Camera cell phones keep getting better

Camera cell phones keep getting better

Zatni Arbi, Contributor/zatni@cbn.net.id

Contrary to what some might think, I don't change my cell phone very often. My current cell phone is a Nokia 6800, which, at one point in the past almost got crushed by a cab I had just ridden in.

Luckily some passerby saw the cell phone fall out of my pocket as I alit from the taxi. It landed just in front of the rear tire. Her shouts were loud enough to stop the taxi driver in time before the cell phone was turned into a pile of scrap plastic and metal.

I like my N6800 very much, and have been using it since it the model was first launched. It has one half of a QWERTY keyboard that I can flip out. The keyboard lets me send an SMS with ease and accuracy. Being a writer, I will never let myself become accustomed to using the cryptic SMS language, such as "u" for "you". I know that using standard Indonesian or English in an SMS certainly costs more, as sometimes one message has to be sent in two transmissions. Besides, it takes more button-pressing to enter "you" as opposed to just "u". Still, this is a habit that I will certainly keep.

Another thing that I like about the N6800 is the clarity of the characters on its screen. For someone with rather weak vision, it helps a lot. When I am in a dark room, I can switch on the keyboard backlight just by pressing a hot button.

A newer version of this model, the 6820, comes with a camera. I have not bought one yet, as I am still waiting for Nokia -- or another cell-phonemaker -- to come out with a really good imaging and messaging handset.

There have been a lot of times when I really wished I had a camera with me. Like when I saw a policeman leisurely riding his motorcycle against traffic in a one-way street. Or when a very old city bus was spewing out really thick, dark smoke. Or when a woman was walking along a busy street -- with her small child walking next to passing vehicles. Or when a driver carelessly opened wide the door of his parked car and a passing car almost rammed into it. Or when an 18-wheeler got stuck when it tried to make a U-turn in a narrow two-lane street.

If you live in Jakarta for a long time, you see a lot of absurdities such as these. The only explanation we can give is perhaps these are the result of the ever-broadening gap between culture and the technology that we have.

Like most cell phone users, I have become so dependent on this modern-life necessity that I will not leave my house without it. So why do I think I need one with a good digital camera?

If I had a good camera cell phone, I would also have the camera with me most of the time. And then, each time I encountered an utterly absurd moment -- like when I saw that policeman breaking a regulation that he gets paid to enforce -- I could just grab my cell phone and capture the scene. Although I might not be able to sell photos of these absurdities -- people seem to have accepted such absurdities as normal occurrences in life -- at least I could keep the photos for my own amusement.

The good news is that cell-phonemakers have been racing to improve the capabilities of the cameras on their cell phones. Sharp, for example, has made the first cell phone with a camera that has optical zoom capability. As you know, optical zoom produces a much better result than a digital zoom, as the lenses are moved further from the image sensor to produce a larger image with more detail.

What about image resolution? This is also improving rapidly. The Sharp V602SH, which is sold exclusively in Japan, is also a 2 megapixel camera phone. In the U.S., Sprint launched the first 1.3 megapixel camera phone. In Europe, LG became the first with its 1.3 megapixel LG T5100.

Nokia, which has not always been in the forefront when it comes to camera features, has recently launched the N7610, which is a one megapixel (1152 x864 pixel) cell phone. Courtesy of Nokia Indonesia, I was also able to play around with another cute-looking cell phone that once again breaks away from the conventional design.

What the N7610 may lack -- the optical zoom and a higher image resolution -- it certainly compensates with the quality of its image and video. During the launch, they took a picture of me using this camera and printed it out with an HP photo printer. The result was so good that it would lead you to believe that it had been taken with a digital camera instead of a phone camera.

As can be read in the list of specs, the N7610 can also record up to 10 minutes of video. Do not try to send them on Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS), though, because you will pay dearly for it. Other details in the specs include eight megabyte internal memory and a slot for a reduced size Multimedia Card (MMC). Nokia threw in a 64 MB MMC in the box. Of course, it already has Bluetooth for image printing and file transfer.

The other features of the N7610 that I like include the large, bright screen. The keyboard is not truly easy to use, though, as it follows the contour of the N7610's body design. Fortunately, unlike the discontinued Nokia 3650, the arrangement of the keypad follows the standards of the International Telecommunications Union, so after some time one gets used to it. The N7610 also comes with Movie Director, the video application software that allows editing, adding effects and combining video clips.

So, will I run to the nearest cell phone store to grab a N7610? I might. But I guess I'll just wait until Nokia comes up with what I would personally consider the killer combination: a cell phone with a wing-like keyboard and a quick but high-quality camera to capture those incredible human stupidities I see around me.

But, if what you need is yet another cell phone with a very hip design and most of the latest features, go for it.