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Nokia N97 mini vs N900 camera showdown

Thursday, 18 February 2010 07:39

Written by Sergejs Cuhrajs

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Hello once again dear readers! Before writing any of my major articles, I always try to approach the same problem differently for additional challenge, otherwise – where’s the fun?

The idea behind this particular article was to stress test the imaging capabilities on the two top of the line Nokia smartphones, and a special thanks is in order to the helpful people at WomWorld/Nokia for providing me with a spanking new Nokia N97 mini to pit against the N900 in all it’s glory!

What have you come to expect from a 5 Mpix camera on your high-end smartphone? Perhaps your expectations are set too high, or maybe they are unjustly low? Is pixel count an actual way of navigating through the maze of countless camera equipped phones, or are there any other variables to look out for?

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Let’s try shining some light on these and many other questions in this definitive, head to head, 5 Mpix camera showdown!

The camera interface

There’s no doubt that cameras in phones are steadily taking over the traditional photo snappers, mainly due to the convenience of having everything in a single pocket, ready at all times. But just how well are the devices suited as digital cameras?

We’ll take a more detailed look at some of the most contracting features, starting with the user interface on both smartphones.

Nokia N97 mini

The camera lens itself isn’t covered on the N97 mini like on the N97 classic, and aside from worrying about accidentally scratching the unprotected lens, the user also has to take some extra steps when starting the camera application. This can be achieved by unblocking the screen and either by holding the camera key for a few seconds, or by tapping the corresponding shortcut icon, that can be placed on the homescreen or moved to a more visible area in the main menu. These are the trade backs in order to get the device slim as possible, but a noticeable hump is still present on the back of the N97 mini.

In my opinion, phone’s camera has to be all about speed, to be able to capture that special moment you wouldn’t otherwise be able to prepare for. It’s interesting that Nokia decided against putting camera cover on the N97 mini, while at the same time the N900 has it, even though it’s far from being recognized as a camera phone.

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Now let’s take a look at the camera user interface, or simply UI. The S60 veterans will feel right at home with the camera UI in Nokia N97, with all it’s outgoing pro’s and cons.

Starting up the camera application and the area around the camera viewfinder become cluster with various elements that enable access to the necessary functions. Most of these functions, like the scene mode or light sensitivity, can be reached in the unified menu, that is marked with three white lines in the toolbar on the right hand side, while for some other – like changing the camera resolution – the user is expected to dig a bit deeper in the menus but tapping the ‘Option’ key in the corner of the screen.

Thankfully, the camera’s flash has it’s own dedicated section in the toolbar, and this feature comes in handy more often than not if the dual LED’s turn the pictures into a messy white blur.

The information that matters hasn’t been left out as well, and it has been placed directly on-screen in a tiny cluster, located in the bottom left corner of the camera’s viewfinder. This includes the battery charge level, the selected camera resolution and estimate number of pictures that can be stored in the phone. It’s a pity that these elements serve nothing but for information purpose, as it would be far more convenient to allocate some type of interactivity to improve the inconsistent S60 user interface. All in all, the UI on the N97 mini is rather functional and gets it’s job done, but leaves you wanting for more eye-candy and some advanced features found in some Sony Ericsson’s Cybershot series camera phones.

Speaking about the differences that can be felt in hand, the Nokia N97 mini greatly benefits from it’s compact form factor. Holding the device horizontally with both hands is simply a joy, as the fingers get a comfortable and ensuring grip around the numerous metallic elements of the N97 mini. The unique slide-n-tilt mechanism firmly locks the upper and lower parts in place, and there was no wobbling whatsoever while operating with the camera controls. The layout and quality of the keys for controlling the camera on the N97 mini is one of the easiest to use that I’ve encountered on a mobile device, and they are everything but small. I especially enjoyed the tactile feedback of the camera key – simple to trigger and sturdy at the same time.

