It happened so that G900 falls into the same price bracket with Nokia N82, that's why we think it's useful to compare the two despite the obvious differences. Certain common points are also observed – the availability of a multifunctional mobile operating system, the same cam resolution, the availability of Wi-Fi, both handsets are rated as mid-end by their respective manufacturers. Market positioning, on the other hand, is different. Nokia N82 is presented as the company's photo flagship while G900 is a mid-end all-in-one touchscreen smartphone. Nokia N82 possesses a more powerful hardware platform (TI OMAP 2420, 332 MHz, integrated 3D graphics accelerator, onboard accelerometer), a GPS unit and consequently bulkier appearance) G900 is based on an outdated solution, yet optimized to the modern requirements (Philips Nexperia PNX4008, 208 Mhz). Occasionally, the low CPU frequency is compensated by a larger RAM size, yet the overall performance potential of the two platforms is incomparable. The touchscreen is still a big advantage of G900, operable with fingers and stylus alike.

As you see, the two devices differ greatly and are targeted at non-intersecting audiences, the principal points in common being the camera resolution an a price of €350. It's noteworthy that the availability of a high-quality camera and a touchscreen aren't the sole points influencing the customer choice, on the other hand lie such things as GPS and greater performance. All of the peculiarities of the updated UIQ interface are to be discussed in a separate article; now it's time to see how the G900 camera works, assess the picture quality and discuss available features opposed to the functionality of the camera used in Nokia N82.

Hardware Implementation

The camera unit of G900 lacks a lens guard, likewise there's no self-portrait mirror available; the flash is a generic LED one, quite poor. Everything indicates the manufacturer's unwillingness to place a focus on the imaging aspect of the device, which appears to be the truth . However after we took a few pictures it became clear that these were no worse than photos shot with the top-positioned Cyber-Shot K850i. The actual difference consists only in a less functional interface, the lack of lens guard, dedicated camera and galley buttons, the poor flash, fewer feats and tricks available in the imaging options, - yet the quality of the image acquisition process stays unnerfed. This may look rather wield since situations of this type where a non-imaging mobile device receives a camera able of challenging the company's photo flagship. Customers unconcerned with the listed features but looking for a good camera are highly advised to take preference of G900 instead of any other Sony Ericsson cameraphone for it easily beats all of the company's imaging solutions in overall functionality and versatility.

The rocker button found on the right side of the handset works as the camera launch and shoot button, while the volume controls switch their primary function to zoom controls. In the viewfinder mode, the picture is rather inert, much like with W960i. This is compensated by the high focusing and image acquisition speed, keeping the device on a level with the competitive solutions.

The high image acquisition speed perfectly works in combo with the… missing lens guard, which results in very short periods between pressing the camera launch button and saving the photo to memory. It takes about 3 seconds with SE G900 while Nokia N82 ranks at about 6 seconds in this parameter.

The integrated flash can be used as a flashlight with a corresponding option available in the settings. Just like other SE handsets, the smartphone is rendered inactive and absolutely useless if you try booting it without a SIM card inserted – a rather critical drawback since none of the competitors suffer from such an illogical limitation.

Camera interface and settings

The interface elements are oriented horizontally; depending on the selected focusing mode, the large focusing area may take the most part of the screen. The touch controls are almost perfect. Large icons eliminate any chance of stray taps.

Three icons in the right part of the screen serve as switches between photo, video and content browsing modes. The active icon is highlighted in yellow. The viewfinder indicators include the selected resolution, flash activation status, macro mode status, the remaining number of shots which would fit into the free memory.

Tapping on the bottom left corner of the screen brings up a menu consisting of four items:

• Scenes
• Shooting mode (regular, panorama, multiple shot)
• Flash (Auto, On, Off)
• Touch Focus mode

The last menu item deserves a bit more attention. Sony Ericsson G900 can automatically lock the focus on an object that you indicate right in the viewfinder window simply by tapping your stylus or finger on it. This feature isn't really unique yet is very rarely encountered among cameraphones, which makes an excellent selling point. We won't rate Touch Focus as something revolutionary or extremely useful, yet it's still a great addition to the arsenal of imaging features. We're sure G900 is but the first device in the series to bear such a remarkable option, the concept will surely be developed in future models.

