
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May 21st, 2009 at 1:20 pm
I’m really looking forward to the N86. There are some key innovations here that could significantly alter what’s expected of camera phones.
I think it’s fair to say that the touch and touch/slider formats (N97) probably represent the future of Nokia devices, so in many ways the N86 could be seen as the ultimate expression of the Nokia 7650. A classic indeed!
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May 21st, 2009 at 2:20 pm
Why did Nokia switch back to LED flash from Xenon flash? That’s the most common question I’ve heard about Nokia’s cameraphone strategy. It is also the #1 criticism against the N86.
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May 21st, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Ofcourse Nokia is not done, the optics and quality of the N86 actually seem better than the N82, but the lack of Xenon is whats missing. Xenon should be the ONLY way forward.
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May 21st, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I’m not a big fan of flash photography… It’s just ends up looking fake in most situations. I’m not excusing the lack of Xenon flash, I’m just saying that it isn’t *that* big a deal for 99% of situations.
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charlie Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:08 pm
@James Burland, Yeah, I always turn off the flash as well. But it’s good for fillers when you have a shadow.
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James Burland Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:19 pm
@charlie, Totally true… Of course the ultimate solution for that might be near realtime HDR photography. I guess it’s possible, but probably not for a few years. Even just 3 shots at different exposure settings would make a massive difference with some scenes.
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May 21st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Yup, Xenon is still what’s missing in recent camera phones. Blame the dissolution of the imaging phones division?
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charlie Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 7:46 am
@Fernando, Blame the desire to also have a light for video. But I wonder what other factors contributed to this decision.
In any case, I do know that everyone has heard the call for Xenon in this last device. Let’s see what effect it has on subsequent devices.
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May 22nd, 2009 at 4:03 am
Nokia as still more to say about cameras, but even so, Samsung devices still have better cameras than Nokia devices, we can see it clearly if we compare the image colors, for example.
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May 22nd, 2009 at 2:33 pm
@Charlie, the Sony-Ericcson C905 has a Xenon flash for pictures and a LED light for videos.
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charlie Reply:
May 22nd, 2009 at 3:09 pm
@Brian Smith, Ah, that’s interesting. Thanks for sharing.
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May 23rd, 2009 at 9:41 pm
While I’m happy that Nokia understands megapixels do not a great camera make, they are lagging behind in terms of SW enhancements and are not even trying to implement -new- features. Face detection? Image stabilization (optical would be superior, but let’s face it, the sensors are too small for this to be financially feasible at this stage in the game)? New editing features?
As someone else stated, the Sony Ericsson C905 (while obviously an inferior device to a high-end Nseries) has both a xenon flash and LED lights for movies — has Nokia not considered this? It seems to me as though they are simply cutting costs by not introducing new features and are content with creating the same devices using the same 5MP camera sensor. Obviously the N86 will change this, but it would be nice to see some true, new, features or enhancements from Nokia in terms of photography.
Many users don’t mind paying more for significantly better phones. The rehashes are getting old.
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May 25th, 2009 at 6:23 am
I’m still awaiting the N86 NAM version for me to use on Rogers Wireless! Also I cannot wait for Nokia’s answer to the previous video king the N93!
I’d love to see liquid optical lense technology to arrive!
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May 25th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
to see other manufactors implementing HD video recording , 8MP or more… and the new flagship model (in case no one knows, it’s the N97) having the same camera as the n95… do Nokia still have something to say about cameras? i don’t think so.
Give us HD video and STEREO audio recording at least 8MP photo camera
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May 28th, 2009 at 9:05 am
Nokia has something more to say about cameras? Then I hope they will say sorry! Yes, sorry, to me & everyone else with an E71…the camera is nothing short of awful…business users need good cameras too you know!
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May 28th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
I have no doubt about your camera!! Nokia…You are the best phone manufacturer
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June 2nd, 2009 at 10:20 pm
It’s good to see Nokia taking camera performance seriously, as I think this will be a good selling point against its rivals, as some of them have key phones that are weak in this area.
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October 23rd, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Ive always liked Nokia’s but my current one, the 6220, which does have a decent camera started of with a poor battery lfe and this has got progressively worse. Would be interested to hear if anyone has had similar experiences with this phone as I’m considering upgrading?
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