Where the N97 mini got me thinking was it’s camera performance. On the one hand, the N97 mini picks up focus pretty fast, and considerably so when compared to the Nokia N900. But on the other hand, due to the weaker hardware (ARM 11 434MHz CPU and 128 MB of RAM vs ARM Cortex A8 600MHz CPU and 256 MB of RAM), the N97 mini processes pictures a bit longer than N900. And that, in turn, means that despite taking longer time to focus the camera, the N900 will be ready for the next shot, when the N97 mini will be still processing and saving the first picture.

Nokia N900

Unlike the N97 mini, the Maemo flagship camera is protected with an active lens cover, which also speeds up the camera start-up process. There’s no denying that this scores additional points to N900’s imaging possibilities. What’s also great about the cover is that it doesn’t scratch the lens due to a more throughout construction. There’s also the kick stand around the camera cover which is great for watching movies, however it’s completely useless when taking pictures. The cover slides easily sideways to reveal the eye of the 5 Mpix camera, accompanied with dual LED’s. In theory, both phones should perform similar in low light scenarios, but more on that later.

In a complete contract to the N97 mini, the bulky size of the N900 is the Achilles heel for it’s camera. To put in bluntly, using the N900 as a camera feels awkward and out of place, and even the slightly shorter height, when compared to the N97 mini, doesn’t help much in improving the grim situation. This is made even worse due to the small and fiddly camera control key that requires far greater effort for the user to focus and shoot the camera. Remember I mentioned about N900 taking longer to focus? Well, it seems the design of the camera key is partially to blame here; it has a much longer travel time to trigger the camera shutter. In that aspect, it reminds me heavily of the Nokia N95 camera key performance.

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Now it’s probably not worth reminding that the N900 runs on a Linux based open source platform called Maemo, the 5th edition to be precise, but what’s important, is that there’s little what experienced S60 users would immediately recognize. The only thing that distantly resembles of Symbian experience and truly, every other camera interface out there, is the general layout of the camera UI. All necessary functions are placed on the column to the right of the camera viewfinder, while the on-screen indicators are similarly positioned in the bottom left corner.

Interestingly enough, unlike the Nokia N97 mini, the camera viewfinder’s rectangle is visible at all times on the N900, and it changes colors from white to red or green how it’s expected.

The second thing that strikes me the most after the modest looking Maemo camera UI is the absolute minimum of available options for tuning the camera, and the N97 mini wins some points back for providing the user with slightly more choices if necessary. With a bit more practice though, the user can learn to navigate through the menus even faster than on the N97 mini, mainly thanks to the generously sized virtual keys and crystal clear organization of the available options.

Nearly all camera menus gracefully slide into view from the bottom part of the screen, and disappear in the same fashion as soon as the user touches the unmarked area outside the window. It’s a great solution that works consistently throughout the Maemo 5 UI, ensuring that the user will never be drawn out from the main experience for too long.

Fortunately, nothing really significant has been left out on the N900. By tapping the ‘A’ icon on the sidebar, the user can quickly change between some camera modes like ‘macro’ for taking close up pictures, or ‘action’ - for capturing fast moving objects. Here it’s also possible to switch to the video recording mode with even less available options to play with.

Like on the N97 mini, the camera flash function on the N900 has it’s separate section on the sidebar, however there’s also a virtual key for faster gallery application access. As much as the N900 camera is lacking feature wise, some vital settings, like changing white color balance, exposure levels or ISO sensitivity, are still present. In addition to this, the N900 fully supports geo-tagging in pictures or video clips, but the functions that are absent include the self-timer, sequence mode or landscape photo shooting mode. Nothing deal-breaking for majority of potential N900 owners, yet the simplicity of the whole camera package does surprise at times, thus underlining the fact that the imaging capabilities on the N900 are nothing but an extra feature and will surely be not among the things the N900 will be judged and remembered for.

To conclude, the N900’s camera doesn’t impress with it’s bare set of features, yet UI works and feels considerably better than what we saw on the Symbian 5th edition running Nokia N97 mini.

