Verizon Cameraphone Comparison Q2 2009

Introduction:

There have been a lot of cameraphones introduced for Verizon since our previous Q4 2007 comparison review.  Four of the newest models are the Samsung Omnia, Casio Exilim, LG enV Touch, and LG enV3.

The Omnia and Exilim both have 5MP autofocus cameras, while the enV Touch (which replaces the Voyager) and enV3 (replacement of the enV2) have 3MP cameras.  The enV Touch also comes with autofocus and an Schneider-Kreuznach lens, which the enV3 does not, and the Exilim is the only device to have a 3x optical zoom.


With each phone, 80 images were taken, totaling 320 images between all four models.  They have been captured under the following conditions and categories:

1. Outside in broad daylight
2. Outside at night
3. Indoors with different types of lighting, including flash, and with various distances from the subject
4. Macro
   

We used the camera’s Automatic settings whenever possible, but for night images we tried the Night/Darkness image modes on the Omnia and Exilim, and the Intelligent Shot mode on the enV Touch and enV3.  Also, indoor images taken with the Auto White Balance can vary greatly between phones, so keep that in mind.

In each category we have placed a 100% crop image at the top of the page, which shows the camera’s differences.  It helps you to easily compare the performance by seeing the same object reproduced by different devices side-by-side.

We then show all four cameraphone images at full resolution, followed by a ranking of 1st to 4th place.  

Test 1: Pictures taken outside during broad daylight

Out of all the tests we did, this is the most important, considering that a majority of people use their cameras for taking pictures outside during the day.  Therefore, these images tell a lot about the overall performance of each camerphone.


In our daytime test, the enV Touch comes in at 1st place.  Images have the best color saturation and are “true to life”, as well as having excellent fine detail and being properly exposed.  The Omnia comes in 2nd place, since details and colors are also quite good, but images can be a bit over-exposed (too bright) depending on where the sun is located.  The Exilim gets 3rd place, as images look generally better than the enV3, but there is some distortion (blurriness) around the edges.  This is in every picture we took, but some are more noticeable than others.  The enV3 is a at 4th place, due to images looking a bit warm (red hue) and a few being slightly out-of-focus (since it lacks autofocus).

Cameraphone comparison samples. Scroll below for our category rating.



The phone’s performance, sorted from 1st to 4th place:

Test 2: Nighttime Pictures taken outside

This demonstrates how the camera behaves at night when using a longer exposure to gather in as much light as possible.  We took images using the camera’s Auto settings, as well as manually selecting the Night mode on the Omnia, Darkness and Party modes on the Exilim, and Intelligent Shot mode on the enV Touch and enV3.  Between these different modes, all of the phones performed best when they were not using them (leaving it set to Auto), since images had the tendency to come out blurry.


The enV Touch comes in 1st place with our night tests, as images showed the least amount of blurriness and grain, but were also properly exposed.  When trying the Intelligent Shot mode, images would be brighter, but were slightly blurry and had more red hue to them.  Because of this, we believe it is best to have the Intelligent Mode turned off.  The Omnia is at 2nd place, as images have less detail and more noise then the enV Touch.  When trying the Night mode on the Omnia, it made images too bright and washed-out.  Coming in at 3rd place is the enV3, since most images have a consistent red hue to them, but are less blurry than the Exilim, which is at 4th place.  We tried different Best Shot Modes with the Exilim, and found having it turned Off or set to Party produced better images than the Night View mode.

Cameraphone comparison samples. Scroll below for our category rating.



The phone’s performance, sorted from 1st to 4th place:

1. enV Touch: Night images are sharp and the most in-focus, with the least amount of blurriness and grain. 
2. Omnia:  A bit brighter than the enV Touch, but has more noise and loses some detail. 
3. enV3:  Even though there is a red hue, most images are less blurry than the Exilim. 
4. Exilim:  The Exilim’s night images blurry and the least sharp out of the four phones, especially when using the Night mode. 