In addition to Touch Focus feature such options are available as Auto Focus, Macro and Infinity (deactivation of focusing). Our practical tests revealed no perceptible difference between Touch Focus and Auto Focus, the pictures turned out virtually identical.

Sony Ericsson G900 offers five scene presets + the Auto setting. That's not overly abundant, yet quite enough for casual everyday shooting:

• Auto
• Portait
• Landscape
• Twilight
• Sports
• Document

If the Multiple Shot mode is engaged, the maximum shot resolution of 2592x1944 is reduced to 640x480. Up to 6, 9 or 15 shots can be taken in a sequence at Normal or High quality settings.

Surprisingly, the choice of resolution is somehow limited to four options only:

• 2592x1944 (5M)
• 2048x1536 (3M)
• 1280x960(1.3M)
• 640x480 (0.3M)

The available special effects are rather scarce in number: Sepia, Negative, Solarization and Black&White. Timer and image stabilizer features, three photo quality settings (Fine, Normal and Economy) and four shutter sounds along with a no sound option are also available.

Just like in the case of Samsung U900, the actual usefulness of the image stabilization technology is closely approaching zero. The reality is still very remote from the ideal. This could make a minor selling point but hardly makes any practical use – even after an exhaustive test we weren't able to determine any differences between regular and 'stabilized' photos.

The standard white balance presets include Auto, Daylight, Incandescent, Cloudy and Fluorescent; no ISO settings are available, this fact looking a very queer 'feature' in a product equipped with a powerful camera unit.

For a comparison, let's have a quick review of the camera application used in Nokia N82. Geo tagging stands amidst this device's most prominent imaging functions, though it only shares an indirect relation to the process of shooting. Still, it's extremely usable – a single tap brings a geographical location stamp to your photo, acquired using the onboard GPS unit. Photos can easily be sorted in the gallery by their assigned geo tags, making navigation easier than before.

Video clips can be geo-tagged as well. The maximum possible of the three available resolutions is VGA 640x480 at 30 fps. An option allows to disable sound recording. The image stabilizer is also available for video shooting.

Camera settings come in a great variety, proving the handset's early reputation as one of the richest solutions in this aspect available from the market:

• switching to video mode
• shooting mode (auto, custom, macro, portrait, nighttime, nighttime portrait, landscape, sports (for moving objects)
• flash controls (auto, on, off, red eye filter)
• timer (2, 10, 20 seconds)
• multiple shot (one shot per 10, 30 seconds, 1, 5, 10, 30 minutes)
• exposure settings (from -2.0 tо 2.0)
• white balance (auto, sunny, cloudy, glowlamp, fluorescent lamp)
• effects (sepia, negative, black and white, transparency)
• ISO settings
• Smoothen / Sharpen (Hard results in unnaturally sharp object edges)
• contrast (20 notches)
• brightness (10 notches)

Video

Sony Ericsson allows for a maximum video resolution of 240x320 recorded at 30 frames per second. Not bad but still outdated against the background of the more advanced rivals. However it stands to reason that so far only Nokia phones like N95, N82, 6220 classic and a number of other models offer a good video quality, accompanied by LGKU900, while Samsung is just as good at video recording as the recent offers by Sony Ericsson.

SE G900 video sample taken with maximal quality settings, daylight
SE G900 video sample taken with maximal quality settings, night time

Video settings are rather scarce, even fewer than photo settings, a second possible resolution of 176x144 available, a total of two shooting modes (auto and nighttime), the same four effects and an option for auto flash activation during video shooting. The only limit to a clip's duration is the remaining amount of free memory.

Gallery

Speaking of multimedia devices, a well-implemented gallery is certainly is a must. However G900 offers rather average possibilities on this front. Switching to the gallery brings up the last taken picture with a semi-transparent bar which lets browsing between the photos back and forth. It's possible to launch a slide show yet the interval between frames can't be customized, and the combination of a musical theme and a graphical transition effect accompanying the change of frames are hard-coded into four available Moods, or slideshow presets, which can't be customized. Obviously this is a pertaining drawback of the UIQ interface, forcing the manufacturer to artificially limit his customers in an area where any limitations seem ridiculous considering the modern level of mobile technology. As compared to the same aspect of S60 3rd Edition FP2, the gallery of G900 is an evident failure not even saved by the touch technology powering the gallery application.