The screen quality

The purpose of this test is to find the most contracting features that impact the user experience while using these two devices as digital cameras. Following this rule, I’ve decided to devote a segment to compare the screens, and see how they can alter user’s perception of the camera generated content.

For starters, both devices come with 16M color resistive touchscreens that are currently one of the best out on the market. From my own experience though, the screen sensitivity was slightly better on the Nokia N97 mini than it was on the N900. The smaller screen on the N97 mini, however, makes it sometimes harder to trigger small UI elements, especially in the corners.

Secondly, and that’s a very crucial point when taking pictures outdoors, the N900 has a transflective screen which the N97 mini doesn’t have. Before I give a more detailed explanation, here’s a photo I took while holding both devices in direct sunlight.

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As you can see, the display on both phones loses in contrast and colors when exposed to direct sunlight. The N900 fares noticeably better of the two as the information still remains legible (barely) thanks to the earlier mentioned transflective screen technology. What it means in practice, is that you might not properly see the end result after taking a picture in a sunny weather, but at least you’ll be able to tell where exactly you are pointing with the N900’s camera.

Aside from the obvious fact that the screen estate is larger on the N900 (3.5 inches against 3.2 inches on the N97 mini); another interesting factor that shouldn’t be overlooked is the screen resolution.

Understandably, the pictures I took on the N900 look more detailed on the high resolution, WVGA touchscreen - 800 x 480 pixels, as opposed to 360 x 640 pixels on the N97 mini.

And the deception of the screens doesn’t end here. The pictures on the N900 spring to life with pleasant, warm colors, whereas the N97 mini color pallet looks slightly washed out, with a noticeable blue tint. There was more than one occasion when I was immediately impressed by the vivid picture I took with the N900, only to be disappointed as soon as I transferred the same picture to my laptop to have a closer look.

Take a moment to compare the screen images shot in complete darkness and see if you agree with me on this one:

The real impact, of course, lies in the quality of camera optics and lens, and that’s where we naturally come to the next segment of the test.

The specs

Nokia N97 mini:
Firmware : v11.0.045
Camera : 5 megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss optics
Flash : dual LED
Focal length : 5.4
Max. Still image resolution : 2592x1944 pixels
Still image formats : JPEG, EXIF
Max. Video recording resolution: 640х480 pixels (VGA at 30fps)
Video file format: MPEG-4 (and .3gp)

Nokia N900:
Firmware : 2.2009.51-1
Camera : 5 megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss optics
Flash : dual LED
Focal length : 5.2
Max. Still image resolution : 2576 x 1936 pixels
Still image formats : JPEG, EXIF
Max. Video recording resolution: 848 x 480 pixels (WVGA at 24fps)
Video file format: MPEG-4

As shown above, the camera modules Nokia built into it’s flagship devices are almost identical, powered with same dual LED flash solution the company proved to be so unwilling to depart from.

There’s a barely noticeable difference in the resolution of 5 Mpix shots, and the only real stopping point here is the focal length, which is a tad smaller on the N900. This doesn’t affect the image quality, but means that the N900 can fit slightly more objects in the camera photo than the N97 mini. You’ll be able to see if this gives the N900 any edge over the mini in the ensuing picture gallery.

The average camera picture size on the N900 is about 10% larger than it is on the N97 mini, which could perhaps indicate of an outdated image processing algorithms on the N900, but my guess is as good as yours.

The showdown

This is it folks. In the past segments I’ve briefly touched upon the most distinctive features when handling both phones as digital cameras, and now we’re finally ready to compare the end results between the contestants.

The largest portion of camera test was carried out at the Coventry Transport Museum. It lies at the heart of the city and stores over 150 years long history of British made road transport, including more than 240 cars and commercial vehicles, not to mention 100 motorcycles and 200 bicycles. Certainly worth the visit in case you’re in the neighborhood. The entry to the Museum is free of charge, and since my aim was to make these camera tests as interesting as they are informative, going to the museum was an easy choice for me.

