Verizon Cameraphone Comparison Q2 2007

It has been four years since Verizon first introduced its first camera phone, the LG VX6000. At that time we had to get by with sub-par pictures taken at miniscule 640x480 VGA resolution. The following year the VX7000 was introduced with an improved picture, but still only had VGA resolution. Later that same year, Motorola rolled out the V710, the first 1.3MP camera for Verizon. Unfortunately, the picture quality was horrendous and completely unusable. It wasn’t until 2005 when the VX8000 came out that we began to take notice in the potential of a cell phone with good camera quality.

*The photos from these four old Verizon cellphones are not taken at the same time. They are here just to remind you of the past.

Today, you are hard pressed to find a cell phone that doesn’t have an integrated camera of some sort. They are everywhere, on the streets, in the stores, and in the homes of millions. But one must realize that just because a phone has a built in camera, that this is still not a replacement for a “real” digital camera. Camera phones are still in their infancy, yet are getting better with each new generation.


In this review, we are going to look at the newest 4 camera phones to be sold by Verizon. They are the Samsung A990, Motorola RAZR Maxx Ve, LG enV, and LG VX8700. The A990 is unique, since it is the only model to feature a 3MP Auto Focus camera. The remainder of the phones feature a 2MP camera, with the Maxx and enV also having Auto Focus capability. All phones also feature a flash, except for the VX8700.

First image - from Left to Right : A990, maxx Ve, enV, VX8700;
Second image - from Top to Bottom : VX8700, maxx Ve, A990, enV


We have taken almost 50 pictures (47 scenes, with 4 cameras = 188! pictures) altogether, targeting identical objects at one and the same time and from the same position, but using different cameras. The pictures have been taken under the following conditions / categories:

1. in the open in broad daylight;
2. at night;
3. picture taken indoors with different degree of lighting and different distance from the objects;
4. we have also tested some comparative charts.
5. and close-up macro photos.
   

We have used the phones’ automatic settings; for the nighttime pictures and the macro photos we have selected the respective mode. We have re-taken a certain picture only in case we felt that the person behind the camera, rather than the camera, brought about a fault. If any of the pictures are not well exposed or focused, this means that this is what the respective phone’s camera is capable of doing. With nighttime pictures we attempted at taking the pictures with our hand, which explains why some of those are blurred.

In each category we have put a 100% crop image(s), which shows the cameras' performance difference. It helps you compare easily the performance, seeing the same object, reproduced by different devices. As 3-megapixel camera (of A990) takes photo of the same object, but in bigger resolution, in our 100% crops you will see less of the object, but with more resolution. This is rather unfair, but that's the market - one offers 3-megapixel phone, the other doesn't. The stronger in the competition survives ...