Remote Screen – is an interesting feature which allows for photos to be viewed simultaneously on two phones connected via Bluetooth. The process is fully synchronized, taking a few seconds' delay for each photo to show up on the second phone as you browse between the images.

Image Editing

In comparison with most other 5 Mp cameraphones, Sony Ericsson G900 offers but very modest imaging opportunities. The Photo Fix feature combines several preinstalled filters helping to improve the overall quality of a saved photo. This is followed by four standard effects, succeeded by functions like rotate, zoom in and out – a very limited variety indeed. There are no brightness and contrast settings, no photo frames and the applicable effects are too few in number, making no selling point at all.

Shooting

Photo quality comparison tests were taken in various environments, always at maximum quality settings and everything else set to Auto. As we mentioned in the first lines of the article, N82 and G900 can hardly belong to the same product class due to numerous differences in positioning. To back up our statement, here we give you a few characteristic samples of photos taken with the two handsets to let you decide if the difference is really critical to you:

Daytime shooting

Daytime shooting samples are more self-explaining. N82 gives you better contrast, sharp object edges, a crisper image and more natural colors, at times bordering on oversaturation, though the overall impression is better than Sony Ericsson produces, because of the latter's bleak and blurry pictures. The sick pink tint in which SE pictures often sink is still recognizable just like with K850i and C902, meaning that no effort was undertaken to improve the image processing routine – resulting in a very average camera after all.

Indoors

Nighttime

Flash test

Flash off

As you see, a regular LED flash can't beat the xenon flash of Nokia N82, the gap in quality is pretty dramatic.

SMAPE's opinion

Conclusions drawn from the analysis of the camera unit employed by Sony Ericsson G900 are rather ambiguous. The camera unit yields to Nokia N82 in terms of setting variety, photo and video quality, leaving the latter the absolute leader on this front so far. On the other hand, G900 seems to be a better option as long as the camera functionality / overall functionality ratio is concerned, which is on a level with the K850i flagship. Photos of similar quality are also taken with the U900 Soul camera.

Although we'd like to check out the impossibility of any adequate comparison with Samsung U900 Soul, which was recklessly ignored by a homologous site. The only thing common to both is the camera resolution, resulting in a very slim intersection between the target audiences, since the rest of features are diverge greatly. By the time G900 hits the shelf, the alleged Korean analog will cost significantly less. Moreover, it's just a conventional phone deprived of any capabilities that smartphone operating systems have, lacking Wi-Fi and touchscreen, not to mention a different form factor and a host of lesser differences. Moreover, no known Samsung product could pass as comparable to G900 in most aspects as close as N82. The upcoming G810 is a slider more inclined to oppose N95 than G900. That's why we choose to refrain from drawing parallels between the new Sony Ericsson and any of Samsung cameraphones.

G900 is not an ultimate cameraphone, rather taking the role of a very versatile smartphone with all-embracing functionality and a touchscreen for a chief selling point. If you try to look at it from this position, you get a very balanced solution sold at a very reasonable price. The quality of touchscreen implementation in G900 (as well as G700) is worthy of admiration – the very case where the conventional controls are complemented by the touch functions, yet not duplicated or entirely replaced. Previous UIQ models were known to alienate parts of the audience due to a total lack of conventional navigation buttons, single-handed operation combined with all-touch interface resulted in very low ergonomics and in fact quite unsatisfactory. This problem is now gone with G700 and G900 models.

Sony Ericsson G700 will feature as the spotlight subject of an upcoming article; one thing we can state for sure right now is that it will be a very niche-specific, shelf-filler product only meant to complement the senior model (the estimated price difference is €50). The availability of a 5 Mp camera and Wi-Fi is an obvious, very serious advantage. From this point of view, G700 appears to be an overpriced handset caught by crossfire from numerous rivals most of which look far more appealing, here we can mention Nokia N78 or W960i which now costs less. Both offer a better camera capability, Wi-Fi, N78 also comes with a GPS unit. That's why G900 is the company's one and only locomotive for the next few months until winter in the segment of mid-end cameraphones, provided that the price expectedly goes down after two months of sales.

Author: Anton Spiridonov, editor@smape.com

SMAPE.com

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