The highest percentage of photos from the Nokia N97 mini came out with a noticeably yellow tint, especially those that were taken indoors in artificial lightening conditions. After a thorough inspection of the taken material I came to realize the N900 produced a lesser amount of blurry photos than the N97 mini. The mini forced me to opt for two, sometimes even three shots until I got a fairly decent picture.

And that’s that. My initial impressions were based on the older N97 mini firmware. The latest, v11.0.045 firmware came with significant improvements in phone’s camera.

First of all, the mentioned yellow tint on the N97 mini became far less obvious, although it’s still present in some cases. Secondly, the Nokia N97 mini photo samples saw less washed out colors and noise than before the update, in addition to the already improved image processing time. Nothing more to add here, job well done Nokia!

Now taking these vast improvements into account, let’s see who fares better in practice. Regardless of the quality of the first picture, I always took additional photos with each of the phone to make sure I have the best samples for the test. If not stated otherwise, all photos were taken with default, auto settings, which undoubtedly, we will use most often.

Nokia N97 mini vs. Nokia N900

Coventry Transport Museum

Huge spacious environment with natural lighting. Both phones offer some nice detail, however the N900 photo sample (on the right) looks grayish in comparison to the much warmer colors on the N97 mini. But, as practice will show, it’s not always a good thing.

1933 SS1 Jaguar Coupé

Good example of the still present yellow tint that plagues the N97 mini even after the update. The N900 performs better in this case, with colors looking more natural, and object details - slightly sharper.

1953 Jaguar XK120

Notice how the N97 mini photo quality improves in better lighting conditions - there’s no sign of the yellow tint, and colors look more natural than on the N900. If you take a moment to zoom in on each sample, you’ll see the noise reduction algorithm is more aggressive on the N900, while the overall level of detail remains acceptable on both devices.

1955 Maserati 250F

The N97 mini continues to impress with more vivid, saturated colors against the somewhat plain colored N900 photo. The noise level is disturbingly high on the N900, another indication of it’s outdated image processing algorithms.

1970 Chevron B16

The N900 almost always kept an edge over the N97 mini in terms of richer colors and sharper details. Before the v11.0.045 firmware on the N97 mini, that is. In comparison, N900 photos now looks washed out and unexpressive, while the lack of picture detail is no more an issue for the N97 mini.

1971 Rover P5B Coupe

At first, the reflection on the hood of this old-timer seems to be too much to handle for the N900 camera, however a closer examination reveals it’s the lack of color depth that give the illusion of an out-of-focus picture. The detail of the car is top notch on both 5 Mpix shooters, but at the same time the background objects suffer from excessive levels of noise.

1982 DeLorean DMC-12

Yep, the DeLorean that earned it’s legendary status after the success of the Back to the Future movies, and yes, it has an awesome stainless steel body you don’t see nowadays that often. To make things complicated, both cameras seem to handle noise more or less equally, although contract seems to be a tad better on the N900.

2009 Spyker C8 Spyder

Surprisingly enough, the N900 camera sample on the right has a noticeably yellow tone to it, but as we’ve seen up till this point, it’s rather an exception than a rule. Colors once again look more pleasing on the Nokia N97 mini.

Motorbikes section

When you’re shooting multiple objects at distances that are out of the effective range of 2-3 meters, it’s always a gamble of where exactly the mobile phone camera will choose to focus on. Take this photo for instance. The N900 photo takes a bit more focus on the central area of the picture, whereas the N97 mini photo looks uniformly out of focus, resulting in a grainy picture with virtually no detail whatsoever.

City view outside the Museum

Here’s a snapshot of the area outside the museum with lots of moving objects, taken on a foggy day. Both 5 Mpix cameras perform pretty well for what they are worth, however it’s more than obvious that the N97 mini beats the N900 again with a wider range of colors and less obvious over-sharpening.