Test 3a: Pictures taken indoors under a variety of inside lighting conditions, including color charts

We compared the four cameraphones indoors under a wide variety of artificial lighting conditions, which reveals how their Automatic White Balance performs.  We also took images of different color charts to see how each camera reproduces them.


The Omnia comes in 1st place as it has the best White Balance, color matching and most in-focus images of the four phones.  The enV Touch is at 2nd, since images are sharp and have good detail, but some are a bit warm (red hue) when fluorescent lighting is used.  The enV3 gets 3rd place, as images are warm with incandescent lighting and have a green hue with fluorescent lighting, but are sharper and less blurry the Exilim, which gets 4th place.  This is because almost every picture taken inside by the Exilim came out blurry, which almost makes them look out-of-focus.

Cameraphone comparison samples. Scroll below for our category rating.



The phone’s performance, sorted from 1st to 4th place:

Test 4: Macro

This test demonstrates how well the phones can take pictures of close-up objects only a few inches away.  Even though this is one area where most people don’t often use their cameraphones, it is still interesting to see which devices can capture the best macro image.  We should also point out in front that the enV3 is not capable of macro images, due to it not having Autofocus, but we decided to test it regardless. 


The Omnia comes in at 1st place, since the macro images have the best detail.  The enV Touch is a close 2nd, but it doesn’t have as much fine detail as the Omnia.  The Exilim gets 3rd place, but only the center of the images are sharp due to lens causing blurriness around the edges.  4th place goes to the enV3 since it does not have an autofocus system and macro images look blurry.

Cameraphone comparison samples. Scroll below for our category rating.



The phone’s performance, sorted from 1st to 4th place:

1. Omnia:  The Omnia’s macro images had the best detail out of the tested phones. 
2. enV Touch:  Not as much detail as the Omnia, but still looks better than the Exilim or enV3. 
3. Exilim:  Only the center is clear, with the edges being blurry due to the lens defect. 
4. enV3:  The enV3 does not have an autofocus system or macro mode, which causes all close-up images to look blurry. 

Overall Ratings and Conclusion:

For real-world images, we believe the enV Touch takes the best overall pictures and we award it 1st place.  Even though the camera is 3MP, it performs better than the Omnia and Exilim when taking pictures outside during the day, which is when most cameraphones are used.  Daytime images are sharp and in-focus with good color saturation, fine detail and proper exposure.  The enV Touch also does well with images taken at night and indoors, but fluorescent lighting will make the image too warm.  This can be corrected by using an image-editing program and slightly lowering the red gamma value of the picture.  We also hope that a firmware update for the phone will correct this.

The Omnia wins the award for 2nd place.  Even though the daytime images are a bit over-exposed, they have good detail and color reproduction.  The Omnia is the best for inside images with good Automatic White Balance, so if you use that a lot, you should consider this phone.

It is a tough choice between the Exilim and enV3 for 3rd place, but that award goes to the Exilim.  Between the two phones, the Exilim produces the best daytime images outside, which is when most cameraphones are used.  However, the enV3 does better for images taken inside and at night, since they are not as blurry, but colors are a bit off.  One thing to keep in mind is the lens defect with the Exilim that causes the edges of images to look blurry, especially the bottom-left corner.  This may concern some people more than others.



Overall, none of these cameraphones are a replacement for a real digital camera.  As it stands now, if a traditional digital camera (such as a Canon or Nikon) produced the same results as these four phones, chances are you would return it.  But since these phones are not designed and marketed as a digital camera replacement, except maybe the Exilim, you can’t expect them to be in the same class.

Miscellaneous:

Although it does not influence the quality of the pictures directly, the operational time of the camera is rather important for its use.

Model	Starting	Focusing	Saving	Time between 2 shots
LG enV3	3 sec	N/A 0 sec	1 sec	3 sec
LG enV Touch	2 sec	1.5 sec	4 sec	6 sec
Samsung Omnia	3 sec	2 sec	3 sec	8 sec
Casio Exilim	4 sec	1.5 sec	5 sec	9 sec