On a catwalk near the museum

Outdoors image sample 1

Outdoors image sample 2

Camera sample in pitch black, macro mode with auto flash enabled

Nokia N97 mini vs. Nokia N900

The Symbian Foundation’s ducky was more than willing to participate in the final stage of this photo shootout. The N97 mini remains the top performer here as well - colors are represented correctly and dual LED flash does it’s job.

Additional Nokia N97 mini photo samples
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nexus_/sets/72157623280536725/


Synopsis - The story begins anew

So, what can we conclude from this test, aside from the obvious fact that the N97 mini camera delivers a more colorful and sharper picture from the two flagships?

First off, and that’s something that I learned the hard way: Nokia is well known for releasing firmware updates for it’s smartphones that actually does make a noticeable difference. The v11.0.045 firmware for the N97 mini literary turned the tables between the 5 Mpix shooter’s. By looking at the specs, the N900 and N97 mini cameras should’ve performed pretty close, however that was not the case sadly.

But coming from this experience, it’s also fair to expect a firmware update for the N900 that hopefully will sort out the long focusing times as well as address the washed out colors and oversharpening that occur in the camera photos. Aside from the already mentioned niggles in the image processing software, both phones produce some fairly decent 5 Mpix photos, but after an update the Nokia N900 camera will be in no ways inferior to the N97 mini. I hope the message has been received, Nokia J

Third and the most intriguing point is the set of features on the Nokia N900 camera, or more specifically, the complete lack of them. The N97 mini comes off with a bit more functions, however, in the midst of the tough competition outside Nokia, that’s really not saying much. But amongst dealing with the bare bone features of the Nokia N900’s camera, there’s a sheer stroke of genius in how the camera UI feels and actually works.

There’s no doubt, that by utilizing a more competitive, higher resolution camera module, and by adding some extra features, such as touch to focus or smile detection, we’ll have a Maemo mobile computer on our hands, that will be able to hold it’s ground against the dedicated camera phones, or at least make them reconsider the odds.

The necessary soil to make the final push is already there, only more commitment from Nokia is all that stands in the way. And if the smoking success of the company’s first Maemo OS tablet with telephony features - the N900 - could serve of any indication, we will most certainly see more of Maemo in the nearest future.

On the other hand, the story with the Nokia N97 mini is a bit more complicated. It’s hard to valuate the whole package that N97 mini delivers with the right mindset, especially after the disappointment with the original N97. The mini does what it promises, but, by delivering basically the same set of features in a much slimmer, E-series grade metallic body, that special something has inevitably been left out.

For example, that special something could be a surprisingly spacious built in mass memory, an eye catching AMOLED touchscreen, or perhaps a 12 MPix Xenon flash camera fitted into a compact smartphone body.

Even a single brilliant feature will be enough to make you painfully go over the options again and again when deciding for your next big purchase. And now, in the highly competitive smartphone market, it’s deadly important not to stay in one place for too long.

By rehearsing the same old product, the company not only loses valuable time that could be spent on forwarding new solutions to the market, but also risks denting the reputation of the brand and lose the loyalty of it’s consumers.

In the end, this particular moment is as bitter as it’s sweet. Starting with the Nokia N95, after more than 4 years, the 5 Mpix camera modules finally seem to have run their course. The company has already crossed the barrier with the release of the Nokia N86 8Mpix, yet it’s far from enough, as the competitors have already come forward with staggering 12 Mpix camera solutions.

For this reason alone, it’s safe to believe that the next high-end flagships from Nokia will finally see the so much sought after upgrade in the camera department. We’re ready to take the steps into the new era and start the story anew.

MF Review: Nokia N97 mini vs N900 camera showdown
Originally posted: 12.02.2010
Last Updated: 18.02.2010
Author: Sergejs Cuhrajs (AKA Nexus_)
Author: Sergejs Cuhrajs (AKA Nexus_)
Screens: Sergejs Cuhrajs (AKA Nexus_)
Copyright: Symbian Freak 2010; all rights reserved
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